The Flood

Some spring! It may be sunny and warming up in Poland, but here in the "deep North", as I like to call it, the weather is nowhere near springy... CNN, the Today Show and many other local news stations have been reporting the worrying Red River level rises in North Dakota. Due to some communities being endangered with rising waters many colleges have canceled classes so that students are available to help with sandbagging.
Here are couple of pictures of a farm in rural ND where we helped with sandbagging. I think that at this point we were minimizing damages as opposed to protecting the land itself. As you can see, the water is surrounding the farm and getting on the road as well, preventing from easy transportation of sand bags.
It is amazing that the community is working together and helping each other, but again, after living in the area for a few years not, I would not expect anything different. What I like about the North is the sense of belonging and knowing that people will come with help when you are in need. Amazing the people we met when sandbagging, from school principals to college swimmers, everyone contributed! Go ND!

Let's go for a walk

Inspired by the melting snow outside and increasing temperatures I have started thinking about taking longer walks with Jackson. I went back to the pictures that I took on my last trip and found this... It is a perfect fall picture... although taken in December! I took it while taking a walk with my Mom, Dad and Grandpa when we were visiting one of the castles nearby our town. Taking walks is not very popular in the US, especially not in the area I live in - perhaps because it is always covered in snow!
I have a lot of memories associated with walks and my family. My Grandpa used to come over every Sunday and take us to the park when we were little - this was his way of spending time with us. It just seems so natural to me to start walking and exploring the area. We used to gather pretty colorful leaves and chestnuts and later make crafts - you use a large chestnut and a few little ones and hold them together with matches, you can create a dog or a cow, or whatever you want!
The park that we used to visit has a small fenced area where the animals live - deer, wild boars and some birds. We used to go there often and look at the animals, which we thought was the greatest thing!

The Women's Day

Happy Womens Day! Although initially celebrated as a communistic holiday, I think that the days of associating Women's Day with negativity because of that, are over, although I know of some people not celebrating the holiday because of the history of it.
In Poland tulips are the flower of choice, but of course others are appreciated just as much! Happy Women's Day!