Annual Draskoczy Bonfire & Party!

Today is party day and I am frantically getting ready. Attila is at Prince's Island with Dűvő for the Calgary Folk Music Fesitval. It's great that they could be here once again to add color to our party.

random pictures from lately

Pubi the Hitman









ladies in Millarville








ducklings 8

Friday of the long , long weekend

We're moving forward with our projects.  

Garage has been taped, mudded, sanded and as of yesterday, painted!  Today we're cleaning up the dust and other garbage before we layout the plan for the cabinets and other organizer stuff.

Landscaping is moving along really nice.  The 30 poplars are in along either side of the driveway.  Fiddler's Green is here working on putting in the 3 bunches off our back deck.  Looks great!  The birds are loving it too.

 

WHY WE LIVE IN THE COUNTRY

It has been one year since our living-on-the-acreage journey began.

My parents owned an acreage for 18 years near Priddis. I lived with them for most of those years. I absolutely loved it!! My dream was to follow in their footsteps and...this dream came true.

Calgary had gone crazy and it was time for us to get out. We're not farmers; we're not ranchers; we just love living in the country. We'd love to have horses or llamas or chickens...maybe someday. But for now, we can just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet. We love the space, the green, the birds, the animals. Here, we're not shielded from nature. Nature survives in cities despite the city. Here it survives because it flourshes. And we get to watch that all year long.

Winter isn't so bad. The snow doesn't stay - it all blows away. There could be six inches in the morning and by the afternoon our snow is probably in Lethbridge. What we've learned through the winter months, is to leave some lights on when we leave the house. Many times, we left when it was light and came home when it was dark. OMG. We thought someone had stolen our house.

It's amazing to watch and hear the first signs of spring, which actually continues on throughout the rest of the seasons, for the most part. The frogs, the Canadian geese making their home, the ducks moving in, grouse, pheasants, owls and numerous other species of birds. We love having the pond (now a small lake after all this rain). Watching the greening of the prairie, seeing the first green blades of grass. When nature is left alone it's amazing the see what can develop.

Our favorite time of day is sunrise and sunset. The sunrise makes the mountains so clear - we feel like we can reach out and touch them. The pond comes alive with all the birds. As the sun sets, giving off the most beautiful colors as it goes behind the mountains, you begin to hear the eerie cries of the coyotes. They seem so close.

Our most cherished ritual is going for walks after dinner - as long as the weather cooperates. Of course Tisza comes with us. But our most unlikely campanions are the two cats. It's hilarious to watch the three of them walking together.

This past year we've learned to relax and just absorb the tranquility that you get from being surrounded by nature.

"When you move to the country you should let it take you over; let is inspire you".

1st bonfire!

Thanks to our friends for a great evening; first of many!!

long weekend stuff

Mother's Day weekend

1st bird (that we know of); next day, Pubi caught one too.

Pubi on the left, Pezsgő on the right.  So this is how they caught the birds...

pretty amazing

Crazy cats...they always need to be at the highest point...

Weekend in Jászberény

Sasi és Gábor in the background

Mara

Livia és Dani

Dűvő

Prague pics

We drove to Praha, Prague, Práha...for a couple of days.  Kati és Laci and Leslie és Zsoka also joined us.  It was a great time.  Thanks to Leslie - our tour guide.

Europe 2008

Our trip was uneventful...mostly. We were delayed 45 minutes at the airport due to a hydrolic problem. The plane actually pulled out from the gate, then they realized this problem and we pulled back into our parking spot. Almost everyone on our flight had another connecting flight in Frankfurt, with not much time between. Attila and I did not sleep at all. We watched 2 movies: Juno and Notebook. Transferring in Frankfurt was smooth and the flight was very rough, including the landing.

Gyuri met us at the airport along with the rental car guy. This year, the rental car is a huge let down. Can you imagine...Ford Focus! Oh my god! No GPS! Oh my god! And it's only a 5 speed! Oh my god! We relaxed a bit at his place; got some Forint; loaded up the phone with minutes through the bank machine; and went for dinner. I was going downhill pretty fast by 7:00. Gyuri's bed...Oh my god! It is hard like a rock...made from coconut. Anyway - thankfully I was really tired, I slept great that first night. The next night we had to put all the blankets we could find on top of the mattress for padding.

Next day we met up with Kati & Laci at the Vasár Csarnok, ate lunch, and planned the next couple of weeks. The shopping along Váci utca was average. we DID manage to buy a few things, but not crazy like in previous years.

Dinner was at Margitkert Étterem with Kati, Laci, Böbe, Gyuri, Gergő (Dűvő).

This morning we left for Prague, and that is where we are now. The hotel room is awesome. We walking around a bit. I had to stop Attila from buying a $4400 Louis Viton bag. Now we are waiting for Kati, Laci and Laci, Zsoka. We'll be going out for dinner somewhere. Right now we raided the mini bar. I'm drinking white wine with tonic. IT'S REALLY GOOD! Honest.

Productive (Zsuzsa) and Relaxing (Attila) weekend!

John, Brian, Mike, Dan, Attila

Mike, Attila, Brian, John, Dan

This has been a very productive and relaxing weekend, both at the same time.  Ati went to Palm Springs - Indian Wells - for the Pacific Life Open Tennis Tournament.  He watched Rafael Nadal defeat James Blake; Mardy Fish defeat Roger Federer...just to name a few.  It was a guys weekend and his childhood buddy - Gyuri - also joined him from Budapest.  I miss him alot!  Attila - that is.

My world was different.  I rented a construction garbage bin, and tackled the little job of cleaning out the garage. Thursday, I came home from work and the purging began.  I nearly filled the bin that first night.  Friday continued with much the same.  Anyu came over early afternoon to help.  Between the two of us - we got SO MUCH done!  At 6:30 we came in the house, bathed Tisza's feet for 1 hour.  She was filthy!  Small price to pay - she really enjoyed the entire day outside - chasing the cats around; obliviously running through mud.  Needless to say - we were all very pooped.  Anyu and I made a kick-ass salad and salmon burgers...and shared a bottle of Tokaj white wine.  Mmmmmm.   We tried to watch a DVD, but kept catching each other falling asleep.  Off to bed we went.

Saturday (this morning) was a blast!  We slept till 9:30, made coffee and sat out front on the swing...listening to the sounds of spring.  About a week and a half ago, Attila and I noticed that a geese pár have moved into the the forming pond beside our house.  I love this!  "Our" pond attracts such a variety of wildlife.  I can hardly wait for the frogs!!!!  Anyway, these geese are just doing their thing, and along comes another pair.  They decide it is romance time.  The first pair are pretty much cheering the second "romantic" pair along.  Three more show up.  Not sure what kind of relationship these "3" have.  The three were walking along the side of our driveway.  Well, Pubi-I guess-didn't like that they were on her property.  She kindly escorted them off.  Hilarious.  

Things settled down and as Anyu and I were sitting on the swing, Pubi and Pezsgő come around the corner.  PUBI HAS A MOUSE IN HER MOUTH!  AWESOME.  She showed us and disappeared into the garage, Pezsgő tagging along behind her.  Pubi just caught herself lunch...CRUNCH-CRUNCH!  

After Anyu left, I laid the leftover stone-tile into the gaps along the path leading to the fire pit.  As I was doing this, I looked up and saw the cats playing...playing WITH something...something is another MOUSE!   This time Pezsgő had it.  Well, not for long.  If you take your eye off it for just a second, it will be stolen.  Now Pubi had it.  And that was the end of the mouse.  Pubi didn't bother going to the garage - this time she ate it right there in the field.  No sharing.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the deck.  It was pretty nice.  Definitely sunny - not a cloud in the sky (well, just a few little ones); and breezy.  

Tomorrow I have a few things I want to finish before picking Attila up from the airport.

Aaaaaah!!   What a great feeling of accomplishment.

Just some pics of warmer days...