the pencil and my lovely auntie in decin

added a lot to my plentiful and beautiful experiences on my czech holidays. i did not know about the existence of such a thing as drawing with the right brain hemisphere, but one day i was reading some travelling stories on the internet, and there it was, and it got my attention and i became immediately interested, so i right away searched for and i found a course by the company serafin, in prague, and i gladly looked for more detailed information and i found out, that they had only one free weekend while i would be in bohemia. i had already booked a ticket online a few weeks earlier and it worked out that the pencil course would be held in decin, the town where the sister of my mum lives, my auntie miluska. we like each other a lot, and we have an unusual and strong genetic connection, and we had not seen each other for a few years, not that we did not want to, we really did, but in the end it never worked out for us and therefore i was very happy, that thanks to the pencil course i was finally going to see her.

my auntie miluska is about five years longer in this world than me, and when i was just a little girl i used to look up to her and adore her, especially when she was, as we say, a big girl. i used to like about her that she knew how to live happily in her own world. we used to see each other only a few times each year. she used to live in the tiny town bozi dar, about 70km from my little village skalna, i used to love to come and visit, we all had a peaceful and great time at grandma's place, and me and my brother and other kids used to have fun playing outside. especially during the winter it was an even more exciting and interesting experience for me, already on our way to grandma's (my mum's mum), my dad had to get out of our car, felicia, and shovel the snow away from the road so we could continue on our way, then he would get back in and drive for a short while, and that kept happening a few times again and again once we started getting closer to bozi dar, situated in the mountains. there was plenty of snow, so much of it, that us kids used to build igloos from snow bricks, just in front of the school where my grandma victorka (victoria) used to live in and work as the school keeper. i used to love to be a part of such a big and exiting project and till today i hold those memories very dear to me, despite the fact that i have not been attracted to the cold winter and snow since my early twenties.

my parents, with whom i had spent a few lovely days gave me a lift in to marjasnke lazne and soon after our goodbye, i was looking out from a bus window which ran instead of the train, because the train station was under reconstruction.. i travelled into cheb and then after a very short time i jumped on a fast train, which took me all the way to the town usti nad labem and there i had just enough time to change trains and before i knew it i was in decin. my journey was enjoyable, the sun was shining, the countryside was showing off its fresh luscious greenness of many hues and the strawberries i took along with me to feast on were beautifully strawberry, and to add more beauty to it all, i had a great conversation with one happy travelling lady. when she had seen how much i was enjoying my strawberries, she took out from her bag an apple and she was telling me how she discovered that when she eats fruit, she is both drinking and eating at once, and therefore when she travels, she eats only raw fresh fruit and therefore she doesn't have to bother taking with her a heavy and big bottle with water. she made me very happy with her smart observation, and i was gladly agreeing with her smart observation and discovery and i told her she is very smart, and i shared with her that i do not have need for drinking, because i live on raw fresh fruit alone, and she got curious and interested and we ended up having a pretty fruity conversation.

when i jumped out from the train in decin, i was expecting my auntie to be waiting for me on the platform, but i could not see her, so i decided not to wait for her and i went on my way out from the platform, and as soon as i walked down the stairs, my dear auntie mila(miluska) was calling to me: "kvetusko, i am here. helloooo, oh, i am so glad you finally came to visit us" and she give me a kiss on the cheek, then we shared a happy hug, and then she took my bag from my shoulder, she grabbed my hand and we walked while chatting with excitement toward the car, where her darling partner, pepa, was waiting for us. we also said happy hellos, and off we were to get some pineapples, strawberries, blueberries and watermelons. we got strawberries and blueberries next to the road from friendly gypsies, they let me taste their fruit first, so i gave them nice tip, and we were all happy, the berries tasted divine. since then i did not need to buy any fruit because pepa was always ahead of me with the fruit shopping; he would shop every early morning and he would take special care of my fruit as well, even though i did not ask him too, so after i woke up and had a nice bath in my own little (not so little) flat attached to their house, i would always after my morning things hurry up to, not only my lovely auntie waiting for me, but also pepa and aromatic and very yummy fruit as well. the pineapples were big and sweet as honey and i could easily eat one in one sitting, and the strawberries were heavenly, and watermelons like a poem. i was also happy to see that pepa and miluska also enjoy eating fruit (yes, they enjoyed eating other stuff as well) and we always had a great and peaceful time, and they treated me like a princess and miluska often called me princess as well.

the weather was a bit disappointing, most of the time was overcast with frequent showers and it was not very hot either, but despite all that i managed twice to have a nice swim in the garden pool, and in-between the showers, we also visited some lovely county scenes near decin, we also went to see decin's lookout, and it was right there, where suddenly some old forgotten dream came back to me and it was not just this one long-time-forgotten dream that resurfaced, throughout the time i spent in decin, and its beautiful surroundings, a few interesting forgotten dreams appeared in my mind. well, that really took my attention, it was for me a new and interesting experience. nothing is ever truly forgotten. yes, we had for a few days a great and magic time and then time for the pencil course arrived.

it is true that i really did not want to attend the pencil course, i would much rather have preferred, thanks to my big love of colours, the colour pencils course instead, but that was impossible, because the pencil course was required to get in to the colour pencil one. so in the end i made peace with it, when i came up with the idea that if i wanted to, i could colour in my pencil pictures later on.

auntie miluska prepared for me a few fruit lunch boxes and soon after, she and pepa gave me a lift into the town centre where the course was held. i arrived at the venue almost first, but the class was very soon filled up with lovely people desiring to learn how to draw. i've liked to draw since i was a little girl, and i was mainly interested in using the right brain hemisphere, and also to be able to draw things by looking at them and kind of copying them and not only using my fantasy. on top of everything i suspected that i wa going to learn something new for sure, and i always love to do that.

the lovely and clever teacher sarka began working with joy and zest and we payed full attention to all she was teaching us, and very soon we were all drawing with excitement, and it was going on for the whole beautiful day. i do not want to say in detail everything we drew and learned, because i do not want to spoil the experience for those who may love to one day attend such an amazing course full of lovely surprises. the most beautiful about it was that in a very short time, we were truly able to draw stuff we would never have dreamt of. we all were amazed by our drawing abilities and creations. wow, i could atend a school like this for ever.. i learned so much more than i had been expecting. my eye for detail increased a lot, and i also looked at everything from different angles. and everything i looked at, i drew in my mind. on top of all this, suddenly everything that i considered complicated to draw, became very easy. the two full days of drawing passed by very fast and i am sure that the next time i visit bohemia i am going to atend the colour pencil course in decin and i hope that the teacher sharka will be there as well.

my previous plan had been to travel to see my parents for some time again on monday, but monday awoke with blue skies, and the sun was shining like there was no tomorrow, so it was not difficult for my auntie to talk me in to staying for one more day, so i rang my mum that i would be a bit late with my arrival and off i went with miluska and her grand daughter, who instantly fell in love with me and me with her, for an exciting boat trip from decin to hrensko. oh, it was such a lovely day, full of joy and beauty. we stayed in hrensko till late evening. the ship had finished its journeys for the day, so we jumped on a bus instead to get back home.

and it was tuesday, time to say goodbye and the same way i travelled in, i travelled back to marjanske lazne railway station, where my sweet parents picked me up, and i spent with them a few yummy days once more. on the thursday i was again travelling by train in to telc, to attend a singing with right brain hemisphere course, and i was sooo looking forward to it.

about that some other time..

life is beautiful

ps: the pencil drawing course was run by the company sefafin located in prague, and took place on 11.-12. june 2009 in decin, bohemia



my auntie miluska is always in ecstasy when she finds any mushrooms, even non edible poisonous ones, (so is her sister, my mum). on one of our trips near by decin.



lookout in decin



i am drawing with right brain hemisphere (far right)



sarka gave us a portrait do draw, this was my creation.