a lengthy post about a short weekend PART ONE

This weekend started at 6PM Friday evening and ended at 5PM Sunday. Was not really short, or shotrer than a weekend normally is, but for us, it was short. Because we thought we would have been able to spend twice the amount of time where we were.

Location: Tiszafüred, Eastern Hungary, besides Lake Tisza. Lake Tisza is a natural formation of River Tisza. I think it should be called a backwater.

This time the village of Tiszafüred hosted the Annual 'Fish Days', which event attracts hundreds of people. This is a recurring event at every second weekend of July. There are amusement parks, sales of all kinds and various performances for the children and for the adults as well.

We spent another weekend here, more than a year ago in 2006. That visit was entirely different. At that time there weren't really much people on the beach. Now it was noisy and crowded. I had to concentrate really hard to lock out the loud music, all sorts of, coming simultenously from the various locations of supposed entertainment, and the amount of people out of my mind.

Photo 1. Friday night. Children are children. We had to, just had to pay them for a ride.

Photo 2. Saturday, early morning at the Tisza. This is the view I adored a year ago and had wished to see more of this year, too - but had not really the chance.

Photo 3. Saturday morning. We are heading for the beach. The kids ran ahead of the parents in anticipation of the events. You bet they were waiting for some artificial fun, rather than seeking the mighty river... They will learn later on what the real values are...

Photo 4. The number of free mobile toilets tells us something about the number of visitors expected to the annual Fish Days. Back in 2006, there were none of these available. There is a standard stall of toilets of course at the beach, but no mobile ones. These were put here especially for the occassion.

Photo 5: There were different types of plastic houses. Made of soft plastic, kids can jump, crawl, slide and hide within them. The Hungarians call them 'castles for jumping', but someone might help me out with the proper English term, please? This one in the photo was the cheapest one available, and kids could stay for as long as they wanted. All the other 'jumping houses' were for only 10 minutes. Here there were 3 different types of houses within the same area and there were animators to take care of the kids. They drew and played other paper games as well. The only thing is that it was a promo-house of a candy maker (see the advertisement on the side of the slide? - I don't want to type it here into the text). All the other houses were expensive b/c they did not belong to any advertisement budget of a large company. Our kids spent 2 hours here, got home with some promo material, a packet of said company - a product we never would have bought otherwise, b/c its basically atrificial crap. The problem lies here: our kids took part in the advertisement plan and enjoyed the service of a company we, the parents despise and reject on the grounds of healthy eating. We took advantage of something we otherwise take no notice of. What do you think about the ethics of our decision to send the kids here, instead of a more, much more expensive jumping house, where there are no advertisement?

Photo 6: A boxing machine. You put a coin in, push a button, the sack descends so that you can punch it, you do and your strength is measured. Again - how would you call this machine? Punch-o-meter? Pictured people are not members of my family. They are friends.

Photo 7: Sweet's galore. These were the only normal delicacies (I have not tried them though) the restwas the usual overy sugared, artificially colored and flavoured stuff you find at these places.

Photo 8: Delicious dinner of fried meat and veggies. Our host was the mother of our friend. She invited us all into her weekend house and fed us with various kinds of yummy food.

Photo 9: A show by a famous flyer. People just sat at the bank and watched the show. If you ask me, this is just a huge waste of fuel... But cute aerobatics, nevertheless. And you just should not't ask me.Photo 10: At the fun cars, again. We call it 'dodgem'. And you?

Photo 11: The inevitable bacon on a stick. Some posts ago, some of you promised to try this Hungarian treat at home. How things are going?

That's all for now.

Comment I dare you all.

update on chicken

The first hatch of 2007 are quite a flock by now. They are almost grown-up animals. Here they are in their yard, up on a small tree. With Icecream on the far left, Seed standing upright in the middle, Caramel sitting besides him and Cloud on the far right. And there are 3 other chicken also there.

Below: Close up of Cloud.

Just to compare and to remember: the same Cloud at one week old.

this photo was made when the chicklets were a week old - note the gray ball (that is Cloud) and the creamy one on the far left, that is Icecream. The one at the bottom right must be Seed, but that's just a guess..

Hajas (huh-yush, Hairy) has started sitting on another pack of eggs this Tuesday. Hatching is expected around 23-25 July. This will be the 3rd this year! Wow.

We are going to River Tisza this weekend with friends. Photos will be coming on the way.

our daily bread - take it literally

This is how I make our daily bread. I am sorry for the quality of some of the upcoming photos, as almost all the photos were made by my left hand AND I am a right-handed person.

The first step is: Preparation.

All the ingredients and necessary equipment are put on the kitchen table. Flours, a spoon, scales, a large bowl.

Also needed: some liquid. It can be water. Alternatively, I mix water with some kind of milk - be it sweet or sour, yogurt or kefir. More often than not, we have at least one of these types of milks at home. The liquid is in the pitcher (in the above pic, at 11.) What you see in my hands is the key factor in making a home-made bread. The point is that is NOT yeast. It is very much like dough, as described here. But in my case (and it is the same as bread has been made at home over the thousands of years of human history) actually it is a piece of the last bread I made. I tear it out before baking the bread and it is stored in the fridge - until the next bread is prepared. The first time I made bread I got this piece from a girlfriend. Friendship spreads this way :)

Step 2. Putting the ingredients into bowl. In the first photo, you saw various kinds of flours. I often mix flours to make bread. We have spelt (fine and whole-grain) and winter wheat (fine) and rye (fine) flours at home. All these are organic. Recently I have bought a small package of pumpkin flour (not organic) to give occassionally some special flavour to the bread. Pictured is the making of a ryebread hence are the seeds. As you probably know, ryebread's got its distinctive flavour by the adding of caraway seeds. In the centre, there is the 'dough' - freshly taken out of the fridge. Not visible, but inevitable: salt and oil. Don't forget about them.

Step 3. Put all unnecessary things away from the table. While your hands are clean :)

Step 4. Working. You add the liquid of your choice in little amounts and swirl around within the flour mixture. The 'dough' becomes larger and larger as you do this. It seems that it takes up the fluid and combines it with the flour. As it grows bigger, you might feel the need to put more and more energy into the making. Below are the first drops of water enter the mixture - the 'dough' is not really bigger than it originally was.

Now the 'dough' has taken up almost all of the fluid. The process of working is nearing its end.

At this time more energy is needed on your part. Depending on the amount of flour, of course.

Some more pushing and pulling - avoid the strap of the camera from getting dirty (in case you're picturing making bread, that is)

This one below is a nice picture. It indicates that the mixture is ready: it comes off of your hands and the bowl is almost clean as well. Note the caraway seeds within.

Step 5. Wash your hands. Put the lid on the bowl, or cover it.

Step 6. Wait. Depending on the temperature, the quality of 'dough' and flours, the amount of bread and on your patience, waiting may take sometime between 2-7 hours. The more the better generally applies, but one can over-rise the bread. This might result in a really fermented, sour and sticky raw bread, which is really hard ot work with in the final phase. During waiting you can do anything. Go work, clean the house, have a rest - you might even go to a night's sleep.

Step 7. Preheat the oven. Prepare the pan by spreading a non-adhesive paper on the bottom.

Step 6. Put a little 'dough' away for the next bread. Inevitable step.

Step 7. Place the bread into the pan. When I make a double amount, that is, two breads: to avoid them from baking into one another, I cleverly put a paper roll, covered with non-adhesive paper all over, between the two raw breads. I'm so clever I invented this! Ok, I know I did not, but for myself, yes, it was a problem I solved.

Unfortunately, this is not in the pictures. I think I put it between them after I made the photo...

Step 8. Slice with a knife so that the air that is produced during baking can leave the bread. Without slices, the gas tends to find its way trhough the raw bread anyway - resulting in a torn apart, ragged appearance of the end product.

Step 9. Place into oven. Don't forget to put in the paper tube - my clever intention!

Step 10. Baking takes about an hour. Depending on the amount of bread, the heat, and the way you like your bread.

Step 11. Enjoy. I suggest putting the hot bread on something that allows airing. Otherwise the hotness results in dampness at the bottom of the fresh bread.

Step 12. Once cooled off, slice the bread to taste. If you have seemed to have made more bread than you directly need, don't hesitate to freeze it. I always do that. The result? One-day 'old' bread, fresh bread all the time...

Next session: what to spread on the bread. If you follow me, you'll see that too.

to a hawk

I hear your calling

you talk to me without words

touch me without hands

look at me without eyes

I feel your presence

you are here without a body

creep inside amd make me

weep without tears

the circles are getting wider

as I draw higher up above

seeing more

wanting more

I am released like a bird from a cage, again

a photo quiz

UPDATE -

The little quiz below has a winner and I will soon post the photo to prove.

We seem to have started another part in building our house. We are covering it with isolation units - to give a house a protection against loosing its heat during the wintertime and getting overheated in the summer. The units are fixed on the walls from the outside with a simple method. My husband does the job and I'm helping him.

The kids are around as usual.

And now about the quiz.

The question is as simple as this:

WHAT'S THIS?

Submit your answers among the comments.

look at the sky

New Moon and her standard companion, planet Venus. Photo made in our garden, on 18 June.

ignis fatuus

the tunnel is covered in smooth velvet walls
dark green as the northern sides of trees within friendly woods
the path is even and easy, welcoming your humble feet
and the end is visible and clear, glowing with shine -
oh my dear, yes it's time you woke up.

Photo by me in September 06, The Netherlands.

how is YOUR blog rated?

According to Mingle2's evaluation....

According to Mingle2: 'This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

pain (8x)
dead (3x)
death (1x)'.

Thanks Melly, for the idea!

Midsummer

Have a happy celebration!

I will be away for a while - I'm going on a one-day trip to Lake Balaton on 23 June (I promise there will be some photos), my mother and her husband are coming over between 24 and 27 June, and basically, I need to get some time out.

Those who are careful enough might have noticed that I have started another site in which I wish to monitor my way to creating something of a short story - not that I work much with that... But that's what I aspire to. Although -

Time and kids and husband.

Impede.

Demand.

Too much.

Need to get some time out.

Have fun while I'm away.

Here's U2's One - I liked it when it first came out but started to get the meaning of it a bit later and now I feel it describes my own life and especially my partnership...not that this realization makes me happy at all - I'm rather sorry to see it.

The eight random facts meme

Allright. I was tagged by Beth some time ago and I wish to supply you with all these unnecessary information about me...

1. Although my skin is never white (say, it's yellowish in the winter and bronze-ish in the summer) and my hair is long, a bit wavy and rather really black than brown, my eyes are blue. This fact about my eyes usually surprises those who have not really cared to look into the eye and have only a faint recognition of my overall complexion.

2. I prefer cold weather to hot anytime. I can enjoy hiking at degrees below zero, but when it reaches above 25 C, there's nothing much to do around for me, really.

3. I have a strange way to numbers and regularity. When I work (at home) I measure my time spend working in 15 minutes. For each 15 minutes I put a sign into a printed schedule that shows the hours of the day, divided into 15 minutes. Basically, this is how I measure the amount of time I work - for I am paid on a time-basis. When I do aerobics at home, I count everything. Whatever excercise I'm doing I'm doing 10-15-20-25 of that. I can't and won't do, like 13 of situps. That sounds nonsense to me. I do either 10 or 15. Talking of excercise, I do it almost everyday, do 30 minutes almost everday and do it almost always between 9,30 and 11,30 AM. I've been even known for cancelling appointments that would collide with that daily routine. But behold! We have monthly meetings with my husband, when we assing duties for the coming month and evaluate the completion of tasks assigned for the past one. We've been doing it for 10 years now and it is really interesting to look back at things of the past. 'See? We had been unable to fix that curtain for 6 months!! Bwah-hah-hah!!!'

4. I used to have a Gordon setter. I called her Niki (pronounce as Nicky). I walked her a lot and so I did while we were hiking. At one time she caught a baby mouflon. We were on a three day-hike with my husband so we kept the flesh and had it for dinner over open fire. I also took her to traning lessons and trained her myself as well. She was an eager learner, lover of woodlands and a very disloyal company. Anyone who offered a larger chunk of food was her best friend at any given moment. I took her to Dog Shows as well. I bred her, had my own kennel name, which is now my password to my blog account - so don't ask for it.I loved doing this, but I doubt I will ever have a dog again.

5. In wintertime, chopping firewood is one of my favourite activity. It is excellent for releasing stress. Also it is useful, for our house is heated with wood only. Also, it strengthens my hand muscles to a level that leaves male visitors impressed.

6. I am addicted to the Internet and to my PC in general. I have to take serious measures on the daily basis to avert myself form sitting in front of the monitor. What do I do? Reading blogs, playing online games, writing..... When I'm not on the net, I enjoy my other life just as much and really can get involved in life, but distraction is not easy.

7. I had the chance to visit the Grand Canyon in 1991. We were a group of 9 people, travelling in a Chevrolet station wagon. I usually sat on the furthest back seat, with lots of baggages, but no human else. When we arrived to the parking lot, everyone hurried out to go and visit the 'Nice Hole'. I said everyone and meant everyone but me, for I was unable to leave the car: I was reading a novel and was on the last pages and was unable to leave the story behind. Even if the alternative activity was visiting the canyon, I stayed in the seat until I finished reading. The novel that outshone the canyon was Madeleine L'Engle's 'A Swiftly Tilting Planet'. The beauty of the Grand Canyon utterly impressed me, nevertheless....! And I wish to return.
8. So far, so good... I have managed to collect facts that are either interesting, or sort of funny. At least nothing gloomy and really bad... Okay, let's give it a try. I'm a hermit-type of person. I like inviting people to my house, making them feel allright, have an entertaning couple of hours, and also I like being invited to parties and/or hike around in the wild with people, but if I'm asked, 90 of 100 occasions I would prefer being alone anywhere anytime to being with anyone.

There you have it. Pictures were 'taken' from the internet - except for photos for 1, 2 and 5

Summer

Summer, you liar

you make me believe you'd stay in my garden

and in my soul forever

and this lush fabric of life'd grow and bloom

into infinity

that my bones'd be heated by the ever raising Father

our Sun above

and summer, you fake lover, you make me forget

just about everything

but you

on summer food and water management

Last weekend we were having fun at a small village called Bogács. If you take a look at the Hungarian page of the famous spa, you'll get an image of what it is like. The village is based on spa-tourism. The main attraction is the special mineral warm water, which is said to cure many diseases, especially those of the locomotory, rheumatic and some gynaecological kind.

People can come all year round for a treatment, for there are pools with 'average water' as well.

Kids spend hours in the kids' pool. And what do people eat?

In Hungary, the standard menu on a place like this is icecream, pancakes (those are not pictured) and the scone. (called lángos in Hungarian, pronounce like luhn-ghosh). It is made of raised dough, something similar to the dough of bread, but it is fried in oil.

It is always served salted and hot (I don't mean hot as spicy, but as really, really warm)

You can top it with meshed garlic, that is the traditional kind, but grated cheese melted on the hot scone also satisfy your needs.

Here they are:

topped with sour cream and grated hard cheese

and this above is the simple one, with meshed garlic.And this is how it is eaten:
What else did you expect?

Besides scones, the fish and chips is also a sort of must-have at a spa. This is how we have it in Hungary.

And now, on to the topic of water management. Fish are considered a rarity in today's Hungarian cuisine in Hungary. While an average member of the EU consumes 22 kg of fish a year, the same figure for an average Hungarian is only 2,8 - one third of which is eaten before and around Christmas.

But it was not always the case. The Carpathian basin is full of rivers. The reason we consume less of this extremely healthy animal is not that two-third of the territory was cut off some 80 years ago - no, the signs of bad started much earlier.

Our main rivers, especially the Tisza, used to have an extensive system of backwaters. It surely did not allow for a quick water-based transport and due to regular, annual floods much of the land was unsuitable for arable management. During the late XIX century, much of the bends were straightened and much, if not all, of the prevoius floodlands were turned to agricultural areas. Consult this old map. The strong lines detail the present bed, whereas the dim arches show where the river used to be. Dim striped areas used to be floodlands.

Kudos, then?

Not so very much. Water management did speed up the flow of the river, making navigation easily available and faster. There were more areas to grow wheat or corn on. So? So?

The fast river still floods each year, washing away number of houses in certain years.

The ecosystem was seriously hurt - although the past long decades after the management were enough to allow for the estbalishment and slow development of a new one. I am not an ecologist, I've heard it from a friend, who is. The following short explanation is based on what he said to me:

'Flood, and the numerous branches and bends of Tisza were used by the people living there. They used to cut off certain parts of the river only to release it later on again and they bred fish. Various types of freshwater species. A whole cultural system was built upon the circumstances. The equipment they used were special, too. Fish were available in abundancy. People had fish, perhaps every day. Eating healthy fish was not restricted to some summer weekend when the family goes to a spa. Now we have to raise fish in artificial ponds. We are even stooped to import fish from whoever-knows-where. Managing backwaters and bendlets, raising fish on a daily basis, providing a smaller community with food used to give a natural and healthy and all-year occupation to many. This is what the lovers of the River Tisza weep for.'

I hear this man. And his love for Tisza caught me, too.

update: I'll be away for the weekend. Will be back when I have time to write. I'm planning to do the 8 strange things about you meme, for I have been tagged a good fortnight ago by Beth...

a what?

Let's play.

I invite you to present English words, expressions and/or sentences that read the same from the front as from backwards. What did I just mean?

Palindromes.

Here are my versions (with my lame translations in brackets and italics)

--- Erős a sas őre. (the eagle has a strong guard)
--- Erőszakos kannak sok a szőre. (the agressive male has lots of hair)
--- Az a hat ló Bartókot rabolta haza. (these six horses captured Bartók home)
--- Indul a pap aludni. (the priest is going to sleep)
--- Indul a görög aludni. (the greekman is going to sleep)
--- Indul a kutya s a tyúk aludni. (the dog and the hen are going to sleep)
--- Géza, kék az ég. (Look, Géza, the sky is blue)
--- Leventét nevel. (he's raising a fighter)
--- Réti pipitér. (THIS IS NOT translation: this is the name of a flower that actually exists)
--- Goromba rab morog. (the impolite prisoner is grouching)
--- Csak a mama makacs. (only mommy is obstinate)

But hear the LONGEST palindrom in Hungarian:

"Kis erek mentén, láp sík ölén, oda van a bánya rabja, jaj Baranyában a vadon élő Kis Pálnét nem keresik."

This is a silly sentence, though a Hungarian speaker can completely understand it. No word-plays or slangs or really rare words. Maybe, some poetric images.

Here's my translation:

'Beside small creeks, on the heart of marshlands, the prisoner of the mine is gone, oh, the nomad wife to Kis Pál, is not sought after in Baranya anymore.'

Applause.

an evening story to Hajas

The mother Hen was walking along the edge of the forest with her chicklets. They were all enjoying the fresh grass and everyone picked on the wild flowers, too. Once they saw that curious little chiklet that came out of the bushes. It was so sparkling and colorful. 'Oh, you must be the Princess of Chickens, for your plumage is so full of colors' - they said the new chicken in amazement. 'Yes, I am' it answered. 'And you must be the chicken family that lives in the village down there'.
'Please, come and have dinner with us' - the family invited the Princess.
They all walked down to where the Hen and her chiklets lived. There were plenty of seeds there. And they tasted the corn in the yard. They ate so much they fell asleep. Everyone slept in the henhouse and let the Princess slept on the highest rod.

Photo: by me on 7 June, 2007. Hajas's name is to be pronounced as 'Huh-yush'

I ran over a noodle because I'm a Ninja!

PRE-WORD:

this is to satisfy my readers, including myself. For it is fun.

PLUS, this is one of the stupidest, simpliest things I've ever read on a blog. And one of the funniest, too. Tell me your sentences - into the comments section.

Pick the month you were born:

January------I kicked

February-----I loved

March---------I karate chopped

April-----------I licked

May-----------I jumped on

June----------I smelled

July-----------I did the Macarena with

August-------I had lunch with

September---I danced with

October------I sang to

November----I yelled at

December----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:

1- ------a birdbath

2-------a monster

3-------a phone

4-------a fork

5-------a snowman

6-------a gangster

7-------my cell phone

8-------my dog

9-------my best friends' boyfriend

10-------my neighbor

11-------my science teacher

12-------a banana

13-------a fireman

14-------a stuffed animal

15 -------a goat

16-------a pickle

17-------your mom

18---- ---a spoon

19------- a smurf

20-------a baseball bat

21-------a ninja

22-------Chuck Norris

23-------a noodle

24-------a squirrel

25-------a football player

26-------my sister

27-------my brother

28-------an ipod

29-------a surfer

30-------a llama

31-------a homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:

White--------because I'm cool like that

Black---------because that's how I roll

Pink----------because I'm NOT crazy

Red----------because the voices told me to

Blue----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want

Green---------because I think I need some serious help

Purple--------because I'm AWESOME!

Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader

Yellow--------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars

Orange -------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway

Brown--------because I can

Other---------because I'm a Ninja!

None----------because I can 't control myself

you helped me out with this poll

June 8 th FRIDAY UPDATE and END RESULTS

I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to this little survey. It appears that 5 readers have found the test interesting enough to tell me and the whole world the reason(s) for READING blogs.

If you still wish to express your opinion, scroll a little below and pick your choice(s).

If you want the results, here they are:

Out of 5, 3 people voted that the main reason for reading a blog is EITHER looking for virtual friendship OR looking for fun and light-hearted stuff. And those take 60% of the readers.

These were the more prominents reasons, but again, this is not a world-wide survey, you know.

Other reasons of importance were looking for interesting, inspiring material AND looking for something to spend my spare time with (this one cracked me up a bit, to be honest) AND also looking at different cultures and lives of faraway people. All the aforementioned 3 reasons were important for 40% of the voters.

The least important aspects were looking for some deep thoughts to chew on and looking for nice photos, and the 'other' option. These were only chosen by 1-1 of my readers.

I did NOT voted in this poll, but my preference would have been, and still is:

1. I'm looking for interesting, inspiring material that makes my mind going.

2. I'm looking for some deep thoughts to chew on.

3. I'm looking for virtual friendship.

And this is not supposed to mean that I reject fun stuff, which I don't. And also, I'm just as much interested in the lifes and thoughts of people living all around the world and the next door ... :-)

Below is the original post and the poll. If you are new to this poll, go ahead and let your opinion be heard.

---------

There has been a slight misunderstanding between me and a fellow blogger. She claimed that people visit blogs CHIEFLY for they seek an easily digestible form of reading. Being a smart writer herself, I really doubt her reasoning.

This is a MULTIPLE-CHOICE poll. So, you can choose any answer(s) that fit(s) you the best. Also, there is an option for 'Other' - where you can write whatever reason(s) you have. Thanks for cooperation!

Update: I have not voted in this poll. If any of the options seems unclear, please let me know so that I can clarify it.