Dear Sally

I've been wanting to do this one for awhile! No pic of the actual subject but the tokens of her affection abound! First there was the clock. Cows are long-standing favorites of mine, having grown up on a dairy farm. Fred and Sally came to visit Alleykat and me a few years ago- kittykat got a travel chess set, as I recall... I got this pet. She works perfectly, ticks comfortingly and has travelled around a bit. For awhile she stayed behind down South- but when I found out she'd been banished to the kitchen because her comforting tick-tick-tick's aren't so comforting to everyone, I reclaimed her... and then sweet-talked someone else into taking her north to Kyiv this winter; we've been happily reunited for about 2 months now and she loves it here! ;)

Well then at some stage, F & S come again- and she voila's these yoga slippers out of her stuff- you know- did I want them? Well, if S gives you something, you want it. Just that simple! Slippers are a necessity here. It is written-in-stone law and tradition that you take your shoes off at the door whenever you enter a home. It's also tradition to provide guests with slippers... but not having a particular fondness for sticking my feet into the slippers of a hundred sweaty feet before me, I prefer to take my own around with me. These are perfect for the job- lightweight and roll-into-a-ballable. Alleykat calls them my 'poorly drawn cartoon character' slippers... they stick out in the front and the back. Come to think of it, they make me feel like Agnes- my new nearly-favorite comic strip.

And then there is this... this 2nd Cow From Sally... last summer. Isn't she sweet? For a long time, I didn't have anything to put into it... got a cactus- the first one ever- last fall and we've been having good times ever since... I assume, at any rate, since she looks so pleased with herself sitting there guarding my dictionaries...

Sunday evening rambling

We had a good day... we've had a good past few days, actually; lots of company, lots of special people around, lots of running. My kind of stuff.
Sat we went out to the village to see the family out there. At the end of our time there, looking sad and really puzzled, the man who lives with them asked Why do Ukrainians have to suffer so much? (times here are very very tough- if you still have a job, your salary's been decreased and is proly late, meanwhile the price of everything is going up up up- we currently have the highest inflation rate in Europe; bank machines sometimes have money, sometimes not; getting your money out of the bank is iffy- a long wait (hours) certainly; people are continuing with everyday life but wondering for how long. One person told us We were just recovering from the last economic crisis (just after independance in the early 90's); we need a rest from this. They're tired. what I know is that they're still better off than a lot of people-think Africa- but telling them that is small comfort.)
Well- there really is no answer to that question. Or there are a hundred answers. We talked about it for awhile. But I'm convinced that in the middle of bad times, we can pull ourselves together and find something better- if not in the world around us, then within us and above us. This is our hope and what helps us put one foot in front of the other each day. Survivors do this.

Supper was unexpectedly larger than we'd planned but with good good friends. I loved looking at the mix of faces and listening to the conversation. People from various places, various stages of life- all here in Kyiv right now and eating French toast and drinking tea with us. It's easy to love people when you can be with them and know them. I love my life!

One short life

Yesterday, when B&L arrived, they immediately dug into their suitcases, pulling out stuff- this is for So and So; this is for you; here's S&P's mail; what should we do with this?

This is always an interesting and fun part of guests' arrival. There is always 'stuff' that gets hand-carried over; you'll get an email- we're coming on such and such day, can we bring you anything? So, reminding yourself that they're being very generous, you refrain from ordering the whole cereal aisle and stick with one or 2 special things- like a small container of molasses or a bag of brown sugar.

So B&L are coming. Be here in Kyiv 2 days. This is major hooray news- they're like 2nd parents to me in some ways.

And then this little footnote: V is coming over for the day Friday. B&L are bringing some stuff he needs to get. The personal effects of his cousin. I know all this and have it down on my mental 'to-do' list: make sure to get that stuff from them.

So they bring it into my room. Can we put it somewhere safe? And suddenly the world stops and refocuses itself. Here's the stuff that was sent back from the States to the parents of a girl who died too suddenly and too young. And it was just a small stack in a protected corner of my room... I was totally unprepared for what it did to me to look at that stack of stuff- and think- here's her life; that's it. 2 cameras, a laptop and charger, a card-reader and a small stack of papers.

I wonder what they'd sort out of my junk and deem worth sending back across the ocean? I wonder who would take it? And I wonder how it feels for parents to go through their child's laptop, peering into the life of a child they hadn't seen for (don't know how long) and probably felt like they hardly knew anymore.

After lunch, V and I were talking about it. Today would have been her 22nd bday. The day he came to get her stuff.

lest we forget

April 26, 1986 is a day that will forever live in infamy, a day that every Ukrainian knows. That's the day of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion. The accident occurred not so far from Kyiv and there is a museum here in the city in memorial to the victims. Back in '02 I saw it for the first time. There is plenty of stuff there- relics, protective clothing, gas masks and the likes. And newspaper clippings- the local paper here had a tiny blurb near the bottom of page 3 while the New York Times from the same day dedicated their entire front page and half of an inside page to the tragedy. And a movie re-enacting the disaster. They've also used the museum to point out the hypocrisy of the Soviet state (ie the newspaper articles up there -^), to show how the people were lied to, how the truth of what happened was hidden from them (the Swedes alerted Europe and the rest of the world that there had been a major nuclear disaster and that it had to have happened in Soviet Russia somewhere- they suddenly noticed a major increase in radioactive material in the atmosphere). It gives me nightmares, goosebumps and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach... well really, it's the museum and then the follow-up talk that does that... (aside- Europe is chock-full of museums covering various horrific happenings- Warsaw has the Resistance Museum- covering the winter that the Russian army was sent to liberate Warsaw from the Nazis; instead they camped on the other side of the river, waiting for the Nazis to weaken the survivors, then moved in, handily cleaned up the Nazis and took the resistance fighters hostage. Riga has a nightmare of a museum dedicated to the WWII occupation of Latvia by the Nazis and the Russians- and the deportation and 'disappearance' of thousands of people. Kyiv has a WWII museum. There are the Auschwitz and Buchenau- and other- memorials to the Holocaust. And there are many many others. All the stuff of nightmares. I can't cope with this kind of thing... not too well. And every family that survived has a story to tell. And it's not for the weak at heart or stomach. Alleykat covered some of their family history in N'way during WWII the past few months. Sometimes the things they don't say are more horrifying than what they do say.)
So anyway- here are some pix from today. The Ukrainians are masters at evoking feelings and creating atmospheres; this museum always gives me the willies.
First of all, though- 2 placques from US firefighters- one from the Schenectady, NY, Fire Dept; one from 'The Firefighters of the United States of America'- to their brother firefighters who responded to the Chornobyl disaster, many of whom lost their lives. Our guide today pointed out that this came at a time when there was no special friendship between the 2 countries but there was a feeling of solidarity among the firefighters of the 2 countries.

Another special memorial- the children of Hiroshima made origami cranes (birds) and sent them to the children of Chornobyl.

You walk in and see this. The road markers for the villages that were in the Chornobyl zone. The steps depict an apple tree- symbol of knowledge- which the victims were deprived of by the Soviet authorities. Leaving, the backs of the village markers look like this- indicating a village that is no more, has been 'liquidated' (the Ukr'n term). Entire villages were simply buried- as were ships that were on the river at the time... it's like a huge toxic landfill.

Most of the museum is specifically dedicated to the city where the Chornobyl support staff lived- a city where the average age was about 27- young families. This clock shows when time stopped in that city.

This pic shows the lines of buses evacuating the residents of Prypyatya-the city mentioned above. These people were told they needed to leave for a short time; only later did they realize they'd likely never get back. Later authorities said they didn't want people to panic nor did they want them taking belongings, so they were simply lied to about the duration of their stay elsewhere. There are also some pix of first-responders. (All pix with the orange and red radiation sign in them are of someone who died as a result of the disaster.) The the 2 men in the lower right corner of this pic were the 1st 2 victims; the body of the man on the right was never recovered.

More pix of people who responded to the emergency. Soldiers were released from 2 years of mandatory military service if they worked 2 minutes at 'ground zero' shovelling debris into the ruined reactor. Miners were brought in to tunnel underneath the reactor, removing tons of dirt- to put in a 'floor' that would support the ruined reactor and eventually become the base of the sarcophagus built to entomb the reactor. None of these people knew the full danger of what they were doing; few (if any) had adequate gear to protect them from the high levels of radiation.

Another memorial to the children affected by the disaster. The lighting of the room- the floor of which is a copy of the floor of the nuclear reactor- makes it spooky in here. There are also works of art in here from various artists- some depicting the rescue workers as saints in Orthodox Church icons; one from an American poet who took the words of his poem and made a picture - literally using various textures and fonts, he painted a pic of the disaster with words... thought I had a pic and don't and I'm sorry about that.

And then there's this pic- a ship at sea- depicting the 'unsinkable' Titantic- but closer inspection shows it to be the layout of the 6 nuclear reactors on the Chornobyl site from a distance. These reactors were supposed to be so safe, so sure that they 'could be in the middle of Moscow' without fear of danger... (actually Martha- this one's for you- not exactly sure if it's your kind of thing, but I thought about you and that one fav painting of yours...)

Walking back out into the bright sunlight with the trappings and sights of normal everyday life all around was a shock... and also a comfort. I can't really put into words what this museum is like or what it does to me. All I know is, I hope I can sleep tonight...esp after writing this up...

From an earlier post on Chornobyl

a link to the wikipedia article, which is quite good. There are several good links on the above post, too.

comp clean up programs

free downloads or get the pay-for muscle version. In response to Twila's q on the previous post, here's what I got today. (As soon as the harddrive gets here, though, and I have a bit more time, we are reformatting the whole thing... it needs a good coyote tea purge, my comp... oh wait, that's not the purge tea is it???? crack myself up sometimes...)

ad-aware.com (this takes longer to download, longer to run and looks for spyware and the likes; also, I downloaded the 2007 version, which is what popped up) and then followed that up with the 2008 version (which required an uninstall of the previous download- all very straightforward though and easy to follow).

ccleaner.com (this sounds like it does the same thing as IE does when I clear the cache but I would never claim to know more than someone who teaches computer to university students, so I got it, too).

computers...

are beasts

Spent all day digging out disks, making sure I have programs, PIN's, installation disks; dug through all the files on my harddrive and got rid of a lot of junk (listen- You thought purge had to do with food? Get out...)

Alainna may well remember an earlier post (or something) where we had a wee discussion about external harddrives and how should I pick one and all that (I was going to go for color and she seemed to think I was fairly unknowledgable about certain technological things, for some reason)- anyhooooo- this is important because actually, I am a complete airhead when it comes to knowing which external harddrive to get and never did get one... which means today I found myself in the frustrating situation of not having enough space to actually backup files I need to keep (just be quiet and hold your peace with all your 'What do you mean you don't have your computer backed up?? You're KIDDING!!!' speeches- please- I have heard them all- just go and get your little knowing and smug I-told-you-so look on your little face in your own little corner and don't tell me about it)- so where was I?
Yes- I have filled flash drives and uploaded pix to picasa and looked into skydrives and other online storage stuff. Well we do have a pretty good buddy around here- who is pretty patient with the likes of irresponsible me; I call him and pour out my tale of woe- he's on a bus, mind you. But he has the presence of mind to tell me: Go to such and such sites and get these 2 programs- that'll help clean junk up so that your comp will at least limp faster. You need an external harddrive- I'll go get you one tonight and send it to you with Vasyl... (I'll pay you back, D- and make you macaroni- more than you can eat!) Mind you this too- I'm here in the capital with electronics and comp stores galore and he's over there where they've proly got about 2 stores total... but the thing is, I'd go for the pink one. The sleek one. The way-cool one. I would. So, what we have here is practicality winning out after all...
And a friend in need is a friend indeed (and I've always wondered, is that '... a friend indeed' or '... a friend in deed'? Is there a difference?)

Had really hoped to get the comp thing done today since we're just jammed the next week and a half or so with 'stuff'; what didn't get done today won't get done for awhile... but, you know... I ate chocolate instead. Really good stuff. Milk choc with nougat, honey and almond pieces. (Not the whole thing, Silly- just ummm half... giggle) Had a ton of tea, too... it just helps. Oh, and 2 cups of coffee...the strong stuff.

And this for lunch. Oh.My.Goodness. (that covers it)

I was going through old posts, looking for that external harddrive post (it's important you know); couldn't find it- although the stroll down virtual memory lane did me a ton of good after this nightmare of a day dealing with files, files and more files and disks (did I already say all this?)- found this post...and must admit- I completely cracked up... of course I remember the actual incident and how intimidating this woman was/is... so if your eyes are crossing and you need a 5 min break, go have a laugh. I did learn how to build fires in both the stoves in that place eventually...when T took off and I had no choice...

edit: here's the external harddrive post I was looking for... because it's important...

my friend the computer

Why Computers Sometimes Crash --

by Dr. Seuss

(Read this to yourself aloud)

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort, and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double- clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse; then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk, and the macro code instruction's causing unnecessary risk, then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM, and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

Tomorrow I'm reformatting my little laptop friend... feel free to send any helpful vibes and thoughts my way... and if you never hear from me again, you'll know it didn't go well...

edit Mon am: No, folks, I didn't write it... it would do a nosedive into the soggy earth if I'd done it...

return to the osteo clinic

approach to the bone doctor's office- which is behind the hospital. I guess I was just amazed at the setting. Keep in mind this is a hosp that gets patients from all over the country because of the specialists... I wasn't actually sure I'd get past the guard at the gate of past the nurses in the hallways... walked like I knew where I was going, never went inside the building, nosed around the back and found him!

somewhere near his office

these trees were growing straight up through the structure above them- and I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be/had been. Whatever, it is not in use...

entrance to Dr's private office. He has some patient consultations here, but not exams... The room straight ahead looks to be a workshop- and I could only wonder if they actually tool the apparatuses here...

looking out the door into the 'courtyard'

heading back out to the street... under here is where the nurses and patients hang out to smoke

just before you turn left into the parking lot, you see this off to the right... it totally fascinated me- looks like some old castle... but there was a guard back there and since I'm not exactly intrepid, I didn't venture back there....

looking back towards the hosp and offices

about 5 min from the hosp, I passed this- it's around the corner and down the street a ways- but it looks to be a new building for the osteo people... it goes without saying that it is a world apart- at least in appearance- from the current one.

some favorite stuff

A huge advance in Life In Ukraine- the pedestrian crosswalk with light... and one that shows exactly how many seconds are left till the light changes. It war'n't always thattaway. (story time- in Lviv once I was waiting at a red crosswalk light... dutifully waiting, I should say. Look up to see a wall of people moving my way against the light... the man in front was a police officer. Yesterday, I'm again waiting at a red crosswalk light. 2 cops in front of me. No cars right then- they take off across the street... and the whole lot of us follows them... (paraphrase of) my favorite line from W Somerset Maugham's 'Of Human Bondage' (although I don't necessarily think it's good advice)- "live your life as you please with all due regards to the policman 'round the corner"-

and if he happens to break the law, by all means, break it right along with him...)




out running around town on an empty stomach and not in the mood for McDonald's? These stands are all over and are perfect! They sell little baked pastry puffs stuffed with all manner of things- chicken, mushrooms, cabbage, and I don't know what all- I chose cheese. They're small- 4 were just the thing to keep chugging on.

the Kyiv metro is interesting enough and certainly useful in this city with too many traffic jams. A lot of the older stations are nicely done up and maintained; not all of them have a plant-lover on staff though. This is view as you head down the escalator at the University metro stop. One last bit of sunshine before the long trek into the underground. The main metro line is very deep- said to have been built that way to hide it from the Evil West back in the day; to get from the deepest station back up to street level takes 2 escalator rides, both moving fast, and 4 minutes of travel time.

streets of Kyiv March 4

The day started off like this- faint color out my window and all the smoke drifting off to the left... which would be north, mostly.
Zipped down to the south side of the city where a really-good-guy Bus Driver had a package for me to pick up. Folks had sent x-rays up for their bone specialist to look over. I collected them and dropped them off at the hospital. The rest of the pix were taken after leaving the hosp.

Directly across the street from the hosp. Pre-Communist building.

never-been-finished building, likely from an earlier economic slow-down. Anything being built at the time the Communist government collapsed wasn't finished and many buildings looked like this, with bricks missing. Kyiv was alive with building projects not too many months ago; once again, the city is full of partially built buildings, many with the construction cranes still on-site. This pic is also interesting because it gives a bit of idea of the variety of vehicles- from the Communist-built Ladas and Volgas to the ever-popular SUV's (you're something big if you have one of those- so get it, no matter the cost).

Another building near the hosp, which is in a fairly nice part of town- hilly and 'green'- at least in the spring and summer!

Lots of narrow streets.

I love these passages- lead from the street back to the courtyard of whatever businesses/apartments are in the building out front. In Odessa, you had to go through 2 of these (with another courtyard in between) to get to 1 of our apts- I always felt like Alice in Wonderland, entering a rabbit hole with Who Knows What possibilites at the end... generally not all that romantic when you get there but just can't help but like these things... in the daylight, anyway!

distant shot of idle construction crane. Not to mention a ton of buildings- new, old, older; commercial and residential. Kyiv is the largest city in Ukr but fairly compact, by Western standards, at any rate, given the population- which before the crash last fall was estimated between 5 to 7 million.

These 2 taken from the street looking into the kitchen and dining area of a decent looking restaurant.

Love this old building... and not sure what it houses. I love how they're just built 'uphill'- I'd like to put window boxes and flowers in those bottom windows!

We're big on parks here and the city is full of them- little ones and bigger ones- scattered along the streets. This one is fairly small but was packed this day.

Because families generally live in cramped apartments, all good Moms and Nannies take their charges out every day (generally) for a walk and romp if the weather's halfway decent. Later- you just send them out for mandatory play time!

(background of this pic- green construction fence) evidence of construction, now paused indefinitely, is everywhere; there is so much to do to get the city (and country) caught up to the 21st century and they were hard at it when everything ground to a halt last fall.

Another typical Ukr thing- plaques telling you what important person used to live in this building... generally there's only 1 or 2 at the most on any given building. This building must have been a fraternity-type building at one time- the 2 walls facing the street were lined with them, most artists or writers.

Getting close to the metro stop again- you run into an area that is thick with embassies. I passed the Azerbazhani, Polish, Danish and Belorussian ones and a few that I can't remember right now. (US Embassy is elsewhere...and has so much security, you have to be invisible to get in. Cannot take your cell phone with you...) This is outside the Polish Embassy- often the sidewalk is a mass of people waiting to get in.

getting around

The streets are full of cars... all kinds. Today, I veered completely out of my way to get close to this one... missing the hood ornament (surprise surprise)... know what it is? (and it's not mine... haha)

Parking is hard to come by- most of the city was built when the vast majority of people didn't have cars and there is a huge lack of 'where-to-park-it'... so sidewalks are the logical answer. What makes you think it was put there for you to walk on???

Now, living here, I get the feeling that my body is my vehicle... it's me and my 'shell' against the rest of the city- all that's between the 'Me' me and the whole city is the me that is my body- and it takes a beating at times. crowds, pushing, shoving, elbows are like horns... get out of my way or I'll lay on the horn and make you wish you were in another county. I wish I had one of these to stand between Me and Them...

Once upon a time I had one of these (the only vehicle I ever actually owned).. or something similar- mine was powder blue, holes in the floor with a bad muffler and a major shimmy at high speeds- you know, anything over 55mph. It got me around though... and it cost me $25 (cost of title transfer) plus repairs (about $100, as I recall). See, a Good Guy had (still has) an Auto Parts Yard... as in the kind where they part stuff out. A girl (surprise) had called him- car died along the interstate- what would he give her for the car- she'd had it. Don't remember what he gave her for it- but the next part of the story involves me desperately needing a vehicle and him saying If you get this thing running, it's yours for the costs... and so, I became the owner of a Datsun... we went everywhere, had a blast. Then I no longer needed it and took it back out to Good Guy. My little sis was a freshman at Purdue that year; I was going away; she was home for the weekend to say good-bye and I took her back to campus Sun night in Dad and Mom's car... which left us sitting about an hour out of Lafayette. Managed to get help to limp into town; repairs would take a couple days. Good Guy calls and says You know, your Datsun is still here if you want to take it back north; your sis can always do a car swap later... and that's what happened. That Datsun came back to life out of the Junk Yard twice to get me places... I loved that car!

my sometime-buddy

We saw this little guy again today. Every time, it takes a good 30 min for him to warm up to you. Always starts with him hiding his face (often he's whiny and mad at first); then he just sits and stares at you for a long time but turn away if you so much as look at him. Then suddenly- when you've somehow passed the test- without knowing what you did- he'll start giggling and throw something at you. Then he rolls on the floor and shows off to beat the band. He just turned 3- 3 days before my twin nieces... so he's like a surrogate nephew??? ;)

Don't you love his hair?
(here he is from this summer)
















more cell phone pix


It's been a whoppingly busy week...and next week is more so.
Bill and Lois- if you read this- We are very much looking forward to seeing you! As far as I'm concerned- you're the highlight of next week! Welcome Welcome Welcome! And have a safe journey!
To the rest of my MidWest (and further south) friends- I'm ecstatic that you've finally got spring... I'm happy... really... and I'm not at all aware that it snowed, rained and sleeted here most of the day today... or that it's still sleeting. Or that it's COLD. Nope. Not at all... not jealous either...
Now excuse me while I go crawl under my camel-hair blanket and shiver myself to sleep...
g'night