The Sheepish Pond

11:08 PM

After all the excitment of treking across Europe, we've settled down with our new hosts Elke and Rene in Austria. Three years ago, which is actually around the same time we moved to NY, they moved out to the countryside to live more sustainably and are totally rocking it. Their little farm includes a whole flock of turkeys, a coop full of chickens, three cows, two horses, two dogs and two little boys of their own, not to mention their ever expanding garden and the fruit trees dappling the yard. It's a lot of things going on but that means a lot of their meals are created from ingredients found right on their property. Which make for extra tasty meals, trust us.

Their setup has been continually impressive, but definitely a switch for us from eating peach loops and kicking back with the Wildsmith. Yes, we totally blame you Debbie for not working us harder and preparing us! So while we have generally kept to our NY bedtime of midnight, after all the chores and upkeep of the farm during the day I've been passing out earlier and ealier. I almost couldn't believe myself the other day when Skyping with my grandparents and I literally said "Oh, well it's almost nine so I'm going to head to bed soon!" and meant it.

So as our bodies settled into the work, we debated what to do for our upcoming day off. We wanted to be active but also wanted to relax, wanted a chance to venture outside the farm but not to have to go too far. Elke and Rene ended up coming up for the solution for us and offered us a pair of bikes to ride to their pond property only a few miles away. Thinking of how we hadn't used our swimsuits even once during the trip (Thanks for the summer weather, Scotland), we jumped at the chance and biked away that morning, unsure of what to expect.

After a bit of a false start where we got lost almost immediately (because what kind of trip would it be without it) we rode up and down the hilly countryside of east Austria to come upon a little pond oasis. While Elke and Rene share the property with another couple, we had the place to ourselves for most of the day and alternated between floating around on the inflatable boat and laying out in the sun. When she wasn't barking at the three sheep guarding the next pond over, Winry even jumped onto the boat with us and manned Zach manning the oars.