10 years

Yakking around the breakfast table, remembering Wisconsin this morning... Remembering that some of my favorite people are getting together today in WI... and the special days ahead there. And then I remembered what happened 10 years ago today. A rainy day. Annette and I met everyone else in Madison at Mark and Kris'. I was flying around like a 2nd grader with ADD. Nearly knocked someone out by bursting through the door behind which they were standing...still feel bad about that. And then had a little wee chit-chat with Uncle Charles... he successfully refocused, re-grounded, sobered me up. Turns out that if a person could get a passport and a visa and their act together they might could take a huge leap come fall and come down in a strange and far-away place...

When I look out the window now at this city that was so strange to me then... I can't really imagine how life would have been if C & I hadn't had that chit-chat. I'm glad I came. :)

Vannya has a baby brother, too!

Of all things. 

Called T the other day- How are you? It would be really nice to see you again... when could I stop in? Are you working? She just busted out laughing... Where would I be going to work with a new baby?

I had to pick my teeth and jaw off the ground and then compose myself... before saying Wow- congratulations! 

We went to see Vannya and his big bros and sisses and parents fairly often last year but it just petered out after awhile. But- since I'm soon leaving for a couple months in Poland, I wanted to see them again... so I called. And was made very welcome. And went. And had a nice time. Hugs. Smiles. Kids... who will actually all talk to you if you've been away for something like 10 months. And if they have a new Baby Brother to smile about. The little squirt though- he slept the whole time I was there. And the Thing To Do With Baby? Wrap him up tight and warm in a soft fuzzy blanket and put him down for a nap in his baby buggy outside... fresh air is good for you... if you're bundled up good, that is... fat cheeks he's got! They tell me can wake the whole house at night when he's hungry. and Big Sis Valya? His baby buggy is parked in her room at night. With him in it.

I told them to smile and look purty. You know how kids are... some things are just too much to ask for. Mom kept hauling them into line... 

but she kept missing one... or the other... or both 

must be a tough job...

It was awful good to see them again, though! 

And they all love Little Brother... whether he cries at night or not!

salt and pepper

These little cutie pies were parked on the door step near Trude and Ange's apt the other day... T calls them Salt and Pepper... took a pic and the local cleaning lady and her friend laughed. Everybody likes certain dogs.

We have a new president. He's interesting, to say the least. We'll hold our judgment (I mean the final judgment of him as a president for now). He's interesting. (Did I already say that?)

He's making nice to the residents of the capital here. They've been mad at the mayor for a long time. There was a lot of snow this year. Now it's melted (mostly)... leaving behind trash trash and more trash. Not to mention all the storm damage from the end of Dec. So a week ago the pres tells the mayor You have 30 days to get the city cleaned up... and until the end of March to get rid of the snow... (it seems that the sun heard and decided to come to the mayor's aid as it showed up on the job shortly thereafter and began melting the snow in a big hurry). So the mayor? He tells the regional directors (or someone) You have until Mar 31 to clean up the city. And sure enough, with a little fear and strong arm involved, it's amazing what can get done. There are brigades of cleaning people out everywhere. There's still plenty of trash mind you... but it's definitely getting better. Now if we can just keep it clean... 

yipes... it's the end of March

The other day someone remarked about how odd it is to wake up one day to Mon morning and then next thing you know it's Thurs... Well what about when you ring in the New Year, turn around, blink... and it's the end of March?? What's up with that? It's simply amazing how fast time whizzes by these days.
And wasn't it just yesterday that I fell asleep studying in the library? (That, Ellie, is the answer...)

onward
I made an astounding discovery... some all night buses are nearly as good as no worse than all night trains. Have been on a few lately... they tend not to be as hot as the train. There are NO UPPER BUNKS... all passengers are on the same level... well, ok- there are double decker night buses but I was adopted by a single story one.
Oh- and they're fast.
So- left Izm a little over a week ago... it was spring there. Sunny. Sure, we'd had a lot of snow in Jan and Feb (and even some in March)... but it was gone. It had melted. Even the mud puddles were nearly dried up.
Get on the bus in warm dry Izm on a Thurs evening. Wake up just south of Kyiv Fri am, look out the bus window... blink... rub eyes... shake head... rub... rub... rub...

That is definitely snow. More than a little.

If you like football (aka- soccer) snow, ice and cold won't stop you though. --^

a few days later... melting and sloppy. Wow. ---^
Today? Ok- today, it's mostly dried up. Most of the snow is gone. Not exactly warm but warmer...
Welcome Spring! We're waiting to see your little green shoots and buds and pretties...
We left the gate ajar... just give it a nudge and come on in! I promise, You'll just LOVE us! :)

an old haunt revisited

I was more than glad last weekend to go see some old friends whom I hadn't seen since last summer. However, what with record snowfalls this winter and the recent thaw and melt... I knew I'd be in for a soggy time... here's what it looked like! wheee ;)

Just off the bus and starting down the path/trail

S said to take her mud boots... so I did. 

This guy sailed chugged by... sometimes people like this offer you a ride. I've ridden out of here on a motorcycle and in a sidecar. Given the mud on this day, though, I was just as glad to walk... splatter splatter.

here's where I crossed to the other side- a bit dryer there. Also fell here- managed to land brilliantly on one fist that gracefully and gently landed on a dry grassy patch of ground... what were the chances, I ask you. No one complained about that!

summer house anyone? 

the sea isn't far away and it's quite pretty when it's sunny and the grass is green!

had to cross back to the muddy side here...

Ultimately, I needed to be over by those houses you can just barely see in the center of this pic... I was a bit mystified by how I'd cross the flat down there... as you can see, there's plenty of water there. It's the first time I've ever seen it there. It connects up with the lagoon from the earlier pic which empties up in the Black Sea.

Maryana's street. This was the worst of it. They'd just dug a trench along the left side of the road- put in natural gas... and M, of course, lives on the left. Yeah. Neat. 

after leaving M's, headed down over the side and into the valley. M's dad assured me there was dry ground most of the way through if you picked your way carefully. So off I went.

Mutts who came to bark me on my way... and their diligent barking, of course, brought more of their barking buddies. Fortunately, they seemed content with a few practice runs at me and barking. I ignored them. And they got tired of me. 

so far so good...

looking across to where I'm headed...

amazingly, this was all the water I actually had to cross...

looking back... 

and heading out again... up a marshy springy (but grassy) trail...

up the side of the valley through the brambles

up and up...

and out... looking back again. Hard to believe there was a way through but there was!

Boots at the end of the trail. S had said to just leave them, so I did. S needed new boots; I need to get my own; these were finished... and maybe someone else found them and needed them... so they got parked at the bus stop.

Oh look- I grew an inch or two!

Followed this lady out the last 10 min or so. She was heading into town to the market to try and sell her homemade cheese and cream and other dairy products.

The bus stop. That cement slab in the middle left is where I sat and changed boots... and then abandoned the old dirties... mind you, my clean boots were dirty by the time the bus came... Talked to Karen today. She made the same trek today... and said it's all dried out already. She has brand new grass green rubber boots with daisies on them... and was downright sad that she didn't get to try them out in some real good mud! ;)

little chocolate milk help you out?

March... 2010

Imaginative title... I know. It's just how it is. Miscellaneous ya know? The days are busy here... really busy. I like to dig my cell phone out as we fly along and shoot a pic here and there... and then every so often I get to looking back at what's on the phone and Sure enough- there are a bunch of pix... but to do something with them... hmmm 

So- Mon evenings... you know- where we keep getting eggs? (к стати говоря- speaking of- we have *cough cough* more eggs... like about 20 more... and we've been eating lots of eggs. I do love eggs. Good thing!) Anyway- see this round shiny silver thing? That's the heating stove for the front end of the house. And it does get hot. Wood burning. Great! Love it!

So other end of town from the stove. The point of this pic- see that dog? He thinks he's hot stuff because he's got a BARK... and he can jump and bark at the same time... Oh- and he has a dog house just inside the fence... so he loves to come tearing across the yard, leap onto the dog house and start launching himself into the air from the roof... all while barking and yipping and growling fiercely. I can't say I really enjoy walking past his little domain there. He can totally take you by surprise and make your heart stop.

So- that pic was from Weds... dry... partly sunny... sort of warm... sort of. This next one is from the next day... Thurs... downtown... not so dry not so sunny not so warm... at. all. 'S all gone now though. 

looking off the balcony. About now is when I said- It shore is pretty. S looked at me all cross-eyed like and said- I've had enough of this beauty. Well yeah- me, too... Dec 2010 I wouldn't mind seeing some again... but now? We usually have flowers by this time of year down here in these here parts. 

this qualifies as a sneaky cell phone pic... The ticket agent at the bus station. Had to wait quite awhile for her to finish her chit chat with the cashier beside her... strictly gossip. I know. I heard it. She looks at me and I state my ticket needs. No answer. No blink. No nothing. She picks up the phone and just sits there for a long time. Talks a bit with someone. Just after I took this she looks up and says- Have to ask the driver if he's going to be running that day. (Oh- Why didn't you say?) Gotta love the post Soviet mentality hanging in there... You mostly get used to it. It's just every now and again it takes you by surprise all over again.

Fri am, heading north out of town this materialized just ahead of us. We must have missed the crash by minutes. The semi driver was, thankfully, on his feet and moving around beside his tractor. Our driver stopped to see if he needed help... talked to him a bit. When we went back by about an hour and a half later, the police were there...

Coming back from the village Mon night, our driver nearly plowed into a couple cows being walked down the middle and side of the road. Pitch dark. Car coming from the other direction. His headlights and our headlights but all at just the right angle that no one could see the cows or the several people walking along with them. Nearly gave us heart attacks. Then our driver told about rounding a curve about a year ago (also after dark) and coming up on a terrible mess- A big bus full of people had just rounded the curve ahead of him and plowed right into a large herd of sheep. Bus driver couldn't see them at all. Knew nothing until the last minute just before he started mowing down sheep. Killed 40. The shepherds got the help of the neighbors and they butchered them out and salvaged what they could. The worst of this sort of thing is how often you come up on people in the dark- No reflective anything on them, no light-colored clothing, no lights, no nothing. Out walking in the dark on the road... you're always just glad not to hit them. Guess it's a good thing most of the roads are in such awful condition you can't get much above 45 mph... not down here you can't.

Logic of a 4 year old

Remember this little bit of life and animation? Well the other night when I was chatting with my sis, she told me about combing out JM's hair one morning and finding a matted area- with a bruise underneath. There'd been trauma, blood, a tussle... but not a word to Momma. So Momma inquired of JM about the details. Miki threw the train engine at me. No more details from her.
Later- she's telling me and Mi is snuggled up beside her, watching Momma's face all serious like. Finally she can't stand it anymore and says Momma? Do you know why I did that? No, says Momma. Well she was telling me I was being bad.

And that, friends, is why JM had the train engine pitched at her by Youngest Sis...

It makes perfectly good sense to me.

need a little spring?

just got this via email... and we do need it here! 

Click on the snowman.   You will get a black page.  Click your mouse anywhere (& everywhere) on the page & see what happens! Better yet, click (hold down) & drag your mouse over the black page... 

Enjoy!! 

avocados

After falling victim to the cheese at the cheese counter I sashayed through the produce section looking for leeks... and was tripped up by avocados. Whoa. Haven't had one of them in a long time... picked up a few. And found one that seemed not too bad- skin felt a bit loose but it was firm, no bruises. Promising. ok... It went home with me. Sharon drooled when she saw it. She had an idea about it this morning... so she was in charge of the salad side of things for lunch. Here's what she did... it was Amazingly Wonderfully Splendiferously Deliciously Great! 

Quarter it (remove the pit, of course). Chop parsley, finely chop or grate garlic (lots is good, more is better!) and mix it with freshly-squeezed lemon juice and salt. Make crosswise cuts in the avocado (the idea is to pop up bite-sized cubes of avocado with your knife when you eat it) and spoon the parsley mixture over it.
The bad thing? I want more!

ps- and we have 44 more farm fresh eggs in the fridge... I'm not really sure what we're going to do with them all! Seems everyone's hens are laying and they don't know what to do with all the eggs... Wow! ;)

Creamy Bleu Cheese Soup revisited

The very first post here was about this soup- one of my favorites!
Did a big shop yest and got waylaid in the cheese aisle. Everytime I'm there, I have to force my feet to keep moving and my eyes to not look at all that yummy stuff just begging to be taken home... They have about 6 kinds of Bleu Cheese... and Brie... and Camembert... and Roquefort... and Parmesan... and some other stuff (although this store doesn't have the selection I have to ignore up in Kyiv).
But um, yest... ummmmm

I fell flat on my face off the wagon... I grabbed up a chunk of Bleu before I could think twice and zipped fast and firmly on to the hamburger....

Got home. Told S all about this fantastic soup... (and never you mind- it's not just soup, thanks; goes so well on so many things... like on steak... drooool). S thought it'd be a great thing to taste... so
Leeks? check
Potatoes? check
Onion? check
Stalk Celery? check
Red pepper? check

did it in more water and less milk this time. (I prefer it with mostly milk, turns out.) And also used herbs- Parsley, the French mix (rosmary, thyme, savory, marjoran, basil, oregano). And the rest of the cream from awhile ago. And an unopened and expired (but still good- I tasted it first) tub of cottage cheese.
Cook. Puree. Re-heat and add lots of bleu cheese! It is So Good! Oh my....

I also prefer this done in chicken stock but we had none and I didn't have the time to make some...

Shtill Winter

it was a bit frigid when we woke up yest... I'd been aware for awhile- in that half-drugged dozey way that you know something when you're still sleeping but you're also aware of something else...something beyond the inside of your head- I'd been hearing drip drip drip drip drip (these were definitely wet soggy drips, not crisp short little things). Well, it was raining when I went to bed, had rained off and on during the day Fri... really- no surprise... drip drip drip drip drip

Finally ventured out from under the blankets... shivvvvvvvvverrrrrrrr Only to hear S say from the other room- Well, winter's back. I knew without looking what had happened. And the drip drip drip drip drip? The snow was so wet that it was plop plop plop plopping drip drip drip drip dripping as it fell in a very wet and soggy way.

but hey- we know what's out there under the white stuff! This!

and This!

not to mention this!

And last but not least...

And you know what? I reckon these guys will tough it out and we'll get a whole host of their friends and relations, too... So blow and snow if you must... we'll be patient! ;) Because you know what? Spring comes after winter! Wooohooooo!