October

Many of you who follow my blog are aware that my dad passed away on October 7. I was able to get back to Davenport before Dad died and I was in the states until October 28. I didn't do any blogging because I was busy helping my family during those three weeks. This picture despite the date on it, was taken in June 2007, while we celebrated Dad's 90th birthday.

My dad, Allan Fischer, was a low key, ordinary man. He farmed and drove school bus during his lifetime and as it turned out, that was quite a legacy. We know the farm community responds in time of need as evidenced by the many times other farmers either plant or harvest a crop for someone with health challanges. They also respond when there is a death in the family. Dad lived 91 years and was recognized as being a decent man. The community honored his family by dozens of acknowledgements following his death. I believe Dad would have been surprised by the acknowledgements of his life. He never wanted to be the center of attention for any reason, praise or punishment.

I am happy to be back in the library in Budapest. It is been good to meet again those who use the library. I was just getting acquainted when I had to depart. Everyone here has been very welcoming and warm. Merrill looks like he survived my absence but he did comment that the frozen pizza here is nothing to be excited about. Someone else did most of his cooking. It is good to be back and working together.

As always, there is a story. This one revolves around mistaken identity. Merrill and I went grocery shopping on Thursday. The produce at the grocery store didn't look very inviting so we didn't buy any. The mini market around the corner from the apartment often has nice produce so we decided we would look at their produce. I have been hungry for apple crisp and pumpkin bars, so I decided I wanted to buy apples. I had everything else I needed to make crisp. We went to the mini market and it looked like they had rather large golden delicious apples and I thought those will work well! I bought 4. The next morning as I am getting this ready for the oven, I had to cut and slice the "apples". Crisp apples are my favorite. These were hard. I couldn't cut all the way through with my paring knife. Then trying to cut the core out was difficult. It felt like I had an unripe pear. I had to either give up or continue and I was resolved to have "apple" crisp. I managed to get them cored, peeled and sliced with a regular knife. Merrill and I tasted a slice of the fruit an it was very bland. Well, I made "apple" crisp. It is ok, not what I had myself ready for, however. My daughter-in-law suggested it might be an Asian pear and when I googled Asian pear, it does look like that. The website said that Asian pears are very fragrant. Not these. The name under the bin at the mini market doesn't translate, so I have to assume that's what I bought.

Pumpkins are different shaped here in Hungary. I had seen some very orange Butternut squash and decided it was a different variety than we have at home. I asked Eva if they had pumpkins and she said yes but not the kind that is carved. I showed her the squash that I bought at the market and she said that was a pumpkin. (I haven't done a very good job with my camera this week.) I did cook the pumpkin today, so I will be baking some of the goodies that we are used to at home. There was a lot of "pumpkin" in that squash. I must bake something for Eva - she had seen a cooking show on TV that was cooking with pumpkin.

I feel like I fast forwarded through October. Right before I left, Merrill and I did the month ending reports and that is what we did today. Wow, 2 months have passed in the new work that we have undertaken. It is important to find good things even when life doesn't feel good. I was able to bring back books and other materials for the library when I returned. I am excited to share these things with our library patrons and looking forward to new projects that I don't even know about, yet.