BEYOND THE BORDERS

My friend Judit has a 17 year old daughter that studies all things dealing with textiles. She submitted an entry in a national competition that was open to anyone in Hungary (children through adults, amateurs to professionals) and Nikki's project was selected as one of the top 100 submissions! I'm not sure of all the details but each entry had to be made from natural materials and dealing with the Christmas theme. The top 100 entries were on display in a museum in City Park during the month of December.

Nikki made entirely by hand this marionette puppet of Mary and the baby Jesus.

Nikki fashioned the wire body and covered it with paper mache, painted the face and hands, and designed and stitched the clothes. I think she did an amazing job!

While we were in town, we stopped by the outdoor ice skating rink to get information on cost, hours and such. The location is beautiful but it is sooooo cold here that I wouldn't even consider going ice skating this week.

Even though it was in the high 20's, Judit suggested we walk around the lake. Fortunately, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing and it was bitterly cold, but it was a crystal clear day, and we've not had very many of them lately!

On Wednesday we took a trip to Keszthely in the western part of Hungary to visit with a couple of our family units there.

We stayed with David and Tina and had a "lovely" time (Tina has a British accent) visiting in their home and seeing the local sights.

They took us up to a mountain top where there is a small church and in the "garden" are almost life-size, wooden, carved statues depicting Christ on the cross with the two thieves beside him and several grieving women at his feet. It was so weird seeing it outside of Israel!

Keszthely sits on the shores of Lake Balaton, a huge resort area that is the heart of tourism in Hungary. We saw swans, geese and ducks on the lake but not a lot of tourists. All the smart ones were inside and warm.

On Thursday, Bethany and Michelle showed us around town and took us out to eat at this truly Hungarian tavern.

There were six of us in Keszthely: David, Tina, Bethany, Michelle, Glenn and me. What are the chances that 3 of the 6 would have ever lived in the same city years ago???? The odds are even smaller when it is a European city. Michelle, Tina and I all lived at one time in Mannheim, Germany!!!! What are the odds???

We had a great time getting to know those folks in Keszthely and enjoyed seeing their beautiful city!

We're home for another week and here's to hoping for some SNOW!