the sun, a hat, a van and calories...

the sun peeped out the other day... red as red can be. About 9 in the morning...

you can see it, right? I darkened it a bit...

ok, here I painted it... orange...

 How about red? paint, I mean. ok- enough. just having a little fun. It was really amazingly red. And disappeared altogether shortly thereafter. ;)

 Many long years ago- like 10 1/2- my cousins decided they'd like to get me something special.  What can we get you for Ukr? they asked. I had no idea. None. I'd never been there. Had no clue what it'd be like. I mean- I thought likely people bathed and such but really, it was some dark unknown question mark and I had a suitcase full of toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, hand lotion and the like Just In Case. (There was coffee in there, too.) I really was clueless. This whole part of the world seemed like it all fit into Siberia, likely, so we decided to go with something warm for my head. Fur. Really and Truly. They found it somewhere south of my folks. Ordered it. Picked it up and delivered it. There are a whole raft of memories associated with the day it was dropped off at Mom and Dad's. For one thing, my cousin had her little girl, 6 months old, with her. It was the only time I would ever see that child, turns out. She was later diagnosed with an extremely rare and unpleasant genetic bone disease. Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (more links here and here- it's not a pleasant disorder. And one more link to the IFOPA) Anyway. My little first cousin-once-removed died in an accident less than 2 years later. So- that day is inexorably tied to the memory that tiny beautiful child. I was also in the middle of getting ready to leave the States and Stuff (my stuff) was whirling. Like a blizzard. We had a short photo session with the hood then. I have worn it some, but mostly it's been too warm for it. Like a lot of my other vague perceptions- Ukr turned out not to exactly be like that... Well- with the ear infection recently, my ears just felt wimpy. Like they were shivering a lot. In their insides. So- I dug out my old friend for the first time this year and Boy Did We Have A Good Day! Only problem was- the temps climbed from 8 F to 26 F that day so by evening I was more than warm. ;) I was never so aware, though, just how nice it is to be toasty warm. :)

 We hitched a ride back into town. As the (what appeared to be) van approached and slowed down, I thought it looked a bit odd... just sort of... not normal. Sort of looks like a... I-don't-know... like a hearse or something. I surreptitiously checked out the back as I opened the front door... heh... it was, in fact, a hearse! We don't very often see them here. In fact, this was the first like this that I've ever seen- most are enclosed. I'm not sure most people would have flagged this down... but it got us there! He let us off right in front of the funeral services people and we walked on down to the bus stop and caught the next bus!

The people that brought their drill to visit us? heh. One of them had a cooking 'flop' (it's all relevant, you know) in the kitchen not long before that. I didn't hear what this was supposed to be, what it's called... but I'd call it caramel fudge and Wow! Was it delicious! We finished it off tonight. Burp. (*eyes rolling in delight*)