What a lovely
week...regardless of the 40C temps, in the shade, on the
verandah...it was just so nice to keep walking back and forth in the
house without jumping over scaffolding or cement bags!
So, I've had a week
or 2 off...well, not really, as all the fruit and vegies were ready
for picking and preserving.
Man, they work
really hard over here for about 6 months, gardening, picking,
preparing and preserving the fruits and vegies. Amazing...non stop
all day, every day!
I went along with it
all this year, enjoying it as I planted, picked, prepped and
preserved tomatoes, plums, apricots, crab apples, elderberries and
apples!
So, after all of that fun, I have decided I need a big deep freezer, a cook, a gardener
and a landscaper, among other things, for next year!
Always wanted to do
this, but there is absolutely no time for yourself...or travel, from
about April through to end September by the looks of things.
And the peaches are
not even half ripe yet, so they'll be next. The little old peach tree
is loaded with fruit with its bending branches propped up with drain pipes!
My freezer is
full...I had to sort it all out this weekend and tidy it up to fit
everything in. So, will have to learn how to preserve the peaches in
the bottle, like the old Fowlers Vacola system, in the next few
weeks.
That was one thing I
never learned from Mum, although she taught me to cook...well enough
to win many first prizes in the local show each year and take out the
under 16 years championship one year and win a full “Guinea”
which was 1 pound and one shilling! ($2.10 in dollars) back then when
wages were 5 pounds a week, that was a small fortune!
But for some reason,
I never learned to “bottle” the fruit!
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| Such pretty skies at this time of year... |
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| ...and even the gladdies match the pastel skies this season. Very different to the vibrant explosion of bright colours last year! |
Now as I come to do
my blog, there is no internet today...it rained overnight and
internet has been off all day, but I can still type in Word and will
copy and paste it onto the blog when the 'net comes back on.
It's been a
delicious 22C Sunday with a lovely cool breeze blowing through the
place after the wind and rain.
Just my sort of
weather.
It made me wonder
what on earth am I doing here in central Europe, with a couple of
months of 40C summer days?
I didn't sign up for
that, so a thought crossed my mind to do something about it for next
year.
Am so energised in
the cooler weather, can think clearly and work all day without even
thinking about the temperature.
But the heat keeps
me inside for July and August...so that is not good...and I like to fix things that are not good...So, looks like a summer getaway to somewhere in the southern hemisphere next year.
Must wait for internet to come back on, but Patagonia comes to mind...Is it south of the Equator...without looking... anyone?
I left OZ because I
spent 8 months a year, gasping for breath like a guppy fish out of
water and sighing and wandering around in a daze. Anything after 24-27C, depending on humidity
and I'm pretty useless.
Low blood pressure in the heat, sends all the blood to the skin to cool you down, therefore not much gets to vital organs..
A doctor in OZ, some years ago offered me pills, but he said they weren't much good really. He knew my attitude to quackery potions and that I would not take them anyways.
But, he jokingly said..."Look, the best thing for you,would be to go to a colder climate".
I asked was that for real...he said yes and explained the mechanics of his theory, which I already had guessed, and here I am.
A bit off course, but close enough to rectify a minor course correction for a few months each summer.
Luckily there is
little to no humidity here, that I feel, so at least I'm not gasping
in the heat...only rendered useless for 2-3 months a year.
Being inside is fine, but 2-3 months of that is a bit much, especially after the brutal winters where nothing is virtually open, no one ventures out very much and a type of hibernation sets in. It really is interesting to do a live in study of the lifestyles in villages in distant lands.
Now I'm not
traveling back and forth all the time, I'm very aware of the fact
that those precious 2-3months are going by so fast, without me on board...twice a year now!!! So
fix it Mary...and soon!
I've sorted out the winter thing...I love the snow and snow sports, so that is all planned now and all I have to do is either close up the house for a couple of months...Dec, Jan. or find some one who wants free accom for 8-10 weeks and I'm off like a rocket.
......................................................
Imre started
repairing the front of the house last week and got a lot done. He
pulled all the front render off...most of it was hollow underneath
and just fell off once he touched it!
It was about an inch
thick in some places and we eventually uncovered the original colours
of the house under the inch of render...it was almost the same yellow
as it was when I came here!
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| It took him about 30 mins to knock all the loose stuff off the front of the house...he touched it and everything came down! |
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| The first decorative panel has gone...starting on the next one... |
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| Then when I looked again, the window trim was gone and he had not made a template for the replacement yet! So, next...make a template! |
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| He's using the mesh (that he puts over everything to hold it together) as a template...clever idea actually, as you can see what you are doing! |
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| Now for the circle bit in the middle... |
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| It looks better already! well, sort of!!! |
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| Can you see how thick the new coating, applied 50 years ago, is/was? Almost an inch thick...revealing almost the same colour it was when I came 3 years ago! |
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| Meanwhile, I'm in the kitchen, stewing up the vegies and fruit...and the neighbour brings me in tea...hot, cooked corn cobs and another dish of tomatoes! |
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| Meanwhile, back outside, Imre has completed the base prep work on the front... |
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| Now he fills all the pot holes and has to do this over 2 days so it sets slowly, in the shade of the afternoons. |
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| He applies wooden framing to create even edges around the windows instead of using wooden frames...Wood gets eaten over here by wood worms, so support timbers are not used much. Cement architraves outside is the order of the day. |
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| A morning glory flower...quite pretty really. |
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| Of course, Bear thinks he is always beautiful! |
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| He does not like the heat at all... |
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| My back neighbour with all the corn and tomatoes...at 7am, headed for some bags of duck food at the shop up the road! |
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| Elderberries waiting to be made into jelly or jam! |
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| My little tomatoes waiting to be made into stewed tomatoes, chutney and tomato juice for cooking. |
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| Then another neighbour called me over to pick myself some blackberries... |
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| A bucket of plums I just picked at 6am, waiting to be made into plum puree and frozen. It seems I'm only allergic to the raw plums, which give me the itchy scratchies! The stewed ones, with a dash of sugar, seem to be OK this year. Taking it easy though! |
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| Basics all ready for the final two coats of goop and render. Then he repairs the two brown cement long trims up the top and renders over the bricks at the bottom too. |
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| Getting very close to being a brand new look! |
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| It got too hot to render, so Imre made up the 2 trims instead! Awesome, hey??? He cut the holes after this was taken...Looking great. He'll undercoat them before putting them up next week. |
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| Just checking all is well and that they fit ok! |
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| A bad pic, but the pattern is OK to follow! |
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| Juci making Palinka. She collects all the dropped fruit on the ground, puts it in this huge 44 gallon drum , covers it and lets it ferment until October. Then I'll find out the next step! |
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| It's actually bubbling...by itself! Plums from under my trees, dead apples from around, more plums from other friends...all go in together to make the local moonshine. 40 plus percent. It is a traditional drink all over Europe...called Rackia, in Serbia, Palinka here, and all sorts of local names wherever you are. |
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| Juci, a widow, planted all this corn for her chooks for winter...It is about a half acre full of corn. Amazing. |
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| All ready for Mondays' finishing render coats... |
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| Filling in time while the sun was on the front of the house, preventing work, Imre and Dirk cleaned up all the small wood and cut it up and put it in the wood shed for winter. |
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| Enough starter deal/kindling for a few months I think... |
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| There is still this big pile of posts to cut up, but most of them are in good condition, so will wait until the Honeymoon cottage is completed and see if there are places to use these for fencing etc.around the area to screen it off from wherever? |
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| Zoltan putting in the dining area window...a spare one I had for the kitchen...which ended up being the bath room! |
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| Typical guys at work, with family or friends checking in....! hahaha...hands on hips, cigs in mouth, standing around to check out the munka! You just have to get used to some things in life! |
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| Meanwhile, Bear nearly expired in the heat, so I allowed him in the entry where it was a cool 26C with a breeze coming through...But that didn't last long, as he sneaks around, taking my shoes, slippers, toilet paper, whatever he can carry out, without making a noise, or me seeing him. he chewed the sole on one of my new slippers to bits...so he is banned...heat or no heat next week...he stays outside and behaves like real dogs over here do! |
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| I put a mirror there and he spends all day chatting away to the friendly dog in the mirror! He paws at it, looks behind it at times, but mostly, just snuggles up to it! |
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| Back to the kitchen...plum spread and puree on the way! I really don't make jam...too much sugar, so I stew the plums (fruits) and put a few spoons of sugar in, boil it up, no added water, strain it off after cooking for about 30 mins, and.push everything through a sieve, bottle it then freeze it. The result is very nice! Awesome colour on white yoghurt! |
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| That time of year again... |
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| Can you believe this is the same sky...just a turn away a bit? Amazing colours... |
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| The sunsets last a good time here just now...so it gives you time to get your camera and enjoy them, before they are gone. |
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| I finally worked out how to get a pic of Bear, without him trying to eat the camera, or move around a lot. Wait for dark and use the flash...from a distance! |
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| The gladdies are pretty whimpy this year...Not happy with the brand at all. |
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| Digging out the front yard on Monday morning...the whole 2 foot 6 inches width of it...getting ready to render the bricks... |
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| Ah well, there goes my Iris plants! |
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| Look at that! Wow, it will be a complete new look for sure! Have to pick colours now. I'm thinking white and instead of traditional, 100 years ago brown, I'm going with a teal colour I think. I found some teal paint on the front gate and in a few other places, so even though the house itself wasn't teal blue, it soon will be trimmed with that...I'm thinking. With a new piece of front fence here soon, it will look pretty schmik, I think. |
He also made the 2
decorative pieces for above the front windows and the side tiddly
bits that go there also. This week he'll complete rendering the
front, but has to wait until the sun goes past...after lunch, as the
render goes to powder if it dries too quickly or it's too hot.
The guys also cut up
all the wood and got it into the wood shed for winter, so that was
another good job done and out of the way. I have an odd job man,
Dirk, the Belgian/Dutch guy, who does a couple of hours a week, so
that was great with Imre on the saw and Dirk putting the wood away.
Am gradually getting
Dirk to do the yard..next week he'll mow the entire yards and then,
paint the tool shed.
The rain has caused
the grass to grow 6-12 inches in a few days, (depending on which weed it is!)...amazing...well, as it is
mostly mowed weeds, they were under control when it didn't rain for
ages and it sort of did look like lawn...from a distance!
But a day of good
rain last week and again yesterday has seen it suddenly explode and
pop up everywhere.
Dirk to the
rescue...I'm not venturing out there in this weather...today would be
great, but it's too late now, after preserving stuff all day and
cleaning up all the utensils etc...too many mozzies now!
I did mow the yards,
the both fronts outside and the back of the house and work areas a
few weeks ago...when a pile of 17 mud bricks fell on my outside leg
as I was going past with the mower...Youch!
One massive 6 inch
bruise on my calf and a very sore and bruised ankle, which healed OK.
I weighed one of the bricks...just
on 10KG a brick!
So that was almost
170 kgs of dead weight, crashing onto my leg as I mowed past the pile
of bricks.
I was very fortunate
my leg was not broken as I had gum boots on...(Wellington boots
for non Aussies!)
It has been an easy
mowing summer this year due to lack of rain...thankfully. But a day
last week and another night of good rain last night...wow, the growth
is turbo charged for sure!
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Honeymoon
Cottage Update…
Zoltan came with
one of his guys at 6am and did as much as they could on Thursday up
until lunch time...when we both realised we'd forgotten to order the
lintels for the front door! We had the 3 sets for the windows and
completely forgot about the door! Dooohhh.
Anyways, he needs
lots more sand, some lintels, 20 J bolts to hook the cement support
beams to something also yet to be built...(still learning how they do
it over here!) 5 kgs nails, in 2 sizes, 2 massive x 6 metre long
beams, to hold up the mez floor and lots of other things which will
all arrive on Monday or Tuesday now.
Slowly, slowly
with that one.
………………………………………………………...
My
residence permit replacement arrived and am happy about that, so am
planning a trip to Salzburg in Austria and the Eagle's Nest just over
the border into Germany, at the end August...after the heat subsides
a bit...but before the season closes up there due to the cold in the mountains/Alps!
It
is only a day trip from Budapest by train to Salzburg, but I'll stay
a few days.
The
Eagle's Nest is 40 mins from Salzburg, so will stay the night in
Salzburg, go touring next day and come back the next day as there is
too much going on here right now to be away too long.
Imre
works 3 days a week, M,T,Wed and Zoltan comes either Thurs, Fri or
Saturday!
Dirk
comes Wed arvo, so it is a tight schedule at the moment, which does
not allow for me to be away for too long, or too much.
I'm
not really worried about travel this year now...after having my
resident permit and other things stolen a few months back, it
prevented me getting back into Hungary, so I didn't go out!
The time has flown since then and it
is now too hot to venture out.
Not
a problem, just switch gears Mary...
The out buildings must be
completed this summer and that requires a big effort to try and get
it all under way and completed enough so Imre can work on the insides
over winter.
Crazy
weather and seasons here. I don't know how they get anything done
with only April, May and June, then September and October as any time
decent to work out doors. Amazing people.
I'm
not used to thinking all of that scheduling of time stuff. I just
automatically think...all day, every day...365 days a year to work
and plan stuff...Not so here...you are really pushed and pulled by
the seasons.
Truly
educational and very demanding of your thought processes...until you
get used to it.
Another year or two and I'll have it all down
pat...but my plans will be stretched out in triple time...that
is not so good...gotta do something about that then.
A colour like this for the trims on the front???
……………………………….
That's
it for another hot week in our summer over here.
Hoping
you all are enjoying the winter there...heaters out or fans on???
Love
to all and I do miss my family and friends…
Lots
of love,
Mary
xxxxx
