Hope you all had a great summer!

There and back again

Rough weeks, these are. Sorry for not posting. The weeks are quite ok, no real trouble, fortunately, but they take away my last blow of energy. Can't push a button sometimes:) Still, I could manage to row in any of these boats, if I really had to.

I did buy all the old Balaton postcards - amazing.

at last (Etta James)

Huh, long summer days, where are you? This week was just unbelivable! A great week for business and charity, a disaster for an old friendship. Well, let me just say WHATEVER. I do not remember the exact quote, but Márai once said something that I can totally relate to: all I'd have to do is to wake up when morning comes, sip wine in the evening, engage myself in a calm and clever conversation with friends, eat well and go home early. Sadly, this is just impossible.
I just had the feeling today that summer colours are beginning to fade. I love September, with all its heartwarming orange rays of sunshine, but hey, summers come and go so rapidly these days. As a kid, I remember spending hours just looking at flocks of little fish trying to bite my toes in the shallow waters of Balaton. My aunt had to shout for me, standing on the beach and holding a huge dry towel: diiinnneeer's reeeeaaady!
I found these old postcards on vatera, and am thinking about buying them. I just love that lake.




And all things about sailing, ships and lakes of shining waters:)



Still owe you a post on the huge family gathering in sunny Croatia. Will get back to you soon.

All the very best

NB

Home for a minute

You really got me, summer. Again.
Just came home from art camp, check out our website here. Every kid should go to one like this.
Will only have time to post after Croatia, and I will have sooo many things to show you guys. Until then, Croatian homes for sale. Dream on. I mean DREAM ON!




For the startling images above, check out millie mott's photostream on flickr, for the exact photo, click here. Also, never too late to discover Mikael Dubois. Enjoy.

Loving the blues

All right, all right, I also thought I'd be posting more often. As it turns out, Daughter and all the cakes and grumpy Husband kept me entertained since we returned from hiking camp - more on that later. (It was just perfect. As always.)
Meanwhile, nurturing my elephant-collector self, I bought this on vatera (world-famous Hungarian e-bay clone):
Talking of elephants, I wish I had a shoe for Daughter and me like this one. It's always nice to check the images at erleperle...


Have I told you about my latest love affair? It's with the colour blue. I find myself buying anything that's ocean, robin's egg blue or turquoise, turquoise, turquoise. Turquoise.
Ever heard of Jane Coslick? Love her work. Check it out here.
Yes, it's simple, yes, very American, but oooh those blues!! I always find great images at her website, like this one --- and you can actually rent this house...
After hours of dreaming about blue elephants, I just found out that there actually is a pattern called elephant used on the blue and white transferware stuff I happen to collect. It looks like this:
Pretty. Still, no actual elephants, right? So, my favourite has to be this one, called something like Hannibal crossing the Alps. I doubt anybody has one like this at any flea market I know, but fingers crossed!

Off to the woods, yey

Hurray
this time tomorrow I will be sitting by the campfire singing - well anything the children will want me to sing.
But for today, let me tell you about our weekend near the city Kaposvár, in a village called Kaposszerdahely. My old friend Andrea lives there with her family, and we were invited to spend a few days with them. Somogy county is one of the most beautiful places in Hungary - sunny hillsides, sleepy villages, and lake Balaton is just a thought away. Husbands drinking beer, kids playing in the garden, great conversation, watching the rain fall from the porch in the morning... This little lake was just a short walk away from our house.


I will not post pictures of most of the houses we saw - oh, all the tastless people on earth! The countryside, however, was just wonderful.



Daughter had a fabulous time playing in the sun...



...and if I looked a little closer, I discovered some old and beautiful details among the trees.



Air misty, but still: hot summer air,


so my old doll Sophie decided to take a bath with Daughter and then took off all her clothes and sat on a branch to dry. Lazy days of beautiful June!

You give me butterflies

Check this out.
I went to see my aunt today, and checked on some old stuff they moved to the little storage house after my uncle died last August. There was an old, framed butterfly I always found a bit creepy - I can't seem to get used to the idea of putting an animal with a needle in its body on display. Or anywhere, for that matter. I decided not to put my hands on it, though I fell in love with blue again a couple of months ago, and it happens to be a vibrant ocean blue. Still, I just couldn't.
But my love for all flying things, yes, including Armstrong, Earhart and Gagarin, is intact. So, though the find of the day at my aunt Eva's was a little wooden treasure box we inherited from my Grandpa, but my cousins gave up on (one of them actually said it looked too shabby:), aaaah), I decided to give a chance to beautiful things with butterflies to appear here, they deserve it. Enjoy.

Wallpaper with cute blues and greens and pink:



Of course, house to home always has things we love



Herend China Factory actually has a pattern named Queen Victoria that is famous for its colorful butterflies. Get the whole package at www.herend.com. Dianekappa actually posted on them recently, see it here.

I found this great image at ladysunflower's. Just love the pillow, of course, and the butterflies - as it turns out, all the fabrics are eco-friendly, how exciting is that? I wish we had a shop for all that in Hungary. Although, since there isn't, it will be a huge hit when I open my own:) Until then, don't you dare wake me up.

Also, don't you just love this T-shirt? I found it here.

my garden

My friend Eszter found this lovely place called Kertem (My Garden) hidden in a huge park (Városliget) in Budapest. It's like ten minutes by car from where we live, and they have great coffee. I met Eszter and her son Peti there, for an afternoon chat. Juli loved it too. Definitely a place to save the planet for. Nice music, breeze, friendly people. They even let our dog in.
For the same project, you have probably checked it out already, but still: http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

A great day for bloggin'

Just an ordinary bad day. With some perfect moments, as usual. Perfect time to start blogging. Again. Didn't want to put too much thought into it, anyway. Or did I?
Really, just wanted to show a calm, free-spirited, inspiring and inspired side of me. Hence the name.
No, don't stop reading if you don't know what the name stands for. Although I might give the very advice tomorrow, if you ask me.
Thanks again, world, for inspiring me today - and Life in the Fun Lane, for the pretty picture.