SEPTEMBER BEGINNINGS

September...welcomed with the last vanilla bean ice cream cone of the season after an afternoon of swimming at the pool, sliding down the big slide, and even venturing over to the deeper lap pool. A bit of chlorinated water in the eye, a hour too much of the intense Texas sun, but a lot of fun before heading back to school tomorrow. The younger two are with me this week and Saffron is with Oma in Berlin until February.

This morning I came upon the idea for Saffron and me to take the train to Prague and see the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge instead of going to Hohenschwangau to see Neuschwanstein castle. This was the result of my zooming out on a map of Berlin as I was looking for a place to stay in Germany for at least seven nights and noticing how much closer Prague was to Berlin than was southwest Bavaria. Plus, I had already seen the German castle and Saffron will have other opportunities to go to Munich and beyond.

The Czech Republic is a country I've not yet seen, but have had on my list for a while. I'd always hoped I'd see it one day. One day is soon. And why not? In the approximately 800 miles from one end of Texas to the other, I could see four or five European countries. I could also go to Poland, but I will save that for another trip.

September is off to a nice beginning.