St. Nick's Day

Some places he is called Santa, others St. Nicholas and in Hungary the man in red who comes riding in a sleigh is called Mikulas. Unlike in the US, he is celebrated on his own day, December 6th. According to custom children clean their shoes before going to bed and put them on the window sill where Mikulas will come during the night and good boys and girls will receive treats while the rest will get switches placed in their shoes.

Were you good this year? Don't forget to clean your shoes before going to bed and leave them on the window sill for Mikulas to find them.

Slipping off quietly

My brother phoned to tell me that Mother passed away quietly at 9:30 this morning. She was an amazingly compassionate, energetic woman who was never too tired to make our favorite dish. She had been sick for a long time and had suffered much. She is now at peace. It will be a lot tougher for my brother - the two of them were very close. This is a picture of my Mom and my son on his last visit to her.

Anniversary/Birthday

Just noticed that my blog passed the one-year mark in November! Is it me, or do the years really go by faster and faster?

As much as I've enjoyed finding and posting the shots, visiting your blogss and reading your comments - I am afraid that I will be tapering off from daily postings. As you know by now, the only thing in life that remains constant is change. New directions require energy, attention and so I will have to divert from here to put elsewhere. Know how much I've enjoyed sharing this year with all of you and occasionally I will surely be back and visit - but it will not be as in the past.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season. Keep a balance in your life so you can enjoy what the holidays are intended for.

Theme Day - Circles

Being in the middle of Europe there are a number of countries that surround Hungary. Some of these countries are, as is Hungary, members of the EU but have not yet adopted the Euro as their official currency.

For my circles I've emptied my pocket of the Zloty (from a trip to Warsaw), Sk from Slovakia, Kc from Prague, Euro from Rome, a dime from the US and domestic Hungarian coin samples. Let's see the interpretations of others for this theme day - have fun!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants