I say this having eaten more thickly iced cupcakes.
It seems to me that over the last few months I have eaten more bread, more sweets, more cookies, slices of cake, and candy, than I may have in many prior years. It's not showing on my body (yet) because I have also been using more calories. I really must get back to my vegetable-loaded diet.
This is not a New Years Resolution. It is an acknowledgement that I'm courting health disaster if I don't reform!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
THE CHRISTMAS CAROLING PARTY LAST NIGHT WAS THE BEST
I was invited to the home of a couple who are instrumental in a local Christian church last night to attend a tradition of theirs - Christmas carol singing in the home. I took my dog with me. After we had both eaten plenty from the great variety of foods offered - including a tasty Russian meat strudel and the home made Mexican enchiladas a guest brought with onions not too raw - not too cooked - and a hunters stew, and had one glass of wine, we gathered in the living room. My host played the piano. Also there, a young man - a violinist, a guitar player, and small percussion instruments such as bells, rattles, and tambourines were passed around.
We must have sung fifteen songs, happy to have the lyric sheets in hand. We got inventive. One man made the sounds of cows, donkeys, and sheep, for the song Do You Hear What I Hear. We sang one song that was a German carol I had never heard before, alternating between English and German phrases with violin solos between stanzas. We finished with the Twelve Days of Christmas - those "five golden rings" brought out the operatic and dramatic. My dog fell asleep under a table despite all the kids swirling around and the clamor.
Oh I hated to go.
C 2018 Magyar American BlogSpot All Rights Reserved.
Happy Holidays to all my readers, who I feel sure, will have their decorations up until January 6th.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Saturday, December 15, 2018
A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS - THIS TIME THIS YEAR
The song by that title my mom loved and I remember her singing it around the house. I almost put a YouTube video up of the song being sung by one of my dad's favorite artists. But I am opposed to forcing my readers into having to watch or listen to a commercial first.
A few of my favorite things at this time of year?
I have memories of visiting people and indulging in their cookies - so many different ethnic recipes - so many different spices. Including anise in sugar cookies, glazed with simple powder sugar and vanilla. Never brownies, no chocolaty chip, but a lot of jellies, powdered sugars, almonds, walnuts and poppy seeds.
One of my aunts made a poppy seed roll that was so fresh smelling and tasting, it was impossible to eat just one piece. Another made a particular date cookie with a creamy icing in pastels.
Candy - Jordan almonds and those raspberry-tac filled with a little liquid.
Our stockings were never full of toys or money.
The discovery of a quarter, a box of Jello, an orange, some candy canes, or other small items in an actual knee sock I wore - was enough to please and surprise - since it was left by Santa. Who sometimes ate a cookie and drank his milk - and sometimes did not.
The local news channels ended 6 PM news with checking the radar for Santa's sleigh and it seems that was enough excuse to go to bed early.
Sometimes it snowed. Sometimes it didn't. We never went out looking for sleigh, reindeer footprints, or elf or Santa footprints. Knowing - not knowing - it didn't seem to matter - because it was simple faith.
For the last couple decades I have not put up an actual Christmas tree. I used to collect ornaments and have collections. I sold one collection a long time ago. I put out an antique bowl full of ornaments as a centerpiece at the table. I'm fond of candles and the small lights sometimes called fairy lights. I like to have a few branches of actual pine tree so the rooms smell a little of pine.
A few of my favorite things at this time of year?
I have memories of visiting people and indulging in their cookies - so many different ethnic recipes - so many different spices. Including anise in sugar cookies, glazed with simple powder sugar and vanilla. Never brownies, no chocolaty chip, but a lot of jellies, powdered sugars, almonds, walnuts and poppy seeds.
One of my aunts made a poppy seed roll that was so fresh smelling and tasting, it was impossible to eat just one piece. Another made a particular date cookie with a creamy icing in pastels.
Candy - Jordan almonds and those raspberry-tac filled with a little liquid.
Our stockings were never full of toys or money.
The discovery of a quarter, a box of Jello, an orange, some candy canes, or other small items in an actual knee sock I wore - was enough to please and surprise - since it was left by Santa. Who sometimes ate a cookie and drank his milk - and sometimes did not.
The local news channels ended 6 PM news with checking the radar for Santa's sleigh and it seems that was enough excuse to go to bed early.
Sometimes it snowed. Sometimes it didn't. We never went out looking for sleigh, reindeer footprints, or elf or Santa footprints. Knowing - not knowing - it didn't seem to matter - because it was simple faith.
For the last couple decades I have not put up an actual Christmas tree. I used to collect ornaments and have collections. I sold one collection a long time ago. I put out an antique bowl full of ornaments as a centerpiece at the table. I'm fond of candles and the small lights sometimes called fairy lights. I like to have a few branches of actual pine tree so the rooms smell a little of pine.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
MEDITATION on the MIGRANT CARAVANS HEADING TO THE UNITED STATES
I've been reading around the MIGRANT CARAVAN, specifically the plight of Hondurans who say they cannot continue to survive in that Country and the thousands of people headed for the border of the United States. There are so very many thousands heading this way that I have to pause and think they should too. In fact I think the migrants should take Mexico up on it's offers to provide for now.
1) The reason why they are heading to Tijuana is that they want into CALIFORNIA, a sanctuary state. Not Texas or Arizona.
2) There are thousands of homeless who need HELP FIRST here in the United States.
3) Spanish speaking immigrants in California no doubt tend to have their own culture and their own economic interplay. There are many jobs that require applicants to speak both Spanish and English but overall if you are a Spanish only speaking immigrant, you're going to have a more difficult time making a living wage.
4) California is too expensive to make less than a living wage. This is not a good place to start off on minimum wage or cash jobs.
5) Those who brought evidence such as news articles or photos that prove that they are or have been living in danger in Honduras have a chance. So do the LGTB migrants.
6) Don't do something stupid like climb the wall or get involved in violent actions. Really, this is the time to basically WAIT and the WAITING is going to be a long time. What to do besides eat and sleep? I think read. Read the news. Read about legal immigration. Read about the history and government of Mexico and the United States.
7) That the caravans were organized to protect the majority who travel together - I get it.
8) When my ancestors came to America from Europe they did so legally at the time.
Hungarians who did not process citizenship before World War I had their process stalled. They were one of the ethnic groups now considered to be suspicious.
9) If a person has a family or friend willing to support and sponsor them, give them a chance. This is how it was done in the past. For instance, people on steam ships had to say where they were going and who they were going to live with. Some of them carried the letters they received making these offers with them.
10) An old friend once told me that "Mexico is not a poor country." Overall I think it would be easier to adjust to Mexico's culture than the United States.
C 2018 Magyar American BlogSpot All Rights Reserved.
1) The reason why they are heading to Tijuana is that they want into CALIFORNIA, a sanctuary state. Not Texas or Arizona.
2) There are thousands of homeless who need HELP FIRST here in the United States.
3) Spanish speaking immigrants in California no doubt tend to have their own culture and their own economic interplay. There are many jobs that require applicants to speak both Spanish and English but overall if you are a Spanish only speaking immigrant, you're going to have a more difficult time making a living wage.
4) California is too expensive to make less than a living wage. This is not a good place to start off on minimum wage or cash jobs.
5) Those who brought evidence such as news articles or photos that prove that they are or have been living in danger in Honduras have a chance. So do the LGTB migrants.
6) Don't do something stupid like climb the wall or get involved in violent actions. Really, this is the time to basically WAIT and the WAITING is going to be a long time. What to do besides eat and sleep? I think read. Read the news. Read about legal immigration. Read about the history and government of Mexico and the United States.
7) That the caravans were organized to protect the majority who travel together - I get it.
8) When my ancestors came to America from Europe they did so legally at the time.
Hungarians who did not process citizenship before World War I had their process stalled. They were one of the ethnic groups now considered to be suspicious.
9) If a person has a family or friend willing to support and sponsor them, give them a chance. This is how it was done in the past. For instance, people on steam ships had to say where they were going and who they were going to live with. Some of them carried the letters they received making these offers with them.
10) An old friend once told me that "Mexico is not a poor country." Overall I think it would be easier to adjust to Mexico's culture than the United States.
C 2018 Magyar American BlogSpot All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Friday, November 2, 2018
BOAT SHAPED FACE CARVED HEADSTONES of SZATMARCSEKE CALVINIST CEMETERY
ATLAS OBSCURA - SZATMARCSEKE- CALVINIST CEMETERY
EXCERPT: Before a local dies, he or she picks a tree that will one day be felled to form his or her own marker. The residents also leave specific instructions with their chosen woodworker. The boat-shaped pieces of wood must meet a strict set of criteria: They must be made of oak, be between about five feet and 6.5 feet high, and face west.
Some of the oldest boat markers are located in a separate area which was once reserved for Romani Hungarians and the victims of suicide. The cemetery also contains the marble tombs of the Kölcsey family, including that of Ferenc Kölcsey, a Hungarian poet and politician who wrote the country’s national anthem and died in the village in 1838.
***
Go to the site to see these strange boat shaped images.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
TEMETNI TUDUNK : HOW TO BURY PEOPLE THAT'S ONE THING WE KNOW : HUNGARIAN STEREOTYPES
THE MAN WHO LOVED ONLY NUMBERS by PAUL HOFFMAN : BOOK EXCERPT
pages 62-63
"Death and tragedy have long been part of the Hungarian character. According to the historian John Lukacs, on All Soul's Day in Erdos's youth, "thousands of people steamed toward the cemeteries of Budapest, with flowers in their hands, on that holy day which is perhaps taken more seriously in Hungary than anywhere else because of the national temperament. Temetni tudunk - a terse Magyar phrase whose translation requires as many as ten English words to give its proper (and even then, not wholly exact) sense: 'How to bury people - that is one thing we know.'" The phrase was coined long before Hungary had experienced the devastation of the two world wars, whose carnage would come disproportionately from within its borders.
Few countries have had as violent a history as Hungary. In the ninth century, nomadic Magyar warriors from the steppes of Easter Europe crossed the Carpathian mountains, and renouncing their peripatetic way of life, settled in the middle Danube basin at the heart of what is now Hungary. The Magyars, also known as the On-Ogurs ("people of the ten arrows"), were skilled archers and javelin throwers who raided their neighbors, plundering Germany from Bavaria to Saxony. Recent converts to Christianity, the Magyars had to defend their own new territory against a series of invaders. They held their own until 1241, when several hundred thousand Mongol horseman from Genghis Khan's empire slaughtered half the Magyar population and enslaved much of the rest, a bloodbath from which the country barely recovered "
The problem with Hungary," Erdos once joked, reflecting on his country's history, "is that in every war we choose the wrong side."
