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.