The first semester

My son is finally home for another two weeks. He has finished the first semester of the MSc graduate training at Sopron to become a forest engineer.

Now there are only 9 more semesters to go. I know, I know, this is just the beginning. But if he keeps liking the things he studies here and the prospects of life his future diploma may hold, he will keep on marching towards his MSc title.

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My tennis elbow on the other hand feels all right. I mean it does not go away. I overloaded my body with lots of gardening stuff in mid to late October in 2015 so by early November my right forearm has become deformed. Not knowing of the condition and to avoid pain I kept my forearm in slightly arched position and it stayed. I was practically unable to straighten it. A bit frightening sight, if you ask me. So I had to visit a specialist and by mid December I received two steroid injections. The deformity has gone now. Certain movements do hurt (like I twisting my hand when I am holding onto something between my fingers such as opening a door with a key). I can not lift anything heavy and I can not chop firewood. Well, I can, per se, but when I do such activities say more than 3 (not an accurate number, just a guess) times per day my night's gone due to the pain.

I hope to get recovery by March for the pruning season.

My chances are low.

Wow.

I am beginning to sound like the Dear Cat Diary, heh.

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and the Danube keeps flowing on

my recent job sort of ended this tuesday. 

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this is good news, my friends.

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green tomato jam

i had the chance to taste the new jam we made this last Sunday.

the ingredients, in receding order of their respective weight are: green tomatoes, sugar, organic orange peel.

we also used a small bottle of blackberry jam, home made in 2010.

nothing else.

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the taste and texture of he jam is quite like that of a fig marmelade.

tangy and sweet.

suggested use: with yougurt, or cream.

serve chilled.

nomm-nomm!

a new wall

Reconstruction mode [ON]

This photo below depicts the installation of a fresh-new door between the old kitchen (going to be a bedroom for the parents) and the other parts of the house. By separating a bedroom a relatively narrow corridor is also created, but there are downsides to every coin.

We had two friends helping here.

Later on the same day. The wall is higher.

Outside, it's much more peaceful in the garden.

wine, good reading and chicken

Jason's having another writing contest. Check out all the fine entries HERE. the contest is open until 15 July.

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(I'm out of practice these times and don't really feel like entering. It's just not my time these days, no, definitely not...)

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This summer we only had two hatchings so far. I have already posted photos of the first litter, and these here are of the second one. Congratulations to Hajas (pronounce as huh-yush), who, despite her mature age (she's bordering 4 years, I guess, but that's just a guess..) managed to hatch 11 and raise 10 babies. These two photos were made in June 23 by my son, who found interest in recording his favourite hen.

The photos below were made on July 8 by me. Hens guarding youngsters are always allowed to have their way in the garden, while every other chicken are kept in a closed yard.

This summer we had lots of rain. This shows. Just have a look at our vegetable garden. In some of the rows there are the second sowings of salads and peas.

Happy Easter!

Spring is officially here and it was -1 degree Centigrade this morning. The baby chicken are hatching.

It is a Full Moon today and Easter is just around the corner. The kids are home from school. We have two birthdays in the family. My daughter is turning 8 and DH's mother's becoming 70. We also celebrate my son's name-day.

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Easter is an important event in the Hungarian traditons.

The ancient people celebrated goddess Villő (will-and add a long vowel as i in bird) these days. She was an elf who brought spring along into the world. She had flowers and green twigs in her hair and shells all over her body. Winter retreats when she comes.

A doll made of straw symbolizing winter was thrown into water and/or burned.

Winter disappears into water and from water emerges spring.

Water has a central importance in Eastern festivities. In the old times, men used to throw water on women.

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Now Hungarian men and boys sprinkle women and girls with fragnance.

In return, they are given decorated eggs and/or chocolate, and more recently, money.

People gather together and eat a lot during Easter. The main meal is boiled, smoked ham and hard-boiled eggs. Sausages and other types of pork are also favoured.

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Christianity has also put down its two cents around Eastern.

While invincibility sounds just fine, I do think the idea was taken a bit too far.

The idea of staying alive and not getting deteriorated according to the laws of nature feels strange, but it is a genuie and appealing one for the many.

Many heroes and saints of Christianity also stayed intact even after death.

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Just a moment before indulging in the admiration of the revival of the outer world, many people find Eastern a time to find examine their beliefs.

I have mine, but for those of you who are open to an interesting self-survey, this place is a must-visit. There are questions and no wrong answers. All you have to do is to listen what your inner side tells you. At the end you are told that what religion are your beliefs come closest the most. I did this test twice and was found Neo-pagan once and Mahayana Buddhist the other time.

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The very first photo of the very first baby chicken. Hajas (Huh-yush), a Japanese mixed hen is still sitting on the eggs. The first chick to hatch is a Partridge-colored Hungarian purebred. Click on the photo to enlarge. This photo was made on 21 March 2008.

Update on chicken: We have checked the henhouse to find two more babies: two Turkens.

a short entry

First of all, I'd like to thank each one of you for commenting on my loooong post below.

Your thoughtful notes contributed to seeing more clearly and understanding my choice. Thank you! I decided to talk in person to those concerned.

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In the meantime, I'm still doing my ordinary job, which may sound weird to those who have regular jobs. But I'm a freelancer and there are times when I have no work to do at all and there are times when I have just as much as I can handle. This is what is going on now :)

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Also, Chris had a 4-part writing exercise, which is over now, but the blog specially created for reading everyone's entry is up until the end of March. Go over and check the entries (there are about 6-8 stories). It may take some time though as each entry consists of 1200-4000 words.

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In other news, buds are opening on black currant bushes. Crocuses are a-blooming. The tulips have their leaves out. The keeps blowing like hell and my head aches. And, there is only a week to go to see the baby chickens. I can already imagine their feet trampling over the grass like clumsy, giant trolls - as if they ever were, you know. When they hatch, their size is the same as that of an egg...who would have thought that, anyway...? and they have a shape of a ball. This photo was made in 2007. It's either Fagyi (Icecream) or the late Hógolyó (Snowball).

springtime

These days, while I'm not reading the entries to Jason's contest, I'm translating two texts. One is the summarized, English version of a PhD-thesis. It is 8 pages and about spiders and Bt-corn. I translate that from Hungarian. The other is a collection of case studies about successful agricultural ventures all over the world. Enough said. No questions will be left unanswered.

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Spring might be here. Here are my proofs:

Exhibit One:

Hajas has been sitting on eggs for hours on. She definitely wants to have chicken. I was so thrilled by the idea that I hurried to the nearest animal farm to get eggs. It's not that our eggs are unfertile, but this way I bought Turken eggs!

Exhibit Two:

My daughter was at home with some light illness the day before and we sowed carrots and parsley.

Exhibit Three:

we are planning the order of vegetable rows in the small vegetable garden we have.

Below are some photos of our garden, taken in 2007.

Fresh, lush green. What else? From front to back: salads, two rows of carrots and a double line of garden peas.

Irrigation pipes. Water comes from our well, so it's free, if you do not mind the charge for the electric pump. There are 10 pipes with plants on both sides of the lines. This means 20 lines alltogether. Here, there's parsley on the left and celeriac on the right. It turned out to be a nasty combo. Celeriac overgrew parsley, of which we hardly had any. We'll do it better this time!

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And someone else seems to be dreaming of spring, too - who else than KDLang? It is a slideshow made by a fan, to one of KD's latest song.

If I was a flower...how about you? - UPDATED

I am an Echinacea What Flower Are You?

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See also a nice article about religious intolerance in modern times.
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All right. Some of you might remember the joke that not everyone got. Here's another one, which will be explained at Monday 11 February, 11,00 AM, GMT. It is a sort of a Brit sense of humor - the one that no everyone likes. I think I like it very much - here we go:

SPOILER AHEAD:

Time's up - Here's the explanation:
The joke is that there's no joke.
The man wanted money, and got it.
He wanted to have a date with a famous lady and he got that one too.
Finally, he wanted a lampshade as a head.
All his 3 wishes were fulfilled.
It is as simple as that.

The listener expects that something funky has happened to the man with the lampshade. But there was no funky at all.
He got what he wanted.
All the 3 times.

We expect an unexpected and then a most ordinary thing happens.

And there's also a twist:
Wishes are also fulfilled in dreams/movies/jokes.
And now, this wish is quite extraordinary - but in a joke it just happens as if it was nothing special.

Well, that's about that.

Herb Garden and Chicken

Hajas and her chicklets in the raspberry stand.

This is the view from the west (from the side of the house). Please note the tulips - no photoshop involved. I bought the bulbs last September in Amsterdam. My son got an immediate liking to the color and shape of the flowers on the bag so he insisted on planting all of them by himself. He did a good job.
This is the side view. The Herb Garden we have is not very large, in fact it is quite small. To be more honest, it is just a fragment of garden to fill in the space between an inward triangle beside the house. It used to be a barren, flat land, devoid of any enjoyable form of life when we moved here 7 years ago. We started mulching and watering it and formed the sides with the help of large limestones.We enjoy spices, herbs and some roses there.

This is a close up of herbs. Can you name them?