Kayaking on the Morava River

I'd been scheming to go boating on the gentle Morava river in the Czech Republic, but I wasn't sure if it was going to come together.  It did!

First step:  camp in Moravičany so I can get a nice early start.  Some views from near my campsite:

Second step:  Rent a kayak and gear (I rented from Tydra, but there are various companies)

Third step:  Paddle, drift, repeat.  Portage around the weirs.  Paddle, drift, repeat. For 28 river kilometers.  Enjoy the greenery and the wildlife (lots of good birds, some fish, a snake, two fighting hares, and some not-shy nutrias)

Fourth step:  Learn better kayak techniques.  I have more experience with canoes than kayaks, and very little river experience (mostly lakes--and seas), and I didn't have the BEST control of the kayak.  So I exerted more energy than was necessary.  Before my next Morava boating, I'm going to figure out better strategies...or maybe I'll convince a friend to go with me and rent a canoe instead.  :)    

The Adventures of Marshmallow, part 1

Before I left home, one of my students gave me two little cat figurines, because she knew I'd miss my cats, and since I couldn't take my cats with me, I could take these.  I was so touched.  I left one to console my mom and brought the other with me.  Mine's called Marshmallow, and here she is, hunting mice at the Convent of St. Agnes in Prague:

Hanging out at a park with a view of the city:

Enjoying the scenery from the train on the way to ValMez:

More of Marshmallow's adventures later.  

Prague--a Great Welcome Back to Europe

I'm behind on my postings of my return to beautiful Europe, so here are a few pics from my first day in Prague:

Prague Castle from across the Vltava:

My first Czech food--the most delicious halušky I've ever had:

Some nice vaulted ceilings:

  Creepy statues:

And fancy facades:

Plus a guy playing absolutely beautiful music on glasses of water:

And, of course, Charles Bridge at night:

Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, by Laurie Zaleski

I really enjoyed this.  I sometimes wished it were a little more about the animals and the running of the Funny Farm, but the family history/autobiography was really well written and powerful. 

And now I want to plan an entire trip around visiting the Funny Farm.

I picked this randomly off the library shelf because I love animals, and I'm so glad I did.  I did the same with another book about a bird sanctuary once, and it too was one of my favorite books of the year.   

Rating: 4.5 stars

Vanishing Treasures; a Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures, by Katherine Rundell

 

Very well written, very interesting.  I loved the weaving of biological facts with the myths we've developed around these creatures and the history of our interaction with them.

But…it's also profoundly sad.  I hope it helps change some people's minds about what we're doing to this planet and her inhabitants, and I hope that changing of minds leads to action.  Half the proceeds go toward charities working to push back on climate change and environmental destruction. 

Rating:  4.5 stars

Stranded, by Melinda Braun

 

I enjoyed this.  I'm a sucker for man vs nature and working-together-to-survive books, and this delivered.

I did find a lot of things hard to believe.  [MINOR SPOILER ALERT]  One of the major ones was the issue with directions.  It's like day 8 or something.  They're intelligent, with some outdoorsmanship between them, and they've had several days with at least partial sun, and they're all like "I wish we had a compass to figure out which direction is which."  And I'm thinking, um…look at the sun!  No, it won't give you an exact direction, and a lot depends on the season, latitude, etc., but if all you want is—for example—to head eastward to eventually run into a road or something, the sun will give you a pretty good clue.  But none of them even think about that?  And the solution they eventually come up isn't hugely more accurate, so why on Earth does one character keep asking the makeshift compass holder if they are still going east, when I get the distinct impression the compass holder is actually leading them south?  Can't the others tell, more or less, if they're going generally in the right direction or not?  This was a major plot point, so it really bothered me.  [END SPOILERS]

A lot of other things stretched believability (the cliff thing, the wolves, etc), and the characterization could have been a little deeper, but it was a fun read, a good adventure, with the situation getting worse and worse. The writing was smooth.

[SEMI SPOILER ALERT]  And I liked the way it didn't go all fantasy but stayed grounded.  [END SPOILERS]

Recommended for people who don't mind a bit of unbelievability in their survival stories. 

Oh...and I like the author's name.  :)  

Four Stars

My tribute to the North Rim

I am devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and all the other buildings destroyed at the North Rim by the Dragon Bravo fire.  We don't yet know how the forest itself has fared, but I don't think it looks good.    

I am so, so thankful I was able to backpack Rim to Rim this May for the first time.  See my earlier posts for the first three days:  

Here are a few pictures of the North Rim as it was.

The lodge:  

The hiker campground:

Sunrise and sunset views:

This squirrel:

These fossils:

These caterpillars:

This happy version of me cold, and way too early: