Hungary Mum

If you look closely, Mum's co-workers wrote on her hard hat "Queen Anne."

The famous ditch-digging.

Housing for 3 families, Szarvas, Hungary.

A crew of 17 people from around the globe gather for 10 days to work on a new home. The house was a bunch of sticks-out of-the-ground when they started, according to Mum. I LOVE hearing Mum's stories when she gets back from a trip. [Favourite line from her Tasmania trip when her friend was fearfully backseat driving: Oh shut up, Judy and hold onto the Jesus handle!] The one that made me LAUGH was when Mum says, v. innocently, "Well, I volunteered to work on the roof, but I didn't get to." Faithful readers of this blog will recall her Roof Adventures.

She didn't protest too much because it was so HOT. Mum is not a hot-weather gal, but she is also v. English with a stiff-upper-lip. No that's all right, I'll be fine. Just let me WILT over here a bit....Instead she dug ditches. With a pick ax. And mixed cement: 37 shovels of sand to 1 bag of concrete. Pour into ditch.

At the end of the day, they went around and gave a highlight of the day. One day she said, "I was screwing all day." Hahahaha That's her blonde moment for the day. Someone told her that they had come up with the Anne Holliday Effect. Essentially it means to work harder, get more energy, laugh. She was the eldest, & there were a coupla college gals. Mum remarked that they both had sunglasses that cost $350. $350 for sunglasses? Can you imagine? I told C. that for $350, I would expect the lense not to pop out. Hahahaha That's Mum.

We laughed so hard in the car on the way back and it was prompted by a retelling of her airplane ride. They had individual TV's so she was watching Frazier. She was laughing so hard (and you have to hear her laugh to really appreciate it, but it's v. infectious) that the woman next to her asked what she was watching. So then they were BOTH laughing. Loud. It's one of the things I appreciate about Mum: her cheerfulness, her optimism, her get-it-done attitude. WELCOME HOME, Mum! LOVE, :-) BNO.

P.S. If you want to travel to exotic places and build stuff, check out Habitat's Global Village program.

Flowers for Mum

A few months ago, Mum & I were having tea, and she said, "I'm brushing up on my Hungarian." I thought it was like the time that she randomly decided to study Chinese. Didn't I tell you? she asks. No. She told my sister several times. Wow, Mum's really excited about her trip to Hungary.

Trip? Hungary? What?

Oh, I'm sure I must have told you. I'm going to build a house for Habitat for Humanity.

Of course you are. You're my mother! Today I'm picking her up at the airport & will hear all about her adventures. I do have the scoop on her next trip, however. Antartica. That's right. Because she's my mother.

WELCOME HOME, MUM!

Inspiring Blog Award

What a wonderful surprise! Yesterday Nature Gal, who's photography is stunning, stopped by yesterday's blog & left me with this:

How cool is that? It was created by another blogger, Ida, also a fabulous photographer, with the suggestion to pass it on. I am going to have to figure out how to translate Norwegian so that I can effectively communicate to these 2 gals! So I'm passing it on to the blogs that I visit regularly:

Holly Brimhall: Mother, wife, sister, daughter, & photographer. She captures all the sweetness & optimism of the human spirit in her pictures. She has handled a difficult year with such GRACE--truly an inspiration.
Margot Potter: Bead Queen & so much more, for your daily dose of creative genius, inspiration, & "Super Girly Goodness." Margot ROCKS! And I discovered her through . . .
The Crafty Chica: Kathy brings her glittery sparkle to everything she does--and she does it all! She inspired me to build my first website. She prolly doesn't know that, but she is a champion for the DIYer.
B. Bliss: I adore this gal. Great photos & quotes, I love seeing the world through her eyes.
Lastly, to John Morgan. I know this award is a bit . . . er . . . floral, but you can get in touch with your feminine side. His Monday morning Grasshopper Notes ROCK & I read his blog every day, religiously. He really is a daily dose of *inspiration*

Day of Rest

Bamboo Forest at Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. in VA Beach

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. Was having internet issues & couldn't log on. Back tomorrow. In the meantime, here's part of a letter from my mother in Hungary. She's been building a house for Habitat for Humanity.

Hi ,Today was our last workday and afterwards we celebrated with the families for whom we are building .They made authentic Hungarian food .Fish soup was the first course which was quite delicious but HOT and full of fish bones.Three hours later and my lips are still on fire.

I'll be picking up Hot Lips from the airport this week.

P.S. I added a section on the side bar: Just for Laughs. In case you needed a few giggles.

So cute! Otter from VA Beach Aquarium

...if momentum or laziness or lack of will (or focus) is the thing holding you back, it's time to get serious. When you remove the one big thing from people's list of objections, your career and organization will take off….It just takes commitment ,

not a miracle.

~Seth Godin, from today's blog post

2 Quotes & a Sunrise

This morning's sunrise off my front porch.

"Your fear of risk

only protects

the mundane existence

you seek to escape from."

~from this week's Grasshopper Note.

When I let go

of what I am

I become

what I might be.

~Lao Tzu

If You Need a Good Laugh . . .

This is Brother D's youngest, Marlene. She is so smart and funny and sweet. Marlene! What are you doing? is a familiar refrain. I'll get it on video yet, my brother calls it her Guilty Dance; I wasn't doing anything wrong. See? I'm just dancing.

My favourite on here is her second pass down when she yells, "Awesome!!!" My brother makes a brief appearance to investigate. That can't be good for you sweetie, he says. Later that day we went shopping and I took footage of him riding the shopping cart in the parking lot. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. :-)