Fall

Is finally here. Even though the weather seemed to quickly shift for us to an early (and long) winter, we have benefited from a mild push-back of both temperatures and colors. Rain and fog seem to be daily occurrences but for the past several weekends Pranvera and I have made it a point to get outside this foul-aired city and enjoy the trees, fresh air and village mentality. Now that she is becoming more mobile, we are able to do relatively short walks to both exercise her leg and give our lungs a rest from the coal burning, auto exhaust, construction dirt filled air.

Sad to say though that the summer drought here has reduced the primary reservoir lake for Pristina to a virtual bathtub. We walked along the crusty dirt, trash lined shores to eventually see a little remaining water in the distance. This came as a great shock to Pranvera since the restaurant we ate at had a pavilion 'floating' in the water only back in April whereas now it just appeared to be a concrete tree house with no water to be found. Matter of fact, tractors were driving across the lake to reach the other side and cattle grazing in their new found fields. But we did have plenty of trees in all shapes and colors. This sight can't even be taken for granted since there are massive amounts of illegal logging to meet the annual winter demand of heating most likely 70% of all the homes in Kosovo (still).

Over the past weekend we hit another milestone in that Pranvera finally got off her anti-biotic shots and pills and was able to enjoy a glass of wine. So we split our Friday in between drinking with her old USAID work friends (many of them seeing us together for the first time) and a dinner party among my international friends. It is so comforting for the both of us that we like, fit in and are accepted by each others' sets of friends. Since out here they are all basically family.

The next weekend we decided to get a little bit more elevation so we headed south quite close to the mountain I will be snowboarding on soon. The higher elevations are already covered by snow compliments of several recent harsh rains we have received. The lower foothills on the other hand just have their fair share of mud and more trees bursting with color. I had taken the big 4x4 from work and was able to charge up some pretty steep village roads to eventually arrive above a quaint town with close access to several walking tracks and trails connecting other villages. The amazing thing is that for the people who live up here, they somehow have to climb these roads year-round (I think this is where the donkeys come in handy). It is quite fun to drive through these towns where everyone will stop and stare since it is very obvious we are not from there. At least now when I get lost I have Pranvera to get us 'found'.

Sunday it rained non-stop encouraging a very lazy day of staying indoors to read, eat, watch TV, eat, eat, and nap:-)