Brushy Creek Journal
Monday May 23, 2016
Scattered Thundershowers 83°F/28°C in Cedar Park, Texas 78613
Howdy Y’all!
Some of the silence is due to the extended settling in process that’s involved in a major move like the one I made from California. It was a life-changer for me, and I’m still adjusting. But, other projects have also diverted my attention. I’ve been researching a book about my father’s experiences in the Navy during World War 2, which centers around a U boat attack on his convoy in 1944. I returned to my book writing, and did an article based on it, submitting it to a special interest magazine. It is scheduled for the November issue. I’ve also been working on www.mikebotula.com, posting new articles and photos on a variety of subjects.
Since I followed my daughter from California to Texas, I am once again back in the warm embrace of my family. Dana and Jason moved here a year ago with their four kids, Jacob, Jessica, Jaydan and Jordan. We will be joined shortly by Dana’s oldest son, Joshua and his fianceé. Last month, we had a big old-fashioned family reunion with my son, Michael and his wife Laura and her parents, Sergio and Annamaria along with my brother Packy and his wife Sue. They got to see the longhorn cattle parade through the streets of Fort Worth and bought souvenirs at the Alamo. And, of course, we dined on Texas barbecue! We were also able to celebrate a lot of birthdays. I passed the 75 year mark in January. Mike and Dana both have birthdays in May, as do the twins – Jaydan and Jordyn. Jake and Jesse also have birthdays in the Spring, and Joshua’s is at the end of March.
While, I’m on the subject of family… I am also reconnecting with the original Botula family across the Atlantic in what is now the Czech Republic. One of my cousins, Jeff Botula, who was working in Germany a couple of years ago, contacted his namesake family in Ostrava, and last year ago traveled there to meet and get to know some of his distant relatives. His hostess was Alice Bolfova who introduced him to other members of the original Botulas. I am planning to follow Jeff’s footsteps on my next trip to Italy. Prague is a two hour flight from Rome, so I have no excuse not to.
In fact, Alice and are are not only related, but we are Facebook friends now, too. This past weekend we connected via Skype, and had a delightful chat. Alice speaks English, but I speak only a few words of Czech, er Cesky. She did explain that the translation feature in my software makes any attempt to communicate that way next to impossible. I’ve already downloaded a Czech phrase book for travelers onto my Kindle, and I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver my Euro-Talk language lessons on CD. I will soon add Cesky to the languages I can use to order dinner and find the bathroom when I’m traveling overseas: French, Spanish, German, Italian, and soon, Czech! If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t consider myself a typical American tourist. And I love it, when another American urges me to Talk ‘Merican! I love responding that I have no clue what they are talking about – in another language, of course!
My grandparents emigrated from the Old Country back in 1903. They raised nine children to adulthood. As far as the Old Country Botulas ever knew, Karel and Johana sailed west never to be heard from again. And as far as we in the American branch were concerned, our grandparents had come from a mysterious kingdom far across the sea. Time passed and two world wars intervened and the two Botula families begat and begat. Now, there are efforts to reconnect being carried out by both branches. I plan to blog about this Family Reunion by Internet from time to time. I’ll be happy to share with you.
Moving to Texas has put more than California in my life’s rear-view mirror. It has also put a lot of memories there as well, along with places and friends, a couple of careers and a half century of connections. I’m grateful to have my family close by, and I am making an effort to meet my new neighbors and make new friends here in the Lone Star State. Social media is the way I’m doing it. Email, Facebook, Twitter, the blog and www.mikebotula.com allow me to keep in touch. And when I run out of patience with texting (which doesn’t take long) I just grab my IPhone and drop a dime. One of my close friends now lives in New Zealand, and another lives in China. Mike and Laura live in Rome. Other friends and former colleagues are literally scattered around the world. Staying in touch has come a long way from the World War 2 V-mail that my parents used to stay in touch. Or even the rare overseas phone calls that enabled me to hear my brother’s voice when he was flying in Vietnam. I am limited in my outreach only by those friends over the age of ten who either refuse to learn how to use the technology or whine that they just can’t do it. So, here I am in central Texas, two time zones away from Hollywood and 1,400 miles closer to Rome, where my son’s band No Funny Stuff plays.(Plug!) The central U.S. location also puts me closer to my brother, so I can also think about jetting up for a weekend near St. Louis. And, if my high school classmates are up for it, I can more easily attend my reunion, which is tentatively on the calendar for the Fall of 2018.
Ciao,
MikeBo
( MikeBo’s Blog is a wholly owned subsidiary of www.mikebotula.com , and is linkedto Facebook, and Twitter and Google Plus!)
© By Mike Botula 2016
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