A Kite on a Hilltop

Saturday we went on another excursion - Pat'ka and her daughter, Rivi, picked us up about 5:20, and we headed to their nearby village.  Rivi had a new kite to try out, so we walked up onto the beautiful hill just beyond the cemetery.  It was a peaceful, quiet, and unfortunately for the kite, very calm evening.  

It was getting close to dusk by the time we walked up the hill, but
we still had a beautiful view of Liptovska Mara - the lake.

Heading up the hill, with Tim and me singing, "Let's go fly a kite..."

Rivi's colorful kite!

What a gorgeous place to fly a kite!

We never did really get the kite up and flying except while
running full speed, but it wasn't for lack of effort!!  

Go Rivi, go!!  

Pat'ka and Rivi on the hillside

This cross is at the top of the hill, between two trees.  

Pat'ka said that many hilltops have had crosses at the top for many centuries.

Since a breeze never did pick up, we just talked and enjoyed the view and the peace up on the hill.  We prayed together a while too - it just felt like we were close to heaven up there!  :-)  We told Pat'ka about "Is this heaven?  No, it's Iowa."  And it felt like Slovakia could be very similar!  Then we went down to Pat'ka's house where we were served delicious homemade cake and apple/fruit tea.  It was a delightful evening!

Today we went to church, then I got Sunday dinner in the oven so we could listen to our weekly online sermon.  In the afternoon we went on another bike ride.  We didn't really know where we were going, so took a wrong turn and ended up getting the bikes and our shoes all muddy - grrrrrr!!  So on the way home, we took the bikes down to the riverbank and cleaned them off in the running water!!  :-)  Later I tried a new recipe I found online and made some apple bars to take to the staff workroom tomorrow.  The flour is a lot different here, the texture is not like similar bars I've made at home, but they'll be O.K. - anything with apples, cinnamon, sugar, and butter has to be tasty, right???  :-)  

These signs are on some of the roads leading into town.
I stopped to take this on our bike ride today.  

Tim found this wreath at a flower shop, and we thought it was
perfect for the hallway outside our flat.  We have had so many "angels"
making us feel so very welcome here in Slovakia!