Coming to a close in Brač

It's been a super lazy time since I last posted. We have really had a true vacation here, but are starting to plan meals more carefully so that we use up the food that is left, and this morning Maggie sorted laundry to get things washed prior to our departure on friday morning for Graz, Austria.

We haven't made it to too many distant places this time, but stuck to the beaches near Postira. Lovrenčina is the nearest, and the only sand beach on the island. We really enjoyed spending the afternoon there, and met a nice English family with two children who were staying on the other side of the island but had been exploring the northern coast. While the beach there shelves off extremely slowly and so is shallow for a long distance into the bay, the water was very cold; a freezing river called the Cetina empties into this section of the Adriatic just across the reach from Lovrenčina, and we had just had three days of the Bura wind that brought cool air from the mountains to the northeast, unlike the regular Maestral that comes from the northwest. As the temperatures were in the high 30s we didn't mind!

As well, on the evenings of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of August we walked into the square below the church for the film festival, and enjoyed a number of excellent short films from many different countries. The winner by audience selection was an Australian film called "Boo!" As well our favorites were another Aus film called "Old Lady Luck", and an Israeli film called "Welcome... And our Condolences", shot in a realistic amateur style, documenting one Russian Jewish family's Israel immigration nightmare. Very, very funny. There were lots of other great films, and the boys enjoyed debating the strengths and weaknesses of each before casting their votes.

Seated behind us quite by chance was Canadian/Australian couple and their four kids; they live in Haarlem near Amsterdam, and as their three oldest children are 15, 13, and 11, we have enjoyed some common activities, snorkelling and so on, and we had them over for bbq this week, trying out marinated grilled calimari, grilled flatbreads and tandoori chicken, followed by several sessions of "Loup-Garou" (Wher-wolf), a group card game introduced to us by TJ and Erica's family that works best with a large group.

We also bade farewell earlier this week to Miroslav and Ivana and their son, who left for Novisad... It has been great to catch up with them and we look forward to more dinners together when we meet again in Toronto, or next time here in Brač. Nada and her husband are also leaving to join them in Serbia, but invited us to come visit them anytime during the year. This part of Europe is definitely interesting and a very different place (and we haven't seen any of the interior, really) so perhaps we'll take advantage of a seat sale sometime soon.

No summer at the water is complete with a little cliff-jumping, so we hit the road a couple of days ago and went to the beach of Osibova, which is situated on the southwest corner of the island, near Milna, and opens out into the Adriatic proper. The water was a little different than on is side of the island as it doesn't receive the cold freshwater from Četina, and the bottom of the bay was more sandy. There is a nice rock, with a few perches of varying heights from 2 metres to four metres above the water, and the three men each had a jump. The climb was a bit challenging for Maggie's knee so she stayed in the water.

What else? I can't think of much else to report. We are leaving for Graz on Friday morning, then stop off in Bregenz for an overnight on the 13th, before heading home, arriving hopefully on the evening of the 14th. Happy summer to all!