Fun with flaming rods

- and how idiot-proofing has deprived us of our inalienable right to be a walking fire hazard.

Traditions are fun. Yesterday, I participated in a torch-lit march. Not candlelit, oh no. Here in transylvania, where the threat of vampires and werewolves - and thus lynch mobs - is never too distant, they actually give out lit torches to any takers (the more the merrier!) to hold as you walk through town. Listening to rock operas about hungarian history. Best. Historical. Commemoration. Ever.

To my slight disappointment, no one got so much as singed. No low-hanging branches lit. And no marshmallows! Still, it's fun walking through town with your very own burning torch. Just imagining all of the mayhem you're not going to cause (but you could - but you won't... but you could) gives you a sense of pride in not causing it (cause you could).

This is how WE celebrate a revolution! Suck on that July 14th parade! Now if you occasionally shot something out of the tanks, THAT would be co-memorable.

Oh, and for some reason I was later doused with palinka. I guess it's festive, no? I'm just glad that the torches were all gone by then.

Living it up in Romania

Sooo...

Schnapps (aka Palinka, aka Tuica) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And after dinner. And before bed-time.

Along with loads of delicious farm-grown home-made food. Good think I'm only staying a week-end! It's great seeing the family.

Oh, and of course the palinka is only to fight the budding cold I'm getting (and that half my family already has).

Seriously, it's against the cold. I don't know the rest of the country, but hot-damn it's great over on this end!