Farewell, my dear Gracie

The only tortoise shell in a litter of single colors Gracie selected me. Just seventeen years ago she entered our lives in San Diego. We tried to make sure our current cat, Sophie, (only 2 years her senior) would accept her when we moved into the new house. We hoped it would be neutral territory,…

The Three Chilly Saints of May

You might have noticed it was quite cold this past week in May just like last year. According to my husband it had to do with St. Pankrác, St. Servác and St. Bonifác. It seems that other Czech’s know about these three Saints that come in May, even though there isn’t a lot of information…

Christmas Tree Culture

One of the many stories Michal told me about his childhood (which was hard for me to imagine) was how Czech’s didn’t put up the Christmas Tree (Stromeček) until the night before Christmas. He claimed everyone would hang the tree out on the balcony (or window if they didn’t have one) until it was Christmas…

St. Mikuláš in Montana

Last year I attempted to bring the tradition of St. Mikuláš to Montana as a way of integrating my two worlds. We had the costumes and the small goodies to give away all planned out. I wanted my family to know a little about my husband, Michal’s family traditions as they haven’t been able to…

Účtenkovka: Receipt Lottery

I was never a coupon clipper mostly due to laziness and hating extra paperwork. I’m sure I lost a lot of money by not joining the millions of households that carefully went through their Sunday newspapers to clip out, organize and actually plan a shopping trip to use the coupon. It is the same with…