California XIV - Summer in the air

I have to admit that here in US I am much more aware of the threat of going to prison for a traffic offence than back in Czech. In Czech, you always get away with a last warning or a fine at most, if it is not killing obviously. But here I am afraid that I might go to jail just for wrong parking or speedy driving. No that I would like the idea of going to Czech prison, but going to American prison really horrifies me. So cars with signs of Highway Patrol and men/women in them have my absolute respect. (I couldn't resist to publish the mini photo series above to bring a picture of California HP near to you.)

This is something I wanted to share with you for a long time, already in England. Both countries, UK and US offer on the market only cane sugar, in almost 100%. You wouldn't tell it from beet sugar but during those 4 years here I didn't have a single new cavity. I don't want to say strictly that it is a cause and consequence issue but it crossed my mind several times that there could be some causality. But it's definitely not a non-obese sugar, though they say that the main cause of American biggest health problem is connected to a content of a 'high fructose corn syrup' which you can find in many food products, even in bread, hamburgers and ketchup. So put these three things together and you get a sugar bomb.

Both our young sons will pass this month significant milestones in their lives. Adam will start solid food besides my milk (end of babyhood?), and David will start his school curriculum on 29th July (end of childhood?). You can imagine that we are pretty excited.

The weather here in San Mateo is more than fair. Rains ceased in late March and since then temperatures linger around twenties, though evenings can be noticeably cooler. So we practically live outside, the door to the yard is still open and we can whenever just go for a walk, for a bike ride or to play a bit of soccer, or base- and basket- balls. Which we do. On weekends we spend our days either at beaches, or on hikes on many of nearby trek trails in surrounding hills. Moreover, there is a nice pool in our community so we go like every other day to take a dip. I guess I haven't been so active for a long long time.

We also have had visitors last week, both Laku brothers Afolabi and Dele were here for the last weekend. It was great to have them here, David enjoyed them very much and we all had a great time (I hope:). So here they are, all five of A.-A. boys.

Amerika III - podzimni svatky v USA

Tak toho za ten mesica pul probehlo nejak hodne, od toho, ze jsme jeli stanovat k Lake Tahoe, vysoce polozenemu krasnemu jezeru s proslulymi lyzarskymi svahy, az po Halloween a mohutne Thanksgiving, ceskeho Mikulase a ted nejcerstveji vanocni pripravy.

Co se Lake Tahoe tyce, je to tady hned za bukem v americkem pojeti tzn. 5 hodin jizdy autem a nebudu uz znova licit hladoveho medveda v kempu, vyti kojotu v noci a snih po ranu, kdo chcete, tak se podivejte na fotky. Rozhodne je to tam moc hezke a pojedeme tam nekdy znova, az nebude v noci mrznout.

Halloween mi pripada uz jako uplna minulost, i kdyz to bylo posledniho rijna. V zasade jde o to, ze deti se oblecou do masek a chodi od domu k domu a koleduji o sladkosti, majitel domu ma sice moznost neco predvest misto sladkosti, ale vetsinou je to jen ta sladkost, nekdy jsou vtipne obleceni jako carodejnice nebo hippies, nebo maji bludiste v garazi ci strasidelny hradek na zahrade. Byli jsme jeste s jednou rodinou od Dejdy ze skolky a tak si to kluci, pirat a rytir vzajemne si dodavajice odvahy, celkem uzili.

U vsech domu svitily vyrezane dyne a hrobecky na predzahradkach mely svicky, kostlivci kyvali hlavami a usekle hlavy carodejnic se sviticima ocima se povalovaly na zemi. Vrchol byl jeden strasidelny zamek, kde si rytir sundaval krvavou hlavu, u stropu litali netopyri, upir se na sebe dival svetylkujicimi bulvami do zrcadla, vsude pavuciny a krvave dyky v rameccich na stenach, muselo to dat strasne prace sestavit a rozchodit. Tady jsme museli kluky doslova tlacit pred sebou, jinak to vzdali uz v prvni komnate.

Pak byly volby, to asi vsichni vite, jak dopadlo. My jsme byli celi modry, takze nalada je primerene optimisticka, i kdyz si krize vybira svoji dan i tady. Jinde to pry nesou o poznani hur.

Posledni ctvrtek v listopadu slavi Americani Thanksgiving a krome par nafukovacich krocanu na predzahradkach se to poznalo hlavne v supermarketech, kde bylo v utery a ve stredu k nehnuti. Ctvrtek, patek bylo volno a ve ctvrtek bylo vsechno dusledne zavreno, Americani travi cas doma v sirsim kruhu rodinnem a pojidaji krocana a pie. Naopak v patek, ktery nazyvaji Black Friday, uderi prudke slevy a vsichni ho travi nakupem veci na vanoce. My jsme tu taky meli rodinu, babicku z Washingtonu a strejdu Folabi ze Seattlu a taky jsme meli krocana. Mel jenom 5 kilo a byl prekvapive dobry, Laku to nastudoval, jak ho patricne upect, aby nebyl vysuseny a tak to taky bylo, jedli jsme ho jenom dva dalsi dny:)

Zaujalo me, ze ve skolce mely deti odpovidat na otazku, za co ze to jsou vdecni, a pak nam jejich odpovedi predcitala pani ucitelka Heather na besidce pri spolecne uvarene 'Harvest Soup'. Deti se deli na aktivity do tri skupinek tak po 12 a bylo to znat, vzdycky byla skupinka, ktera byla vdecna za svou rodinu, maminku, bratry a nove miminko, dalsi skupinka byla vdecna za jidlo, pecene kure, jidlo a zase jidlo, a v te treti nekdo zacal s velrybami, tak pak dalsi byli vdecni za ptaky, svoje rybicky a sveho krecka. Dejda byl vdecny za sveho kamarada Zeka, coz sice muze zamrzet, byla to zrejme ta rodinna skupinka, ale na druhe strane byl originalni.

Takze nehledte na svoje okoli a budte aspon originalni!