Merry Christmas to All!

Virgin and Child in Glory

by Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-82)

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK

National Museums Liverpool

Bridgeman Art Library

Advent...

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec.24). If Christmas Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown.

The Advent wreath is part of our long-standing Catholic tradition. However, the actual origins are uncertain. There is evidence of pre-Christian Germanic peoples using wreathes with lit candles during the cold and dark December days as a sign of hope in the future warm and extended-sunlight days of Spring. In Scandinavia during Winter, lighted candles were placed around a wheel, and prayers were offered to the god of light to turn "the wheel of the earth" back toward the sun to lengthen the days and restore warmth.

By the Middle Ages, the Christians adapted this tradition and used Advent wreathes as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas.

The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent. A tradition is that each week represents one thousand years, to sum to the 4,000 years from Adam and Eve until the birth of the Savior.

Three candles are purple and one is rose. The purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and good works undertaken at this time. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday of rejoicing, because the faithful have arrived at the midpoint of Advent. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord's first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming to judge the living and the dead.

The light again signifies Christ, the Light of the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you Lord for all the good and beautiful things in our lives.

Good Old Maxine...

Now how she knows how I feel sometimes?

Memento

On the 54-th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution I am paying respect to the martyrs who were executed between 1945 and 1956 in Hungary.

The latest on the tragedy

Crews race to tackle Hungary spill - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Good bye, Summer!

Paying a tribute with the last flowers from my garden.

Yosemite National Park, California, USA

A rare sight!

This park was gazette as a national park in 1890. It is famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.

The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at a 2-week period towards the end of February. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depend on a few natural phenomenon's occurring at the same time and luck. It compounds the difficulty of getting these pictures.

Someone did!!! And we all get to see it!!!

Havasi in Mariazell - 05. dez. 2009.

My latest discovery is the young Hungarian composer and pianist.

Too hot to run around the block?

Looks like a perfect solution!

A Strange Old Lady Moved In...

My older son drove up from California to visit me for few days and to celebrate my 76th birthday on August 12. He presented me with a beautiful bouquet of summer flowers and I took some pictures for my memory album.

We had a wonderful time regardless of the 96 degree heat outside; he took me out for dinner and watched old movies on videos.

I have received many well wishes through e-mails and phone calls from family and friends, and my day was filled with laughter and happiness. But I got a kick out of a poem that one of my friend has sent me, especially when I'm looking at the above picture. So, here is a portion of the poem:

A very weird thing has happened.

A strange old lady has moved into my house..

I have no idea who she is,

where she came from,

or how she got in.

I certainly did not invite her.

All I know is that one day she wasn't there

and the next day she was.

She is very clever.

She manages to keep out of sight

for the most part,

but whenever I pass a mirror,

I catch a glimpse of her.

And whenever I look in the mirror directly,

to check my appearance,

there she is, hogging the whole thing

and completely obliterating my gorgeous face and body.

This is very rude.

I have tried screaming at her to stop it,

but she just screams back, grimacing horribly.

She is really quite frightening!

Who On Earth Can It Be?

Hungarian Strawberry Cake

I know it is still too hot to fire up the oven (we are having a heat wave in the last week or so), but few weeks ago I took advantage of the fresh strawberries and much cooler weather. And here is the yummy result: a Hungarian Strawberry/Chocolate Cake, made from Oregon Strawberries.

Oregon strawberries are one of the oldest and best loved agricultural crops. It would not be summer in Oregon without a bowl of red ripe berries, or a luscious dessert of strawberry shortcake (a strawberry/chocolate cake in my case).

Oregon strawberries are known world wide for their exceptional taste, deep red color, and intensive sweetness. There are many reasons why these strawberries are so sweet, red and juicy, but one of the most important ones is our climate. Oregon has a long mild spring and early summer. We have lots of rain and often have cool nights and warm sunny days. The berries stay on the vine and ripen slowly, allowing the sugars to increase before harvest. If you take a drive in the country during berry season, you will see acres of strawberry plants which add to the beauty of the Oregon landscape.

Lopez Tonight - Betty White is a Whore

I am just simply amazed by her - my favored "Golden Girl" at the age of 88!

For Memorial Day

Oregon in May - Pictures from my garden

Hidden dangers.

Two weeks ago I was mowing the lawn in my backyard and ran over some low-growth ivy that up to now I used to trim by hand, but bending down these days would be much painful. About 4 feet from the house, hidden in the ivy, there was a natural gas line capped about 1 inch above the ground. As I mowed over the area a sudden explosion lifted my mower a foot or so and the gas was fast hissing up into the air. I pulled the mower very fast as far away as I could, ran into my house and called 911. In minutes (with the sirens going full blast) four huge fire trucks appeared, eight firemen in gas masks, and all the neighbors of my street. Police cars blocked off the street and everybody was ordered far away from my place (including me, whose knees were still shaking).

Hoses were pulled, gas and electric company trucks showed up while it took them about one good hour to stop the leak and re-cap the old, rusty pipe.


I do not have natural gas in my house and nobody has it in the neighborhood either. I live here 16 years without even noticing this very old gas line hidden in my yard. I have no idea if the gas company knew about it or not, but certainly has neglected to mark it. I was very lucky to escape a disaster, and now the line is completely cut off from the main.

Somebody sure was watching over me.

For the Mothers of the World - I could not find more expressive song than Tom Jones' live recording

The Ross Sisters

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=BNR74UCidBI&feature=player_embedded

Spring Excercise

This is a video of an act from 1944 - a sister act of the Ross Sisters.

Remember in 1944 they did not use "special effects".

Hope you enjoy it!

My Edsel...

I bought a secondhand 1958 Edsel once, way back in 1965. This car was a beauty; it had everything, V8 engine, electronic locks and windows, white leather seats - and an ailing constitution, with multiple problems. But we had fun with it and a hilarious story comes back to my mind.

I was driving down on the street; at the first stop sign the car started to shudder and with a final kick the motor died. My three children (quite young and pesky that time) were jumping up and down in the back seat with excitement and anticipation. They knew their mother will perform an act of resurrection, just like she had many-many times in the past few weeks. I had to hurry, because a line of cars were honking impatiently behind us. So, I jumped out from behind the wheel with my hairbrush in my hand; opened the hood, took off the air filter and stuck my brush into the carburetor to hold the choke open. Then rushed back into the car, and successfully started up the engine while my kids were cheering in the back. All I had to do after that was to remove my brush and with the filter back in place slam the hood down, and we were (and everybody behind us) happily on our way.

Later, at my friend's suggestion, I had the carburetor sprayed with W40, but all the screws fell out and had to be replaced. However, when the brakes and the electronic windows started to fail and the mechanic had a very vague offer of fixing them, I had to get rid of this "lemon", my very first car.

Happy Easter!

Celebrating with the beautiful paintings of two great Italian Renaissance artists:

Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin, 1518-1594)

Sanzio Raffaello (1483-1520)

Ede Ujhazi and the Chicken Soup

There is no tastier chicken soup than the Hungarian Ujhazi Tyukleves, which was named after the famous Hungarian, Ede Ujhazi (1844 - 1915). He was an excellent dramatic and comic character actor, a pioneer of the realistic acting. He also enjoyed cooking for himself and for his fellow artist buddies.

Many legends surrounding his career, but the most memorable is the creation of his chicken soup while visiting a small restaurant in the city of Budapest. Obviously, the soup he was served with had not measured up to his expectation, because Ede gave instruction to the cook to prepare the dish again from a mature hen and add various vegetables, garnishes, and noodles into it. As the result was still not quite satisfactory, the actor told the chef to use a slice of round beef also to enhance the strength of the soup. The next day Ede tasted the newly prepared soup and finally expressed his total satisfaction.

And from that time this is the soup that the Hungarians serve on weddings and holidays, and most certainly, at the Gundel Restaurant in the last 100 years. But even without special occasions, serving Ujhazi Tyukleves to your family or guests is making you a winner.

(Recipe can be found in my Hungarian Recipe website, under the name of Ujhazi Tyukleves.)

2010 Winter Olympic - Vancouver, Canada

I'm taking a break from most of my daily activities to watch the Olympic games every day, and every night.

Silly old me - I m sliding down on the ski slopes, bouncing in the bobsled and jumping and turning on the ice with the sensational young athletes from all around the World.

Andy Williams - Where Do I Begin [ Love Story ]

True love is forever...

Woman trapped in earthquake 'coffin' is rescued after eight days - Times Online

Woman trapped in earthquake 'coffin' is rescued after eight days - Times Online

I got very emotional after reading this story and I would like to share with you.

Major earthquake hits Haiti

Haiti was rocked on January 12 by the largest earthquake ever recorded in the area. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

This situation in Haiti is desperate. Some 50,000 people are believed to be dead while countless others are said to be injured or homeless. It is feared that many more will die if the wounded are not given immediate medical attention.

Drumbeats called the faithful to a Sunday Mass praising God amid a scene resembling the Apocalypse - a collapsed cathedral in a city cloaked with the smell of death, where aid is slow to reach survivors and rescue crews battle to pry an ever-smaller number of the living from the ruins.

Anger has turned to violence on the streets of Haiti as survivals lose patience with the painfully slow process of getting international aid after the earthquake that authorities say may have killed 200,000 people.

Let us pray....