honeysuckle, fruit & nuts

I have been in Romania for several weeks & the garden is now perfumed with Philadelphus, roses and evergreen honeysuckle,( the same one I have from a cutting, thank you Janet and Dominic; how are you?) We also have raspberries planted all around the edges of the garden, plus blackberries, wild strawberries and 2 types of cherries on the trees in the orchard. Unfortunately, we haven't got a 20 foot ladder, so the birds are in for a treat. I ate some cherries straight from the tree from our bedroom balcony this morning, and Rich and I ate some wild strawberries after tea.

Yesterday we had a BBQ with some of Richard's work colleagues, their partners and children, so I met a lot of Romanian  people, some of whom I have met before, and some not. Some of the men cooked the meat under trees (which I have reliably been informed are walnut trees) and some of the ladies helped us with getting drinks for people and generally helping out. Our guests brought gifts of flowers, savoury and sweet food and drinks including hard liquor made from grapes,plums and cherries. L's wife has studied English Literature, including Wuthering Heights, so I told her about Haworth and the Bronte Parsonage, then I made Rich play Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, which he did after a few reminders, and a gave a short rendition of the song to entertain the guests. Most of them left soon afterwards.

I enjoyed meeting all the people and had some really interesting conversations, mostly in English.  It was good to see the house and garden being used especially by the children who enjoyed the swing, the hammock and the plunge pool with the waterfall shower, ( We told them to bring swimwear.) I hope that we will meet again soon to exchange cultural comments and have lots to eat and drink.

On a cultural note, we listened to  Romanian Rhapsodies by a famous Romanian composer, George Enescu  recently and the website displayed some wondreful images of Romanian landscapes and skies.

Last night, after everyone had gone, after a perfect sunny day, the heavens opened and we sat outside watching the lightning , and listening to the thunder. The lightning lit up the whole of the sky and we just marvelled at the power of nature.
La revedere!   AM