Summer Travel

A cloudless blue sky,

the air shimmering over wide open spaces,
scorching heat with a gentle breeze,
a summer break.

Time to dive oneself into breaking waves and being washed ashore:

Blue 1995/2008

Time to rest at a shady and quiet place, dreaming of fresh fruits:


Italian Impressions 1995/2008

Time to have a little chat and let things pass by:


Seven Hills 1997/2008

Time to celebrate the charmingly scent of salt and of the big wide world during a walk along the beach after sunset:


Open End 1999/2008

I hope you´re having a great summer!

To Our Great Surprise

I am passing the doorway carefully to make sure not to frighten the two kittens. As mentioned in an earlier post one week ago the cat got her eight week old babies from their hiding place to our house. Nobody is seen. I get out of the car and squat at some distance from the outbuilding where they newly reside. While I am waiting and getting afraid that they may have been disappeared, I suddenly get a glimpse of a small curious looking face appearing behind the hole of the door. I wonder why this one looks tabby while we got introduced to a white and a black young guy last week. Is this caused by the daylight? No, that´s impossible. I don´t know any light that turns deep black fur into tabby greybrown. I feel quite confused!

As we unload the car, the cat comes out of the hole of the "house of cats", accompanied by three! kittens. A black, a white and a greybrown tabby one. I am right so: I don´t know any kind of light that ...



A quarter of an hour later I look out of the window, getting even more confused. The kittens are playing in the backyard. Only there a two! white kittens now.



It makes me speechless, and I am hurrying away for my husband, who unsuspecting is examining the vegetable patch, to tell him that we have got four! kittens now. Once more I turn in disbelief. Now you may think that I am crazy, but I can assure you: in the meantime also the black kitten has duplicated!



Instead of telling my husband that we have got four kittens now, I say: "And now, brace yourself ..." He just stares at me.

In the evening we are discussing farther reaching consequences of having six cats, eventually two or three of them ladies, each giving birth to five babies twice a year ... hope you are well trained in mathematics!? Right now actually we are trying to block it out and enjoy the enchanting theatrical performances.

Their shy father pays a short visit about three times a day.

Colors Are Finding Their Way

I am so excited. Our efforts to recultivate the old garden are rewarded by regrowing grass and flowers in multiple colors. Instead of removing the soil as proposed by "experienced gardeners", we covered the ground with grass clippings several times to convey soil organisms. This turned out to be the perfect treatment and saved a lot of money. Now one plant is paving the way for the next one. The following year the grass already is growing vigorously.





Nature definitely has a will of it´s own and a big sense of humour! It happened at the end of May that we discovered little sunflower plantlets all over the garden without having planted them. Why did this happen? Maybe for several reasons. First we were feeding birds with sunflower seeds in winter. Some of the seeds tumbling down the birdhouse found proper conditions to grow. Second some seeds ended up on the compost heap and have been disseminated again together with soil. Since June small and big ones are taking pleasure in life and are savouring the sun. Here are some of them:

Sunflower I

Sunflower III

I love the fun poses they often display:

Sunflower II

In front of the garden wall long-established coneflowers are flowering again:

Indian Summer I


Indian Summer II

Daylilies have been successful flowers in rural gardens for a long time. They flower for one day only. But new buds keep developing - producing a long run of simple, elegant trumpet shapes. I took some of them growing in front of the house and replanted these robust beauties inside the garden in a light woodland setting. I gambled but were quite sucessful in the end:

Day Lily

Poppies

When we first came to Hungary, the backyard of our house looked very poor. The former owners, overwhelmed with work, tried to eradicate the exuberantly sprouting flora. All the more we were extremely happy about any little flower which jumped the hurdle - mainly poppies in different colors. They grew in small red groups or standing alone, long stemmed with white and purple colored petals. I fell in love with these courageous beauties and invited them to some shootings.

Reach For The Sky 2008



White Coffee 2008

This lovely couple was nestling up against each other, and I witnessed their growth throughout the whole summer and autumn, sometimes experimenting at post-processing.

Strong Company 2008


Love 2008

After collecting seeds last year and sowing them in early spring this year, this one surprised me after a heavy rainshower. My newest creation:

Raindrops On My Head 2009

The Babies

After a busy week in Vienna we arrive in Hungary on friday evening. The cat is just crawling under the doorway, being scared as my husband gets off the car. Only now when he opens the door she recognizes him and runs after him like lightning. It´s the same play as ever. Instead of watching the changes in the garden, I am hurrying to prepare the meal for the cat first, though she doesn´t look famished. Meowing undeviatingly she has me in her grip.



Heavy rain alternating with hot and sunny days in the last couple of weeks transformed the backyard into boondocks. After nightfall we sit in the backyard repelling moscito attacks. The cat approaches slowly. This time she is not alone. When she comes nearer we remain in unbelieving amazement. She´s accompanied by her two 8 week old babies. Being scared when seeing us the kittens run away several times. It´s hard work for their mother to bring them back again and again, running back and forth along with a variety of vocalizations. They run across human beings for the first time in their life. Finally they rest, convinced by the existence of a feeding bowl.



The following day we take notice that the cat definitely brought her babies to the new home. The three of them have spent their first night resting on the doormat right on our doorstep. But they soon find the right place to stay in a storeroom. The whole day we have a lot of fun watching the shy guys exploring their new home. We are just wondering: who is the girl and who the boy?

Wild Lady

She approaches slowly and tentatively, looking into my puzzled eyes. Faint-hearted meow is raising. Day and night a lot of cats are banging around in our backyard. All of them extremely shy. This white and grey colored lady, apparently pregnant, doesn´t give a damn. Where does she come from? After pigging out she will stalk us forever. Her babies were born at the beginning of May and live hidden in an empty neighboring house. Last week she apparently invited us in, being frustrated as we were not able to follow her through the tiny hole.



We call her "the cat", and since her shy hubby is showing up of late (we call him "the black"), we have a lot of fun with that crazy couple, at least three days a week. Back in Vienna, I am thinking of her hoping she is doing well.

Mind The Gap

A Dream Come True

Only 2 weeks later, still residents of Vienna, we are now proud owners of an old farmhouse and a huge backyard in a lovely Hungarian village next to the Fertö-Hanság National Park. A fabulous place still a tough piece of work.





In the next couple of years I will learn that:

tree frogs indulge in sunbathing and throw wild parties

ants milk aphids, and aphids eat a whole peach tree for breakfast



I am totally addicted to fashion like that

and much more!