Village life

Misty fog hangs over a small river with grassy banks on either side and a tree in the left foreground

2022 Grateful 8: A home inside myself

I have friends who are struggling. Health issues. Financial issues. Relationship issues. I’m struggling to make sense of the world we’re living in. I tell

Woman sits cross-legged on a white rug running a gong around a metal bowl. Other bowls of various shapes and sizes are visible. Running down the left of the photo we can see three lit tealights. TO the right is a low stool with a cushion.

2022 Grateful 12: Sound Bath

The village keeps on surprising. One of our newest residents has introduced me to a whole new world of the sound bath.

2022 Grateful 13: La’Mar

The two Istváns have been quietly lauding a little restaurant in Zalakaros called La’Mar that I had yet to try. It punctuates a line of

a white cat sitting looking straight at the camera - Its right hear has been bitten off at the tip

2022 Grateful 16: Small kindnesses

I was struck this week that the nénis had noted my absence. I was away for a while, back for a few days, and gone

Reading into number plates

Many moons ago, many lifetimes ago, when I lived in LA, I took great delight in reading number plates. Vanity plates, they called them. I’d

2021 Grateful 8: Visiting Esztergályhorváti

Moving from small-town Alaska, I craved city life. I wanted to be able to go to museums and art galleries. I wanted to have access

2021 Grateful 26: The gift of boredom and birds

A couple of things happened today that distracted me from the heat.

2021 Grateful 27: Catastrophe averted

After spending hours picking cherries and then standing over a bowl pitting them, I was all for preserving them in the simplest way possible: a

2021 Grateful 29: Free gym membership

If I could claim back all the money I spent on gym memberships, I’d be able to buy another of Michael Pettet’s paintings and another

2021 Grateful 30: See what you see

Being on the road in the early morning or early evening requires a heightened sense of awareness down our way. Cars are not nearly as

When I bought a house in a small village near the Kis Balaton in Western Hungary, I only ever intended it to be a weekend/holiday getaway. But village life has worked its magic and now I find it hard to leave.

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