Spring 2008

A shot of someone's garden

Photo of the day

Phototrade, one of the photo hostings sites I'm a member of selected the above as their photo of the day! Here's what they wrote ...

" It’s not every day you get to see intimate and beautiful photos of
a small town in Hungary... "

Thank you :)

ps. The owner of this house is of course a watch repairer!

Old creation given new life

You can't tell but the scene WAS taken one crazy morning in Szentes many moons ago . The apple(s) of course was added later by yours truly.

Story behind this post...
When Mandy requested from a bunch of us for a photo of apple, I remembered this and dug it out from my archive . Then she come up with this haiga which I simply love!

Mandy submited it to an interesting astropoetry project - Newton and the Striking Apple coordinated by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe . This morning, I got news that our work (mainly Mandy's) have been published . Do visit the site, it's an eye opener (for me)

Many thanks to Mandy and Andrei for this opportunity!

Oh, here's wishing all a blessed new year !

Time goes by...

Christmas has come and gone, but I'm still digesting the delicious fish soup, stuffed cabbage , bejgli (a type of pastry) and assorted meat!

I trust that whereever you are you've enjoyed your holiday rest and time spent with family and friends as well.

In memory of a captain

If you don't have a dream, how can you make a dream come true?

- Griff Tedd (1928-2007)

I have not been inspired with new dreams for a long time. Perhaps it is due to the fact that my plans and dreams for the past years have been realising at very slow pace. It is frustrating!
Then on Saturday Dec 8th, we attended a tree planting ceremony in memory of Griff , where Mrs. Griff (Debbie) quoted the above during the ceremony. Thank you Griff for reminding me to keep dreaming and I know slowly but surely my dreams would come true.

It was a lovely ceremony attended by many locals and expatriates of Szentes. The tree was planted within the compound of the town's leisure pools. I think Griff would enjoy being near the river very much. We know Griff was involved in many interesting adventures in his lifetime.. but the most surprising was that we learned that Griff was actually playing the captain (his real profession) on one of ships in the BBC tv series The Onedine Line !

#369 - Petőfi Hotel - Update

Good news to those who haven't been inside the defunct hotel. Pendola (company managing the restoration project) decided to open the premises to the public on 29 November between 09:00 and 15:00. So, don't loose the opportunity.

You may bring along any photos about the ex-hotel on the mentioned date. It may be chosen to be exhibited on the day!

A press conference will also be held at 17.00pm before moving forward with the project.


source : szentes on-line portal

#368 - Congratulations to ...

Oct 20, 2007
... László Csaba and Anna Mikes (bronze medal holders for the Dance world cup) dance couple from Szentes made it to 8th place (out of 28) in Tokyo Ten dance world championship. This will enable the dance couple to qualify for the coming European world dance championship. Good luck!

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...Also, not forgetting the Szentes' Szilver Dance School for taking 6th position in the recent European Standard dance competition.

#367 - Storks collage

Storks have been a yearly subject of this blog. This time I'm posting photos taken over a few weeks period.

A second nest found before the entrance to the town centre...amazing!

Mama, feed me!

Earlier I reported that only one stork was sighted, but later I saw 3 baby storks emerged :)

Time to go again. See you next year!
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#366 - Getting started...

I was delighted to read an update on the restoration of the former Petőfi Hotel from the on-line portal. While returning to Szentes for a visit last weekend, I took the opportunity to snap this banner. The banner is to signify a new beginning, a co-operation between Pendola (the project company) and Szentes town on the work of restoration!
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What can we expect by the end of the restoration ...
1) A 4-star hotel with the usual restaurant & pub.
2) Turkish bath
3) Squash court
4) Gym
5) Childcare centre
6) Casino (sorry, cant say i agree with having this...but i guess it'll create more employments)
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Before the works begin in 2008, sadly we'll have to say good bye to the popular Petőfi café & confectionery, which is located at the same building. My partner's father will have to look for another café for his morning coffee and pool gatherings. Also, a furnishing shop will have to be relocated as well.
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Cheers, for a fresh beginning!

That's all for now..will keep updating here ;)
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#365 - I made it!!!

March 2006 I stumbled upon Kuala Lumpur DP and that's when I jumped into the wagon of daily photo blogging. Boy, did I underestimated the commitment required to be a member of this wonderful community.
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In the past 15 months, I eat, drink and sleep daily photo..some days better than others. It didn't matter now 'cos I made it! Can even proundly say that I learned so much about Szentes, more than my partner (who was born and bred in this town..ok, he was away for military school and collage). That's not all, I get to read so many interesting documents of different ways of life of your respective cities...oh, not forgetting, I also got to read some nice poetries(haiku) along the way:)
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With this, I'm ready to announce that I'll withdraw from daily posting and from the listing. So, today is my last day of posting for CDP. I'll still update this blog but more for my own reference. There are a few topics that I wish to continue to pursue, in relation to restoration works that I've been following.
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Thank you Eric! Thank you everyone for making this such a memorable experience!
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ps. I have made a flash gallery of some of my favourites below. Scroll down if you wish to see it. Clicking on the photo will lead you to the specific post.

#364 - Catch of the day 3

Hmmm..I enjoy doing this "catch of the day" series..keep things fresh!

Remember this building? After weeks of no advancement, its good to see someone working on it again today. Slowly but surely the office/retail block is taking shape as we saw more new brick walls went up. Fingers crossed I'll report the completion in say...2010 :D

#363 - catch of the day

Another one of those surprises. Usually we'd see horse carriages on and off but never a horse rider before. It happened so fast; I didn't have time to frame the shot nicely. Still am satisfied with the result especially seeing that smile from the rider :)

#362 - Lazing

Can't think of a better way then spending the weekend like this ;)

Like the title suggests, am pretty lazy these days. Visit your blogs in the morning..G'night!
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#361 - Paving art 2

Conitnuing on the subject of cobblestones ...

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I suspect the paving on Bálint Kiss street are of the new(er) kind. Perhaps it's been refurbished along side with some other buildings works on-going on this street; but who cares! I simply love the oldie charm that this material exudes.

By the way, the street is yet to be fully accessible for traffic.

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Okay, that's it! no more cobblestones, of course until I find the 3rd pavement..

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Some history of this street:-

In Bálint Kiss Street (formerly Templom Street), which starts from behind the church, has several protected buildings (no. 1-12). The classicist Calvinist Parsonage built in 1836 (no. 2) gave shelter to Mihály Vörösmarty (a great Hungarian poet) during the years of the absolutism. Bálint Kiss (1772-1853), a Calvinist parson, whose name the street bears, was a polyhistor and a naturalist of his age. {source}

#360 - Paving art

more swirlly when viewed larger
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Cobblestones found at Szöllősy Géza Square, don't you just love them?

#359 - Speciality

'Szentes paprika' a.k.a. white paprika is a special mild sweet paprika. It's mainly for stuffed paprika, which is a speciality of Hungary. They're also good as pickle, stuffed with white or red cabbage. Anyone tried that before? Personally, I prefer them raw in sandwiches because of the appetising aroma....this is making me hungry!

#358 - when dry on inspiration...

28/5/07 (23:51)
my creativity is runny low at the moment..so, am posting the moon above me tonight.
ps. am posting 2 posts at the same time. So do scroll down to see yesterday's post, thanks! :)
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#357 - catch of the day

besides getting our heart rates up, another reward from our daily stroll is capturing what's blooming at the sidewalks.

ps..i'm terribly late in posting, but better late than never, right?

#356 - Stork news

When nothing happens, storks become the news! At least in this blog :p
Where are the other 2 birds? Last year we had 3, but I've only noticed 1 bird thus far..Does that mean the stork's "workload" is not as busy this year? ooooh, not too good when we want to boost the population :)

Few more hours to Monday, you all have a good week!

#355 - Summer of 2007

Here's a feel of the summer to come. These girls are already creating memories. They'd still remember the time they spent at this spot. On the other hand, hopefully this wooden platform would still be around :) Do you remember your last summer?

Wish you a wonderful weekend!

ps. due to last min. changes to plan, am rushing again -_- read your comments and posts later!