at times you feel far away

I've been lucky- very lucky. Both my mom's and dad's families are large; there were always plenty of cousins to play with at family gatherings and lots of aunts and uncles...and up until 2 1/2 years ago, I still had both sets of grandparents- and Grandma B and Grandpa J always wrote. Longevity seems to run in the family- on both sides. Grandma J had been in failing health for a long time and I was very glad to see her when I was home, although she didn't know me. She didn't know a lot of things- but one thing she knew- 'Home' was where Grandpa was; if he was there, they were home; if he wasn't, they needed to go home. Grandma J was in her early 90's when she died. Grandpa J is the oldest of them all but will likely outlive them all. He's spry, sharp... and I chatted with him via webcam not so long ago!
Grandma B had a bad spell and was in the hosp for (it seemed like a long time- was it a week?- All I know is the nurses thought she was adorable- she wears a night cap to bed; they'd never seen anything like her)...that was while I was home, so 2 years ago. Grandpa B, however, has long been frailer than Grandma. In the last year, there have been several incidences of falling; he's had seizures and needed med for that. Earlier this week, he landed in the hosp. At first they thought it was a stroke; then said possibly a seizure. For awhile he perked up... Thurs night, he had a massive heart attack... now we're just waiting.
My relationship with my grandparents was never what it is for some people but they cared for me, for us and I'm glad to have had them this long. Leaving the States 2 years ago was a bit tougher knowing that the likelyhood of seeing them again was slim. It feels funny thinking about them being gone- like a piece of me is missing- a funky puzzle with a couple of pieces missing. And although I've been with lots of people at this stage of life, in our family, it's hardly ever happened- as I said, longevity seems to run in the family.

Bicycles are...

Instruments of torture. With all due respect to my Laura-out-west friend...and anyone else who 'likes' them...[likes...likes???...this is a huge stretch for my imagination] happy biking...happy aching...happy huffing and puffing and dodging mud puddles and muddy-ing up every inch of you below the knees. I happily leave you to it. You can thumb your nose at me, laugh at me, call me a wimp- whatever. I'm big enough, strong enough to take it. But thanks- I'd rather walk.

And yes, I speak from experience.

And it seems my Grandpa is doing a bit better- still in the hospital but didn't necessarily have a stroke- maybe a seizure? Not that most of you knew anything about that... I'm telling you now. I'm happy if he's better than they thought.

Good Night.

Taking a break

Staying with these little monkeys again! I don't know how it is that I always get to hang out with the little kids but it's all right with me! :) Anyway, we've had a nice time. These pix...mostly just clowning around. I have a list of emails I want to write- hopefully can get to them soon. Until then- you all take care!

Yippee Skippee Batman!

Phyllis and I are on our way back from a packed-full-of-good-things jaunt up North. The past 24 hours were good but rather busy. So bus stops in Kovel for about 20 min. You can get a lot done in 20 min. You can run around looking for special слабогазована water for your friend. (I'm not sure what it is either- only it's got less fizz than regular fizzy water.) And you can see a bookstore and zip in and emerge 2 min later with Paolini's 3rd book, Brisingr, in Ukrainian. Now we'll see what happens to our somewhat clueless and mostly intrepid hero and his faithful dragon. I've been wondering...

Toy overload...otherwise known as therapy for the spirit!

A bunch of pix... Because I can't leave any of them out! The 2 littlest kids are bro & sister- Andriy is 5 months old. His big sister, Sasha is 3. Babies- especially fat smiley ones like Andriy- are always fun. Sasha is at a darling age and has always been loveable & cuddly.

The other pix are all of Bohdan (11) and Anya (5). They are niece and nephew of a very good friend and co-worker. Nobody's really more special than anyone else right? But, maybe because of my own 6 "babies" (you know, my parent's grandkids!) who get their Auntie A cuddles via skype and a webcam, these 2 are as close to more special as you'll likely get! It was good to have some time with them again! We built a house, towers, cameras and "stuff" and then put our cameras on wheels. One of the pix shows Anya taking a pic with her lego-camera...she could wear it as a crown, too.

fast update

Here's a recent candid shot just for interest; obviously, there are a lot of people not in it...but a few maybe familiar faces for some of you.


Here in Kyiv for just about 24 hours...had to make the most of it! Lots of talking. Lots of laundry. Unpacking. Repacking. Hunting for stuff. And reformatting my little friend, Pippin... otherwise known as iPAQ/pocket pc/pda/whatever. Oh! and Skyping- with a few people! Yay!





Now we're soon leaving. Several have asked about the gas crisis here- we're fine and have been all along. This happens pretty much every year- would you be surprised to know that it's 99% politics? Nope, guess that is no surprise. Unfortunately Europe has suffered more than we have as Ukraine has reserves; some of the EU countries had none or very little. So, Thanks for you concern! All's well (as ever) here! Here's an article about the latest Ukr/Rus gas deal.

By the way

Cooking at Rachel's is exciting...you get to use this way cool chopping knife... Not to mention have Belgian chocolate for dessert afterwards.

Still snowing too

Nothing like what I've seen in pix from the Mid-West though. Nothing like as cold as there either.

Just in case you thought I was joking

about that chocolate

Great day!

Yup it really is. Mysteriously... Magically... Seeing as how yesterday just sort of never ended and merged itself (not flawlessly) into today. It all started with a night train after a nice day with nice people. The train dumped me out in Simferopol, Crimea... In the middle of a blizzard. Rachel's here. Great to see her again. The first thing she did was force me to take a nap...at 5am... That's when the train arrived. Then she force-fed me some super yummy spicy sour Thai soup (I'm sure you didn't notice the absence of breakfast there...I mean, I did have it... A few minutes before lunch.) Then... Gasp... Rachel jammed this Belgian chocolate right down my throat... I fought bravely but am just no match for a 90 pound 4 foot tyrant like her... Nope... You Know Belgian Chocolate... Made in Belgium...the kind they say is the best in the world. (I haven't even noticed those 2 direct-from-Belgium boxes at the end of the table here to my right...and I would CERTAINLY never even DREAM of opening them to see what's going on inside...not even to make sure nothing's getting lonely or discouraged... Or cold or anything. Nope. Not me.)

But back to this being a mysteriously magically good day. As you may or may not know by now, a night train can never be represented by such a simple 2-word phrase. Not when little Anastasia is next door. Not when she howls half the night. Because Mom won't give her something. Because Mom won't let her run up and down the corridor. Because she bumped herself AGAIN because she won't hold still. Because it's blisteringly hot...even with the door open....even with a blanket on top of the heater...

Ah yes- it's a good day! :)

Mobile blogging is great

when it works. But once again, my Pix didn't posts so, I'll re-post...if you feel inclined to comment, please do so on the pix posts; I'll delete the defective posts when I get back to my lap-top.

Dear Mom, Thanks.

I fixed my boots. Finally. The stuff you sent was perfect for the job. Yay!

'sneaky cell phone pix', part 3

see story below

grrrr

Odessa pix 2nd attempt...

Odessa!

We zipped through Odessa yesterday morning. Had an hour after breakfast before our bus left, so Someone got a van and took us all out to the port. These are all from the passenger port- as in, You know, cruise liners, private yachts and sailboats and such. I love it. Never was there at 8 am before- the sun was beautiful.

Statue is of a sailor's wife and child, waving Husb/Daddy off. Odessa is full of women whose husbands are professional sailors... including our friend, Anya. Her hubby is home right now; this last stint was only about 4 months. His last several before this, he was at sea 9 months at a time then home for 3. This is the 1st time in 6 years he's been here in winter...

Sneaky cell phone pix

It was fascinating to sit across from these 2 on the metro the other day. The man on the left did most of the talking. And he had his eyes closed most of the time. His speech was sincere, deliberate and emphatic but he never raised his voice. To hear him, you'd have thought he was talking to his son who was about to get married... or to a young astronaut about to step out of the space shuttle for his first space walk. Instead the conversation was about car repair or ice fishing or some such thing. Heidrun stood by them until the fumes about knocked her out. They were just drunk enough to know all the world's problems and to know just how to gently solve them all... none of which was more serious than their most recent ice fishing trip. Being drunk must be pleasant in such a case... Should I try it for tomorrow? Like about 1:20 PM? I'll bet it wouldn't solve my problem... Or make my life pleasant...

Guess who's

in Argentina? Daddy loves to travel. Mommy's birthday was Jan 1. Special days in Argentina. Baby got to go, too. Ever heard tell of the Cutie Pies? Well this is 2/3 of the Cutie Pie family. Alas, Baby doesn't know me anymore and was scared of me. Broke my heart. Sighhhh...

And we, Folks, are engaged in my all-time favorite activity even as we speak. Yep, we're on a train. Night train. 3rd class this time. Upper bunks. 2 inches of wiggle room. Ahhh this is the life... Fun times. 2nd pic is obviously NOT a Cutie Pie. 3 guesses who THAT is... First 2 don't count...

cilantro makes great....

Salsa! Yumm!
See that lady there? The one with the 3 kids? (Can you tell she's just adopted those kids? Do they look pretty happy?)
It's all true.
Anyway, that lady...the one named Mary. Yup, her. She was here with her husband... he's around here somewhere, too... hard to find pix of him, though...

Here he is overseeing some meal or other... I mean that's Elaine overseeing the meal but Mr Husband- otherwise known as Eric- he's the one over there on the left looking down there to see if those kids are behaving....

Anyway, E & M- now you know who they are! Well, see Mary, she heard we were making chicken enchiladas for supper the other night so she got the bright idea of making salsa and bringing it over... (no one around here likes salsa... ahhhhh, no... we LOVE it, adore it, admire and all that it, but... never mind- you get the point)- so, we were quick to agree. Yes, Mary, that's a fantastic idea. And it was. And it was fantastic salsa, too, I wanna tell ya. There's still a bit left, although I've done my part to make sure it doesn't spoil or anything...

Now everyone knows that salsa really REALLY goes with chips... dipping chips... TORTILLA chips... which you can't get here... at least I don't know where if you can. Now, being the chip freak that I am, I'd already discovered long ago that you can do this:

cut up your tortillas into chip-sized bits, heat some oil in a skillet and give them each about 10 seconds per side; remove, drain and salt....

Well the kicker here is Alack and Alas- no tortillas here either (as in taco-shell tortillas- are there any other kind??? don't know)- and while SOME culinary foody-types make their bona-fide own, it's just never been my thing...

but we do have Armenian flat bread- and I don't have a pic of that...and since the camera is in Colin and Elaine's room and since it's not really 'civil hours' anymore and since their light's off and in the interest of staying on somewhat good terms and all... and plus, the house is asleep and I'm the only one up and rustling through the freezer to find the rest just isn't the thing since I do have a camera on my phone (you still with me?)- ok- No pic of the Lavash (which is what Armenian flat bread is called)... but just sort of rewind the above pic to where those brown squares are all a small part of a very large, white, crepe-thin-but-dry-and-floury, oval shaped 'bread' (bearing in mind that tacos are 'bread' too... and if you know lefse, imagine that, only not at all sweet)- ok- cut that stuff up, fry it, salt it... pretty close...

Here you go! May I just say it was delicious! So good that I just devoured a couple (3 or 4 *cough*) pieces of French bread (they're small pieces you know) in order to get a little more salsa...

And guess what?

That salsa got hotter just sitting there in the jar a few days... wow...

Want a quick recipe? Here you go!

at least 5 tomatoes

1 bell pepper

1 head (not clove) garlic

3 hot chili peppers

1 med onion

salt

as much cilantro as you like (the more the better IMHO)
mix all ingredients; put in blender and whizz briefly- you want some chunk left!

Now I have to go brush my teeth... again... it was worth it... g'night!