My Home and Jim Freeman

Because I work from home and work together with my husband, my personal life is fully blended with my professional and my artistic life. It's all part of the whole.

If I were born as a British aristocrat, I would jump off the cliffs of Dover to make sure nobody finds me and puts me in a family tomb with all my horrible ancestors. If my husband was born as a British aristocrat, he would have loved it. He would go foxhunting, play polo, discuss politics, restore a few castles, stroll in the gardens, read a lot, sail yachts with other honorable men and smoke cigars after meal in the smoking room. He might have even acquired a taste for five-o-clock tea.

But he was born as an American, loves coffee and walks around in cargo pants and a t-shirt. But somehow, he managed to do all the above things anyway, during the time he lived in the US. Minus the castles, that is. After a carreer as a landscape architect, after sailing, horseback riding, hunting, boating and golfing, he came to Europe to finally do what he always wanted to do - write. He's been very prolific, completed three novels, screenplay, couple of short theater plays, over three hundred poems (see PragueWriter.com), hundreds of political columns (see Opinion-Columns.com).

When we met, we both lived and worked in Prague, we both wrote, we realized we have the same circle of friends. After a rocky start and resolving our previous relationships, we became inseparable. We have been toghether, rather literally together - 24 hours a day, since May 1995. That's more than a decade now. Wow - how did that ever happen? In any case, it's not going away. We got married in 2004 and we love being married.

In 1998, we decided we had enough of the bright lights of the big city and moved to the mountains in Northern Bohemia, about hour and a half away from Prague. We have, almost unintentionally, acquired the "L.L. Bean lifestyle". We are surrounded by deep woods, each Spring brings a burst of wildflowers in the meadows, each fall splendid colors and winters are fairytale white. We didn't know what we were going into, we just wanted to escape the city. It was my sister's genius idea to move to the mountains and I must thank her for talking us into it.

But access to nature is not the only thing (actually, I don't get out very much and mostly enjoy it as I look up from my desk). We've gained quality time with our friends. We don't see them at parties anymore, where everyone talks a small talk, we enjoy them coming up for a weekend, share meals, take long walks, relax in front of the fire. We have around fifty such visits a year - regular weekends, long holiday weekend, sometimes a week or two. In the skiing season, our guest rooms are sure to be full. Needless to say, that I'm delighted to have a small garden in front of the house and a big kitchen.

But if there is someone who really appreciates the outdoors, it's our Labrador Barkley. We got him as a puppy in 1996 and he changed our lives. We are sure that he's actually the main reason our friends come to see us :-) He also played an instrumental part in starting Helping Paws. Barkley is special and we honor him for that. Of course, most dog owners will tell you their dog is special. But Jim and I know many dogs to compare and must admit, that this dog is likely a reincarnated Buddhist - he's incredibly calm, patient and relaxed. If it wasn't for his patient eyes, I would sit in front of my computer all day. He's the main reason I get out and absorb the beauty surrounding me.

Having said that ... I'm off to tie together some pine cones with golden string for Christmas decorations and walk my dog in the freshly fallen snow.