down a hole?

Nope- just busy. Really busy. Summer, after all, is the busiest time of all.

• Finished off with lots of rain and lovely days in Poland.
• Flight from Warsaw to Moscow via Riga- some airlines now charge at the check-in desk if you don't check in online. Good thing. Only as I was printing off my boarding pass the night before the flight did I realize I'd been mistaking the time of arrival to Riga for my departure time from Warsaw. Whoops. I'm not an airhead. No really, I'm NOT. I'm not not not... (not always)...
• There's something special about seeing Moscow when it's -35 C... it's even better in the summer! ;)
• We have preps kids. Many. They're great. This year's crew gets so much done in 20 min that we'll all be lounging around drinking Coke and painting our toenails by the end of the week. I can't wait. ;)
• Ukr is the home of Roshen Chocolate. And is it ever good. Like really good. Like Eat-your-heart-out-Hershey's good. And does it ever taste good with pretzels. Oh yum. (I'm just going by what I hear of course...)
• People always ask: What are some traditional American foods? (Because there are many traditional Ukr'n dishes.) And I never know what to say- they seem to vary from family to family. Today I made baked beans- beans, onions, mustard, brown sugar, molasses, ketchup (tomato stuff of all sorts, in fact) and ham/bacon (please- we don't have just what you're used to here!) on top- a huge hit. And if that isn't traditional American (along with hamburgers, of course), What is?
• My room for once is a mess. Trude was in here with me until Sat... then she pulled up stakes for parts West... so for 1 blissful week I am the sole denizen of this nest room. It's great lonesome... and messy... and about to get cleaned up! ;)

 sandals from a Ukr'n village. Take cord of some sort and weave back and forth across the top of your foot and through the loops on each side. I so want to try some! But these are sort of for display...

 It rained. A lot. An awful lot. On and on. We walked sloshed off to Mika's house. Through the muck. Lillian fell. I did, too. Wow. Thanks for the Crocs, Mom! (Ok- let's just be honest here- I fell way more 'fallier' than Lillian- I went Whap. And missed a cow pie by mere centimeters. Everyone laughed. Even me. But I sure got up in a hurry.)

 Moscow has Dew! ;) (So does Warsaw, come to think of it. Ukraine, get your act together!) ;)

Sleeping in somebody's slippers is great if you're small with a tail and 4 legs... and if the slippers are in the sun and your belly's full.