flu

having recently been involved in several 'swine flu' conversations, thought I'd post this link... National Geographic, from my feed reader. They have a nice 'no need to panic' common sense sort of approach.

thurs too

this from the Kottke.org feed- only posting it because Hey- they do this here. I'm convinced it's in their genes. Every single Ukr'n can 'hunker' around like this for (seems like) hours. And notice the guy in the middle on the bench- he's hunkering flat-footed (so's the one on the ground, for that matter)- that's a lot harder than on the balls of your feet. You try it- it ain't that easy Joe.

Public Service message #(??): Be a good guest- don't put your suitcase on the bedspread unless you've got some protective something-or-other underneath it. You think those wheels are 'pretty clean'? Think again.
So- what's the deal? Well- just after The Big Career Change of 1994, Margaret said to me: Of course we'd never put our shoes or suitcases on anyone's bedspreads... She said it sort of matter-of-fact like and without waiting to see if I was actually going to do it or not- sort of like preventive medicine; I have no idea if I would have actually done that or not. I'm pretty muchly glad she made me aware of it though. And I've been amazed at what I have seen plopped down on people's nice clean furniture and all... and the only reason it comes up here is because I just got to scrub my white duvet cover- and then scrub again- to get off the oily gunk from (a very very good friend's) suitcase wheels. So I'm just saying... No suitcases on the furniture or bedspreads... Ok? Your mom brought you up better than that, surely...
Thanks!

In recent verb work and noticing of verbs and so forth:
In Ukr'n you use the same verb to:

• gas up a car,
• tuck your shirt in,
• dress a salad.

заправити I guess in a big picture sort of way they all mean 'to bring into order'... and knowing this beautiful language- I'll bet that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to that verb. No wonder we say such funny things when we try to talk... no kidding. Sometimes the 'Oh my- you-have-3-noses-on-your-face-and-I-never-noticed' looks on people's faces makes you realize you've had 100% failure in a recent communication attempt.

Yest during my massage, the lady in the next booth (or whatever- just a curtain between us and conversation is shared among all present) says in the middle of her massage: I was watching the news and in Japan- they're all walking around with masks... on the STREETS in MASKS...can you even imagine... (pause) in masks... and they think that's just normal... (pause) in MASKS... and if they sneeze or cough at work they have to go home... sneeze... I mean you can't even sneeze at work... I mean imagine... (that's when I got the giggles...and then the massage man did too and we just absolutely killed ourselves silently laughing for about 5 min- You hear anything and everything in here He says in a choked whisper). It wasn't all that funny- but the woman was just hilarious. She kept up a steady stream of this and that the whole time. BUT- today, walking down the street I saw about 200 univ students being marched to a stadium for some kind of convocation (I'm guessing informing them about Oh- swine flu or something)- all in possession of a mask and half or so wearing them... so it's not just Japan...

A day with Anya

It was cold when I got off the train this morning. It was pretty early, so I thought I'd walk to Anya's- give them all a bit more time to sleep you know. It's a long walk- about 40 min. Path goes through a low spot. Don't know how well it shows in these pix, but each blade and leaf in this spot was lightly and perfectly coated with frost.

Droho

These are Anya's flowers. Her front yard is one big flower bed...and she loves it and does a great job. My pix don't do them justice. We were sitting at the table yakking and she was watching people out the window and getting great pleasure out of them stopping to look at her flowers. There aren't as many though, as there were. A neighbor had a 50th birthday party to go to yest and Anya let her cut 50 of her tulips, narcissus and daffodils as a present.
And Oh! it was great to be with Anya again. For a few reasons her husband is mostly not working these days, so they're just getting by. But she and the kids and hubby were all in good form.

Boys are all the same!

Getting ready to leave on the train tonight, looked out the window and saw this little monkey shine with his parents. They were seeing someone off and standing at the edge of the platform...except Jr...who was sitting on the dumptruck he just happened to have along. Sorry for the exceptionally poor quality of these pix ...hope you can malt something of them. He was a cutie!

So-long

Because the train ride is a long one- like 13 hours- I walked from A's back to the station. Lots of beautiful flowers along the way...and the sky above that (cherry? apricot?plum?) tree was gorgeous, too.
The pic that's a bit of a mess is in honor of the bleeding heart that was in full bloom. I saw quite a few. They're some of my favorites.

And a bit of house- keeping. The 60th wedding anniversary? Re-checking facts- turns out it's 65 years. That really is a noteworthy achievement. And- 1 more death. A dear old man west of Indy. We spent a fair amount of time with him and his very special wife when I was in Indy. This is where we're all headed. Let us make the journey safely.

ps

I finally caved and watched the Susan Boyle thing this morning- someone had it on their computer. Yes, she's good. In fact, she has a beautiful voice. What do you think- Is she good enough to make the Big Time? If she does, will it be worth it? (To me, the lady seems quite happy, sweet and fine just as she is; think she can stay that way?)

And- when I checked my email and Blog feeds just now, I learned of a death, a heartattack and a stroke, all among old friends and acquaintances in IN. And a 60th wedding anniversary in WI. Life- it never stops making you catch your breath...

Cute Little Playground

Walking to Julie's yesterday, I took a back way, winding behind buildings and mosey-ing along. And was brought up short by a sudden onslaught of mint green and bubblegum pink. Stopped. Looked. And saw this freshly-painted playground. It was downright cute...if a bit much; very nicely done, though. The somewhat fluorescent green fake fern,

though, in the mint green planter was a bit painful to look at.

Buskers

On the train, going over to spend the day tomorrow with Anya and her family. Arriving at the train station, saw this group of buskers performing on the steps by the entrance to the metro. Since I had time, stopped and listened for awhile. Took a video with my cell phone, but not sure how to put that on here...later...

What did Delaware?

Got to talking about this at supper...and sure, enough- it's on YouTube. As I recall, Dad and Mom used to sing it when we were kids... in fact, I remember they used to sing a heap of stuff. Singing was part of growing up at our house and we loved it!

Actually, at our house, the singing was with gusto, enjoyment... and sometimes quietly, too.

I remember Mom washing dishes with a hymn book propped up on the window sill in front of her, singing away. I think she sang nearly all the time, no matter what she was doing... or at least it seems that way to me. Lots of hymns, but also other stuff. She knew Forever in Blue Jeans- only we used to clown around and sing Reverand Blue Jeans.
I remember Dad singing and singing and singing. He taught us stuff like: The Battle of New Orleans; Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini; The Flying Purple People-Eater; Roy Orbison, Johnny Horton, The Beatles...and a whole host of other stuff. Anything from the 50's and 60's that I know I most likely heard from Dad first. I remember how he sang Puff the Magic Dragon- he caressed each note with his voice; can't really describe it, I guess, but I loved that song then and still do. He played the harmonica a lot, too; I'm still convinced that he could play anything he wanted to on that baby... maybe I'm wrong but it sure seemed like it! Dad- teach me to play the harmonica!

So- did any of the rest of you sing about Della and her wardrobe?

quote

"The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it." CP Snow

I saw something similar a few years ago- happiness isn't the destination but your state while making the journey.

Seems to me that if we become so focused on being happy and looking for it- we become selfish with tunnel vision... if we can forget all that, just L-I-V-E- really live- we can be happy.

if you use Blogger

you might want to consider checking this out... the latest post from the Blogger gurus at google. They have a new forum and some new ideas and voting... let them know if there's something you like/hate/want from Blogger...

recent photo tag

Julie P tagged me awhile back...here's my 4th folder, 4th pic tag pic... (you do understand that last phrase, right?) I was trying to spend an afternoon a week with J's boys, esp in the winter when they were more house bound... So, this is Elijah; we went to McDonalds this day. The day before his little brother had groaned very audibly "McDonalds... I'd love to go there again...when will we ever?" Which is why we went... about 2 days later Uncle D showed up and took them again. Ahh well- this was a pleasant hour spent with the boys (while J was stuck inside with her broken foot)...

weather and other vital things

after my massage today, I sat outside in the sun at the playground just across the driveway from the clinic where the massage man works... the sun was brilliant; so bright it made the pix I took look blue. Normally that would bug me but I like that it's that sunny! (Since it's not raining and we desperately need rain- might as well enjoy the sun, right?)sat on one of those tires, I did

you proly missed those blossoms on that tree

just thought I'd point them out. They were really sweet; in fact, right now there are so many flowering trees in bloom and some of them are so fragrant...

that there are spots where, even in a city this big, the air is heavy with the perfume of them

hard to miss 'em here!

the scene outside the kitchen window now. (An aside- notice all the apt buildings; very few people here in Kyiv have private homes; I'm guessing 90%- or more?- live in apartment buildings. There are seas of apt buildings in this part of Kyiv.)

From this weekend.

Ukrn ladies love beautiful linens- and this isn't anything like some of them, but it does show a pretty typical duvet cover- open in the middle- you want a pain? Try stuffing a winter-weight bedspread through that hole and getting the 4 corners of the spread and the cover to match... All the linen needs ironing, too. Period. The newer stuff doesn't, of course, but a lot of people don't have much of that... ps- that's my tea cup there :)
This is the little guy where I spent the night... this time, he didn't cry when I looked at him... in fact he giggled, laughed, ran, jumped, rolled and generally had a blast... which meant the rest of us did, too. He is an absolute doll... and he liked sitting on my duffle bag- that was great fun.

babble

yes well
Not so much to say... or a lot, as usual

We had a great weekend. Orthodox Easter was Sunday, so everyone had at least 3 days of holiday (except bus drivers, people like that). A great time to get together with special friends...and that's what we did. Went over to Lutsk on Fri night train. Sat I went up north to some friends- same as last winter- when we built cameras with lego-type blocks and wore them as crowns. Dry as a bone here, for the most part. It did decide to rain just as I got off the bus in their town... with a 25-30 min walk ahead of me... ah well. We need the rain badly enough that I only half-minded. Didn't rain much anyway- was still dusty when I got there...
And I only got lost once on the way there...
yes- I've been there a hundred times... the next time, I will know...

right?
*cough* right

Easter traditions are interesting and deep-seated here... and vary a bit from region to region.
1- the Orthodox take a wicker basket (they're beautiful baskets) with bread and (other stuff- I don't know what all just now) in it and head off to church very early Easter Morning- like 5 or 6 am. There's a special service, the baskets and contents are blessed and they return home. Then because the day had such an early start and because the holiday is so important- everyone stays inside until after lunch...and lunch here is 2 or 3 pm, not 12 noon.

I really don't know the traditions well- there are so many of them and OK- they're not mine and I don't intend to make them mine. However- this I know:
On Easter Sunday, you cannot catch a bus before 2 pm in the part of Ukr where I was. No amount of standing by the road, at the stop, at the next stop and so on will make a bus appear.
Nope.
And there weren't cars, either.

I didn't stay there and wait for hours- T&V convinced me that it was a lost cause- thankfully, I believed them. When we left at 1.30, there were just a few people stirring- all on the back paths and all on foot or motor bike. Downtown was deserted. No cars. No people. No nothing...
and certainly no buses.

about 2, vehicles just sort of appeared. *pop*
not many though.
shortly after 2, a bus came along. Nearly empty. I was the only female on it for the first hour.
Was glad to be there, though- considering I had a 5 pm appointment and considering it can take 3 hours to get from T&V's to where I was going. Slid in at about 4.50... all smiles... and a tiny bit flustered...

back to Kyiv late Mon night. Yest started a 10 day series of massages- neck, shoulders and back. Come to Kyiv- this only costs you just under $10 a time... and he's really good- a professional, employed at the clinic just around the corner from Julie's. It's worth the trip just for that, right?
:)
Right!

Massage Man told J and me we need to swim- just once a week He said. You don't need to become professionals He said (No worries I thought; did I mention he comes with a sense of humor? A sure plus in his profession, I'm sure...)

tomorrow we're going to check out the possibilities as far as swimming. I can't wait to see if I stick with this...

g'night

Role Model

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL??? Try it without looking at the answers...... please don't look down until you do it - you will be surprised!!!!! If you are mathematically challenged - USE A CALCULATOR
1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9
2) Multiply by 3 then
3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the calculator....)
4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number.. 5) Add the digits together Now Scroll down .............. Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below: (I've put in some pix to try to stop you from cheating! So quit right now and do your math!)

our kitchen windowsill


one tired tot... me, too...why am I still here???


is this your role model? Sometimes I feel like him...an alien in the middle of normal people
(not that that should concern you!...or surprise you...)


hmmm... here's some 'role models' for you... I get the giggles, though...

well, who is it????

scroll down down down....














Druuuuuuuuuuuummm Rollllllllllllllllllllll






1. Einstein
2. Nelson Mandela
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Helen Keller
5. Bill Gates
6. Gandhi
7. George Clooney
8. Thomas EDISON
9. Anita B (cheshire cat grin)
10. Abraham Lincoln
I know.... I just have that effect on people.... one day you too can be like me.... :-) Believe it! P.S.: Stop picking different numbers. I am your idol, just deal with it!!!! HAHAHA... NOW IT's YOUR TURN - CHANGE YOUR NAME IN NO. 9 AND SEND IT ON!! HAHA

this showed up in my inbox today... the kind of thing my 8th grade algebra teacher loved. (although that's not algebra is it? Or is it? I am mathematically challenged and it's not a big secret.) So- can someone tell us why it works?

more on the Birthday Boy

so I dug around in my files and found these that I never blogged...from around Valentine's Day.


Forrest lost some teeth... don't you love it? I cannot believe he's 'that old'- you know- old enough to lose baby teeth and grow new ones... good night- what else has happened when I wasn't looking????


Owen did a Valentine heart...he's getting way too big too fast, too.

this is what happens to Tough Little Brothers who grow up, get married and have kids... someone comes along and sticks a red heart on their cheek and they go ahead and let someone take a pic... and blog it... ;)

the I Love You sign... you gotta love webcams!

the whole bunch. it was hat-day at their house, I guess! I love you guys!

And I got to chat with them tonight- even better than digging through pix!!

memories

This guy? He's my other brother... not the one with kids in another post but the one that's next to me in age. He was my first best friend- partly of course, because I was just enough older and he was just guillible enough to try things for my enjoyment that I was too chicken to do...stuff that would earn a solid whack from Mom, for instance- stuff like running through the pile of dirt she'd just swept up in the dining room...funny thing, though- she saw through that and whacked me instead of him... he ran through it...I told him too... I must not have been quite as smart as I thought I was... wow We lived in this big old farmhouse with a big old barn and a smaller and very rickety barn behind it. That barn had a steeply pitched roof that flattened out at the bottom to a much shallower pitch. We could climb up a fence at the side and get up onto the lower roof (we were about Oh, 5, 6, 7...something like that). Once up, we scooted all the way to the top of the steep roof, sat down and slid down...it was great...fantastically fun! Addictive... and proly a little dangerous; at least we were told in no uncertain terms NOT to do it.
Of course, we didn't listen. I mean... come on... How many kids have their own amusement park-style slide in their backyard?
We loved it.
And Mom always knew... always. I couldn't figure out how. I mean- she was busy, babies to look after and food to cook...plus she was Dad's 'Hired Man'- milking cows and feeding calves and helping in the fields. There was no way on earth she could keep track of us every single minute, so we hung out on the barn roof...
but she always knew.
Later, I found out we were wearing out the seats of our play clothes on the rough metal roof! Well duhhhhh
What brought that back? This Baby Blues comic strip... I love it!

misc pix

Sunday evenings are usually 'fried brain' types. End of a long day, more Russian than I care to deal with (Ukrainian feels downright homey in comparison), generally company for supper- and I'm not worth much afterwards. There's verb work to do...and I contemplated it...looked at it... and couldn't face it. Dug around old pic files instead and found some 'stuff'. Here we go... (get your popcorn)

top of the monument on Independence Square, downtown Kyiv.

you want some fruit? Or anything else? This is a bazaar (market)- you can get 'most anything there... quality not guaranteed...interesting place, though.

Puppy has a nice bed at the bazaar...

this guy made the rounds near one apartment we had... he was unique, to say the least. Trude took his pic and he loved it!

Western Ukr will look like this in about 2 months or so. Poppies grow wild...and are gorgeous!

Ukr is quite possibly the most beautiful place you've never visited (which seems a direct contrast to what I wrote about the trash everywhere... it's called 'selective photography'). This shot is from the old city at Kamyanets'-Podilskiy... an amazing place.

overlooking the city of Kremenets' (I believe- didn't take this one); there's an old fortress up above the city and it's beautiful.

the Danube down in the south



just somewhere here... in a village

hauling fresh-cut grass down south- think this is one of LaDon's pix

ah yes! Joachim's horse pic! I love this... very typical of the north

last spring looking out the kitchen window

same window, about 7 or 8 months earlier

everyone takes a shot of the escalators going down into the metro but none of them do them any justice. They're incredibly deep. Some take 4 min or longer to get to the bottom, moving fast. Have a seat and rest a min...

hands-down, the most original outhouse I've ever been associated with! She got creative!

ahhh- a lady of many talents...including bird perch. There's one of the same bird eating macaroni out of her mouth but, for now, I'm opting on friendship instead... but I have it...and it could be 'bought' for the right price...

This, on the other hand, is quite possibly the most beautiful place I've ever visited... Norway. You cannot hold a candle to Norway in the summer...this is at Dalsnibba. I have a ton more beautiful-norway pix... but a person does have to stop somewhere.