We’re at the cottage, it’s a short trip, we got here about 5, had to wait for Sam to finish work, and we’ll head home tomorrow afternoon. It’s deadly hot, but haven’t done any hard work yet. On the way up, H had suggested that maybe I’d be called on to pick red currants but as soon as we arrived I saw somebody had already picked several bowls full so the bushes were denuded. And I found a couple of ripe blackberries but for the most part they were still hard and pale green.
Have been eating too much, as is often the case here. A meat strudel one very nice old woman had made, a bowl of goulash, a couple of very sweet vanilla cream pastries, and then I was called on to pick some fruit, a thing I’d never seen before, in Czech it is rakytnik, Google tells me that is Sea Buckthorn although we are about as far from the sea as it’s possible to be on this continent. Kind of sour, kind of citric, but apparently good for making jam and full of vitamin C.
Then grilled meat, coleslaw, and a beet salad for dinner.
Then Helena and I walked up the hill to check out the sunset. Beautiful views of farms and fields all around, this region is a picture postcard of agricultural prosperity. All the cows came up to the fence to check us out.