This quote from The book of tea came to my mind on Thursday as I was approaching the flat to prepare for my farewell dinner with my Czech cousins. It came to me because at this time I am trying to decide whether to be happy or sad about leaving Czech and I have concluded that happy is the correct response. At this point I have done eversything I wanted to here, except for proper family history research.
I have spent a lot of time in Prague, as well as travelling all over the Czech land. North to the mountains to see glass making in action and glass museums, South to see castles and breweries, East to the fabled cities of Hradec Kralove, Olomouc and Brno, and West to the exquisite spa towns of Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne. I have come close to the borders of Poland, Austria, Slovakia and Germany without crossing them.
And those flowers? The flowers are everywhere in Czech. Like tiny beacons of hope and renewal they bring life and colour to towns still heavy with the burden of communist architecture. They bring fragrance to to great rose gardens displaying immense beauty and variety. They punctuate the greenery of great parks and landscaped areas¨. They fill window boxes on homes, hotels and restaurants, and planter boxes in public spaces. They grace tubs on pavements in ready to purchase arrangements. And later they hide in plain wrapping paper held with their petals to the ground and stems to the sky being carefully transported to their recipients" safe care. They fill fields in Bohemia and Moravia alike.
Through joy and sadness, pain, fear hope and renewal the flowers are here with the people, working on change and growth under very difficult circumstances.
BEADS
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