fabric and wizards

for various reasons, I've been prowling around a lot of fabric stores lately. This one is the most amazing of them all- it's huge and has more stuff in it than your eyes can hold. And it's not just crafter's stuff- it's good quality linens, silks, wools, cottons and blends- for sewing clothing, not quilts and crafts.

see those boxes on the wall? All full of buttons and thread... catalogs on the counter to wade through and pick your buttons... and ribbon and whatever else you want. These pix only represent a fraction of the store- it's like quite large.

Ukraine has a lot of little tailor shops where you take your fabric and some wizard from the back comes out and measures you- in fact, they take measurements you didn't know existed- like the space between your eyes, for instance- and then that wizard takes your fabric and melts back into the back room; a week later you go in for a fitting, then a few days later another fitting and then come pick it up and you have a new outfit. And they do it all with no patterns- just your measurements and their skill. (and I was kidding about the space-between-your-eyes thing)

this is what I just had done.

Self-explanatory

Someone left a note on the across-the-hall neighbors' door. It says Please don't flood us. The Downstairs Neighbors.

Well then

it's a dog's life!

We do have a lot of stray dogs around here. They're interesting little punks. Mostly not scary at all- a dog with no territory to defend is not normally aggressive if you leave it alone. So, we weave around them on the sidewalks, they weave around us and we all go on our way. In fact- it often seems like humans are invisible to stray dogs- they pay not the slightest bit of attention. Another little bit of weirdness about stray dogs- they seem to hang out with their own kind- whereas 'own kind' means 'same size as me'. Maybe it's my imagination (I do have a fairly good one you know) but it seems like you seldom see a short mutt running with a crowd of big boys or vice versa.

Yest on my way to the store, I saw a group of 7 med-sized mutts taking their afternoon nap. It looked like they'd been pelting along and just decided- Time for a nap, boys. And down they went- right there- *boom* on the spot. Busy sidewalk. People everywhere. Nearly stepping on some of them but they were oblivious. Completely.

but what have we here? Ahoy- a boxer being walked by its master (no pic of that stately fellow- I'm interested in mutts just now, thanks). I had to hurry with my mutt photo session- ears were perking up everwhere... and then they started sitting up. I guess their noses tell them that there's a DOG among the wave of humans rolling down the sidewalk. Mr Boxer looked nervous traipsing through that lot of street-wise canine toughs. He was well-trained though and never put one paw out of line. Everyone remained watchfully alert but all dogs continued on as before and naps were shortly resumed.

Dogs- reminds me of this Family Circus... do you know Hank the Cowdog? Kids' books but funny and a good way to fade away for an hour or so. The way PJ sees this dog reminded me irresistably of how Hankie sees himself... ;)

And then there's this

I've been needing some kind of case for my cell phone. Yest I spotted this in a small kiosk... I couldn't resist. I'm not sure they sell iPhones here...but you can get the case! Pirated as can be, I'm sure... No, I don't have an iPhone and No, I'm not an Apple fan; just couldn't leave this behind, 'specially since it is basically what I've been looking for.

bus stop or nursery?

making my way to the bus Sat morning was difficult.
since last week, hundreds (maybe thousands even) of people have set up shop along the sidewalk... selling cuttings and vegetables ready to set out in your garden. And people were looking; they were swarming in fact- all getting their herbs and cabbage and tomatoes and flowers and who knows what all to set out in their gardens.

Now- I love gardens and dirt and planting stuff. I love plants. I even like to weed... but this is a bus stop, I want you to know. The whole lot here is filled- no jammed- with buses. Buses coming and going and just barely getting in and out. Buses theoretically pulling up to the curb and boarding (and disengorging) passengers. Lots of buses and lots of passengers.

See this? This is the line waiting for our bus... and there was no room for us on the sidewalk... we were right out on the asphalt where the buses usually are jockeying for position. Really- it does seem to me that the buses and potential passengers should be given priority here... the people buying plants were pushy and rude, too. Shoved right through, they did.

oh- and notice the hunker-er I told you so ;)

headlights, tea and a cool dress

see this? this car? what's different here?

the wipers on the headlights. So is this common? I'll admit to not doing much with any cars these days...except walk around the parked ones and dodge the moving ones...so excuse me if this is a dumb question...

How to make tea in your hotel room:

there's the immersion heater (otherwise known as a coil heater)

fill your tea cup with water, immerse the heater (see- this is where the name comes from! Amazing, eh?) and plug it in

and then wait patiently...

beginning to bubble and boil here. (In fact it bubbled and boiled so hard right after this that I got splattered and accidentally dropped my phone - the camera, in other words- and it went skidding across the room.

after everything was safely unplugged and heater laid on a heat resistant something or other, the tea bag was added... and here's the tea! (speaking of tea- vital bit of trivia- there are 4 people living in this apartment...and none of them drinks coffee anymore... we drink tea... get it? Amazing, really... but I never even got a headache when I stopped... cold turkey even. Why? Just feels better, that's all.)

There's a Marks & Spencer about 20 min walk from the apt... where I recently saw (and surreptiously photographed) this dress... I'm trying to figure out what I need it for...there must be something...

cutting grass, stormy skies, asphalt and millionaires

I love the smell of freshly cut grass and this is the season for that... only we do it a bit differently here... not a lot of lawnmowers around, so weedwhackers are pretty common, though. I'm glad we had walk behind self-propelled mowers back home in good ol' Indiana, that's what... used to get green feet I did...since I liked to mow the lawn while barefoot. (wiki link if for some reason you don't know what a weedwhacker is...) ;)

we've had lots of wind and clouds and even a few drops of rain...but not much. This is from last Wed eve, coming back from Julie's... it seemed vital for you to see it

and then there was last night... coming back from a late run to the train station. They're tearing up the asphalt in front of our metro station; chewing it up with a fancy-schmancy machine and carting it off by the wheel barrow full. See that beam of light? They'd parked a car there and turned on the headlights so the workmen would have some light to work by...

ah yes- and then there's this. Kyiv's mayor is about as well-loved as most politicians... which is to say, he's quite vocally hated by many. He has a book out... we were on a crowded and broken down bus recently when I spotted this: The sign stating the bus' destination was being propped up by 3 copies of the mayor's book which just happens to be titled How to Become a Millionaire

Looking at the driver, the bus and all- this just seemed to be too ironic for words... only topped off by finding out later that the mayor had been an ordinary kid that just happened to marry a rich rich man's daughter way back in the waning days of the USSR... Daddy-in-law was a big shot in Azerbaijan, I think it was; Daddy-in-law fixed Sonny Boy and Daughter up in Kyiv...gave them a pot of money... so that Sonny Boy would stay out of Daddy-in-law's face... I hope the bus driver's not waiting for a miracle...

Kyiv Botanical Gardens

Today is the end of the long Victory Day weekend (equivalent to Memorial Day). A day off for most people, so several of us went to the botanical gardens. When we were planning it yesterday, I don't think any of us quite believed Julie when she said we'd want to go earlier as opposed to later to avoid the crowds. I mean- the botanical gardens, right? How many people are going to be there???? well- we now know. And we are jolly glad we didn't go later than 11 am. goodness sakes. It was beautiful (in spite of the crowds). And spent with special people- you can't ask for more on a gorgeous late-spring day.







the entrance- dedicated to tulips













irises- possibly my favorite bulb





























These looked like peonies, smelled like peonies... but I've never seen them before. On a bush that was far more permanent than your typical peony. If this dies down each fall, I'd be surprised; looked like a shrub.




magnolias




and a mystery flower among the vinca
and other beds and flowers and plants















But the stars of the whole show, by far, were the lilacs; you could smell them everywhere. There must be hundreds of them in there...




there were just a few people there... just a few thousand...

















and a man making beautiful music

The crowds flocking to the entrance were 5 times larger when we left than when we arrived. About a 20 min walk from the gardens to the metro; the sidewalks on both sides of the street were choked with people going the opposite direction the whole way... unreal. I've seldom seen similar crowds; it was like being at an amusement park. Seemed like a million of Kyiv's 5 million (or so) population was there today.