End Week 11...14th December 2015

Hello!
Week 11, wow, time is flying, is it not?
Things are going well here as it gets a bit colder each week.
It's still nice for me, very romantic, cozy and weird as the sun sets so early when the day is clear and dark earlier when it's overcast.
It will be the shortest day soon 21st December, then it starts getting lighter each day!

Had an amazing experience on Monday in town at the bus stop..

Was just sitting, waiting but a few minutes for the bus, when I noticed a couple of social security workers picking up tiny bits of rubbish over the road.
Flashes of Hogan's Hero's blurred my vision and I burst out laughing really loudly, so loudly that some of the 10yr old kids, waiting in line for the bus, actually stopped fooling around and checked me out.

I wasn't laughing at the 2 men, I was laughing that it looked so much like some shots in the series where the guys go around the prison camp, picking up rubbish. I said out aloud, without realising it, that "I so love living in my fairy tale". 

No wonder they all looked !

It is so real, it really does make me laugh out loud too! I am amazed constantly, that I am so full up inside and bubbling over with delight. I bathed in the joy of the living fairy tale for a long time, maybe a full minute or so, then...

The next part took a very dramatic turn.

I received a distinct impression that while being fulfilled and joyous is a wonderful thing, there is more to it than just seeking always to enjoy and gratify yourself.

The rest of the message was "Now that you are full up, your soul is where it is happy, now it's time to share, by giving and being of service".

The happy jar I've been adding to daily, is a great idea to do and really helps you along. The danger there is that one can go on seeking their own pleasures so much that they can become introspective and a tad hedonistic and miss the gratitude part of that exercise. Which is to be aware of being thankful and appreciative of people and things in your life.

So, I've been forewarned that something exciting is brewing on the horizon for next year...

Maybe it's confirming the Lodge is finally becoming reality?
Who knows?
This time next year we'll all know for sure.

Testing the little wooden chair...It works! Also have 10kgs of wall finish in my back pack. This is the Hardware supply house where I buy 98% of the stuff for the house renos.

Nice little picnic set...$550Ausd...

Great little see-saw...

Nice chunky chair...

Chunky table or stool...

Back into town, heading towards the Xmas markets...

They had just this moment, finished fitting out all these little Xmas stalls with lights and all and blocked cars from entering. 

People will come fill these up with goodies this week...Looking cute and very Xmasy indeed.

Looking back the other way...It's been drizzling all day, but somehow you don't get wet!

Lunch was over when I got here on Monday -  but it is the restaurant right at the bus stop! 

Very nice, isn't it? It's built especially for the poor people so they can have a good meal, very cheaply, once a day. But anyone can go there. It's only open for lunch, 5 days a week.

Nice floor tiles...No ordinary soup kitchen, this one.

Bought a couple of Xmassy tablecloths today. Thought they would be nice decorations...They are just under 3ft square..., very pretty indeed.

Aren't they lovely?

This one was more expensive... Cute table decorations anyways.

They still believe in the real Christmas here...

In the Tiszafured city centre park.

Internet probs, so will finish now.
Cheers...

End of Week 10...1st -8th Dec 2015

Xmas seems to be coming faster than ever this year!
I have my very own Xmas decoration out here in the street, just outside my window, so no probs about having a topper on my Xmas tree!

All is good here, weather is perfect for me. Occasional sprinkles of rain, cool days, warm nights, cloudy/sunny or plain overcast days. Perfect for jogging in the mornings, working in the yard or just going into town and sitting around, watching the people go by!

Nice chicken with fresh shallots and tons of capsicum plus a nice hot spiced wine for dinner! Yummy...

Looking out my front window to my very own Xmas decoration in the street! Not 20 feet away. How lucky am I?

Saw a nice sunset starting last night as I was coming home at 3.30pm on Wed arvo!  Don't you love it? Pitch dark at 4pm....So I raced around the paddock, trying to dodge houses, caravans, trees and sheds before it all faded away on me.

At the end of the paddock now and it's getting better!

Now back in the middle of my paddock...

Then I looked towards the opposite sky and wow, that was pretty too.

Had to try and get rid of the blessed trees and things blocking my view, so tried a closer up shot.

Not too shoddy...but can see I'll have to put a window upstairs in the attic after winter, so I can take decent uncluttered pics. 

Cooking lunch of chicken and vegetables in capsicum sauce with  a pot of hot spiced wine. This is only the water and dried  spices and fruits cooking for the first bit, as I don't yet have another pot big enough to use. When the chicken is cooked. I'll transfer the hot spiced semi syrup to the blue container and add a cup of wine and cook below simmer for a further 30 mins. Yummy lunch today...well, it will be 3pm by then, so it's really my tea, the last meal for the day! Better go have some avocado and cucumber on a few rice cakes I think, whilst waiting!

Yaaahy, the walls in the end room are almost finished! The only reason they have taken so long is firstly, we ran out of sand, then when I did buy more, it was the wrong type to finish this very fine coat...4th time I got it right.

So pleased with my Friday effort. I worked from 8am, right thru without a break or even a cuppa, to 3pm! I was amazed the time just flew. But I got the herb garden finished and all the edging done! Now all that has to be done in this pic is to complete the paving you can see in bottom of pic. The whole path to the garden gate will get done in next 2 days

Zoltan outside Saturday, trying to connect the sewer pipes, but we need a 45degree angle connector...I bought a 90degree angle...So, this is another job for next weekend. We have to dig the waste water pipe trench also to meet up with this trench, so there's plenty to do to fill in time!

Was shifting a pallet of these thermal bricks, wondering about the colours for the place...and would you believe this? On the side of the bricks are the firing /cooking marks from the furnace. Beautiful! There's my colour palette! I'll take this brick into the paint shop and get these colours. Loving them very much.

Here is the same brick up against the white pillar...Of course I'll tone it to the depth of shades I want.  Nature has delivered for me and solved my dilemma. I can't believe the difference in colour that moving the brick created. Never mind, paint is cheap, so a bit of experimenting is on the cards here after Xmas!

Zoltan has just completed the first run of the end room...yaaahy!

That means, he comes back tomorrow morning and completes the 2nd application to the end room floor.
Then he's just informed me I have to buy 2 bags of some micofinish stuff for the walls...it's a type of glass finish that they coat over the walls to smooth the cement render with...different to the floors.

Anyways, it's almost 2,000ft a bag of 5kgs, so it must be good stuff.
$20.00 Ausd all up, so that's OK.

Have to also buy 20mtrs of waste water pipes, a couple of 45degree angle bends for the septic pipes and waste water pipes.

Then they'll dig the last bit of trench for the waste water pipes, lay them all in and then everything can be connected...It only took 18months to get this far...Well, half that time really, as I was only here for 9 whole months all up.

Getting a bit excited about all of this coming together at last.

Rainy today and quite dark inside. Finishing touches to the new doorway...

The first of 2 special coats to the end room floor...

Just had to cart everything from the end room into the bathroom area to get the end room finished to-day.

Half the end room floor first coat done...

Coming up to completion....

Looking schmik, is it not? 2nd coat tomorrow...Then a coat of some type of wall finish, tidies up the walls...and then it's all ready to paint. Yippee! That messy looking thing on the floor is the cellar door. It comes up ok once they clean up. I think when I get the rails around that part, I'll take the door off and make a door downstairs so the cellar gets used. If I leave a door on the floor, it will end up cluttered with stuff and the cellar will never get used. 

The doorway is finally patched up and nice and straight, all ready for the timber paneling to go over it, plus the little step  on the floor, between rooms. The 2 inch high steps seems to close off the drafts from zapping under the doors. I'm adding them to both  new doorways to keep the authentic look throughout the place.

OK...all done for this week folks.

Now that the end room walls, new doorway and floor are almost finished, it's onto completing the septic and waste water pipes, garden path finished, trenches all filled in, yard leveled and the new windows finally cleaned.

The new dividing walls inside and hand made doors can wait until May or so, when everything has dried out properly inside.

Will still have a bit of work to do on filling in some gaps in the ceiling around the beams in the end room, but that's only women's work, not man's work! I classify jobs as man or women jobs. I get the easy ones, the guys get the digging, cementing and heavy ones!

Also, will connect up the loo, probably after I get back from Serbia in late December. Am going to Budapest and Belgrade for a few days after 15th Dec and will be back for Xmas here...I think. Depends upon my visa...If it comes through OK before Xmas...it's due this coming week...7th-14th December.

I have no idea if I can go across borders or whatever with the resident certificate/card, so will have to sort that out when the time comes.

Will have my birthday in Belgrade with Jelena, meet up with other friends for coffee etc and have lots of hot spiced wine while walking the streets, looking at the people and lights. All of this while being enveloped in the heavily laden air, filled with sweet aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, spiced rolls,  hot gluewein and other Xmas treats cooking in numerous wooden stalls.

Happy December all...

End of Week 9... From 24th Nov 1st Dec 2015

Reviewing the past week. Wow a lot of things happen in a week!

It rained, snowed a smidgin', blew a gale, was sunny, below freezing and then sat around a delicious 10 C ish for a few days.

Had the middle room (the bathroom and bedroom to be) floors finally finished during this time, did some garden edgings, pulled up the herb garden, had my big load of wood chopped up, visited a friend for afternoon tea, moved the bed and lounge into the "new"room and sat and wondered where the time went!

Will post the pics here...

Sunlight was glistening thru' these crystal vases this morning, but it didn't come out as pretty as it was in real life!

My first snow in my own house! ...sort of!

We are doing a happy jar and every day write something on a scrap of paper and put it in a jar, to open in a year!

The sun shines in this room all day...

An end on shot...Have to bring in the rest of the tools from the new room behind the wall hanging, when the boys do the end room this coming week.

I love these flowers. Am going to feature them somewhere next year.

Setting out the gardens for next year now while it's lovely weather. Did the old brick edging, trying to keep the old feel alive.

Now doing the other side of the garden entry path to the house. You can just see the daffodils getting an early start for next Feb.March...

Up the other end of town at Sabina's place for afternoon tea...

A nice idea...TISZAIGAR...

The storks end up everywhere here!

Sabina and her cakes!

A couple of girls came 900klms from Germany to collect a couple of dogs and take them back to another refuge in Germany. Sabina runs a dog refuge here.

This cake was a cheese cake sort of, I think, a sponge with a lemon type cheese on top.

3 little German girls!

I love this room of Sabna's and want a room like it, facing the winter sun all day. It's just coming up to 4pm outside, it's almost dark! I have a stack of big windows up at her place and can have these when she replaces them soon. Her husband is coming for 2 weeks over Xmas, so maybe then.

A brighly coloured Russel Hobs coffee pot...Very heavy and does not pour without dribbling everywhere. a not to buy one item!

Headed home at 4.30pm and saw the church/village centre lights all lit up!

Nice. They look heaps better than this in real life!

Just so surprised to see so many here.

Ferenc and Alex, cutting up the logs.

And while they did that, I tore up the herb garden. It had too many sectors in it (8), so am making less (6), to give more planting room as the brick section separations took up too much space.

A bit of a mess, but will all come together this week OK Then I'll re-pave and tidy up the path along the wall where the yellow bucket is and it will look awesome and authentically old.

Quite excited really, as you should have seen this a year or so ago! Well, you couldn't see it actually, as the grass was way over 4 ft high, even in here!

Wood all tucked away in the shed. I have to fix that barrel that's in pieces there at the back too and make a table or seating out of it. Was going to make a hot tub out of it, but it's easier to buy a spa!