Edith Piaf - Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)

The Song from my youth...

Summer and Fall.

Just about a month ago my daughter came to visit me for few days. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and drove out to the countryside to enjoy the last days of the Summer. She took a picture of me sitting on a boulder by the Santiam River.

But the Fall came fast and uninvited; I took the second picture of my old dogwood tree few days ago. And I'm glad I did, because the rainstorm of last night left my tree completely barren of the leaves.

Jack and Jill

I have a pair of squirrel in my backyard, and I have named them Jack and Jill. I have no idea of their genders, and was assuming that they are a happy playful couple jumping from trees to trees, just like a pair of acrobats. My neighbor has a huge filbert tree by our redwood fence, and the little animals spending quite a time collecting and hiding the nuts.

I was desperately trying to take some pictures of the squirrels, but had not much luck, so I am using the above picture from Wikipedia.

Occasionally I also have a raccoon, who comes to drink from the wide bowl of water I had put out for him for his nightly visits, and he leaves his autograph faithfully in the grass.

Two summers ago I had seen quite a few little brown rabbits too, and even a deer came once to visit my yard. But sorry to say that lately my wildlife got curtailed by the neighboring developers, who is taking bigger and bigger chunks out of the surrounding land. Thank goodness for the flocks of birds that are still around.

And because Halloween is just right around the corner, I have to mention that sometimes a cute little brown bat is hiding in one of my awnings during day times.

I wonder if we are looking forward to a harsh winter.

What about older people?

The good news is that according to the Newsletter of Mayo Clinic, the swine flu vaccine targets the H1N1 virus that made its first reported appearance in the United States and Mexico in spring 2009.

This vaccine will be available for the public before the predicted major outbreak in this winter.

But would it be enough for all of us?

"The risk of swine flu infection is lower for people age 65 or older than for younger people. As vaccine supply and demand among younger age groups is being met, the swine flu vaccine will be offered to people over the age of 65."

This is something new for me, quite opposite what was in practice in the past.

Growing up in Klotildliget, Hungary

Klotildliget, the small village where I was growing up, was subdivided from the properties of Habsburg-Lotaring Prince Joseph Karl in the late 1880's (as the more than 100 years old map illustratating above) at the area of the forested Pilis mountains, and was named after his wife, Klotild.

It was an ideal place for game hunting which activity was continued by his son, Prince Joseph Agost in the first half of the 20th century.

The beasts must had been abundant those days, because my mother was able to buy some venison and wild boar meat at the local butcher's shop during the hunting seasons.

One has to remember that this was the time before the communist took over Hungary at the end of WWII. By the end of 1945 everything was owned by the Communist government, and wild meats was not available anymore for the households. However, because the Hungarians do not give up easily, they have substituted it with the marinated beef.

(I'm not responsible for the incorrect spelling of "Bore" on the video.)

Charging Wild Bore

This shocking short video had inspired me to post a new recipe to my Hungarian Cooking site: Vadas Hus (Hunter-style Pot Roast).

Health Savings Accounts

The recent Newsletter of the Mayo Clinic deals with the possibility of opening a health savings account (HSA).


Basically it is an account into which you can deposit tax-free money to be used for future medical expenses.


Health savings accounts were established in 2003 and are becoming more common. The goal of an HSA is to reduce the money spent on health care by placing more of the responsibility on you to shop for it. (This part is a bit fuzzy to me.)


The choice of whether to start an HSA is not an easy one, and supporters and critics have different opinions on the pros and cons, as one can read it in the Newsletter.