Adri's Palette

Having a long holiday weekend is a treat. However, having it on days when the sun is shining and the weather is inviting is downright divine! Everything beckons you to go outside, to enjoy the sights and wake up from your hibernation.

This weekend we decided to go for a hike to the mountains above my hometown. Remember my experiment with looking at Szentendre from a different perspective? Well, this was just like that, but mixed in with another element, time. I seriously felt I stepped into a time warp. As we sat on the crest of the hill looking at the green grass below us, the odd cow on the moor all I could think about was how everything has changed. I kept explaining to my husband (who is not from around these parts) how different everything looked when I was a kid. How we used to have wild thyme and flowers around here. How there were no roads or cars around. How everything used to be green and now the houses have slowly crept up the hill. It was a strange feeling.

Going home with nostalgia in my heart I felt something was missing. The weather being so beautiful I felt it was time to check if our favorite ice cream parlor (do check out Centrum on the main square!) has already opened for the season. Well, the good news is it has. The even better news was that they had my favorite flavor, salty caramel. Oh, dear! With cone in hand I was umming and ahhing my way along the city center, sort of in a daze. And then we stumbled upon something quite amazing.

Back when I was in elementary school the city organized a competition to paint a mural commemorating King Matthias Corvinus. I have no idea how I ended up in it together with two other classmates, but there we were one sunny weekend trying to figure out what the hell to paint. Everyone around us wanted to depict the obvious, the just nature of the king. We wanted something different. So we came up with this idea of a knight from the space age, who comes back to the past and visits the castle of the king. We wanted to symbolize how even in the future the virtues and reforms of the king were remembered, and how this strange visitor comes back to pay homage to him.

Well, the idea did not sit well with the judges. We were not picked as winners. I don’t even remember any of them coming over and asking what (the hell) we were doing. I mean, there were about 20 paintings, and only ours stood out. Maybe it was the wrong kind of different. But what I do remember is how amazing I felt during the entire process. Coming up with such an original idea and executing it with my friends. I mean, at the time I didn’t know what brainstorming was, but I remember it was its pure form back then.

So the amazing thing is, that I stumbled across the parking lot where the paintings were made 26 years ago. And from the 20 paintings that were made there are only three remaining. Two are pretty battered, but ours is still going strong! Apart from a tiny graffiti tag it is as if it were new.

I mean change must happen, and maybe I personally envision it a bit differently in my home town. But I feel lucky I live here. Because we can still relish the absolute quiet, the fluffy clouds above us and the chirping of the birds. And there are still places where you can peek into the past. And as it seems there are others who relish the past and give it their seal (spray) of approval. Even if that past does come back to the future.