Haystacks again

The season of my favourite things has arrived...
Yesterday I noticed them on the hill, so I took my camera today, not to miss them.

They were still there...



This one has a funny top that is in contrast with the curve of the hill.

Traveler IQ

This Traveler IQ was calculated on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 12:26PM GMT by comparing this person's geographical knowledge against the Web's Original Travel diary's 4,179,139 travelers who've taken the challenge.

It seems that my Traveler and Geography IQ has increased since last year, as now it is 109 and last year it was /only/ 94.
I haven't traveled a lot since my last test, I haven't studied maps... I think I was luckier this time.
What is your score?

Füvek

"Húzd le sarud, ha zöldbe mész,
s füvekre úgy tedd talpadat,
hogyha majd ők lépnek föléd,
mind visszasimogassanak"

Horváth Imre: Sarutlanul

Celebrate

Dear friends and visitors!

I invite you to celebrate.

You can celebrate what you want and prefer in this holiday season.

Enjoy this glass of wine...

Happy holidays!

Mikulás

Do you remember your first Mikulás?

Mikulás = Saint Nicholas, who comes on 6th of December, and brings presents to kids. You can read the legend of Saint Nicholas here.

I have very vague memories about my childhood, but I have an image in my mind about one Mikulás evening.

I was so anxious to see the good old man and prepeared to meet him. I cleaned my boots and put near the entrance door. I was in my room at the window to see Mikulás coming. Suddenly the bell rang at the door and I rushed out from my room to the hall... and I saw through the window of the entrance door a shadow going away, and I heard his steps as he was going down the stairs .
I did not meet him, but I saw his silhouette...
I was a bit disappointed that he was faster than me and could not see him.

I was about 4 years old...

On the picture you can see Joulupukki, the Finnish Mikulás.

Haystacks

I adore haystacks. They are my favourite "things".
If I see them staying on the hills I feel a strange emotion and I want to hug them. They look like some old little people that climb up on the hill.
I love their peculiar shapes, their curved lines.
I admire them during the sunset, when the sun-rays draw long shadows around them.

I decided to make a collection of photos presenting haystacks from all around the world, as I am curious how they look like in different regions.
If you are interested in haystacks or you have photos that you can add to my collection, please visit my flickr group called HAYSTACK.
Thanks :-)

Brighton SCHMAP-Guides

One of my photos posted on flickR was selected for Schmap-Guides.

FlickR Mail:

Schmap Brighton Fifth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi Zsofia Nagy,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fifth edition of our Schmap Brighton Guide:

Royal Pavilion
http://www.schmap.com/brighton/toppicks_attractions/p=171863/i=171863_33.jpg

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

My photo in Schmap-Guides

This is the original photo, on FlickR.

Recycling day - October 04, 2008

For the third time this year electronic waste is collected in our town. (And in others as well, as it is a national campaign.)

You should know that my town is relatively small and one of the poorest in the region.
Or maybe not?
The interesting thing is that every time this huge container was full of computers, TV-sets, fridges and other electronic equipments!
That means that people bought new ones and this means that they had money to change the old ones.
Are we really as poor as we pretend to be?

Citius, altius, fortius

"Faster, Higher, Stronger"

... is the Olympic motto, proposed by Pierre de Coubertin and introduced in 1924, and ever since athletes all over the world respect it.

At every sport event athletes are better than their predecessors, improving their performances. And their results are recorded as world records. And the values for speed, time, distance, hight or weight change rapidly, reaching extremes.

But how far can they push the human performances? Is there a limit? Or what is the limit?
I mean the natural limit...

How fast can we swim or run, how high can we jump, how much weight can we lift?
Is it natural that new generation of athletes are better, faster and stronger?
Are they super-men and women?

Modern technology has a tremendous impact on sport performances. But how much can technology improve sport performances?

We see high-tech sport equipments that help athletes, as they are designed using aerodynamics, special, flexible materials and even space-technology ... as athletes look like some super-heroes.

Athletes aspiration for glory is a natural desire. But is this hunt for better performances and new world records pushing sport competitions to the extremes?

Is this the era of super-humans?
Or all is a fake, and most of them use performance-enhancing drugs and "accessories", that can't be detected by the "official" tests.

The road to the Fish-lake

I haven't been biking for a long time, as the roads were always under construction and it was dangerous to bike on the side. But years ago I went regularly biking, every afternoon, day by day, until the first snow.
It was a pleasant afternoon, perfect for taking out my bicycle and take a ride somewhere... anywhere... but out of the town! Hmmm... Let's see... what is it at the fish-lake?
Leaving the main road, you find yourself in a beautiful valley, where the road is surrounded by smooth hills, corn-fields and meadows.



There is a small little house at the end of the village, it is like it was dropped there from a fairy tale...










On your way you can see some people making hay...







horses pulling carts...







sheep grazing on the top of the hill...








scarecrows waving along the corn-fields...








birds flying all around the bushes and even a sleeping cat on the tree!






The lake was quiet today, only few fisher-men were staying with their fishing-rods on the shore, no trace of tourist, who usually come here for camping, sunbathing or swimming on weekends.





The water surface was rarerly disturbed by small waves, created by some jumping fish. All was calm and relaxing...








The wind was shaking gently the leaves, the reeds were whispering softly, swallows were gliding over the lake to catch flyes, the sunrays were reflected by the water and the lake was shining...

The sunset was approaching sooner than I expected...

I took a last picture of the tiny cottage and pedalled fast to get home before getting totally dark.