had breakfast of which there was a very tasty dish of scrambled eggs. Then Kris gave Kasia a guitar lesson, teaching her how he goes about writing songs and some new guitar chords, with Paul adding in some great cello parts : )Kris & Kasia - The Lesson - YouTube Video
Afterwards Kasia offered to take us back up into the forest and show how to identify the edible
mushrooms. So stopping on our way to visit the half dozen or so pupples , we headed back into the woods. Basia graced us with her shy presence too – literally, she seemed beyond shy in wanting to be too much a part of the group and would often wander off int
o different parts of the woods from us. We had a wonderful time hunting through the woods and found ourselves further and further up the hillside of the forest in hunt of those tasty night shades. With Kasia’s keen eye and great tutoring of hunting for these hidden treasures, we were able fill up most of our baskets : )Basia's wandering ways concerned Kasia, and she often called for her sister to come join us. Soon 
Basia called out that she was heading back to the house. After looking for another 1/2 hour we heard someone else calling from further down the hill toward the house. Kasia called back to signal where we were. And soon, up the trail toward us comes 
Stanik and Basia astride the horses with the foal trailing nimbly behind. This time I couldn't resist when offered a ride... my fearlessness of youth had come back : ) Basia gave up her place in the saddle and followed us on foot as we left the rest of the group to collect mushrooms. We looped up and around the trail and started down the hill of the forest. Soon we came to a fork in the 
road; the left was a pretty little "easy" trail down and the right sported a steep twisting ravine with rocks, mud and trickling water... Stanik picked the trail less likely to be traveled and the his horse whether confused or not liking the idea refused to go down. Stanik's legs were thumping emphatically against the
horse and his arms were flapping up and down with the reins with no results. Finally, Basia scooted around the gelding trying not to slip on the steep muddy sides of the ravine and proceeded down the this craggy trail. Stanik's horse soon followed and mine as well. I was amazed thankful at the sturdy sure-footedness of the Konik horse/ponies!
Basia called out that she was heading back to the house. After looking for another 1/2 hour we heard someone else calling from further down the hill toward the house. Kasia called back to signal where we were. And soon, up the trail toward us comes 
Stanik and Basia astride the horses with the foal trailing nimbly behind. This time I couldn't resist when offered a ride... my fearlessness of youth had come back : ) Basia gave up her place in the saddle and followed us on foot as we left the rest of the group to collect mushrooms. We looped up and around the trail and started down the hill of the forest. Soon we came to a fork in the 
road; the left was a pretty little "easy" trail down and the right sported a steep twisting ravine with rocks, mud and trickling water... Stanik picked the trail less likely to be traveled and the his horse whether confused or not liking the idea refused to go down. Stanik's legs were thumping emphatically against the
horse and his arms were flapping up and down with the reins with no results. Finally, Basia scooted around the gelding trying not to slip on the steep muddy sides of the ravine and proceeded down the this craggy trail. Stanik's horse soon followed and mine as well. I was amazed thankful at the sturdy sure-footedness of the Konik horse/ponies!As we came out of the woods and entered the long field before the house we met up with the rest of the group and we took turns riding the horses back to the house.
You can see here in this video the pond that Stanik made with it's varied beautiful landscaping around it - Kris is feeding the baby horse stale bread that Maria gave us to give the horses : )
After another scrumptious feast by Maria with homemade black currant wine (yum) - we packed up our bags and started our goodbyes and took our parting "shot" - a pictures of this family we'd grown to love in just a few short days. Maria gave us the two paintings by Gosia I had admired on their walls; one a oil of a vase of flowers - for me, and another of an fresh and inviting bed by an open window - for Janie who she says works so hard that she needs to remember her bed so she can rest more. I was delighted to be taking back something to Bellingham that would forever remind me of this wonderful family.
Stanik came up the stairs with several bottles of home-made currant wine for us. Such a welcome treat!
It was so hard to say goodbye to our wonderful Poland family... I truly feel like I've left a part of myself behind with them. Happiness IS waiting in Rabka, Poland.
Before heading out of Rabka, we had one last mission. We needed to find Jan Zembal... another relative on my Grandfather's side who was said to live close to the train station. We had hope that he could provide some missing information regarding land-ownership of the Zembal family that would allow Nick to get his polish citizenship. Stanik, knowing the area well, offered to go with us in his car to translate although Nick is pretty darn good with the polish language - "Tahk, tahk!" (That's polish for "Ya, ya").When we showed up at the house we were instructed to go to the for the information from our cousin, the people knew of no Jan Zembal living recently, although they did know of one living more than a century ago (which was probably my great, great grandfather if that was the case). But they did know of someone who might be connected with the Zembal clan who lived up the hill. So with Stanik in the lead, we followed him up winding lanes, over narrow bridged creeks and along fence lines where mostly german shepherds barked out a warning not to cross into their yard... hmm, guess there's no such thing as polish sheperds. Luckily the house we were trying to find, and found, did not have a german shepherd. After waiting in the car while Nick
and Stanik went to the door to inquire, Nick motioned from the door of his older home to "come on"... come to find out the very man who's house this was, was at home and we were related to him!!!! In fact, he motioned to a pile of old boards and Nick indicated that he had got them out of "Florian Zembal's" old house (Florian was my grandfather's brother). Is this serendipitous or what!! ??
and Stanik went to the door to inquire, Nick motioned from the door of his older home to "come on"... come to find out the very man who's house this was, was at home and we were related to him!!!! In fact, he motioned to a pile of old boards and Nick indicated that he had got them out of "Florian Zembal's" old house (Florian was my grandfather's brother). Is this serendipitous or what!! ??In so many ways, this trip would not have been half as good without Nick. The wonderfully suggested itineary that we went with was all his ideas. Knowing our travel style, he got accomodations in places that allowed us to get the real flavor of Poland; apartments for rent, lodges and of course Maria and Stanik's. And he knew where and what was traditional polish food and drink fare. That afternoon, we started the 2 hour trek by to Gliwice where he had arranged for Kris to give a concert at the 4 Art Klub Muzyczny, Nick's personal favorite hangout in Gliwice. In grand generous Nick style he had greatly promoted Kris amoungst his friends and co-workers making up posters and with the help of his friend Sweet Awesome Ania (to the left of the stage area) who distributed the posters around town! For a Wednesday night the place was packd and Kristofer was greatly recieved getting a total of 3 encores. Once again, there was one polish lady sitting in the front by the stage who was glaring at anyone who was talking during Kris' performance : )
Late that night, after the concert and flush of Kris' fans, we proceeded back to Krakow - Kris would catch 3 hours of sleep, take a train to the airport and head back to Seattle. After catching a few winks, he'd drive to Spokane, Whitworth College for a concert with the rest of his band... Oh the life of being a rock star.
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