He's had a birthday shout hooray!

Steve got to chose anywhere he wanted to go for his birthday so he chose one of our favorite that is on Lover. I asked him for his best birthday shot and this is what he gave me.

We had never eaten inside. We are glad we did as it has some really interesting decorations like these military uniforms from the past.

He got what he always wanted, a shirt to remind him of Hungary!

On the Saturday after his birthday Tibor and Eva surprised him with a birthday cake at our English Club. It was a very delicious birthday cake!

Will he be able to blow out all the candles?

This is Steve celebrating that he really is only 68. I am excited that we do not have to buy new candles for next year! Yes, he did blow out all the both candles in one breath! Not bad for someone his age.

They gave him a cover for his kindle which is what he really needed. They are good friends!

The Joo family had us to dinner along with the elders and suprised Steve with a party that even included a birthday balloon which had music notes on it because he is the choir director for our branch.

Ande, Julia and Karoly even sang him a birthday song.

And gave him a beautiful book with pictures of Hungary.

When the birthday hats don't fit on your head there is another option.

What a great place Sopron is to live in for a birthday.

DEBRECEN

We went with the Cromars to Debrecen to watch the world famous "Flower Parade."  It was a national holiday in Hungary and they do know how to celebrate.  

The challenge facing us was to find the motel.  It was evening and dark and our GPS took us down a dark street with trees on both sides and a fence.  We went up and back a couple of time and finally stopped to ask a young couple to help us, which they did.  We had to go through this gate in order to get to the grounds of the motel.  

The rooms were small, but neat and cozy.  Notice the TV in the corner.  I will add a couple or more pictures of the apartment and the outside.

We had to take a ticket going into the motel, and we had to give it back when we left in order to get out of the gate.  

This is the way the parade started.  This group of riders came by and stopped for about 15 minutes in front of us.  I kept thinking they were waiting for the rest of the parade to catch up.  Then came the first float.

The floats were all beautiful (as you will see), but the float also stopped in front of us and then we waited again for another 10 or 15 minutes for another group.  A group consisted of a float, maybe a group of dancer, or a band.  I will show the rest of the floats so you don't have to sit for two hours waiting for them.

All of these had to be decorated with flowers and plants they really were amazing.  We finally walked "upstream" of the parade so we could get the pictures without standing there forever.  The Hungarians are a very patient people.

It really was very pretty, but format wasn't what I would consider really user friendly.  They did have a  couple of grandstands where the parade moved more smoothly because they were the chosen ones.  

I wanted to show this because these people were all pedaling and the joint effort made the "vehicle" go.  It really was an interesting thing to see.

These are just some sights there in Debrecen.  It really had an interesting history.  It isn't too far from the Ukraine.  

This is Elder Abrok's mother and sister.  They invited us to come to their house for lunch.  They are amazing people.  Barbara, the daughter, is leaving for England in a few days to be a nanny.  They were both so gracious and the food was delicious.  

Just one more picture to make those of you who are "craftsmen" jealous.  Elder Abrok is a carpenter, like his father was. He left a great legacy.  Look at this shop and the tools. (drool, drool)

It is a privilege to be here, and we DO so much appreciate your support.  What a great place to be Hungary is.

We had some visitors

There are advantages to living in Europe. The best one so far is that Sascha and his girl friend, Wiebke, came to visit us. Sascha was a exchange student from Germany that we were fortunate enough to have stay with us for a few months in 1998. He went to Mountain Crest High School and was a great tennis player there.

We had lunch at our abode and then showed them the sights of Sopron.

 This is a fountain where the water shoots up in rhythm to the music. This place makes us really homesick for our grand kids because there are always little kids here with their parents or grandparents.

This is a picture to remind them of what country they visited!

It is always interesting to go to the Piknik Area and read about the happenings of August 19, 1989 which began the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

Of course we needed to get a picture of the statue. The rock you can see in the crack is from the    Berlin Wall.

We went to the Ferto Lake or Neusiedler See as they call it in Austria. It borders Hungary and Austria and is really pretty. There were fishermen, boats and a nice swimming area. When James and Britt were here we drove to the lake but stopped before we had to pay to get closer. I might add that it was worth the 500 forints ($2.50) to get in this time. Thanks for paying Sascha!

It was really great to spend time with both of them.

A Stroll Around the Neighborhood

We have taken a couple of walks around the area, and I thought it would be fun to try to give you a flavor of what we see and the types of houses and yards that are in our neighborhood.  I had to hold Shauna back because she was so anxious to get on with it.  What a girl!!!!

The one common denominator around here is the dogs that are everywhere.  The majority of houses have fences around to keep their dogs in, and people out.  It is fun to be walking down the street and then have a dog jump up and start barking.  It keeps the old heart ticking.  

We're pretty sure the white dog has brain damage.  This is just across the street from where we live, and each time we go by they do the same thing. Make sure you watch this video!
 There a lot of signs on yard fences warning of dogs.  There are a lot of them around.  We know.  Especially during the nights and VERY EARLY MORNINGS.  

All houses have flowers, trees and grass if the space permits. They don't have any sprinkling systems here.  They rely solely on rain.  I'm sure that's what keeps it green.  The only flowers they need to water are the ones in the windows, or on the decks.

They have so many different types of flower and bushes with flowers on them.

I wish we could find something like this at home so I could kill it there.  

The one thing I will say, "They do use space efficiently here."  

I love the "natural look" of the sidewalks.  I think they are put in by the home owners, if they are there.  They are also kept up by the home owners.  But it really does have a very natural flavor to it.  If the sidewalk isn't there, you walk on the street, or grass if there is some in front of the house.  

This is a small vineyard by a house.  Grapes are a big thing here in Sopron, as it is, I believe, the major maker of wine in Hungary.  At least there are a lot of vineyards around here.

Every time I walk by here I am sooooooo tempted to eat one of these, but so far I have been able to restrain myself.  (This is just across the street from our house, so I guess I could go over at night......)

Here are a couple of "streets and pathways".  Most of the streets are very narrow and two cars can pass carefully, but if a car is parked on the street and two cars need to pass, one usually needs to pull over and let the other pass first.  I will say this about the drivers here..  They are very courteous, for the most part.  They will always stop for pedestrians, and are very good to let cars pull out into the roadway if the traffic is heavy.  

Well, maybe not always.  I wonder where the car is.
There are two final things I wanted to show you...

If I'm  not mistaken, this car is a Bentley, and would be worth a whole lot of money.

If  you are looking for a house to buy, I know where there is one for sale. I just love it over here.  I never get tired of the green and flowers and narrow streets and quaintness.  We are so blessed to be here.  And you are blessed to be there.  God bless America.  Our love to all of you.