October - All about A Garage!

With my family gone, and me having sufficiently recovered in not having them around, we threw ourselves into the garage in earnest.
Steve has done an amazing job, my biggest problem is that I have a very real phobia with heights, I am not able to go further then the second rung of a ladder without getting vertigo and wanting to fling myself off it, this is also projected onto anyone else, so when it came to Steve laying the roof tiles and instructing me to
"Hold the ladder!" I am not even able to watch him leaning over precariously without my legs/knees going weak, and every muscle very tensed, whilst handing him, glue, nail gun and roof tiles. He may have worked really hard, but I stressed even harder!!!
No matter how many times he told me that he knew what he was doing and was fine, I have to say it really was bloody hard work for me too.

Here are pictures in order of the build.

Rotavating and moving mounds of soil

Digging complete.

The beast testing out her new spot.

And the build begins....

One thousand screws, and 2.5litres of
wood glue later.

My excellent paint job! And the beginnings of the roof and tiles going on.

And done!

Then there had to be a roof wetting, of course! We cooked a pork goulash and rice, and the wine flowed.
It was rather chilly so the party moved indoors after eating.

The clever builder! Note even the chickens were allowed to attend.

Keeping the Hungarian wine industry in business!

So, in closing, Steve is now very happy that his baby has her own bedroom and is snug for the winter. We have a barn chock full of wood ready for our winter, there is not much left to do really. I have the right food for my chickens, plenty of warm straw and chicken treats to see them through, and Roly as always, will make sure he finds just the best spot.

All that remains is getting through what we hope will be another mild one!
Keep warm y'all!

August & September 2014 - Rain, rain Go Away!!!

AUGUST 2014

Another record seems to have been broken here in Hungary - the wettest August in a 100 years! 

It seems that the climate has indeed changed! If you remember, we arrived to the coldest winter, last year, then the hottest and driest summer last year, then the mildest winter during 2013/2014 and now the wettest August came around just when we didn't need it. The rain came in such violent outbursts that our huge culverts outside in the street could not take the volume of water rushing down the hill, these overflowed into the street making it one huge brown river!

Not to say that it rained every day in August though, I did spend two occasions with my buddies at the Marcali Thermal baths having a nice day out, sunning ourselves and having girlie talk.

Carol, Sue, Von & I.

The local baths are really amazing,there are a number of pools of varying depths and temperatures, the one we frequented which was as far away from the kids pools as we could get, is a hot and fairly shallow pool, with seating areas inside, lots of bubbles and sprays that pummel various parts of the body, and have some added minerals in the water that makes your skin feel amazingly soft and satiny. 

Two really great days out!

Steve and I also made two batches of sausages, pork bangers, and also South African borewors, in preparation for my guests!

August was mainly getting the house ready for my dearest beloved parents, who arrived on Saturday 30th August.

Steve got up early to collect them from Budapest airport, they were due in at 8.30a.m so an early start for him, 

When they had not come through by 9.30a.m. he began to worry, and called me at home. They had missed their connection in Frankfurt and had been put onto a later flight, so only arrived in Hungary at 2pm, but better late then never!!!!

SEPTEMBER 2014

Unfortunately the rain did not go away, and the first two weeks of my parents visit, we were basically house bound except for short dry spells, luckily the folks are not into suntanning, long walks, or any strenuous outdoor activities.

Our Street becomes a raging river!

We went out for a few meals, and saw the lake when the weather abated briefly.

Dear Mum & Dad at Lake Balaton.

 We had some people around for coffee and cake, but not much was done during the damn rain, which was at times torrential, on one day we 76mm (3 inches) in around 6 hours, so we all did a lot of reading, and computer games, and tutorials.

On Monday the 15th September after looking at the weather reports we decided to take a trip to Croatia, Nandi our Hungarian friend, moved into our house to look after the pooch and chickens, and the four of us packed up and headed South.

As it was basically end of tourist season, we managed to secure a gorgeous two bedroomed self-contained flat for Euro 50 per night. This was fully equipped with a balcony and absolutely stunning views of the ocean.

Stunning view from our flat in Croatia.

The weather was glorious (finally!) and the four of us spent three wonderful nights taking in the sights of Croatia and eating and drinking too much.

Croatian Sunset.

On Friday 19th September my brother Dave and His wife Margaret arrived, and it was all go! 

The Balaton Britons Summer Dance that I had been organisng for the last 3 months was on Saturday 20th September, with the help of my family we arranged the hall, made the snacks, and had a fabulous night drinking too much (again!) and dancing so that we were stiff and not able to do much  the next day.

I launched a website for this group, if you are interested have a look at:-

http://www.balatonbritons.hu/

The folks and Dave and Margaret went off to Austria for two nights,  during which time Steve and Papa worked on the damn garage, this is the progress so far.

On their return, we took them to the woods where the Germans had dug the trenches during WW2 to face the Russians, with our intrepid guide Nandi.

An interesting and sombre day.

The relatives visit ended all too soon.... 

It was just dreadful for me to have to say goodbye and I cried all day!!!

Now, its all about gearing up for winter.. what kind of winter we will have is anyones guess, luckily we have a barn full of wood, two log burners and each other, along with Roly, who is still going strong.