It had been seven years since my Czech cousin Paul contacted me after googling his last name and finding my blog which told about my grandmother Louise. Paul's grandfather Stanislav and Louise were brother and sister. After months of emails back and forth, we decided this relationship is legit and continued to get to know each other's lives from across the world. Paul had just begun learning English and our letter writing back and forth showed he progressed rather quickly. He also brought in his daughter Lucie to help translate and later we added video calls. This progression finally led to Paul and Lucie coming to visit me for two weeks!
Lucie, Beti, & Paul
There were plenty of things to do and this first week I showed them the world close to where Keith and I lived since 1978. We drove around Pomme de Terre Lake which is where we live. We showed them places they could go on their own such as the local market and bank which is just a short walk as is the town square. But first they wanted to get some groceries at our favorite upscale store Dierburgs at Lake of the Ozarks. There's a variety of international and organic foods here with a great restaurant that has a view of the lake.
A trip to Lake of the Ozarks is not complete without a walk down Bagnell Dam Blvd. On this weekend, there was the annual Bikefest.
Our closest and most frequented winery in located nearby at Seven Hills Winery near Lynn Creek, Missouri.
We had a lovely afternoon in perfect weather to enjoy good food, wine, live music, and good company!
Back home in Hermitage, we took daily walks around the area. This included the Pomme de Terre River just below our house and the 3-mile (5K) hike on the River Trail below the dam at Outlet Park. There was always something to see such as wildflowers and deer. We all enjoy the exercise which was especially needed after all the good food we ate during this two weeks! I was so happy to see that they both are comfortable around our kitchen and everyone cooked for themselves at the times they were hungry and cleaned up also. There were several restaurant meals also where we ate together. I was grateful that there was no extra kitchen work for me as they both were the perfect guests!
Paul & Beti at the river just below our house in Hermitage
The Pomme de Terre River is low now and the wildflowers abundant
A favorite rest stop on the 3-mile River Trail at Outlet Park
On this Sunday our daughter Sarah and granddaughter Kayleen came to visit and meet the Czech Cousins. This was a wonderful time as gifts were given and enough time spent together to get comfortable with each other.
Lucie introduced Kayleen to a favorite Czech character, Little Mole. She also showed a video cartoon that has been a favorite in the Czech Republic for many years. Kayleen has a new friend in Lucie and Little Mole!
Kayleen was also given a little game that has small beads to fit in holes as you move it around. She was really mesmerized by it and couldn't put it down! Her steady hand and skill got many of the beads in the right places and she felt very accomplished!
Our gifts included a couple bars of fine chocolates, a bottle of liqueur, and a couple interesting books I will be reading and looking at for a long time!
I love this book as it tells the story of their city from the perspective of the river and has amazing photography! One side is in Czech and the other is in English. Paul has been in the building trades his whole life and is currently a building inspector in this city. He showed me some of the buildings his work was connected with and the history.
This day was a short trip to Settlers Village in Wheatland a few miles from our home. We showed them the original log buildings from our area that were re-located to this town square. Keith and I have taken care of the flower beds for 10 years as our volunteer project with the Missouri Master Gardeners of Hickory County.
Paul is a big Star Trek fan as are Keith and I since the beginning of the show in the 1960s. We told him there's a building that looks like the Starship Enterprise hanging over a cliff not far away on Truman Lake. Of course he wanted to see it! The plan had been to show the cousins the Truman Visitors Center on Truman Lake near Warsaw, Missouri. But on this day it was closed. We found out later that they only open on weekends due to Federal budget cuts which is a first since it was built in 1979. It was also closed completely the past couple years due to COVID. So we drove below the dam to the outlet area and positioned Paul to look like he had the Starship Enterprise at his fingertips! We will be back.
There were walks around our gardens and on this day the lilacs had put on a second bloom! They usually just bloom in the spring but sometimes when the weather is warm in the fall they will put on again. How delightful!
I treated everyone to a nice lunch at Pomme de Rita's located at Carson's Corner on the way to Pomme de Terre Lake. It is a new Tex-Mex Restaurant and very popular this year. We all ate big today and walked it off below the dam. It was a good example of local Americanized cuisine; not quite Texas and not quite Mexican.
The heat of the past week was set to change as a front was coming in. It was a good time for Keith to show Paul about kayak fishing on Pomme de Terre Lake. Lucy and I had a tour of Citizen's Memorial Hospital in Bolivar that I had set up with the recruiter before they arrived. Lucie is a doctor (OB/GYN) in the Czech Republic and in her early 30s. She was ready for a change to increase her medical skills and had recently signed up with Doctors Without Boarders, a global organization. She was on their list but wanted to have more choices and needed to increase her surgical skills. This tour of the closest large medical facilities would give Lucie additional choices. She also had plans to move to another city about 3 hours away from the one she had been working since she became a doctor and recently quit - The Great Resignation? She was hoping this new job location will give her more surgical skills. I invited her to stay with me and commute the 30 miles until she found her own place to live nearby. She knows she would have to do another residency if she was to practice in this country and that was a lot for her to think about. The option was put out there and she was very impressed with all that CMH had to offer. It was much bigger and well-equipped than the facility she has been working in her country. She said she was paid well in her country but the opportunity to increase her skills was not available where she had been working. Last year Lucie traveled to Boston, Massachusetts and toured the medical facility choices there for a couple weeks.
We found the Truman Visitors Center open on this day. It is the newest and largest lake (55,600 surface acres) made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the area; just a little bigger than Lake of the Ozarks (54,000 surface acres) which is privately owned by Ameren Electric Company. The Corps Lakes do not allow building close to the shoreline and are more aesthetic than Lake of the Ozarks which was the first lake built in the 1930s and has a great deal more commercial and residential high-valued properties along with shoreline erosion and large speed boats.
There are four lakes within 45 minutes of our home in Hermitage - Pomme de Terre which is too small to produce electricity even though it has 113 miles of shoreline, Truman Lake (958 shoreline miles), Stockton Lake (298 shoreline miles), and Lake of the Ozarks (1100 shoreline miles) which all produce hydo-electricity. They each are known for a different kind of fishing and visitor: Pomme de Terre has the smallest watercraft and least commercial and residential development. It is great for crappie, white & black bass, and muskie fishing. Truman Lake is still in development with commercial and residential building farther apart. There are still lots of tree structures in the water so it discourages the high-speed watercraft but is great for the fisherman with lots of bass and crappie. Stockton Lake is wide and open to encourage sailboats. It has a variety of fish including walleye, bass, crappie and others. Lake of the Ozarks has events that encourage large speed boats such as the annual Shoot Out. There are also a large number of fishing tournaments because of the variety of fish and the large resorts and commercial businesses. Many people have second homes here that come from St. Louis and Kansas City. This also includes houseboats as traveling by water may be as desired as by roads when staying here.
Truman Visitor Center (front view)
Truman Visitor Center side view which hangs over a cliff overlooking the dam area.
Inside Truman Visitor Center are many displays of the history of the area as well as archaeological finds as the lake was built as the visitor ascends the overlook portion of the building.
I inserted myself at this point as they seemed to have forgotten a couple important events: 1953 was the year I was born and 1978 was the year Keith and I moved here as well as the year Truman Lake was completed. 😊
Paul and Lucie can see for miles and miles especially with help from the telescopes.
Keith, Beti, Paul, and Lucie on the upper deck of The Enterprise. "To boldly go where no man has gone before." My favorite quote from Captain Kirk was, "Intuition, however illogical, Mr. Spock, is recognized as a command prerogative."
Beti and Keith at Truman Visitor Center in an area where we have "Lived long and prospered."
Back home in Hermitage I notice a big show from my Missouri native New England aster loaded with blooms, birds, bees, and butterflies!
Also just noticed were the monarch butterflies staying awhile on my variety of flowers to replenish themselves before the long migration to Mexico soon.
Friday night at Lucas Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri a few miles from Hermitage was the location of a good ol' American tradition besides race cars - the tractor pull! There are no zoning, building codes, or noise ordinances in Hickory County. Of all the efforts to live ecologically smart and eat healthy foods, one can see, smell, hear, feel, and maybe even taste the waste of fossil fuels in a very short time right here in a couple hours each weekend and pay for the experience... another very American-thing!
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