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Seasonal Photographs

Seasonal Summer Photos in and around Kisszékely, Hungary

We are nearing the end of summer in our little rural village of Kisszékely. Our 3rd summer here and everyone has been wonderfully beautiful, full of flowers and wildlife, sights and sounds I would never hear in the city.

I have collected together my 12 best summer photos to give you an idea of summer life in Hungary.

The glorious sunflowers of Hungary, all different shades of yellow attracting bees and insects all summer long.

As the late sun goes down over Kisszékely lake it reminds me of why we moved to such a tranquil place. So very peaceful.

Haley Husky loves to get involved in every aspect of gardening! She manages to find her way under my feet regularly!

Hungary is blessed with radiant orangey sunsets, this one was particularly beautiful.

I can’t resist a field of sunflowers in full bloom. The heads are left on until the plant is completely brown and ready for harvesting later in the year.

Our garden has many Hibiscus of varying colours white through pinks and purples. It would appear to be a popular easy to grow plant with many flowers all summer long.

This is my colourful view whilst relaxing on our verandah.

This is the view from our bedroom window… lots of delicious sunflower seeds for hungry finches.

The white roses have flowered three times this year producing a wonderful display.

Walking around the village I was taken in by this lovely front garden. The splash of red often seen in front of Hungarian houses pops out at you. In Hungary the residents are responsible for the grass verges outside their houses.

We are fortunate to have a fairly lively animal farm in the village with a huge variety of animals including there gorgeous donkeys. They were looking hopefully for something to nibble.

Country life in Kisszékely Hungary suits us very well. Now it’s time to prepare for crisp autumn walks and hot warming casseroles.

Categories
Everyday Life in Hungary

A Hungarian Village Wedding

Sitting on our veranda we can see and hear pretty much what’s going on in the village all day. We live on the main street so most of the traffic we recognise and wave a cheery “Jo Reggelt Kivanok” (Good Morning in English), to passers by. Our village is a dead end and is usually very quiet.

But not today! I could faintly hear some music getting louder as it came down the hill towards us. What could be going on, my camera at the ready I took a leisurely stroll down to the gate. This is what I saw…

A group of people walking in a procession accompanied by some Hungarian music. I spotted a man at the front of the procession, carrying a stick full of ribbons and dressed smartly with an interesting hat.

The music became louder as the musicians walked slowly past. I suspected something was happening down at the church. A wedding perhaps? These days with the Covid19 virus around the rules around marriages are different in different countries.

My waiting paid off, the music again could be heard in the distance as the wedding party left the church and made their way up the hill, past our house and towards the lake, presumably for wedding photographs.

The day was especially hot, in the early 30’s degrees centigrade, very warm for walking in the village but a treat for everyone to see.

I later found out that the happy couple’s parents live in the village and dad is our local daily bus driver.

I was intrigued to know the purpose of the gentleman with the ribbons and hat so asked a local Facebook group to give me some background of his purpose.

He is the “Master of the Ceremony”. In Hungarian “Vőfély”. The person who brings fun and joy to the wedding. He creates a good vibe with guests with games and jokes. He is the one who tells short poems to start the different courses of the dinner and makes a funny toast to make the guests drink…creating lots of laughter.

The Vőfély gets a ribbon for each wedding they have participated in. Some Vőfély are very popular and booking him is usually the first wedding related planning that the future bride and groom secure. He is a paid professional.

Those aren’t feathers in his hat as I first thought. It’s a type of wild grass, called “árvalányhaj” (literally, “orphan girl hair”). It only grows in a certain valley in Hungary and is protected by the government with massive fines if picked!

It was also interesting to learn that at midnight of the wedding, the Vőfély manages the ‘sale of the bride’ (when guests pay or bring their gifts and dance with the bride).

The final lovely touch was that I was offered chocolate sweets by one of the wedding party. It would have been rude to refuse.

As the musicians passed for a second time I felt fortunate to have captured this special moment in this young couple’s lives. I have also learnt a great deal about Hungarian weddings.

Perhaps I will catch another one soon.

Have you ever come across a wedding by chance, did you take photos?

Categories
Everyday Life in Hungary

Exploring Pretty Kisszékely, Hungary in June

The weather in Kisszékely this month has been a mixture of very hot sun and torrential rain showers. Everywhere is noticeably greener and at last feels like summer has arrived.

We are very fortunate to have not one but two lakes in the village. One of them belongs to Simontornya (the next village) and the other to Kisszékely. Both lakes are available and accessible to everyone for fishing, picnicking or just sitting and admiring. These are the resident ducks patrolling the waters but sometimes illusive to photograph. I got lucky.

Wandering up the main street of the village, I passed a local Panzio (Bed&Breakfast) that looked very empty with currently no guests due to the current pandemic.

These Red Hot Pokers are stunning making such a pretty colourful display on someone’s front verge. I do believe they are also called “Mother-in-Law’s Tongues? In Hungary, unlike England, homeowners have responsibility for the verges outside their houses.

Hungary boasts plenty of lizards, you spot them dashing around or just sitting sunning themselves. This handsome fellow stayed still long enough for me to photograph. There is also an abundance of colourful butterflies everywhere you walk. Nice to look at but when they are caterpillars they demolish my garden!

This time of year the trees are laden with fruit and nuts like these, nectarines, mulberries and hazelnuts.

Nectarines
Hazelnuts
Mulberries

Kisszékely is in a valley surrounded by hills with staggering views the higher up you go. I walked up as far as I could and spotted hundreds of birds just sitting on the telegraph poles.

I obviously was not quiet enough because suddenly with a whoosh and a lot of noise they took flight!

Back down into the village and the entrance to the lake belonging to Simontornya village.

I really like this shot of the path surrounding this lake, like a mysterious tunnel of giant trees, very peaceful and tranquil. A popular place for walking dogs.

I sat on one of the many wooden jetties around the lake to take these shots. The jetties are made of wood and some have seen better days! Each fishing jetty belongs to someone and they usually have name plaques to tell you this.

The last shot of this beautiful lake before moving on.

Kisszékely is a hunting and fishing village attracting many people from far and wide to take part in hunts. There is a hunting lodge in the village specifically for this. Hunters come, pay their dues and take part in organised hunts. The grounds and the forests are extensive and are full of boar and deer. There is a giant outdoor fridge made available for the hunters to store their hunts.

The hunting lodge also has a beautiful lake attached with a million mosquitoes hovering around. It was late in the day, I did not stay long!

Through the forest and from a distance I spotted these deer amongst the darkness of the trees.

The boar breeding is in full swing at the moment. I did not realise they had so many babies. They took a quick look at me and made a run for it!

I know hunting is a controversial topic. I am merely taking photos of what I see and sharing with you snippets of village life.

Mama boar and her cute babies.

Leaving the hunting forest I came across this glorious rustic rambling rose covering a run down building. Just gorgeous.

Hungary is a sunflower country, with fields and fields of them in the summer. This one however turned her back on me! My first sunflower shot of the year, I shall be taking more sunflower shots soon.

It has been a pleasure putting together this month’s nature walk, I hope you liked it too. I shall be doing the same next month, follow me to join me on next month’s photographic journey.

Categories
Everyday Life in Hungary

May’s Nature Tour around the charming village of Kisszékely, Hungary

Our little village is full of overflowing gardens everywhere you look, this particular one caught my eye, obviously a lot of work went into this with a stunning result, and the bonus…the Mock Orange smelt heavenly!! I took these photos late afternoon hence the lengthening shadows. A beautiful time to explore the village with its changing seasonal beauties. Each month I have taken a walk around Kisszékely with my camera to record nature’s changes. It is amazing how quickly Mother Nature has awoken to brighten our world.

There is a lovely seated area adjacent to the swimming pool full of maturing shrubs and trees. There are bird boxes and bird tables dotted all around. A pleasure to sit and peacefully admire.

Across the wooden bridge over the reed filled river and to the entrance of the swimming pool area. Open during the hot summer months it’s very well attended. There are wooden picnic tables and huge trees to sit among on the grass. There is also an outdoor oven for Al Fresco dining if you like!

“Messing about on the water” these lads were cycling around the village whilst I was photographing, they were having so much fun, enjoying the fresh air and appreciating their surroundings. That’s what we used to do when we were young…no internet then!!

As I circumnavigated the lake I had to negotiate this wooden bridge and steep slope, stupidly not really having the right footwear was a mistake! Even worse if I visit during the winter months as it does get rather slippery.

Round the other side of Kisszékely Lake, I wanted to experiment with framing and use natural objects to achieve this. The trees were growing at an angle towards the water they created a perfect snapshot of the other side.

My man, my taxi and my other eye. 👓 He is forever patient and waits for hours for me to hop in and out of the car to get that perfect shot.

This is our local church we are high up the side of the valley and I’m having fun, dreadfully modelling for “I can’t use the camera Eric” standing on the edge of a wheat field!

Kisszékely Church and the fabulous view over the valley, everything is so vibrantly green it’s beautiful.

This is a Pince (winehouse/cellar), a tiny building with accommodation at the top and wine making facilities/equipment in the cellar. They are situated next to the owner’s vineyards. This one had an amazing Virginia Creeper up the whole side of the building, in its garden it had fig trees with ripe fruit.

Over the other side of the valley, I got a perfect view of the village church and the Panzio (guest house) we stayed in before we moved over to Hungary permanently.

I was staggered when I came across masses of wild roses, all growing wild and randomly, their delicate pink petals covering all the hedgerows.

The trees all seem to be heavy with lovely blooms. The other photo shows caves made into the hillside usually at the end of a person’s garden. They are used for storage and are quite a common sight. This garden had a wire fence around it, and a yappy dog, I had to be quick peering through the fence, you can see the bronzing in the photo.

The last view, the vast lush green landscape goes on for miles, over the valley and onto the next little rural village in Hungary.

It has been a pleasure putting together this month’s nature walk. I shall be doing the same next month, follow me to join me on next month’s photographic journey.

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Uncategorized

Today 14th May, Excellent Hungarian Photo of The Day

Carpets of autumn leaves, Kisszékely Lake, Hungary
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Today 2nd May, Excellent Hungarian Photo of The Day

Rural Life in Kisszékely, Hungary
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Uncategorized

Today 17th April, Excellent Hungarian Photo of The Day

The lush green valley of Kisszékely, Hungary
Categories
Seasonal Photographs

Spring Sunshine in Kisszékely, Hungary

Spring has arrived in this beautiful part of the world. The sun shines and our little village comes alive with colour and new life thanks to Mother Nature. We are blessed here in Hungary having very definite seasons, starting and finishing pretty much the same time every year. Mother Nature never disappoints.

I do hope you see how much I appreciate living in Hungary, it is just so beautiful. Below are links to my most recent posts, please do have a look.

Sunshine flowers – the splendid daffodil

Categories
Everyday Life in Hungary

April Nature Trail Kisszékely, Hungary

April is here and time for our monthly walk around the nature trails of our little rural village in Hungary. The weather has been kind, so a great opportunity to photograph nature, the scenery and a multitude of animals we met along the way. I also took pictures of some of the colourful properties we encountered on our walk.

Nature Trail – Wild Pear Boulevard
Hidden lakes of water between the trees.
Butterflies enjoying the wildflowers.
Up the hill
Gorgeous pinks along the trail.
A friendly cat along the way.
Back Garden barn
Trees bursting into life
Intriguing entrance into the hillside
Information board and map of the trail
Spring flowers bloom in harmony
Signs on trees show we are going the right way!
Across the valley the little wooden huts that house boar.
Horses peacefully grazing
Continuing to follow the trail
Our village church in the distance
Blossom on the hill
Into the forest
Forest flowers
At the farm, these cows give us our milk
“I’m looking at you”
Lambs enjoying the spring sunshine
At the dog breeding farm
Colourful yellow house
Flags and crest
Another cheerful house
Little houses dot the countryside
Tiny newly built house
Spring daffodils
Letterbox

Our little village of Kisszékely has a lot to offer the walker and photographer. Every month mother nature changes and adapts to the weather offering wonderful displays of changing colours, a truly beautiful sight. I hope you have enjoyed a little insight into this small corner of rural Hungary.