March Boring and April Heartbreaking!

Well I have to admit that March was almost as boring as February!

Steve must say it fifty times a day "It's a really, really slow start to spring!"

On the second of March we took a drive out to Nagykanizsa a larger city to the west of us. We heard that there was a really good Sunday flea market and we were on a quest to buy a Corn crusher! How our priorities have changed living here.

We stopped off first for a rare treat!

The market was huge! We walked miles and miles, not really sure what exactly we were looking for, and of course we didn't land up buying much at all.

Two days later we spoke to the old man Papa from two doors down and, guess what, we needn't have bothered making all that effort, as he hauled this beauty from his barn attic, it is apparantly over a 100 years old.

We had a brief bit of spring in the second week of March, went swimming at the Marcali spa with the ladies which is always a fun day out.

We caught the bus to the monthly ex-pat night out so that we could both have a drink, and got home rollicking drunk, it was a wonderful night out, so nice to see the happy faces there.

Then we come to April..........

The month is now history, but it has been a truly horrible month overall.

On Tuesday the 7th April we watched our most sweet and precious four legged furry child die in our arms.

After battling twice a week with seizures, each one affecting him more and more, mentally as well as physically, we spent the worst Easter weekend of our lives trying to come to terms with the fact that this chap was suffering, and no matter how much we loved him, walked him, spoilt him, or fed him, it wasn't going to fix his ears, eyes, back leg, heart, lungs or make him young again.

So with rivers of tears, we buried our dear Roly in a sunny spot in our garden, and planted a Silver Birch as his lasting memory.

We miss him every single day!

There are so many things that are just horrible about not having Roly around, we look for him everywhere. We still worry about him constantly.

All of our daily habits and activities for the last thirteen years were designed with him in our minds. So the gap this dog left in our home and and hearts is indescribable and we were both inconsolable.

Our home was just not home any more without him,

So we packed up almost on the spur of the moment, piled random rubbish into the car, and went away, leaving the chickens under good care by Papa Szunyog.

Croatia. Again!

We went to the same place as last year, but stayed in a different spot, and this one was also awesome. Right by the sea.

View from our apartment.

It was exactly what we needed, to get away from the house and its little ghost. Our host at Villa Plaza Pavlo spoke excellent English and could not do enough for us.

Then two days into our stay, some crazy "spur-of-the-moment" friends Carol & Alan, decided to join us for a couple of nights. Maybe, because they have also recently lost their pooch and knew how we were suffering. Whatever their reasons, it really helped us through a horrible time, they cheered us up and stopped us dwelling on things we couldn't change. Thank you both for your company!

Some more pictures of Croatia and our stay.

As to the rest of April.....

A great ex-pat meeting on Tuesday 14th April, 38 very noisy sociable people turned up, I have been running this club for a year now, and have been enjoying it, after all both Steve and I are rather social people and I am rather bossy!

Then we had another animal drama! We stopped getting any eggs from the six hens, and I took a garden chair to the chicken pen and sat watching them for a whole morning.

What I discovered is that Rusty the psycho rooster has been breaking the eggs, eating them and and then encouraging the hens to also eat the contents and shell.

He is a stunning rooster, so I attempted to find a way to stop this bad habit by placing golf balls in the laying nests, hoping that once he realised he couldn't break them he would give up.

One morning I noticed he had rolled a golf ball right outside the laying hock, I picked it up to return it to the nest and the little savage flew at me from behind, bashing into my legs, which were luckily encased in tracksuit pants, but his savage dirty claws pierced the skin on my foot!

I went to visit Papa!

After a strong cup of coffee and my bastardised version of Hungarian, we struck a deal. He gives me one of his hens, and takes my rooster, who is about three times the size of his tiny hens.

The way he caught this rooster just shows what 'townies' Steve and I really are! We had blankets and straw brooms at the ready, but unfazed Papa caught the rooster by a wing, folded both wings back, grabbed his legs, and tucked the rooster underneath his arm facing backwards, with a good hold on those talons.

Bye bye crazy chicken! He did not realise what a good life he had, and its is so true, that you should never bite the hand that feeds you!

He made an excellent Sunday lunch for the old man and family!

And now my five white and two brown hens are very calm and the hen house is all peace and tranquility.

Steve and I built our sheep pen for the lambs due to arrive any day now..............

I organised the Balatonbrits Spring Dance for the 25th April, about 40 people attended, bringing a sumptuous array of food, the raffle was a great success and so was the evening!

We spent the last day of April in the garden, it's starting to take shape!

After losing Roly, we offered our services to the ex-pat members as dogsitters, and have been graced with Max for ten days.

He is such a sweet tempered timid old dog, so undemanding and loving, he is healing our heart and souls and we are blessed to have him for this short time.

And finally!

Now that we do not have to concern ourselves with being dog owners, we have decided to fly south in winter, just like the smart birds do!

We booked our tickets and will be spending three glorious months in South Africa from December to March, the flights were really cheap, and we figure we will save money on logs, gas, electricity etc. We are really looking forward to seeing my parents, and my many wonderful cousins, relatives and friends, spending Christmas with family, playing golf, fishing, swimming and generally enjoying blissful African sunshine, whilst it is snowing and freezing at home!

I maintain you should ALWAYS have something to look forward to, and now we have!

April 2015, is now gone, along with dear precious Roly, always in our hearts, the greatest dog we could ever have wished for, Rest In Peace.

Happy to see the back end of February!

February is such a bloody boring month! I am sure that is why they made it a short month as another three days would give me the screaming heebie geebies.......

On the second of  February it dumped a pile of snow, around six inches over night, it was a very white and frosty world out there. The chickens refuse to walk in the snow, instinct I guess, as they don't know how deep it is, or what is hiding in waiting, so I spent more time shoveling them a little area, then I did around the house.

Sunrise.

The on the the fourth of February, Roly had another horrible seizure! It was just awful, I did the blowing in his nose and mouth, as he was to all intents and purposes, a dead dog, this time I had to do it three times, and the seizure was much longer, we really don't think our sweet doggy has much longer on this planet, so we are being extra gentle, loving and patient with the old boy.
Of course, he still demands his daily walk, whatever the weather, so we comply, and I dug out his old coats, bought years ago, luckily they are soft stretchy fabric, as his body is rather rotund now. He seems to like the coat though.

Steve and sweet Roly!

It started to thaw around the 10th February which was lucky as we needed to be at the first Balaton Britons meeting of 2015 that evening. Not many people made the effort as it was still really cold and slushy.

We took Roly for walk to the Lake on the 12th it was really still very frozen with these strange blobs of ice on the surface, and the swans and ducks skidding all over the show.

It brightened up a little during mid February, and we saw double figures for the first time this year, we took a walk to our local pub to have a few, as we were suffering from a bad case of cabin fever, we had a great afternoon with the locals.

Then on the 23rd we treated ourselves to the best steaks around as we were celebrating...............

TWO YEARS IN HUNGARY!!!

It is hard to believe that we arrived two years ago on a very freezing snowy evening, changing our life and looking forward to the adventure. We absolutely love the place the people and our life.

At Mesters in Marcali.

We got off the bus and had a quick Palinka. This is a nut Palinka, gorgeous and very lethal. Behind it is 60% proof Portorico Rum, also lethal and Steve's favorite tipple.

So in closing, we say bye bye February, happy to see you go, we have so much to do out there.

Come on Summer!!!!!

January 2015 - Going, going.........soon to be gone!

Sometimes I wonder if it not just a waste of life!

This sitting around day after day in winter, watching the weather and counting the days until Spring, sunshine and fresh clean air.
We have after all been doing this now since November, we hauled out the boots, coats, gloves, hats and scarves, kind of looking forward to the changing seasons, autumn was utterly awesome and it did stick around a while, but of course from the beginning of December, it is winter, no ifs, buts or maybe's.
But our wood store was pretty well bulging at the seams with wood, our wood fires in bedroom and kitchen were earning their keep, the pantry and freezer were stocked with more than enough food, and we breathed a sort of mental sigh, realizing that we could be really lazy without feeling bad about it.

We have now been lazy and very slothful for over two months! Eating way more then we should, drinking way more then we should, mostly due to utter boredom.
Cabin fever gets to us now and then, but we genuinely don't mind each others company and, bottom line, we love each other! As my friends pointed out, we are  a lucky couple, in that we actually like each other.
 We have had little spurts of minor activity, when the thermometer hits double figures, (10, 11 or 12 degrees!), and of course, I am motivated everyday to feed, muck out and water my chickens, but there has not been much activity during the last 6 weeks in the Bailey household, I have to admit.

But then think about it.......

From February/March last year, Steve has been busy, and by extension me too.If you scan through this blog, you will see that every single month, that there was sunshine and/or summer, my husband has been tackling some enormous project or another, too numerous to mention here!!!!

So, No!
It is not a waste of life, it is a regeneration.
A time to sleep long.
A time to relax.
And definately a time to indulge ourselves in whatever pleases us at the time........

Breathe!
Spring and summer will come soon enough, with all of this years projects and builds.

I think we are perfectly justified in our slothfulness and hope you do too!!!!!??

December! Re-capping and gracefully Closing 2014 down............

We spent a really wonderful two weeks with my brother Dave, who came from Canada to have a new mouth full of teeth put in for a fraction of what it would have cost him in Canada. He suffered for the first three days having his teeth ground down, and impressions made for his bridges top and bottom, so eating was a little hard for him and I tried to keep the food sloppy and easy to chew, but we often just resorted to the liquid form of sustenance!

It was fun having him, and he soon got into the swing of things, helping to collect wood from the barn for the log fires, sweeping the kitchen, packing the dishwasher and other general chores. I am not used to having a man help around the house (shame on you Stephen Bailey!) We went out on the bus twice to Marcali, once missing the bus completely on our return journey and being saved by some nice Hungarians who arranged a lift for us.

Our local forester Laszlo came through for us in the planting of the "Bailey Forest". He arrived with two helpers and stacks of Acacia saplings, a special planting spade and lots of enthusiasm  and spent the whole day planting them in our bottom field, Steve has counted 550 trees.

Our forest in the making!

We are assured that these are fairly fast growing and we hope to be self-sustainable with regard to firewood in 5 to 8 years from now.
It was also suggested by the friendly forester that we obtain the services of two sheep for this area, they can keep the grass down, as it is a huge area and a real pig to mow, the sheep can fatten up and then.......?  So that's the plan come April May, we hope to have some frolicking lambs to keep the chickens company.

The remainder of December was spent huddling around log fires, playing computer games, watching videos, reading and of course making sure my chickens are okay, fed, watered and warm.
Autumn dragged its feet, with weeks and weeks of gorgeous golden colours as the trees slowly lost their leaves, the sunrises more and more spectacular each day.

Christmas came and went without much fuss in our household, no presents were exchanged, no decorations put up, we saved a fortune by ignoring it, making only a small concession by having a fabulous matured rump steak for lunch.

New Years eve, we spent re-capping 2014! What a busy year! This is what we achieved in no particular order:-

Tramping through some woods steeped in WW2 history, with our intrepid guide Nandi/ I spent one glorious month in South Africa with my folks and extended family/Steve erected fencing around the chicken pen/Rotavated vegetable patch/Fencing in the bottom paddock/Front gates re-painted and mended/Patio brick laying completed/I took over the running of the ex-pat club Balatonbrits/We acquired six hens and a rooster/Bought a brand new gorgeous car/I broke my ankle/I spent six weeks in a plaster cast/Spent six weeks installing a beautiful new bathroom/Over ten tonnes of logs delivered/Chopped and split ten tonnes for firewood/Bought a new oven/Watched it rain a deluge for a month/Hosted my parents for a month/Went to Croatia/Organised and attended the first Balatonbrits dance/Designed and built a new garage for the car/Organised and hosted a Quiz for the club/Hosted my brother for two weeks whilst he had his dentistry/Spent a fabulous night in Budapest City/Had 600 sapling trees planted in bottom paddock for future firewood............

It sure has been a busy but absolutely fabulous year!

So in closing, we wish a most heartfelt and warm New Year to all family and friends.

We have lots of plans for 2015 and just hope it will be as wonderful has last year!

Sharon

November 2014 - Slow down and have a Pihen (Rest)!"

November was a strange month.

We had no visitors. There were absolutely no urgent projects.
We were in hibernation, ready and waiting for this nasty freezing cold winter to come rolling in, and we were prepared for it in every way we could be........
but nothing happenned!

Autumn rolled on and on. The leaves taking forever to fall gracefully to their resting places and the sun still shining.

Letting the chickens out at 7am is one of the highlights of my morning, (Along with my coffee press and my warm log fires) just watching the sun rise in its brilliant colours has me standing in with the chickens in my dressing gown and boots sniffing the air and watching the sky. Also walking Roly to the local shops almost daily gives us both excercise and is another great excuse to smell the clean air and appreciate the changing season.

On the 7th November over a couple of drinks, this is what I wrote on Facebook:-

Steve and I were re-capping our year. 
It has been a busy one. Starting with a lovely month in South Africa, then a broken ankle shmankle; fencing around the property and chicken pen, some lovely new hens and rooster; taking over the running of the expat club Balatonbrits; a whole new bathroom from the earth up all done by my clever husband; a spankingly gorgeous new car; 10 tens of wood delivered, chopped and cleaved; gates painted; a month hosting my parents and Canadian family; three nights in Croatia; and a garage built again from the ground up by my super duper smart spouse! So maybe we deserve a rest in winter, what you reckon?

And so we justified our slow month, basically getting ready for two events, A Quiz night I was hosting for the BB club on the 28th November and my brothers arrival at the end of the month.

But I still kept busy making about 5kgs of Borewors on the 9th November,spending the entire day preparing the mix, and then with Steve's help we sausaged the meat into casings, and bagging them into 20 meals.

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We attended the last Balaton Brits monthly meetings on the 11th Nov its was a very lively affair, the night was horribly pea soupy very fogged up, but  30 of us had a great evening.

My chickens have also been on a very long "pihen" (Rest in Hungarian!) and we have been collecting one or two eggs a day out of the six lazy hens, but they have spent the last month fatting up and getting their winter feathers, snow white, thick and luxurious - nature is a wonderful thing!

We completed watching the TV series Breaking Bad and also Vikings as our nights were drawing in, and we were now working on Bailey Mean Time again, 2 hours ahead of local time, gives us longer mornings, and a sun setting at around 6pm our time! Figure it out for your self......

On the 22nd November we were still having highs of 18 and lows of 5 degrees, the leaves were still all the beautiful goldens and reds of autumn and falling slowly, log fires were being lit in the evenings and it all felt very very cosy and warm.

My son Alex passed his driving test, a mission he has been on for over five years on and off. Well done Alex, please please try not to kill yourself!!!!

We held the Balatonbrits quiz night on Friday 28th November. 34 people were participated, and it was a job to organise the mob, but Steve and I stayed sober, my Friend Sue noted that they were all in trouble as I was drinking coffee!
Everyone really enjoyed themselves, the goulash I had organised through the restaurant was delicious and everyone particpated with vigour in the quiz. My prizes went down well, and we collected extra club funds through the raffle. I am now on a couple of months off, as the next meeting is February 2015.

Our temperature dipped to zero on the 26th but it was back up again with the blazing sunshine, and we have yet to see it back there since.

Then my brother arrived! On a really pissy rainy evening on the 30th we collected him from Budapest, ready for his dental treatment and "Brand-new-teeth-in-two-weeks".
It was such fun having him, but that's Decembers blog........................

And this is the end of Novembers!

Shaza

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.