we eat a lot of soup

and we love it! My turn to make it this week. A big old pot of it. Started with the last of the stock from a few weeks ago. Someone gave us a freshly-killed goose (the best goose of all, believe me) which we boiled and then took the meat off the bones and ate it. The stock was divided and most of it frozen. Making your own soup stock, actually, is a lot less daunting than it might sound. Get some bones (pork, beef, chicken, etc...) and boil them- with or without the meat. Add salt, pepper, onion, garlic, bay leaves, other spices if that's your thing; the Ukrn's love to make stock with a carrot in the mix. We use a lot of the French Provincial herb mix for our seasoning. Save the broth and cool it (if it fits, let the broth cool a bit and then just put the kettle in the fridge overnight- the fat comes to the top and hardens and can be easily removed. You can add water when you make the soup. Believe me (and I know a lot of you know this already) homemade soups are really yummy!

parsley! We had some. S got some. I got some. Time to use it!

heh- this was just a fun shot... ;) 

For this veggie soup, I rough-chopped: carrots, zucchini, celery, leek and sauteed in a bit of oil then put them into the kettle of broth/water that was heating. Because I don't use a lot of grease, I always rinse the skillet after the sauteeing and add that to the soup. Too much oil, though, and you won't want to do this! Chopped parsley and added it. Brought it to a boil (don't forget the salt!), turned it down low and let it simmer till carrots were soft. Also tossed in leftover potatoes and rice and stewed pumpkin (baked with salt and a little butter and pureed).  

the smell was fantastic! 

When it's done, remove from heat then puree. This wand is the handiest thing- a lot easier to clean than a blender a whole lot lighter and easier to use.  

fun to use! 

it's getting smooth. And it's yummy. The cooked squash is great in soup. It's squash season...and we're eating lots of that right now, too!

out in the village Wed eve met these gorgeous roses... and Thurs am, the lady informs me: Someone gave them to me yest but I like flowers on their stem out in the garden, don't like them cut and in the house... would you please take them? Well- you know- I can help you there! I left a few because there were so many...

But we had a few, too! Several of these were very fragrant. 

Giraffes! One million of them!

Back in February, I posted this link to the 1 Million Giraffes project. This morning, I had an email from the project's author- he made it to a million AND there's a book! Here's the link to the book site- One Million Giraffes book and to the original project site. Neat. :)

every Fri morning

Now that school's started, this is what we see every Fri as we're walking up to Milya's. We walk past the school just as the kids are arriving. Most of them wear uniforms. It was a very foggy day that ended up being HOT. As in high 80's. Actually it's been that way (and hotter) for a few days now... but that's ok. We know it can't last.just after this, we met a girl who carefully put her hand into the hedge and slowly pulled it out again. As we passed her, I saw what she'd done- lifted a mist covered spiderweb right out of the hedge. Perfectly. Impressive. Wish I'd gotten that on camera.

The little kids are the cutest. Walking along with backpacks as big or bigger than they are. This one had a big kid escort. Lots of them are brought to school by a parent. Sometimes on the back of a bike. Sometimes on foot. Almost never in a car. 

School anecdote. Coming in on the bus one morning, the right hand side of the street through the village was a solid stream of kids heading to school. Next village, 10 min down the road- the left hand side of the street is a solid mass of kids heading to school. S says to me- Have you ever noticed that in K all the kids walk on the right hand side of the street and here they all walk on the left? Wow, I thought- nope never noticed. Must be some village ordinance or something, it makes sense, you know, to have them all on the same side of the road...fewer accidents and all. I'm thinking all that when S says- Yep; school in K is on the right side of the road and the one here is on the left. Oh. It was one of those things, though, when we both fell out of our seats laughing.

the current center of the universe

this kid- here and here and here (at the very bottom), too... he is still at it. Capturing hearts. Slobbering on them. Winning them. 

Stealing them... hearts that is... 

my oh my oh my. Has there ever been a baby like this? Proly... but he takes my breath away. And you know what? He's the happiest kid on the block. All the time. Hardly ever cries. Loves to squeal happily and sing and clap and smile and drool. He's what they call a 'gypsy child'- ie, anyone can hold him and he's happy. And we see him once or twice a week and he's such a bundle of love. And drool. You just gotta love him. Even if the pix are blurry...

waste of a blog post

But I'm just wondering... if you don't want to be bugged by your phone ringing, do you just shut it off? A young lady whose landlord just booted her out of her apt needed a place to stay for a few weeks at most while she looked for a new place- fine- there is room here. She's camped out in the living room. She has a job but decided she'd take the day off. Apparently, she didn't tell her boss, though, because she got a call from him about an hour ago. She woke up, took the call and then explained that she wouldn't be in. BUT- for the last hour, her other phone has been ringing every 5 or 10 min and she just keeps hanging up on the people. We have noticed in the week she's been here that she spends a LOT of time on the phone... but really, if you don't want to talk, just shut it off, right?

Yes, Dear, the fleas... or is it the phone? It is 11 am... not a bad time of day to be up and about...

It's all relevant. One hair in your soup is too many; one on your head is too few... and apparently no flies in your soup can also be too few... who knew?

Now- I'm off to do laundry and some general kitchen stuff... ;)

the day in funnies

Ever feel like this? No, me neither... just a thought, you know? But I'm sure I've met people like that... Oh wait- that was me... 

All the dogs in the city think they're watchdogs... and they all take it a lot more seriously than Snoopy... and all the watch-dogging gets done withing hearing of my window... amazing...

Ok- it's not winter yet... but it's going to be. And at the rate the rest of the year's gone, it'll be here sometime next week... unreal.

However- we have today... Wednesdays are full days, most of the day spent going from one place to the next, seeing some of the dearest people on the earth. We start with the family who have just moved back from the States... 3 kids who have been in US schools for the past 7 years; 2 of them had never been in school here; the 3rd, a 10th grader, only had 2 years here and it was a long time ago. You want stress? There you go. Try learning a new alphabet so that you can read what is actually your native tongue. Oh sure- kids survive this and worse all the time...every day, of course they do. But you know what? It doesn't diminish the struggle of the day. They have a big brother- he goes back to the States this fall to finish school (he's a senior) and get his citizenship. 

I guess that's enough. Off to the PO and the bus station.
(and ps- I just found realized where the tiny piece of biscuit dough is that disappeared somewhere in the region of the W key on my laptop... it's by the number 2. I see a trip to the comp people in the near future...)

Mon morning Agnes and then some

Some people have all the answers... at least they think they do. I get such a kick out of these two!

In other news- I was walking to the store this am and was met on the sidewalk by a rambunctious very friendly and (mercifully) hornless Billy Goat. Running and bounding and happy...because he was FREE! He'd obviously been tied up but the end of the rope was frayed and dragging along behind him. He headed for the busy street and stopped just as I got close. He looked at me and then bounded over- he was obviously used to people and used to them being nice to him- he skidded to a halt right in front of me and waited for me to scratch his head- was cute. I was more worried about the road, though, and all the cars and trucks... so I grabbed his rope and hauled him off to the nearest gate with a doorbell. Rang it. Instantaneous chorus of barking dogs breaks out from behind the fence. After a bit, a lady comes out looking cross. I explained the situation and asked if she had any idea where he belonged. The whole time, Billy G is yanking around and drags me a few steps this way and that way whenever he feels like it. He tries to eat the lady's flowers which earns him a few well-chosen words of great color from that party. She does know him, though- he belongs right next door. Just open the gate and shove him in, she says... so I do and in he goes and we ended our brief friendship fairly amicably. The lady thanked me profusely in her neighbor's stead and I went on my way. 

As I walked, I thought a bit about life here. It's rough and tumble a lot of the time. Things happen with no warning and little time to prepare for them. Bad things happen to good people an awful lot of the time. People are poor- because there are a few people whose hands are in the government's tills and they're filling their pockets and bank accts as fast as they can...while the average Joe makes less money a month than a lot of Americans spend a week on groceries. And people can really be nasty... and low down and rude and dirty. But, when it gets down to the bare bones, most of the time the common people stick together tightly. They defend each other. They'll all pitch in and bail someone out of a tight spot even though none of them has the wherewithal to do it. They'll do a you favor because they know that it could be them in your shoes.

Sun, we were on our way back into the village with a friend. He stopped at a roadside produce stand out in the middle of nowhere. He knew the girl there. He filled up his trunk- 50 kg of potatoes and heaps of carrots, onions and whatever else the girl had- I couldn't see it all. Then he got back in the car. Sorry for the delay, he said- but I'd called ahead and ordered that stuff. See, my neighbor's in her 80's and she's all alone, widow, no kids or relatives nearby... she asked if I could get her winter's supply of veggies for her. And what could I do, he said. She can't get that stuff by herself. So he did.

Two weeks ago, S was racing through town with a long list of errands and her route mapped out- this store first, then that one, then here, etc... A voice from a gate- Lady? Lady?! Huh? Oh hi. Lady, here, take this 5 hr and go get me some kefir, please. I can't go that far and I need some. Please? So- carefully planned route goes to the birds and off S goes to get the kefir and come straight back to the lady... I mean- you wouldn't want the lady to think her money'd been stolen... and you certainly wouldn't want to forget just where you'd run into her... after all, S had never seen her before in her life... 

It's an interesting place to live, for sure! 

melons, pumpkins, kvas (again), another kitty, another mutt

It was a busy week. That we know. Tues, as I was getting ready to leave Milya's, she packed a goody bag for me to bring back- jar of soup for S; pumpkin roulettes; half a round of sheep's cheese (good stuff); a chunk of pumpkin. I unpacked the stuff when I got home and turned it all over to S since it's her week to cook. She had other stuff to do that afternoon and evening; so did I. We were both out till after 8pm. She looked into the plastic bag with the pumpkin and said- It'll keep on the balcony overnight. Off to bed we went. Wed am- up early. S salts the pumpkin, puts it in a cake pan and pops it into the oven and goes off to run errands. Comes back, shuts off the oven and we leave for the day- it'll finish baking as the oven cools and I'll put it away tonight- these are her thoughts. Which are fine with me. We get in late that night- like around 9.30. No one thinks about pumpkin at all. We crash, unwind... knowing that, what with the fun'l the next day, it will be a big and long day... and a mtg at the end of it. Out the door and to the fun'l. Back about 2.30, 3 pm. S remembers the pumpkin- safe and sound in the oven where she left it... out it comes and she begins scooping it out of the shell. I wander in, look at the pumpkin (I love that stuff) and grab a piece and eat it- Wow- it's really sweet this time, I say. S eats a piece. Yes, She says. Hmmm, I say... it tastes like....?? muskmelon?! Yes, She says... it does. It is, in fact, muskmelon. No one had taken a good look at it, we'd been too busy. I heard Milya say pumpkin and passed that infobyte on... (turns out there were 2 pieces of fruit in the bag- the 2nd was a slice of pumpkin...) Now, I've never eaten baked melon of any kind before... I'll have to say, it didn't taste too bad... just sort of mushier than normal. We ate it all. I'm just glad she didn't bake it with garlic... ;P
On our way to the hosp yest afternoon to visit someone we passed a Kvas wagon... I need to try that stuff, I say. S loves it- she glugs it down all summer long. So does Trude. So do a lot of people. We get a glassful each. It's ok. But honestly? I can live without it. For a long time yet. On the other hand, Sharon A makes a really yummy elderberry blossom kvas (similar to this elderberry wine- but don't let it age!) that I could drink till I floated away. It is that good.

These 2 kept us company on Weds... Kitty just showed up that morning, wandered in off of the street. Puppy is awfully glad for a victim playmate. He teased Kitty something fierce. Kitty was one hilarious pouffy hissy-fit ball of spit and claws. And Puppy loved every minute of it!

Kitty on the windowsill still trying to recover...

Story of my littlest niece, the original Momma's Girl. Supposed to be starting Preschool this past week. Has not wanted to go at all. At.All. Her twin was chomping at the bit to go. Their Big Sis was practically dying to start Kindergarten. But Little Miss Madi? Not at all. She's perfectly fine with Momma, ThankYouVeryMuch. All day, every day. Finally Momma said- If you don't go we'll have to take your school stuff back. M ponders for a bit and then says- I guess I'll have to go then, huh?
I wonder how she's doing? And speaking of her and her Monkey Siblings- they'll soon be moving... to MN... well- MN's beautiful. And I'll bet they have school there, too... 

one reason to like fall!

This is what the market looks like these days- absolutely bursting with yummy produce. Sadly, the peaches are just finished... but they were delicious. Tomatoes are everywhere and so are peppers- 2 of my favorites! Yumm!

a long life

We went to a funeral today. The elderly father of a good friend had been fading for months... years, even. The past few weeks, though, were rough. Bed-ridden. He quit eating. And then stopped taking fluids. The family is not large- 2 daughters who each have an adult son and daughter. The oldest gr'son is married with a small child. S and I walked over to the family home this morning. We stopped for flowers along the way- and learned that for fun'ls, you only buy an even number of flowers (normally, when you give someone flowers here, it's imperative to give an odd number as even numbers of flowers are bad luck... I reckon this is why). So- 4 red roses with a ribbon bordered in black. The family was clustered around the yard of the parents' home, waiting. At 10 am, they brought the body back from the morgue. And since this man didn't go to church at all and since his family was the dearest thing he had- the family and us and various neighbors and friends were the fun'l. We spent from 10 to 11 there under the awning with the body. It was more like a wake, I suppose, in our terms. People quietly going up to the mother, to the daughters, the grandchildren- to express their sympathy, to weep with them, to comfort them. Everyone brought a small bouquet of fresh flowers which were arranged in the coffin around the body as they came. Some came and left, others stayed. Shortly after 11, the fun'l service people came with a special van. In a very solemn and serious procession, the body was moved out into the open sunlight. Then, an honor guard of Naval officers followed by the coffin lid, the body and the mourners slowly made their way out into the street. Here, the body was placed into the van and the family got in with it. The rest of us got into cars and buses and drove to the cemetery. At the cemetery, the family said their good-byes then the lid was nailed on and the coffin taken to the grave and lowered then covered with the mound of dirt at the side of the grave.
What was amazing to me- there were 14 open graves all in a row, end to end- his was simply the next in line. And there were men digging more graves the whole time we were at the cemetery. You don't go and buy plots at the cemetery- you get what's next in line and there is 1 cemetery for the whole city. Unless you're some mafia king- then you get something special somewhere. Otherwise- it's just a row of open graves being filled one by one. We had to wait for the mourners at the grave ahead of the one we were heading for to clear out before we could proceed.
There was a simple but tasty lunch at the Seamen's Club afterward. (The father had been a career Navy man.)
As always- being in the presence of death, being with those who mourn reminds us what awaits all of us. This fun'l was unlike any I'd ever seen- but it was special to be there with them. And good for us.

kitties... always kitties

Remember this little guy? He was in an earlier post this summer. All cute and snuggled into his owners slipper...There are 2 of them. He has a brother.  

Rizhyk and Chizhyk

Mr Innocent 1 and 2. 

Happy to play in the warm sun when their bellies are full and they don't have to wonder if there will be a next meal or not...

and ready to take a nap, too, if their bellies are full...

Well here they are a few months later. Just like kids- they grow fast... but they're still cute... and they're still happiest when their bellies are full. The goose bones we tossed their way made their day! 

The other feline of the place. He was quite happy about the goose bones, too...

Speaking of geese... there sure are a lot of them around here... I don't mind them too much when they're safely tucked away inside some fence...

But too often, they're out and about sharing the road with us... and you know what? They always have a whole lot to say... and always in some nasty hissing smart-mouth way... and with the threat of attack... 

The best goose is a dead goose. They sure do make good eating! ;)

халат/halat dogs laundry and more

Milya lives all alone in a village. In her 70's and suffering from arthritis, fall work is harder for her every year. We'd wanted to go up to help her a bit but our schedule was just too full. And then we had a free day... only the balcony repairmen came at the last minute, so I went up by myself and S stayed to make sure they didn't walk off with the secret documents or the crown jewels... or something. Probably just to bring them coffee and tea at regular intervals but anyway- I went alone.

Puffa- part of the welcoming committee. She has a fast wag on her tail, lots of wiggle in the rest of her... but must have a history (she's a recent addition)- she won't often let you get much closer than this.

Rex- the other member of the welcoming committee. He has lots of wiggle and a fast wag, too... but he loves to be scratched and petted and loved on. 

Rex is busy teaching Puffa all his tricks... like sneaking into the kitchen. He also taught her where to find the hole that is just the size of a small dog... so as to explore the street in spite of Milya's wishes...

Ahh- but playing with dogs was not priority number 1. Laundry was. M has an old washer- the kind that you fill yourself (in this case with water from the well). I hauled water, M lit the stove and heated it and then poured it into the washer. There's an agitator in the drum that turns in one direction only... laundry doesn't come out just as clean as you might like but it sure beats scrubbing by hand on a scrub board!

In honor of the occasion, M got a халат (halat) for me- I suppose we'd call it a housedress. It's what you wear when you don't want to get your real clothes dirty... which means it's what homemakers wear nearly all the time...

And this? This is a string with clothes pins attached... just the thing! ;)

My work station. Fill the tubs with water (this time from a hose that comes out of the 2nd well). The fun part? Every time the water got too soapy you got to dump it onto the cement and splash. I told M it was a child's paradise and she laughed and said I must have been born in a village! ;)

The result. 

Lots of laundry. 

Looking out from the kitchen during lunch... which never tasted so good!

Ha- who have we here?! Miss Priss soon got chased out and was sternly reminded that- no matter what King of the Yard Rex has said, Dogs Do Not Belong In This Kitchen! 

hitch-hiking

Someone recently asked- How will you get back to town? Oh, I said- We'll wait out by the road and go with the first thing that takes us. Aren't you afraid? No. Oh, there are the few odd tales of things gone awry when you hitch a ride here- but they mostly sound stretched and come to you after having passed through the wonderful mill of about 10 previous tellers. You know- pretty hard to prove. I can honestly say that I'm not afraid to do it here- it's a main form of transportation in some parts of the country. And- when we hitch a ride, we do it from a bus stop where people who want a little help paying for gas will stop and pick up someone wanting to get there sooner rather than later. So... onward. Last Fri am, we left Milya's and headed for the bus stop... and just missed a bus. The back side of the bus pedaling on down the road is not just the happiest sight. Esp when you know the next scheduled bus isn't for an hour. Sighhhhhhhhh

This is a busy road... right through the middle of the village. So when you've missed the bus, there's plenty to do... like hold your breath for the little old ladies and their canes as they dodge traffic... and the geese and dogs. Amazing how many little old ladies, geese and dogs have pressing urgent matters that take them across the road. Go Babushka, Go!

Oh yeah- don't forget to watch for useful traffic... the kind headed the right direction. 

Ok- now this isn't what we call useful traffic... big trucks generally are not what 2 women just aiming to get back to town are looking for. Although- Phyllis and I caught a ride with one- a bread truck returning from a delivery- back to Kyiv 2 years ago. Driver was nearly mute. Said Thank You as we handed over the equivalent of bus fare and got out at the metro stop on the edge of the city... and that's all he said the whole way. 30 min of total silence. 

That car there in the distance was promising... until it turned in at the gas station.

Fine- we didn't like the looks of you, either. Just fly on by... no big deal.

S doing her best to look harmless and needy...lots of traffic but no one stopped... for a long LONG time...

this guy didn't stop... 

and this one didn't, either...

and then... this guy sauntered over. Where you ladies needing to go? Big smile- I was here on business and need to go back now and thought maybe there'd be someone here to go back, too. I'll take you if you want to go. Of course we do... 

here's the car. In we got. Off we went. He drove like it was a tractor- you know, constantly turning the wheel- didn't make for the smoothest ride. But he was nice. Courteous. Even took us past the usual drop off point and nearly to our street. And after an hour in the hot sun waiting, we were mighty glad he and his purple car came along! Thanks, Mister!