Parsing (kind of like Snakes On A Plane?)

Being the condescending westerner that I am, I was enjoying this seemingly eccentric phrasing on the menu of a local Moroccan restaurant:

The Argan bears plum-sized fruits, which are eaten by goats on the tree.

Ha! Goats in a tree! Crazy Moroccans. Then Michael pointed out to me that there actually were goats up in the tree in the photo next to this paragraph.
It turns out that goats actually do climb Argan trees to get at the fruit. Who knew?


Photo from Wikipedia

For all of you who keep asking what Joel is doing with all his free time now that he's submitted his PhD:

Back to Hungary, part 3: Places that are NOT Hungary.

This is NOT Hungary.
This is Vienna.
Exhibit A: The cathedral in the centre of the city. Lovely, so dramatic, in the night and the day. The roof is pretty amazing. Vienna had lots of roofs like that, that are different colours, very bright and vivacious. So did the big city in Hungary we went to.
Exhibit B: This is a building in Vienna not too far from the cathedral. I find the painting appealing. (This is not a pun.)
Exhibit C: This is at the War Museum in Vienna. Do you like the armoured man's skirt? Apparently, they didn't actually use the skirt armour in battles. They saved that for special occassions, like fancy shmancy balls and courting rituals, parades, that sort of thing. You know, armoured fashion.

We also went to the Museum of Musical Instruments, which was pretty much the coolest museum we've ever been to. They had Mozart's piano, and some other crazy instruments that seemed like something out of a really intelligent 12 year old's dreams. Joel liked the guitar with a built in foot pedal capo.

This is also NOT Hungary.
This is Slovenia.
Richard took us for superb iced coffee with ice cream and the thickest, most gorgeous whipped cream I've ever tasted.The view from the castle. There were loads of vineyards on the hillsides.
This is inside the castle. We saw endless examples of the type of embroidery I would spend my whole life striving for. I will show you some that I brought back with me later.

We enjoyed our day trip to Slovenia.

This is ALSO NOT Hungary. This is Croatia.The colour of the water. I wanted so badly to jump in and never come out again, to swim in it so much that I turned that immense shade of blue, and it would be part of me forever.
Waterfalls, water falling.
Water falling, falling, falling, splash!
The puppy sleeping on my lap on the drive. When we arrived at the national park, she refused to go up the stairs. She was so tired. Tired and gorgeous.
I LOVE teals and blues and greens all together. It speaks to my soul in such an immense way. It frees my heart. Do you know what I mean? Just looking at even the photos makes my heart feel fluttery in an 'I'm-falling-in-love' sort of way. Is that totally ridiculous? I just love teal water so much.
It was like Disneyland, with all the people! But Disneyland doesn't even come close. I choose natural, clear, teal water over shiny plastic any day.

Intermission

Taking a short break from our exploits in Hungary, here are some glimpses of our weekend. We took full advantage of the sunny weekend, being fully aware it may be the last bits of Glasgow sun we see as residents here.

Cathkin Braes Country Park - the highest point in Glasgow.

The Braes' shrooms

The promise of my downcast container garden

An evening on the balcony

Hungary, Part Deux: ICE CREAM

While Joel puts together posts about interesting bits of language and words in Hungary, I will continue to spend my energies on remembering the ICE CREAM. Oh, I couldn't forget anyway. It's part of me now. (Very literally, since we ate ice cream EVERY SINGLE DAY. Sometimes more than once. Oh the glory.)
Now let us join together in the common bond of love for ice cream. Let us realise the creamy goodness, the rich mountains of splendor...

First, the Hungarian national ice cream. This is one we ate sitting under the apple trees in the garden, watching the doggie go crazy. It is vanilla ice cream, hazelnut ice cream, and frozen marmalade, all swirled in together. Surprising, but tasty!

Then there was tiramisu ice cream... one of the great wonders of the world... oh except biscotti which may rise above.

We had green apple ice cream, Russian Cream ice cream, vanilla, coffee, blackberry...

I do maintain the blue ribbon goes to the Sour Cherry and Poppyseed ice cream. The poppyseeds took their responsibility seriously, and did not disappoint.

Oh, ice cream. Oh, a country where the weather allows for comfortable eating of ice cream...

Tonight my dreams will be cold and wonderful.

A List of Hungarian Villages...

...and the rough translations of their names in English.* A result of our recent adventures in Eastern Europe, guided by our friend Richard and his mom, Elizabeth. This should be all you need to know to tell whether we had a good time. And to form a favorable opinion of the Hungarian language and mindset.

Hungarian Name
Pogányszentpéter
Nagybajom
Almamellék
Kistolmács
Egérág
Csonkamindszent
Böszénfa
Görgeteg
Aligvár
Nyogér
Csepreg

English Translation
Pagan St. Peter
My Big Problem (or Monkey?)
Appleside
Little Translator
Mouse Branch
Amputated All Saints
Abundant Coal Wood
(The) Rolling
Barely a Castle
Groaner (possibly professional?)
It's Dripping

Stay tuned for further details.

*Translations provided by Richard, who reserves the right to find better ones.

Biggest Kitchen Table -- Green Cleaning

Today's discussion (and I interpret 'today' in the broadest sense possible, encompassing last week, when Rhonda actually discussed it) is on Green Cleaning.

'Green Cleaning' makes so much sense. Whatever you call it. You don't need a trendy name or 'eco-friendly' term to do what our grandparents just did as part of life. Really, it's just about cleaning. It is about simplifying the process, eliminating excess, reducing unnecessary chemicals, and learning how many uses a simple thing like baking soda has.

We've been better at this, but just last week Joel and I had a discussion/minor conflict over 'bathroom cleaner' versus the baking soda method. What it boils down to is that we haven't made it simple enough to do it the right way. Joel pointed out that it's a lot easier to grab the spray bottle of chemicals than to find the baking soda, find a rag, etc. So that is my task for this discussion. Joel has already started by assigning a container to keep the bathroom cleaning stuff in. We use old socks as rags, so there are a couple of those in there. Joel assigned a particular sock to use to clean the outside of the toilet, and I wrote 'toilet sock' on sharpie on it. I think this is probably kind of scary to anyone who happens across it in our flat. I like to wonder what our friends think of us sometimes.

My goals for green cleaning:

• Buy a separate baking soda to keep in the cleaning box.
• Mix up a general all purpose cleaner that will keep in a spray bottle. I have loads of recipes for this but haven't done it yet. That would make things easier.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it easier to just buy chemical cleaners? Is it worth the initial extra time to use 'green' cleaners? Are you convinced that natural ingredients really get the things clean?

PS Another interesting event -- our friends just gave us their eco-balls, which you use instead of laundry soap, and the balls last 18 months before needing a refill (an example of when greener is cheaper - we will now spend zilch on our laundry for the next year). They gave them to us because the husband missed the smell of laundry detergent in his clothes. Have you ever tried the green option and then decided you like your old habit better?