7 of many things that started a discussion today….
Our morning verandah chats turn up some very interesting topics.
‘BELARUS‘
This is Belarus…our next door neighbour’s tractor!
We got chatting about this ancient piece of farm machinery because she tends to leave a lingering smell of fuel in the air whenever she passes! This morning we could smell her from the verandah as she ambled past. She is also very noisy, a sign of an elderly but generally dependable tractor. This picture was taken when we first arrived in Hungary 3 years ago…. we were having our land flattened. The excited young lady in the tractor was our English friend from back home, she was holidaying with us and could not resist a pose! Eric and I decided Belarus was a female!
Jeffrey Epstein
I have just finished watching the shocking Jeffrey Epstein documentary and felt it merited discussion.
Our conclusions: The man was despicable! His money protected him until the end. His victims will never be free of him. Following Michael Jackson and Jimmy Saville all just SICK! I watched this on Netflix.
Something Calming…
Hungarian Chamomile is known as Matricaria Chamomilla and is very pretty with fields full of this daisy-like flower.
Mentioning chamomile brought back many happy memories of Eric’s grandmother in Lebanon. He learned, when he was young, many things from this wise knowledgeable woman. She taught him how to make healing potions to treat various illnesses just using plants and herbs. I have learned a lot too, it’s fascinating. One of grandmothers’ potions was to steep crushed chamomile flowers in boiling water. Then add honey for cold/flu sufferers or butter for a bad chest/cough. I have never drank chamomile but I do know you can buy commercially made chamomile tea in supermarkets.
Sunflower Patch
A sunflower patch filled with 1.5 m tall flowers.
It will be positioned in a corner of the garden that needs disguising. This is my plan. We already have an abundance of sunflowers growing around the garden, but they do tend to park themselves wherever they want! This photo from last year settled in the marigold plot and was a whopper. I have diligently cleared a good area for the sunflowers and will plant our current batch when they are ready. We talked about making the area “Haley Proof” (our dog) always a consideration when planning the garden.
Shopping during the virus
We have dealt with the lockdown restrictions pretty well in our little part of Hungary. The main difference from before is that we have to be far more organised to only leave the house once a fortnight. Our plans were to go on Monday (tomorrow) but it is a bank holiday, and everywhere is closed. I started a notebook leaving it out during the week to add items to. It filled up pretty quickly, especially when our son spotted it!! I will take it with me shopping on Tuesday, so helpful for me as my memory is not great. It’s a long way to go back to the shop if you have forgotten something. We mainly shop at Lidl but occasionally Tesco. Aldi is also in Hungary but we have not tried it yet! Hungary has many bank holidays dotted throughout the year, there aren’t the mad food shopping sprees that usually precede bank holidays in the UK.
Poker People
We are both “poker people”, meaning we enjoy a good competitive game of poker. We are both gamblers, and consider ourselves as competent, tactical players and of course, enjoy the thrill of winning.
Now over here in Hungary we have had to leave all our ‘live’ poker friends in England so as an alternative we have started playing online poker. The big advantage is it costs nothing and you play with points.
However, online poker is a totally different concept from playing face to face. Online, you are unable to read body language, which is a definite advantage when playing poker. Reading faces, body movements, general atmosphere…it’s all part of the game. Eric and I talked a lot about body language, it’s an interesting subject.
Music Today
We like a wide variety of music and just on impulse I put my phone on Youtube and played a song, it was the song Eric had been singing earlier, by The Wanted, we laughed a lot!! Music lifts our mood it also gets my imagination going. I had a vision of our verandah artistically covered in twinkling fairy lights all the way around, the music playing, dance floor perhaps??”I think it would look stunning?” alas….no reply from the main man! ….as an afterthought we have been playing music all day today.🎶
Are you a retired expat? What do you talk about with your nearest and dearest? 💞
Just a bit of fun and an insight into what these retired expats talk about whilst living in Hungary. There will be more “Verandah Conversations” very soon.
Making Hungary Home 