"News" from Buda

Once again, the back yard

Snow on the deck at our entry

Lots of snow!!

Spring appears to be on hold, at this time.  We had another rather large accumulation of snow on March 25 to 27th.  It seemed that every morning I would get up and there would be more snow on the ground.  At least, by Easter, most of the snow had melted.  We still haven't had more that half a day of sunshine at a time.  Even though the days are longer and we went to daylight savings time, when it is cloudy and grey, it still seems rather winterish and frankly, depressing.  When I walked up the hill this evening, there appeared to be a great big dark grey cloud coming over the hill.  Mostly, it was just fog and the wind has really picked up this evening.  I'm really hoping that the next time I write, I'll have something to talk about other than the weather!!

The bus stop where we get off and on from our apartment

My stylish attired for walking

Our landlady, Elizabeth, invited Merrill and I to have Easter dinner with her.  Her sister, Eva and another American friend, Linda were also guests.  This is the first time that we have been invited to celebrate a holiday in a Hungarian home.   The company was entertaining and the food was outstanding.  As in our own culture, there were many dishes on the table and most were only slightly touched.  We had nice chicken and vegetable soup, followed by ham, 2 kinds of potato salad, mixed vegetable, a fruit compote, fresh salad, bread and several cakes.

Easter Monday is celebrated in an unusual fashion.  The tradition is for boys to "shower" girls with water or perfume.  The boys are then given red eggs so they will stop the"shower".  Elizabeth's brother came Sunday afternoon and sprayed perfume into the hair of the women in attendance and then, we gave him some eggs so he would stop spraying the perfume.

We had our first book distribution occur on Easter.  Linda, another dinner guest, works with a ministry that has a coffee house and reading room.  She was also acquainted with Andy and Phyllis Anderson and she was happy to receive two boxes of books that Andy had collected.

We had out of town visitors on Monday.  Mark and Sherrylee Woodward came to talk with us about the program, Let's Start Talking.  They brought another couple with them, Buzz and Beth Porter.  These two couples are both from the U.S.  Merrill and I knew of Mark and Sherrylee, because they know our son, Carter and they are from Ft. Worth, TX.  Buzz and Beth Porter are from Seattle, WA.  It was really exciting to have two couples visit us from areas that our children live in.  God's family is everywhere, the kingdom worldwide, and what great fellowship we have when we are together.  It is always a joy to show new people the library and talk about the books that we have and the people that we meet.

Rusty, Beth Ridgeway, Sherrylee, Mark Woodward, Merrill, Carol Davis

An update on Merrill includes his approaching being back to normal.  Monday we were out all afternoon and evening.  He did fine including being able to make it up the hill to the apartment from the bus stop.  That must mean he is well!!