things are looking up

Uncle Barry’s here! I talked to him… that’ll put a smile on your face!

 

Just checking in…still alive… cheers!

Sunday evening

We are on a train headed north...where we hope to goodness it is less than 125 degrees...well, so it might not have been quite that hot today, but it was hot- close to (if not over) 100. Hot enough for me.
I left town early to see the little old ladies in the village. Later, Sharon put 3 early teen-type girls on a bus headed north. I got on it in the village and checked on 'my girls' right away- mostly because the middle one is prone to getting carsick...and sure enough, she was curled in her seat looking miserable with tears in her eyes. Do you want water? No. Fizzy stuff? No. Do you need to trade places with someone and sit in front? No. Well, there's a not a lot you can do for someone like that, so I parked in the seat behind her and her friend and read some stuff on my iPAQ. Suddenly there's a tear-streaked face pressed between the seats and she looks desperate. I yell at the driver who immediately pulls over and out we get...and she made it to the side of the road, thank goodness. Someone from the back of the bus passed up their bottle of fizzy mineral water- which is better for sick tummies. We found wet wipes and used them. Then we asked if someone would please trade places with her...and they mercifully did. If she can sit right in the windshield (so to speak) she's sort of ok. We pulled over again an hour or 2 later and my head snapped up. Middle Kid is once again off the bus and I shot out of there, too. Only to find her standing beside a little boy and his dad while that kid got sick- only he didn't quite make it off the bus. I can't say I was sorry it wasn't her... She got better the further and longer we were away from the bus.

The only reason this is somewhat relevant: I brought no food with me. None. Zip. Not one bite. And this is not a good thing...but I forgot- the sad simple truth. And there was no time to get any today. I'm 'in charge' of these 3 girlies...who all have real moms. Moms who send them off with liters of pop and cherry compote and kilos of tomatoes and cucumbers...and packages of cheese and sausage sandwiches...which were made hours ago and spent an uncomfortably-long period of time in the heat earlier today. (Know where this is going?) *cough* I ate a sandwich- either that or starve, right? (This is a 13 1/2 hour train trip.)
I'm thinking of pepto-bismal and mint gum.
I'll be sure to let you know how it ummmm goesssssssssssssss

Happy Father's Day!

There are 3 people I try not to forget on Father's Day- my dad, my little brother, my brother-in-law. It's in June, though (did you know that?!) which is a bad time for remembering things like cards and special emails and the like. Nary a picture with me on this thing of those 3, so- Happy Father's Day to these 3 Especially Special dads... And to the rest of you, too!

Summer showers and cute dogs

Spent a few hours this am in a village with some dear elderly ladies. Here's what my hostess has- a summer shower. It's just outside the chicken yard just beyond the house and just before you get to the outhouse (which is in the chicken yard). I might be weird but I love these showers. There's a 'boctchka' (tank of some sort) up top that collects water that heats in the sun. Get inside, pull the curtain across the doorway; turn on the tap and you have a gravity-powered shower! All while a breeze blows through the cracks in the boards. By the time you get out, if there's much breeze at all, you're half dry. It's the way to have a shower in a typical village home.

The dog? He lives there, too. He's a sweetie. Better behaved in summer (when he's not trying to get in out of the cold) than winter. He used to have friends relations that shared his yard...he seems to be the only one left. And I don't even know his name.

Otherwise known as city streets

Many years ago, the far south of Ukraine was part of what was called 'Besarabia'...and Izmail was the capital of this place. The streets pictured are pretty close to the center of town. Not bad on a day like yesterday- mostly dusty. Try it when it's been raining for a few hundred days...well...yeah...
Things are looking up here, though. They kicked out the mayor and have a new one- some hot-shot woman. She got the traffic lights going first thing. Not kidding when I say that in this city, there were traffic lights in useful and helpful places...but not a one of them worked. Now they do. There's also road construction this summer- another first (in my memory at least of this city). It'll be interesting to see what else changes.

Grilling!

Bill came into the house the other day and said- Don't forget we have a grill and we can use it.

So we ('we'...as in Bill) promptly grilled these red trout steaks (did you know there was such a thing? I looked at it and thought it was salmon...it was delish).

A few days later we had perfectly done perfectly tender and perfectly medium rare steaks... This is special indeed, since this is not a 'steak-eating' people. Having grown up on a dairy farm where we always had our own (very good) beef, I do miss red meat. This stuff was done to perfection. Just sorry there's no pic...

A dry and thirsty land

Sharon out by the road with our pile of bags waiting for anything that will stop and pick us up...which ended up being a bus this time. This is one place, though, where we do a fair amount of 'hitch-hiking'...which is rather beside the point.

Wheat harvest is in full swing here. The stuff is short but looks not-too-bad, for the most part. Good weather for harvesting...hot and dry. There are combines everywhere. And each year, there are more and more of the familiar names from 'home': Massey-Fergusons; Klaus (is that how it's spelled? Can't remember); John Deere's (although these are still fairly rare). Have not yet seen the kind that the big guys back home have- you know, a/c, fancy seats, computers- stuff like that.

Pass the sugar, please

Need some? Have some...please. We have plenty... Did anyway. Sharon did make some cherry juice so there's a bit less now.

After living here a few years, you pretty much get used to anything and everything and you adjust. I do miss our gorgeously white (call-it-poison-if-you-want) cane sugar though. This stuff is made from beets and quite coarse. It also has a very strong smell. Often it's sold in bulk- so you say what you want and they scoop it up and weigh it for you. What you see here is 15 kg of it. It came home to us in a plastic grocery bag- you know- that was the 'sugar bag'- the plastic grocery bag. So, 15 kg is heavy, so it came home in a bicycle basket...and the bag tore...which is why we had it in multiple containers here.

All in the family

The following posts should be one but because my mobile won't post that many pix, I'll do one per child. I've blogged these kids before. I can't help it. They're absolutely packed with personality. They ooze it out of every fiber. They breathe and eat like everyone else but somewhere inside them, they magically transform that all into character enough for a whole comedy troupe.
And I'm sure to fail utterly trying to portray it.

These first pix are of Sasha. When we arrived, he proudly and solemnly showed us his treasure and friend...a small frog (zhabka). It jumps (watch); it has a beard (that's what he said); it wants a shower (in the bathroom sink). Sasha (who's 3 tomorrow) was hungry; Mom said Put the frog down and come eat. NO! Sasha ran around outside another half hour before Mom bodily hauled him in, kicking and screaming bloody murder...frogless. He cried and sobbed another 15 min before finally succumbing to his (quite impressively large) appetite. Mom looked away for 2 seconds and he shot out the door. When he came back in it was with the puzzling and sad (but not sobby-sad) news that 'zhabka disappeared'... He was completely mystified that zhabka wasn't there waiting for him. He intended to sleep with it. (It's anyone's guess if zhabka actually survived the night; one of his sisters was sure Sasha had squeezed zhabka like a package of mayonnaise- mayo, fyi, is commonly sold in plastic bags here.)

Solomiya

This one took the cake yest. Saw her in the am- she cleans up well...amazingly well. She can tie the sash on her dress behind her back in a perfect bow. She's 5 (this she informed me with eyes like saucers- I was duly impressed).
Had supper with them. Afterwards, she stands in front of me, hands behind her back all prim and proper. Can you make yourself cry, she asks.
Huh?
Big sis- do you cry when you sing?
Huh?
Much explanation... The upshot- can you sing a sad song and make yourself cry?
Ummmmm...
Solomiya starts in, swaying gently. Some song about children and food and puppies and kitties...at some point, it dawns on me that, for a 5 year old, she sure has memorized a lot of verses to this song...which is when I start listening again...she's singing about how many channels there are on TV...which doesn't quite fit. Big sis is giggling...busting a gut...I look over-She just makes the words up as she goes, Sis says, laughing harder.
Solomiya looks royally offended. Marina- don't laugh; I'm trying to cry!

As we were leaving, Solomiya looks up at me all serious- do you know what you look like when you laugh? And she opens her mouth wider than any wide-mouthed frog and goes Hahaha. We laughed till we cried.

Big Sis and Big Bro

Marina is always good for a story or 2 and a big laugh; she talks with every part of her body. Last night's was all about a girl she knows from the other end of the village who ate too many cucumbers and got sick. She was unconscious, barely breathing, hanging on to life by a thread, people weeping and wailing at her side. Ambulances rushing in. IV's. (If an IV won't cure you, you're as good as gone.) Local hospital can't help her. What's wrong with this child? She's blown up like a balloon. More ambulances. Up to Odessa. IV's! Needles! In every finger and in veins in both arms!
Don't remember the end of the story; not sure we got that far. Proly somebody was singing or looking for a frog by then.

Big Bro was quite subdued. For one thing, he's a Big kid. Finishes school this year. Taking college entrance exams. First time I've ever seen him looking somewhat stressed. He's beyond the age now of standing in front of you and singing while trying to cry. He's cool enough now that he's all controlled, mostly. But he came out and sat with us and chatted. I hope he doesn't get too grown up.

Besides more scrubbing...

today was this!

The pea pods were purple; never saw that kind before.

Friday hello

It's been a good (and very busy and very hot) week. I enjoy cleaning- nearly always have-this is a good thing. It's not hard to be happy when you like what you're doing... ;-P And there's a lot to like around here, shall we say.

Pic? One member of a large extended family of creepy crawlies around here...pic taken just seconds before it suddenly died of a massive headache (and backache and smashed-leg ache...I'd be willing to bet, in fact, that every part of his body ached right about then).
In other news:
-it rained today...and blew...and blew...and blew some more. And now, it's all of 60F now; major (and welcome) temp drop.
-there are puppies here- 2 days old. They should be killed (to keep them from dying of neglect and misery); that likely won't happen. I hate seeing animals that aren't taken care of. But to take care of them 2 weeks of the year...it doesn't cut it. Sighhhh
-a lot of times it's better to just bite your tongue and keep your mouth shut; this is one of the most difficult of all things on earth.
-@ question yest re the floor- there's new linoleum- looks great!
-baby powder is a marvelously wonderful thing...and if you didn't know that, take my word for it. It just is.

-my SIL's birthday was 2 days ago...I was determined not to miss it but did anyway...Dear Miss- Happy (Belated) Birthday!! No one could ask for a sweeter SIL...and I'm not even exaggerating (for a change). Xo

Hanging out with H1N1

Not really. Don't ask me what he was doing here...or rather why. Don't even know where the mask came from. And if you know the man on the left- well- they arrived safe and sound...with popcorn!

Little hot around here

And they're harvesting the wheat. Coming back from town yesterday, we met 7 huge Massey Ferguson combines headed for the wheat fields. The kind of combines you have to pull off the road for so they can pass. This one was the last in the bunch...and the smallest.

Other pic is from this afternoon. It's hot here (did I complain once about the late cold spring??? I was just kidding). Yesterday temp was 100 F in the shade...so you can just use your imagination for the 'in the sun' part...today was no different.

Oh yes- tonight we found out why there has been no water from the town the past several days (the house here has 2 cistern which are filled via hose and then pumped into the house). Apparently the Bulgarians (I think that's who) dumped/lost several (??) drums of chemicals in the Danube River. We're right at the mouth of the Danube down here in Southern Ukr. There is no good water within drilling reach (ie- no wells here anywhere) so all water comes from the Danube...which they call 'the Sewer of Europe', fyi. Needless to say, are a series of high-powered filters attached to the line in the house to make it safe for cooking. So...one wonders how long before the water will be 'safe' again...

Little help around here

Uncle B has been alone here with the heavy work...today we imported this kid (!he's getting big! I don't think there are any short people in his family...except his 7 year old sister.) So- B and his helper worked on this 'room' today (it's really a wide corridor/entryway) which functions as part of the kitchen.

Where it's really hot

Stopped by these folks' this afternoon...they supplement their income with a greenhouse...so you want hot- Wow! Step inside there. Greenhouses here are nearly all wooden frames with plastic stretched on them. The 'potting shed' is dug down into the ground a ways...and has the youngest batch of baby chicks running around on the floor. Amish people call chicks 'beeplen'...which we always shortened to 'beeps'...which is what they do.

More greenhouse

I love how the sun shines on this thing...from the outside, I love it that is. They're mainly growing cucumbers which they sell at the bazaar on Saturdays.

Outdoor kitchen

Sharon's doing the cooking outside...considering the temperature, this is a wonderful thing- keeps the extra heat out of the kitchen

What I did yest afternoon. Aired bedding. I love clotheslines! Ok-so this one is in the trees and Ok, so you have to wash the lines each time (birds in the trees you know) and Ok, so there are a ton of bugs, spiders, twigs and whatnot from the trees as well.
Still clotheslines.

The Sunday view

At the bus stop at the edge of the field. The people I spent the day with live down that trail, down over the edge of a bowl and into a 'mud flat' type of place, across the flat and back up the steep side of the bowl. It's a dry dusty land with nothing but scrub grass and stunted trees...and skinny cows using their imagination to graze the almost-grass.

Vika lives with her grandma in town during the school year but school's out so she's home for the summer. Sweet kid.

Real Friends...

not only butcher the rabbits
not only skin the rabbits
not only gut the rabbits
they also clean them up good and cut them up. All while their smallest son soberly oversees the whole operation.
And for you wimps who have never had rabbit- it is some of the best meat you'll ever have. We had some for lunch and it was delicious!

Mud bricks

These are made locally here. Close examination reveals small snail- and sea-shells in the brick. They use these in building down here in the south of the country.

Bright New Day

here in Odessa. Beautiful. Sunny. Not too hot (yet). City is full of people going to the seashore. In fact, Odessa in the summer is so full of vacationers you can't stir them with a stick.
Day got off to a roaring start- something woke me up at 6 am. A full 10 min before we arrived. There is nothing so effective at getting the sleep out of your eyes as the imminent arrival of the train. Quite possibly this is the fastest I've ever gotten myself together. About 2 min before we got to the station, the conductor went up and down the corridor calling Is everyone up? No one's sleeping? Which would have been funny if it had been you and not me.
Something to warm your tummy- McDonalds Ukraine now serves breakfast at some locations- including the Odessa train station. Egg McMuffins instead of cheeseburgers, Big Macs, fish sandwiches and fries. I can live with that.
Now? On a more than full bus headed out of town. A man up front just puked all over the place. He's outside just now cleaning up. Lady beside me has a big bag full of mint... in bloom...smell is really strong and sweet. Thank goodness.

On the Road Again

Title says it all. After running around the past couple days, madly trying to get stuff done; after zero nervous breakdowns on my part (this must be a record); after trying (and not succeeding) to get caught up with my correspondence- I'm off and running. The biggest conundrum turned out to be What to Do With the Plants. I'll be gone till August. People will come and go from the apt, but not so's you could count on them to keep anything alive. Julie's fixing hers up with a gauze wick and 3 liter bottles of water, so I took my babies over to her this afternoon where they can party with her plants all summer... can't wait to see if they survive.

I hate paying for taxis... Just always seems that there are better things to do with $$ when your legs work ok. But- when you leave with enough stuff for 2 months and when you're short and your back whimpers just looking at the mountain of stuff to cart along... So, I was glad enough to see that little gray taxi pull up... And even happier to sit in the passenger seat...just as soon as he took his handgun off it. I've seen that a few times but it always rocks my boat a bit. Nice guy though. Courteous. Chivalrous. Charged 41 UAH ($5.40). I gave him a 10 UAH tip for being nice enough to put his gun away. (Taxis are still relatively cheap- although not nearly as cheap as they used to be; food and housing though are high even by Western standards.)

So- On the train. Fellow passengers are in bed. Train is brand new, comfy...and air-conditioned. No Joke.

Going to visit the deaf folks out of Odessa tomorrow. We'll find out how much sign language I've forgotten. Thank goodness for lip reading.

Good night!

PS- I'll continue to keep up with your blogs via google reader... but won't be able to comment while using my mobile, so that's the deal. You all have a great summer!

rat pack

send your children out like this... makes them feel warm, fuzzy, loved and never alone. Safe on the wildest streets day or night. Wonder if that rat's missing a toe? ;)

pic from Fergie and Hazel who spotted it on the sidewalk just in front of them earlier this spring.

all about June 3

June's calendar pic- which you've been wondering about, I'm sure. I rather like it, though. I've been that girl... I don't know if the prob is that she seems to be yelling or what. I suspect that she seems to be yelling because this is something like the 100th attempt at information transfer and she's simply getting a bit frustrated. I'm not sure if it's significant that the other party is (how shall we say this?)- is a boy... I just know from personal experience... well, anyway- maybe those ears are just phantoms, maybe there's a magic codeword, maybe a mysterious combination of words, keystrokes (shift+alt+ctrl+Leatherman-tool-on-sale-at-Home-Depot)- who knows-these things are so murky.

The note clipped to the calendar, fyi (this is big- I promise)- is a quote: I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I hit a home run. Babe Ruth (1895 - 1948)

Did you know he was born in 1895??? Died young, too. I just never paid attention to that... You know- if that girl started in with 'Babe Ruth...'- I'll bet Sonny Boy would perk up and listen...

And in other news- It's raining cats and dogs- which is ok since I'm pretty sure we're still way behind for the year. Humid, too... I leave Saturday (help) for preps down south and won't be back here till Aug- after 3 weeks in Belgium and France... I'm starting to hyper-ventilate. So much to do... and no more time.... I need a time-turner. I wonder if someone has a spare one laying around......................

LETTER FROM A FARM KID

Phyllis sent me this recently... just thought you needed a chuckle, too, in case you haven't seen this yet!

(NOW AT Camp Lejeune NC. MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING.)

Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late.

Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water.

Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you til noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on "route marches," which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,
Carol
ps- this was one of those things that when we were talking about it the other day with our local friends, at least one of them looked at us and said What? Daughter? I don't get it... and the more we tried to explain, the un-funnier it got... weird how humor is so culture-specific...

Summer!!

Summer officially starts here on June 1st- and this, friends, is a grand thing! Yes, Summer is hot. Yes, it makes me sweat and fuss and carry on a bit from time to time... but Oh I'd far rather have sunshine and green grass and flowers than gray skies, dead snow and mud (and mud and mud and mud). So- what did we have for lunch on this, the first day of summer? ;) Ok- so you proly always thought bacon was good, tasty, wonderful maybe even. But I'll bet you didn't know how truly fabulous it is. See- this kind of bacon- sliced thin, fried crispy- you don't get much of that around these parts. This kind of bacon is hard to find in the stores (seldom found, actually)... and not just the cheapest thing on the shelf, either. So for a special treat, we had these today... I don't even know when I last had a BLT. 2006? earlier? no idea... but it's been awhile. Let's have a wee moment of special silence for the wonderfully summery thing that is the BLT!!














and note the Coke bottle above... Miss recently said: Pepsi is the cure for... well... everything but death. -Penned by none other than the Pepsi addict herself
and then she gave me permission to steal it. So- I'm saying- Pretty muchly a true statement, IMHO, (if you can't get Dew)- BUT- Coke is a lot easier to find here... and since somebody's dad used to be the president of Coke...ok- not exactly, that was just a tiny misunderstanding by a highly impressed don't-tell-me-I'm-wrong Professor of English somewhere west of Kyiv... what I'm saying is: we drink Coke when we don't have a choice and need the fizz... and it ain't bad either! ;)

Another little piece of summer. 'Our' canal has its own personal choir... of frogs! It really is pretty neat to hear... I never would have imagined I could enjoy a steady choir of frogs this much! No pic of any frogs...but here's the latest of the canal, taken from the kitchen window. If/when we leave this apt, I will miss this view!














the first is a couple weeks ago; second is today.



and a blurry one (that I like anyway) from the other night. Another amazingly wonderful thing about summer- at 9pm, it's just barely dark! ahhhhhhhhhhhh
I vote we replace all the months (except Oct) with June...