Grandma Oma's World

I have a large family in Serbia, too. My brother, sister, nephews and nieces, cousins and all their families still live there. Each time I return for a visit, it feels comforting to be welcomed by all. In addition it is very reassuring to find that most things are still the same. My brother still lives in the same house where my grandmother was born: the furniture, decorations and paintings are still in the same place as they were over 150 years ago. No one rearranged anything. Even the books in the bookcases are on the same shelves, some leaning sideways, some tucked behind others, and a set of outdated red encyclopedias in Hungarian  are taking up a whole shelf.  And my sister, too, still lives in the place where she lived in when I left the country in 1965. However, the nieces and nephews and all the other young relatives have their own places not far from their parents. So, here are some of my family members, but there is a lot more of them, I just need to get photos of ...

Tomorrow is my brother, Elemer's, 69th birthday. He lives in Futog, Serbia, and of course, I procrastinated long enough to send him a card. It would take at least one week for the card to get there, so instead of sending him a card, I decided to put it on my blog and make it a permanent birthday present. Elemer in Novi Sad The two of us in 1944. Aww..... Our mother holding Elemer, 1943 or 1944

While I was in Buffalo, NY, I visited my older sister and her family in Canada. Through her,  I am blessed with with an army of relatives - at least fifteen people including partners. She and her late husband, Sveta, immigrated in the 50's, and raised their family in various places in Canada to finally settled in Cornwall, Ontario. Although, my sister took care of me when I was a baby, I did not remember her. We reconnected again in 1966, when I came to USA. Since then, we have kept our sisterly contacts, visiting and calling one another whenever possible. My sister, Ildiko My nephew, Vuk and his friend Lucy My sister and her grand daughter, Adan St. Lawrence River, view from the deck View from the boat on St. Lawrence River

Since the end of August I have been in Buffalo, NY visiting my daughter and her family. Here, I have two grand daughters: Gabriella, almost 5 years old and Brianna, almost 2.  Here are some pictures of us in Buffalo. Brianna, Gabriella and I My family in Buffalo A happy day at merry-go-round Brianna and Gabriella show of their Halloween costumes

I haven't been blogging for a little while because I was busy restoring an old bench. I had this bench for years and it was falling apart and was ready for the dump. I decided to fix it and give it a new life. First I needed to unscrew the old rusty screws that were holding the old broken boards. I used the good old  WD-40, but that did not work, everything was way too much encrusted with rust. So, I decided to use a hack saw (reminds me of breaking out of a jail) and saw all the screw heads of. Then, I got some pine boards, conditioned them with Benite and painted them with six coats of Sea Fin Teak Oil. Once the boards dried I drilled the holes for the new screws and put the bench together. And voila.... my new bench! Isn't it pretty?

During my travelings, I came across some interesting events that I felt the need to share. The white slug and the mating earthworms were a first for me. Slugs Slugs are standard pests in the gardens of Pacific Northwest, but when I was in Alaska I took pictures of these two. One was all black and the other one was all white. Both were really large, about 8 - 9 inches long. The slugs I have seen in our area are mostly brownish gray with spots and were definitely shorter. This slug was really, really black White slug - or is it albino? Did you ever see a white slug? Mating earthworms While visiting my home in Futog, Serbia I came across this pair of mating earthworms. I never even knew they mate! I am glad I did not step on them. Earthworms are hermaphrodites, meaning they each have the makings of both sexes: male sperms and female eggs. They fertilize each others eggs, but not during the mating. After they are done mating, they separate and each lays their eggs in a co...

I was born in Novi Sad in 1941 in a lovely house on the shores of Danube River,  today Liman I. Most of my early memories are associated with the river and the Strand (the Novi Sad beach). Today, the university campus is on the location where our neighborhood used to be. The campus was created in the late 1950's and early 1960's, and to create it, our house along with all of our neighbors homes were taken away. Some families, including ours, were never compensated for the the loss. Here are a few pictures of me on the Danube that my father took in the summer of 1943. I have no pictures of the house in Novi Sad At the time of my birth my father, Karoly Wissinger, (Karlo Visinger, in Serbian) was working on the interior designs of the Banovina building. The architect of the building was Dragisa Brasovan. Today the building serves as the government offices for Vojvodina Region. My father and samples of his work inside Banovina.   We left the...

I do not  know why, but all my life I wanted to visit and take a bath in one of those famous Turkish thermal baths. Budapest has several bath houses such as the Gellert, Szechenyi, Rudas, and Lukacs  baths, but the Gellert, located in an upscale hotel, and the Szechenyi thermal bath located in the City Park are the most famous. The Szechenyi thermal bath is  one of the largest baths and spas in all of Europe. The origins of the bath date back to 1879 when medicinal springs were discovered on the location. The first bath was built in 1913, than expanded in 1927 and remodeled and improved several times. Today there are 3 outdoor and 15 indoor pools. Approaching the baths from the City Park side One of the outdoor pools  It was such a treat to spend some time at the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. The lights came on Pool art Enjoying the pool at dusk

As I said before, my sister Maria,  my brother in law, Miki, and my nephew, Tibi, waited at the Budapest train station for my arrival from Kiev. We spent four days exploring the city. My sister Maria, her son Tibi and her husband, Miki For me visiting Budapest was a special, and there is a story. I was born and raised Hungarian in former Yugoslavia. In my family we spoke both languages: Hungarian in the home, and Serbian outside the home. Our parents embedded in us the fact that we are Hungarians, and we should always remember that. Hungary and Budapest are only a few hours drive from my home town in Serbia, but because of the political situation during the former "iron curtain" period, I never had the opportunity to visit Hungary. In those days (40's - 70's) the borders to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria - all counties surrounding Serbia - were closed and tightly guarded. So, for me, visiting Budapest and Hungary was also about discovering my Hungarian roots Hunga...