by Melinda Brasher

by Melinda Brasher

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Editors Needed

So yes, there's a grammar mistake on this expensive-looking, official sign.  Some capitalization and punctuation problems.  But I'm not sure you can blame the altitude problem on language issues.  

I was still very happy they tried English...and it gave me a smile (and delusional bragging rights).  Plus, I suppose that if they'd added mm to the altitude, it might technically be correct.       


   

Monday, February 16, 2026

Frosty Fairy-Tale Walk

 This was the last week in January.  I don't think I need any more words.






Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Cross-Country Skiing in Velké Karlovice, Czech Republic

Here I am a few weeks ago, cross-country skiing for the first time in many years.  Well, I guess I'm not actually skiing here.  This is one of the steep parts where I would have needed a lot more skill, experience, and confidence to actually ski.  So I walked.  


And here I am actually on the skis:


Some of the scenery I got to see (bits of blue sky!!!):



And the snowbear I helped make afterwards:


The pile of skis in the bus home.  I wasn't the only one who thought cross-country skiing would be good that day.  This was just a regular bus that goes between towns, but you would have thought it was a shuttle in a ski resort.  People were happy, laughing together.  What a great day.


I went about 13 km, however, which was too much for my first time in years.  It uses very different muscles than hiking.  I think my technique is very bad, because at the end, I was like, "Hiking that far would have been far easier."

I hope I get another chance this season.   

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Frozen Bečva River

This was the Bečva in mid January, when it froze solid enough that people cleared rectangular patches of snow and played ice hockey on it.




You can see the traces of a hockey rink here: