New Critters on the Farm

There have been two lovely new additions to the farm family within the last month! Take a look.

This is Cassie - she is a Haflinger mare, and she and Chester hit it right off. The Gypsies and Haflingers seem to have similar laid back, people oriented personalities. We LOVE the cobby ponies! She's telling Chester about her long trailer ride from Grand Rapids, MI and her buddies she'll miss there. Chester is sweaty from running circles around her to show his admiration. Cassie is a 17 year old, been there - done that, type of girl. She was used by the Amish for her first 16 years to train younger horses to hitch. We acquired her from a new friend who hadn't had her long, but just wasn't using her as much as she'd thought she would, and Cassie was getting heavy - it doesn't take much for the cobs to put on a few pounds. She just arrived, and we are thrilled with her!

This is Happy - a sweet kitty we adopted from CARA - a local animal adoption group in Jackson. Her name was Patches, but because of her pleasant personality, she has been named after a calico kitty of my brother's. We grew up with Happy, and she was the most wonderful kitty. This Happy seems to be following in the original Happy's paw prints. The boys have decided this kitty's name is actually 'Patches Happy Lucy Jewelry' - she can be called any/all of these names at any given time. Galen added the 'Jewelry' - he has a thing for bling.

Visiting Uncle Jonathan and Miss Lisa

We weren't through traveling after driving back and forth across Hungary...oh, NO, we were not through. Accompanied by my mother (she must have some Gypsy blood, because she loves nothing more than a good long driving adventure) the boys and I drove from central Mississippi to Tampa to visit my brother, Jonathan, and lovely (and talented!) sister-in-law, Lisa. Also to admire Lisa's belly and the little cousin-to-be inside - she will be arriving soon, and hope to see her (well, and them) at Christmas! Lisa was a most gracious hostess, taking us to many beaches and Floridian places - the boys loved pointing out each and every palm tree. She also made sure we ate quite well, and I learned some more recipes from her vast mental arsenal. We ate at her mother's restaurant more than once, as well - SO GOOD! http://ricekoreanrest.com/default.aspx The lovely Lisa is pictured at the bottom of the link page.

Of course, no excursion to Uncle Jonathan's would be complete without the requisite computer tampering...ahem, fixing! Our PC (elder even than our eldest child) finally embraced the blue screen around our trip to Hungary, so Jonathan (with helpers) set up a new PC for us - thank you, thank you, a million thank yous! It could be said that Lali and I are not very technologically advanced...

Rose Parade - Hungary 5

A lovely local Rose Festival in the town where Andi lives - right outside Szeged. There were some lovely teams of horses, as well as marching bands, dancing troops and rose displays. You should be able to click on a picture to see a larger version of it.

There were rose "pictures" - each boy stood by his favorite design. This is Ben's favorite...

...and Galen's favorite.

Kemence - Hungary 4

We turned one of the old outbuildings at the Tanya into a Kemence ("kementseh") house. A Kemence is an old style mud plaster wood burning oven that was also used to warm a house, in many cases. There is an elderly artisan in Szatymaz, Imre bacsi, that makes them - he learned the trade from his father.

The first room has the opening to the oven - you first let the wood burn down to coals, and then push them to the back and put your bread in. There is a heavy metal door that fits tightly over the smaller hole inside the oven to seal the heat while you're baking. Galen has an obsession with anatomy - he has his Hungarian language anatomy book here.

This is the second room, showing the body of the Kemence. There is a ledge that will be covered with wood all around the side of the oven, where one can sit and warm up on a cool day. This room also has a small table and chairs. The oven gives off a nice, warm, radiant heat.

Here is the feast we cooked in the Kemence! Pizzas and Langos ("langoesh") - a baked or fried yeast bread. This is our nephew (not so) little Miki. Hungarian pizza seems to often have cheese and corn, among other things - try it!

The Fixer-Upper - Hungary 3

Ok, so I have a thing for old houses...really old. This property aligns the Tanya - it's an old gendarme's house and outbuildings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie . Miklos Bacsi ("Mick-loshe ba-chee"), or Uncle Miklos - you call your elders Uncle and Aunt in Hungary - was an elderly neighbor and friend of Lali's father who passed away last year. We bought the place from his family, and now the Tanya has doubled in size - I think we can start a commune with all the small buildings! Miklos Bacsi's father was a gendarme, and was evidently awarded this house with his position. The old shoes and, ahem, handmade undies and lace I found were his mothers. The main house should be restored by next summer, and will be our home base when in Hungary. The walls are mud brick with stucco over it and a tile roof which is conspicuously missing at present.

Cilinke ("Tsilinkeh") is a little black kitty that adopted us while we were there this year. The boys had more fun with him! Their mother doesn't worry much about kitty germs ;)...

Another view from the yard - the building on the right is actually finished and houses a traditional wood burning oven which I'll show in another post.

Mama's got a new pair of shoes!

What electricity?!

Original port-a-potty. The bathroom is called the w/c ("vay - tsay") in Hungarian - a throw back to water closet - is that British?

An old wicker basket with homemade bra and lye soap.

Laurie and Lali's room - this is what no roof will do to a mud house.

Homemade teeter totter for 3.

Small basement/root cellar - we'll enlarge this to be usable.

This was my song this year in Hungary - love the 40's vibe and sound of this song by Sasha. I watch some music TV in Hungary - there aren't many English channels, and it's amazing how "at home" a little MTV can make a girl. EU MTV doesn't have as many of the ridiculous reality shows we have in the US - there IS some sanity in the world! It is kind of funny to watch the Real World dubbed in Hungarian, though...

At the Tanya - Hungary 2

One of our favorite places to be in Hungary is the Tanya in Szatymaz ("Sat-ymaz") - near Szeged (the city where Lali's parents and sisters live.) A Tanya is a small Hungarian farm/homestead, which Lali's family has always called this little weekend home in a tongue in cheek way. Many Hungarians have a small house with land in the country, in addition to an apartment they may rent in the town where they work. They can relax on the weekends and get away from it all, and grow veggies and fruit for the table. The Tanya is also close to the train and bus stop, so you don't even really need a car to get to/from the city. The beautiful plants are all a testament to the hard work of Lali's parents! We gorged on red and black currants, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, nectarines, sour and sweet cherries, fresh tomatoes and peppers, broccoli, zucchini, carrots...I can go on - I love this place so much.

Boys climbing an apple tree.

Sour cherries.

The most beautiful, iridescent bees I've ever seen!

Red currants.

Poppy seed, or Mak. Hungarians have a lot of sweets made from and with these - full of Calcium!

Where Have We Been all Your Summer...? Hungary!

This has been a busy traveling summer for us - we're finally home, relaxing, and ready to enjoy pictures. Phew - Jaj! ("yaiy" is Hungarian for Phew!) I'll make posts to introduce the family in Hungary, our new fixer-upper, and Nagymama's ("nady-mama") beautiful garden.


This is Lali's sister Marica ("Maritsa") - she is so patient with Galen's many questions and requests to "just play one more game." She has two lovely college-age daughters that I didn't get a camera on this year.

This is Lali's mother Palma - "Nagymama" to the kids. Lali is her baby :).

This is Lali's dad, Lajos - "Nagypapa" to the kids. He is quite the character! Also pictured is our brother-in-law, Miki, and niece Donci ("Don-tsie.")

This is Nagymama with Lali's other sister, Andi - she is Miki's wife, and mother of Donci and "little Miki" who you'll see later - he's not so little anymore! Andi also played more than her share of board games and card games with Galen...:).

An Evening's Entertainment

It's the simple things...

Natural Fly Control

Chester and a new egret friend have been hanging out this week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_Egret

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures of our Easter egg hunt and subsequent candy orgy. Ben will probably forgive me for this picture when he has his own children who do equally cute things. Tanya - do you recognize these pajama pants - they were Kyle's?!

Oops - Ben dropped a jelly bean through the crack. Big brother, Galen - always (well, often) compassionate - gave Ben one of his own.

Almost...got it!

Do you see the tiny orange balloon in the very tip top of this very thin tree?! Galen does! I'll just say, I didn't know you could climb a tree in clogs - I stand corrected.

Bluebirds of Happiness

These are some of our neighbors on the farm. Here are Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird

... and introducing Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal.