The visit to my little monsters

The flight last Wednesday was quick and uneventful. Everything went so easily and quickly (facilitated by only having cabin luggage) that I managed to arrive a half an hour early. Stephen was away until the early hours of Friday morning, so it was just Lucy, me and the kids.

On Thursday I had to go to the bank and do some shopping while the boys went to their nursery. Lucy went out to some friends in the evening and I babysat.

On Friday morning Stephen was around and then in the afternoon Emily, Lucy's sister arrived with Jenson her little boy. In between I had lunch with Ruth and Ian in a cafe just round the corner. It was nice food, friendly cafe owner and a lovely natter with Ruth and Ian. Later Lucy and Stephen fetched Elian and Xander from nursery and they were very happy to see Em and Jenson on arriving home. The kids played together happily, in the evening Stephen went to work and we all went to bed early.

On Saturday we went to the local garden centre, where all three boys had a fantastic time scooting round on trikes and/or playing in the sheds and playhouses displayed.  At this time we also had Esther, one of Stephen and Lucy's friends and her little one, Rosalie with us.  That night I babysat again while Em and Lucy went out for dinner with Stephen joining them later after work.

Sunday Em and Jenson left for home and we went to the farm. The weather was very cold and windy, but we still had a lovely time on the tractor train, in soft play and in the puddles.  Chasing ducks was fun too! In the evening Stephen and Lucy went out and I babysat again.  I must admit, they were really fantastic, never gave me any hassle whatsoever.

Monday the wind subsided somewhat and in the morning we took of for Paradise Park, which is also a garden centre, but with a twist.  Around it there is a lovely park with lots of dinosaurs, lakes, gardens, models and a lovely cafe.  Unfortunately, Xander proved to be a bit too young for all those loud, roaring and very frightening dinosaurs, but he enjoyed the rest. In the afternoon we visited DFS and looked at sofas, followed by a run around in Toys R Us, rounded up by a bit of food in Burger King. In the night I babysat again, this time including putting Elian to bed on my own.

On Tuesday I had to go back to the bank, but got back in time to be taken to the airport by Stephen. I did miss Roy, but this almost a week was very enjoyable, if somewhat exhausting and I can't wait until I see them again in the summer.

The flight was 45 minutes late leaving, but made most of it up due to a fierce tailwind. Roy waited for me and we were indoors just after 9pm.

Guests, hiking, cooking, baking, theatre and a concert.

The couple of days between my last post and the arrival of Árpi and Bozsa was mostly spent with cooking and baking for the weekend.  Roy managed to roast the beef in advance and make the soup.  We co-operated on creating the trifle, which was a tad laborious. The spongecakes soaked in sherry and port was easy, the jelly less so.  It took such a long time to set that I was wondering if it will ever do so. Still, the difficulty was mostly in trying to catch it just before it set, so when it is poured onto the sponge it doesn't soak into it.  We managed it and mixed it very well with some quince and Morello cherry compote. The custard was brilliant, except that muggins managed to accidentally pour half of the powder down her front, but otherwise no bother.  The final layer, the whipped cream was only put on it just before serving it on Saturday, spinkled with chopped almonds and hundreds and thousands.  Yum, yum, it did go down a treat!

On Saturday morning we got up quite early, got everything ready, but our guests were quite late.  Apparently Bozsa needed her beauty sleep on account of working late on Friday.  We left for our walk straight after their arrival, by driving to Buják and doing a circular walk from/to there. We climbed up to the ancient stages of the cross and chapel first, then got slightly lost on our way to the castle ruins, but that was fun, being the only bit of the hike that I have never done before.  The views were lovely both from the calvary and the castle. On our return to the car we managed to avoid the tarmac road most of the time, which was nice.

Roy was awaiting us on our arrival back with hot soup, which went down pretty quickly.  The roast with Yorkshire pudding and lots of veg was also popular, although the Yorkshires were a tad on the flat side. The star attraction was, of course, the trifle, which everybody thought was delicious. We all fell into bed around 9pm after the hike and the big dinner.

On Sunday Roy cooked an English breakfast for the three of them, which also went down pretty well. Afterwards we went on a 10km hike up to the fishing lake up in the hills about 5km from our house. We were warned about the mud, but thankfully it only bothered us a bit and that towards the end of the walk. Unfortunately the sun hardly shone on Sunday, but at least the forecast rain never happened. We found the esoteric art and music festival's permanent buildings around the lake and even had a chat with some of the organisers. Our return trip was a bit adventurous due to the mud, but we all returned happy and full of lots of fesh air.

On Sunday night I went to the theatre to see a musical stage version of the Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn film "Roman Vacation".  I enjoyed it, mostly due to the young actress's performance in the princess's role, but my friends didn't like it much. Stuck in the mud, they were, you can't expect to see what you saw at the cinema 40 or 50 years ago on the stage in 2015, can you?

Monday night I had a concert with Bozsa, which was amazing. A Turkish pianist by the name of Fazil Say played Mozart in the first half and his own compositions in the second half. He was absolutely brilliant, a very rare combination of technical talent and insightful interpretation right through. I know he has a reputation of being an odd ball, but I found him just simply superb.

Yesterday I did some shopping, washing, tidying and packing and now I am off to see my lovely little monsters in Hassocks.

Theatre, dentist and little monsters

Last Saturday was a bit weird.  I wanted to go and see a film, Pride, which I was told by a friend is very good. However, it turned out that we missed it.  Traffic was bad and when we changed plans and went to a different cinema, they didn't have it on. I was in a foul mood, especially when Roy then suggested we go to Tesco's instead.  Finally, I calmed down and we did a good shop. Also, this shopping had lightened the load on Sunday, when we originally planned to do the shopping.

Sunday had two interesting bits in it: a visit to the theatre during the day and a meeting in the afternoon. The play was Peter Shaffer's Amadeus and the production was brilliant. János Kulka playing Salieri was superb, but that was to be expected.  However, a young actor by the name of Tamás Keresztes in the role of Mozart was the real surprise. He was very good indeed and the whole staging, direction and music added to make it a very enjoyable 3 hours.

János Kulka

In te afternoon we met someone whom Roy got to know during his family history research. One of my ancestors married Lipót Aschner, a fascinating man. He ended up as the chairman of the board at the Tungsram factory in Budapest and in March 1944 the Nazis kidnapped him and held him for ransom. The factory paid the ransom (reputedly 100,000 dollars) and he did eventually survived and got home. Unfortunately, his privations at his late time of life ruined his health and he died in the early 50's.  This guy was a distant nephew of his, but what was really fascinating that he met the old man and his wife, my ancestor, before they both died in 1952. He could tell us a few interesting stories and might even put us in touch with other members of the extended Aschner family.

Tamás Keresztes

Monday started with another visit to the dentist. Roy was instructed in the use of the electric toothbrush and I had a few bits taken off my latest filling where it was colliding with my teeth underneath. We went and did a bit more shopping in the market near the dentist, including my favourite goat's cheese. With all this activity we didn't catch our usual 1.30 bus, so we took the 4.15 instead. The weather is a lot colder in the village, but no snow.

A plump great tit

Today we had one of our village mates come and fetch a load of wood for the stove down from the barn, and he neatly piled it up on the corridor.  We fed the birds, who are now chattering away and fighting over the seed. And the highlight of today was a call from my Hassocks monsters who were jumping in puddles with great delight.

Xander on the warpath

Where are those puddles you promised me?

Big brother Elian follows

Cleaning and cooking was also on the cards, but I think they will have to be shifted to tomorrow. I did do a load of washing yesterday, which I am now going to fold and put away. Cleaning is a lot more hassle in the winter, because of the stove.  Smoke, bits of wood and dust are so much more prevalent this time of the year. I have planned the menu for Saturday's dinner party. Cream of vegetable soup with roasted pumpkin seeds, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and assorted vegetables, followed by sherry trifle. First and third course will be prepared on Friday, the roast on Saturday. Yum, yum! I do hope the weather stays good so the hike will be enjoyable and I can take some lovely pictures.

How deep is it?

Oh, I love this puddle!!

This is quite nice and deep too!!

Let's go together!

This must be the biggest puddle around!

Dental works and concerts

On Monday we travelled into town on the bus and went all the way to the terminus so that I can have a lángos for lunch. Roy had a cheeseburger and was also happy. Our new way of travelling on the metro only to the station and catching the trolly bus from there seems to be working out beautifully.  Especially from this direction as the bus stops right in front of our block.

The electric tooth brush

On Tuesday was the first visit of the week to the dentist. She cut off Roy's upper lot of false teeth, cleaned what remained a bit and pulled out two of the remaining real teeth. Unfortunately, Roy's gums underneath the false teeth were in a dreadful state, so when we returned the following day she couldn't finish all the clean-up due to heavy bleeding, so she suggested that he should have a temporary set for about three weeks while the gum  and the extraction site heal.  That meant an extra £160, but what the heck, as this is already ridiculously expensive, I stopped caring. This meant a return on Thursday to have the temporary set fitted by her son, who spoke very good English, so my interpreting services were not needed. She also prescribed some pills for Roy against the inflamed gums and suggested the use of an electric toothbrush and mouthwash. So en route home we bought both and a mixer to help me make mushy foods for quite a while.  The soup I made that night from potatoes, carrots, onions and cauliflower after which I used the mixer until it was a complete mush, was absolutely delicious. Let us hope that everything will be OK and in three weeks all heals up and the permanent set can be fitted.  I think Roy got a bit fed up with the discomfort, so today he told me that he will hang onto the bottom set a bit longer before he embarks on another adventure of this sort.

Ramin Bahrami

Tuesday evening I had a concert at the Music Academy, which was very interesting. The pianist was Ramin Bahrami, an Iranian who left Iran in early childhood, studied in Italy and now is an expert of baroque piano music, mostly playing J.S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.  He treated us to those two composers which pleased me no end.  I did have a sort of feeling in the first half that technical brilliance dominated, rather than emotional involvement, but the second half was better. Perhaps the pieces in the second half were not such virtuoso pieces and he had a chance to slow down a bit and show some emotion.

Muzsikás

On Thursday we were in the Palace of the Arts and this concert was something absolutely phenomenal, the like of which I have never seen before.  Two string quartets were playing, mostly separately, but eventually together.  Muzsikás is a Hungarian folk music band which has been together for 40 years and is famous all over the world. They are all classicly trained musicians and their version of old folk songs is absolutely authentic. They sometimes perform together with a lovely lady called Maria Petrás who sings beautiful, haunting old folk songs, really tugging at your heart strings.

Maria Petrás

And then in the last dozen or so years Muzsikás started giving concerts together with the Takács Quartet who are based in Bolder, Colorado.  This ensemble was started back in the 1970's in the Budapest Music Academy by 4 students. Later they left Hungary, ended up in the US and after one of their original members left them and another one died, now are playing with a couple of American musicians as well as the two remaining original members. The theme of the concert was the connection between folk music and Béla Bartók. We all knew that Bartók was much inspired by folk music, collected thousands of fold songs and incorporated many into his pieces. However, the performance on Friday was inspired, in that after the initial separate pieces, in the second half they started combining the folk music with the classical pieces.  First they took their turn, but at the end plazed all together with such joy and enjoyment that the audience didn't want them to leave.  We did managed to get one encore out of them, which was much appreciated.

The Takács Quartet

And now we are trying to get our wits together to plan for next week.  On Monday Roy will have to go back to the dentist, so that she can finish her cleaning up and show him how to use the electric tooth brush to maximum effect. After that we will hope to go and catch the first bus to the village, but if that would prove impossible, we'll take the second one. The food shopping will have to include the ingredients of Saturday night's dinner with Árpi and Bozsa, who are coming to stay with us for the weekend.

Coughing, travelling, snow, birds, little monsters and mince pies

Long time no post.  Mostly due to illness, but let's start where we left off.  You may remember I was hoping that Roy's cough would not get worse and we could travel to the village on Thursday, 29th January.  Well, Roy's cough not only got worse, but he is still coughing badly with only a little improvement since then.  So we were stuck in town trying to get better. The weather was not too bad, but neither of us was keen to get outside, so Roy stayed indoors and I went out as and when it was necessary.

Balázs Fülei

The first of these occasions was back on Wednesday night last week, when I had a concert in the Music Academy where yet another young titan entertained us on the piano.  His name is Balázs Fülei and his theme was 'dance'.He started with J. S. Bach's English suite in D minor, followed by Bartók's Dance Suite.  After the interval there were 17 Norwegian peasant dances from Grieg and finally 3 Argentinian dances from Ginastera, who was a new composer for me.  All of it was brilliant and I hope he will come home to give further concerts, as he lives and works abroad.


Staying indoors was probably a good idea as we both had plenty to be getting on with and that helped us feel stronger. I managed to do a translation for a friend which should appear in a book that is more than a year overdue and started another one which is only 3 months behind. I have sorted Ian and Ros's house insurance by phone and internet, so that was another task out of the way. Some food shopping and one purchase for cough medicine was also amongst my tasks until we have decided that we are both feeling up to some travelling on the following Monday. I went ahead, did the shopping in Tesco and Roy joined me later to catch the bus together at half past 1 in the afternoon.

As the sun shone beautifully on Monday that proved a good day for travel and we arrived home still in daylight. We unpacked, put the heating on, lit the stove, fed the birds and within half hour felt as if we had never left.  This place does have this affect on you - the feeling of being at home, happy and secure. During Monday night a couple of inches of snow fell and we woke to a magical winter wonderland. While the temperature did drop, especially at night when it was as low as -10 Celsius, during the day it rose to above 0 and the sun shone brightly.  Unfortunately, the thin layer of snow melted, but I did take some photos before that happened.

Snow clearing in progress

The back garden from the terrace

Frozen snow on the branches

A mob of gold finches

One of my real delights is watching the birds on the feeders most days.  Last winter was so mild that we hardly saw them, but this year is cold enough for them demanding their seeds and fat. I found four old wooden bowls which we have hung up on chains, filled them with sunflower seeds and put out a chunk of pork fat as well, hoping they would come.  And they did: blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, hawfinches, green finches, even a nuthatch and a few woodpeckers. I love the tits as they are so sweet, but they are extremely difficult to photograph as they are never staying put for more than a split second.  The finches, however, are less skittish, stay put longer, but they argue, fight and even chase the tits away from the food, so I don't like them half as much. The seed is disappearing fast, we will have to restock soon, which is not going to be fun on the bus. Still, for the pleasure of seeing those lovely little birds every day, I'll do anything.

Goldfinch and two great tits

Great tit on top of the pork fat

Two great tits on top of the bowl

Today being Saturday Stephen called on Skype and we had a lovely long chat with the two little monsters.  Xander is into dinosaurs and is already beginning to speak, although in code which is difficult to understand. They told us a really lovely story of travelling in the car and Xander pipes up: "wah i me donana?" To which Elian replied with no trouble: "Xander, the dinosaurs are back at home." Such is the bond between two brothers, even when they usually fight and pinch each other's toys.

Add caption

The happy chappie

The trumpeter

Red cheeks

That's my head

Where's Peppa Pig?

Yummy banana

Today we decided to have the Sunday dinner on Saturday.  Why not? That's the beauty of retirement, you do what you like and when you like.  Roy roasted some lovely veggies and I had them, he also had them, but with a chop. For afters we made mince pies with the mincemeat left over from Christmas, which kept very well in a big jar. As this was my third attempt at mince pies, I must admit they tasted far better than either of the two previous batches.  Shame there was only 6 of them plus a big one in a bowl (don't ask, long story!). Now that I realised that I probably didn't knead them long enough before, but this time I did and the pastry was super light and delicious, what I now need to learn is how to make them stick together and not fall apart when removing them from the tin.

Looks: 0/10; Taste: 10/10.

My yummy dinner: roast potatoes, onions, garlic and peppers plus sprouts.

 Hopefully the weather stays decent and we'll feel up to travelling on Monday. As I mentioned Roy is still coughing dreadfully and I had a relapse of sorts this week.  The nose, forehead and headaches have come back, plus my sleep is disturbed again. I am so fed up with this winter, roll on spring!! We should spend another week in town, I have a concert and a theatre performance to attend and Roy is starting his dental works, which are not going to be fun, that's for sure. Over £1000 worth and plenty of pain and discomfort.  Ahhhhh!