Speaking of roofs....

Just read Susan's blog about her new roof, and that reminded us that we hadn't posted this photo.

These guys are putting shakes ON - they're a little older than Susan's crew, and note the helper on the scaffolding!

Elliot at toddler book group during break time!

Who doesn't love a train?

What is there about a train that makes so many people, young and old, enthralled with them?

Yesterday, we headed down to the Loket station to wait for a special train.

And here she comes-right on time. This steam engine is named Vsudybylka 354/195, and apparently puffs through the Czech countryside, with her antique cars behind, on historic runs.

How many men does it take to drive such a train? Well, here are two....

The train actually made a few runs from Loket to surrounding towns, and its last run was to Karlovy Vary. Although it was possible to ride the train, we couldn't go because we were waiting for guests to arrive.

Some of the passengers arrived in style on this 1960's-era Skoda tour bus.

Waiting for the next run....

Intricacies on the engine....

In the cab...

All aboard!! Not sure who this fellow was - he arrived on the bus with other similarly-costumed folks. :-)

And here's the engineer- now she's ready to roll!

A visit from friends from Warren Real Estate in Ithaca

We took a day off recently to go to Prague to meet some friends who worked with Tom. We gave them quite an extensive tour of Prague - hitting many of our favorite places. These views are all from Letna Park.

Oops - not this one! This was taken on the Charles Bridge.

This is our favorite view of Prague - taken from Letna Park.

We even ordered up a full moon so that we could enjoy our dinner outside in the beer garden.

Krasno Hill and the Casper Pflug Hereditary Gallery

The weather has been very nice this fall, so Tom and I have had the opportunity to do some exploring in the small towns around Loket.

This wonderful tower is on top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere!! Really - it's about 3 k from the nearest town. After walking from the main road through some fields and woods, uphill of course, you turn a corner and there it is. And as always in the Czech Republic, you can reward yourself with a beer for walking so far. You can't see him in the photo, but there is a man in a van selling beer, soda, and snacks.

Apparently, in the 1930's or so, this was a happening place, with a restaurant next to the tower.

The Communist occupiers destroyed the restaurant, but the tower survived.

If you read the information on the post board above, you will see that this little stream is actually a man-made channel that was completed in 1536. Can you imagine that? It was used to transport wood about 24 K to the tin mines in Krasno.

There is a trail that follows this channel, and we walked part-way down the trail. It was absolutely beautiful ....

About 1k along the trail, we came to this spot. We haven't been camping in years, but if anything could make us want to collect all that gear again, this site could!!

On our way back to Loket, we stopped just outside Horni Slavkov. The information below may be hard to read, but in essence it is talking about a drainage system that was built to carry water away from the mines so that they could tunnel deeper.

This marker used to have a ceramic plaque from the 15oo's (in that white spot) that dedicated this drainage system.

Fall Lament

Where have all the swallows gone? They were here on Monday, but we went to Prague for a few days, and now there is not one left!!!

I know this happens every year, but I am never prepared to see the birds leave!! :-(