somewhat relevant ramblings

-We were still wondering how the Kiwis were doing, if they were getting Christchurch put back together. If people were getting their lives put back together after the earthquake. So- when I saw the first article about the quake in Japan, it didn't quite register. It was such a bland, short blurb. Then I did a double take. 8 point WHAT on the Richter scale?! Whoa. Of course, the news the last 5 days has been full of coverage from Japan- nearly all of it sad. I've seen so many pix and videos that I'm maxed out on tragedy. The last video I watched, I got 30 seconds into it and had to stop. Big ships and cars and vans and houses being tossed around, rolled down the water as if they were nothing more than fall leaves on a rushing stream. Every single time I thought- Were there people in them? And the sheer magnitude of it made me sick and I stopped. Today, though, I came across an interesting series of pix- move your mouse over each pic to see before and after shots. Some are more dramatic than others. And they're also somehow less personal, more removed from the reality. They're from 'far up in the sky' covering large areas and it was easier to seal off my mind and just look at the pix.
-I read 'The Godfather' recently. Had never read it. It is brutal. But completely engaging. And cold. I wonder why some cultures imported their crime along with their food, religion and other customs. The Italians, The Mexicans, The Russians. Maybe some others. But there are just as many Norwegians, just as many Poles, Germans- but have you ever heard of Norwegian street gangs? Or the Polish Mafia? Why does organized crime, hard and effective and brutal, play such a large part in some cultures and not in others? Why does it follow them from 'The Old Country' to the new?
-My friend has whooping cough. My 40-year old friend has whooping cough. It's miserable. I don't want it. Ever. I saw an article recently about the increase in whooping cough among adults. Not for sissies.
-These are just the thing for getting around these days! ;)

It took me awhile to get used to myself in purple paisley boots... but I think I managed it! And- my feet are dry dry dry! I feel like a kid again in them. :)

Smile!

Did you see this? ;)

Just another dog

I like dogs. Just about all dogs. And this place is full of them. Lots of stray dogs, mostly pretty well mannered... unless they're barking in the middle of the night. Then they forget about their manners. I mean- they have an important job to do and manners just don't enter into it. At.All.

At the bus station recently, I ran across this guy. He was totally and completely out. Unaware of the world. I mean, he was asleep. Unconscious. Zonked. Just how zonked became clear when someone walked out of the bus station and stepped right on the top of his head and the dog never moved. Never whined. Nothing. He just kept snoozing. Later, he got up and shifted positions... just to show us he wasn't dead. I wish I could sleep like that. :)

Marmalade Muffins

Darling Sister got this for me awhile back. Dear Friends brought it over in their luggage. We've all enjoyed it. A lot. In fact, the day the mail was delivered, there were a bunch of us and this got passed around and around. I was the last to see it. (That's because I still have some priorities straight and I dug into my personal mail first- thanks, Dear Friends, for still writing.) :)

So- starting on page 58 of the above book, there's a recipe for some scrumptious-looking muffins. I knew the first time I looked at it that I wanted to eat those things. Tues I made a batch. They are pure smile-on-your-face super! Here's the recipe:

• 2 oranges
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

preheat oven to 375 F. Grate the zest from the oranges. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Crack in the eggs and mix until well combined. Sift the flour. Add it to the bowl. Gently stir the mixture using as few strokes as possible so that the muffins aren't tough. In a smalll measuring cup or bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda. Add the buttermilk mixture to the muffin batter and mix until just combined. Add the orange zest. Mix just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Grease 24 mini muffin tins (I used 18 regular sized muffin papers- my muffins didn't overflow and have the nice baker's hat appearance that PW's do in the book... but that's ok with me.) and fill each 2/3 full with muffin batter. Bake for 12-17 min until light brown. Watch to make sure they don't get too brown.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze. Juice the 2 oranges. Mix the juice with the 1 cup of brown sugar (from above) in a med bowl and stir together just until combined; don't worry about dissolving the sugar completely- you want the glaze to be grainy and textured. As soon as the muffins are done, drizzle the glaze all over the top. Be sure to throroughly coat each muffin. Don't worry if the glaze drips all over the pan- just lick it up later! ;)

And Thanks, Dear Sister, for the cookbook. I've always loved cookbooks and this one is a keeper! xo

Smile!

I found out that the Blogger problem is related to Chrome. Blogger works just fine in Internet Explorer (which drives me nuts) right now...

March 8th is International Women's Day- a holiday that dwarfs both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day here in the former USSR (and in most of Europe, I think). We got this sweet little bunch of Snow Drops on Tues (March 8). Look closely- see the bulbs at the bottom of the stems?

We planted them! Of course, snow drops don't last long... but the bulbs do. :)

trying to choose my words carefully

I haven’t been posting nearly as often as I used to… and it’s been even less often than you know because I’ve mostly been doing a bunch of posts when I have time and then scheduling them to post automatically over the course of a week or so. I’ve been trying to do a post since yesterday afternoon but can’t- something’s goofed up with blogger and I just can’t. So I’m trying the mobile approach- via email. Hope it works! ;)

Now for what’s on my mind.

I managed to keep my mouth shut (mostly) during the last presidential election as well as the recent elections. But there’s a new wave of political stuff just now… and it bothers me. A lot. It makes me weep inside. It makes me fearful for people whom I love.

God is not a politician and He doesn’t deal in politics. And if you think He does, come live somewhere outside of the US for awhile and watch. God works in spite of politics and politicians. What seems so clear to you and me in the setting we find ourselves in at this moment can look completely different if we move to where our neighbor is.

Politics used to fascinate me and I ate it all up, I voted, I debated, I loved it.

And then? Then I watched politics destroy friendships. I watched people who (should) have something much greater than political feelings and emotions between them get torn apart because of something so foolish and short-lived as which candidate won.

You know what? Politics is not religion. Religion is not politics. The 2 shouldn’t even meet. The power of God is greater than any power of man, unified or not, on this earth. God  keeps people in every corner of the earth in situations where the political situation is so corrupt and awful that fear rules. God keeps people in situations where there is no freedom at all. The venom that is spewing right now because of a political situation is enough to make me ill.

I quit voting, I quit discussing politics at all. We shed too many tears here in our tiny corner of the earth over a situation that was only made worse by political feelings. I hope I never go there again. Those were bitter tears. If you want to shed them- keep spewing politics at your friends who just may not agree with you but are trying to be gracious and not respond. What is between us because of God is much greater than any political party or sentiment. If/when brothers are torn apart because of politics… that is shameful.

howdy and such

-Trude and I are on the train. The train seems a bit safer just now. We're on our way to Kyiv. Two weeks ago, we were on our way to Kyiv Fri pm, too. It was snowing (surprise!), the wind was blowing- sometimes fiercely. It would gust so bad that visibility went from (whatever) to zero and 1 second. Our bus driver (I was watching him so I know) was yakking on the phone and send text messages the whole time. We detoured around 1 accident (a jack-knifed semi involving a car- semi was from oncoming traffic, across the median but landed in our lane; the car was from our side of the road). There were a few more really bad gusts but that didn't slow our driver down, Oh No. He was Mr. Indestructible. Then we wiggled right through a 4 car crash. Thankfully, 2 of the cars ended up in the left hand lane and the other 2 were to our right so there was room to wiggle through. This was so scary that it actually smartened up our driver. Thankfully. We saw 2 more bad accidents and then a 5th on the outskirts of Kyiv. So, since it's been snowy and melty and snowy and icy since then and since the roads are even worse than they were then- we're on the train (and it's NOT snowing- Surprise!).
-And one thing you can do on the train with mobile electronic stuff is check your news feeds and such. And see this: Russia has decided that beer is alcohol. This is really good news. One could hope that the folks down here will pick this up. Part of the alcoholism problem is that they only count the hard stuff (vodka, gorilka- maybe like whiskey- I'm not sure) as alcohol. The article at the link says that many Russians think of beer as a soft drink. I've heard people here talk about So-and-So being a recover(ed/ing) alcoholic and therefore only drinking beer. Stuff like that makes you want to bang your head on the wall. Drinking beer won't help a recovering alcoholic.

-I made an interesting discovery today. People are different. Truly. My T friend and I are good buddies but we're very different. I knew that already, of course... but was made more aware of it again today. We dream differently. Yup. Yest am, I was recounting a funny dream- it involved a co-worker who wasn't supposed to get away so I sat on him to make him stay. He was telling me all his woes and I was in horror because all his teeth were rotten and broken off and his gums were all puffy and infected and painful looking. I was terribly worried I'd get it, too, just by being that close.
This am, T retold her funny dream- which was all about an electrical storm on the moon which was so major that there were lightening bolts in zig-zags shooting off of it that illuminated another planet nearby and showed unusual activity on that planet which glowed (because of the storm on the moon). She was on the bus and hollering (in Ukrn) Look at the moon, everybody, Look at the moon!
See- I don't even have the brain cells to dream cool stuff like that. Even in her sleep, she's wired. Completely.

-Back to the smartphone debate. I've been (sort of) sucked in. Going home soon, you know. Will need some kind of phone there (likely). Someone has an old Blackberry, a veteran of some combat already (I'm thinking). They're giving it away. It seemed a good way to test drive some sort of smartphone to see if my brain cells can handle it. And to see if I like it. We Shall See. 

 We were way up north to see these pumpkins' mom and friends. S is the Big Sis. Mind you, she has a Big Sis of her own and some Big Brothers but for all practical purposes, she IS the Big Sis. She's cute, she's friendly, she sometimes cries when you leave without her. She's a doll. She also likes shoes. Her Step Dad's and her own.

Little Brother likes Dad's shoes, too. He's a Monkey. All the way. He's sweet and cute. But I'm glad there's only one of him! :)

the cat in the village

Every week we trek out to this kitty's mom's house. Every week, she ambles around the house, curling around our ankles, jumping onto the wood-fired cook stove, sniffing around the pots and pans, begging for food, crawling into and out of the oven. She's a calico. No, the white spots on her aren't all that white. Every week, we sit in the living room, read together and sing. This week, we found kitty perched way up high over the door into the kitchen/dining area. That boxy tube-thing is the heat duct (I think). When we started to sing, she very prissily and sniffily lifted her head, uncurled her tail, stood up and huffily climbed down and stalked out. Really. I guess she doesn't like our singing. Humph. 

Kitty lives at the house where the Carbon Monoxide incident happened. My darling mom sent 2 CO monitors, complete with batteries after that. We took one of them out to her house and left it there. Last week, we noticed the monitor on her table with the batteries beside it. Heh. What to do when the pesky thing won't quit beeping, We thought. This week we asked- Why's the monitor laying there with the batteries beside it?
Oh, she said. My husband needed batteries for the flashlight.
The thing is, the batteries are a commodity. Where she lives, getting new batteries for anything involve a whole lot of walking, a bus trip, leaving her mom alone for awhile. I guess we know how CO monitors rate. Of somewhat less value than a flashlight with batteries. 

Popcorn, The Great Dalmuti and the Packers

The Great Dalmuti

With popcorn. Is there a better way to spend a Sun eve? 

This is a delayed reaction. I blame it on the cold. Was too cold to be out and about on your own steam this night. But- that guy underneath the red crosswalk light (just to the right of the center of the pic)? He's wearing a Green Bay Packers jacket. For real. See- this is not a 'dime-a-dozen' sighting in Ukraine. I was so stunned, I didn't even have time to run up to him and ask him if he was the real-deal fan or had just found a toasty warm jacket in a 2nd hand shop...

smile!

Sweet, eh? Guess what? There's a Tiny Tot in the capital who will likely be wearing these before too long. She's gorgeous. She's got cheeks that won't quit and a lot of black hair. She looks like her Grandma Tanya. And her mommy and daddy are completely thrilled with her. 

somewhat relevant ramblings

It's snowing. And has been. It's been a snowy winter. It's like the clouds up there are bored and so, just for the fun of it, they decide Hey- let's snow! And so- poof- they snow. And snow And snow And snow. It was snowing when I thought about this post a few days ago. It was snowing when I started it hours ago. It was snowing when we left for the village. It snowed as we walked out to our friend's. It snowed while we walked back out to the road. It snowed the whole way back to town. It's still snowing. It just snows. For the fun of it. No, not like in some parts of WI and MN- doesn't manage to accumulate to huge deep amounts. But most winters here involve some snow and then days and days of mucky yucky wet and sloppy stuff that gets darker and murkier and yuckier with each passing hour. Not so this winter. It's been just cold enough and just snowy enough that there always seems to be fresh white stuff on top. That's not all bad, really.

There were some guests here recently. Several couples, one with kids. We saw the tail-end of them Sun eve. We'd been slipping and sliding all afternoon. More fresh snow on top of what had started to melt and then re-freeze. Lots of slipping and sliding. I'm pretty good at keeping my cool on the bus in bad road conditions until I can feel the back end of the bus fishtailing. Which is what was happening Sun afternoon. We were glad to get in safe and sound. Had a little time with the guests. They had a flight the next morning. They'd had train tickets for that night to get back to Kyiv but they gotten lost so had opted for a car at 1 am. Which was proly smarter anyway, considering they had a little kid with them. Not so smart considering the roads but you have to go with the options you've got, right? We slipped and slided all the way back to our town and were glad to get there. So- yesterday morning, I call back to their family in Town A to see if they made it ok. I don't know, the mom said. Last I heard, they were stuck in traffic. Their flight was at 10.30 and this was at 10.00. Mind you, I nearly had a nervous breakdown on the spot. Not for me, for them- sympathetic sort of thing. (Not really- but I did take a very deep breath.) What happened, I asked. Well, they decided to leave at 2am instead of 1am. Oh. I let that go- no point bemoaning that fact now, right? Later, when she called back to say they'd made it, I said- What made them decide to leave later? Well, she said, in Regina [Saskatchewan] you'd need less time not more to get to the airport.
And that, folks, was such an airtight bit of reasoning that I was left with no breathing room in the conversation and signed off. (Let's just set it straight that I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the population of Kyiv is bigger than all of Saskatchewan... not to mention the distance involved.) It was, however, the best laugh of the day. We fell down laughing. 

And this is last week's company! See- they were even (mostly) warm! :)

I borrowed these from someone. Somewhere. Don't remember where. Possibly someone's blog. The thing is. Less than 6 months until a) Mountain Dew available in nearly every store and gas station; b) all the yummy delicious things I've been secretly pining away for; combined with c) and emotional and mental high that won't quit for about a year. Not a real good combination. 

I wonder what a person should do about all of the above? 

;)

hahaha

I'm not sick but in keeping with the exercise theme... ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

:)

My blog, My fun

Why do I blog? Good question. I decided awhile back that it's because it's a legitimate way to talk to yourself, with all the arm waving and facial expressions you want... And you can invite everyone to watch and no one thinks you're weird. And I said so. And someone said Oh yeah? Heh. So you think I'm weird. Oh well. ;)

smile!

Remember playing this as a kid? Why is it so fun? And you know what? It's universal. Kids here love it just like kids in America. And just like there, kids here get raucous and slap happy and giggle and squeal and slap faster and faster and faster until everyone collapses in a fit of giggles. 

I love you Little Bro!

I have 2 brothers. Both younger than me but for the purpose of this story, we'll call them Big Brother and Little Brother. So. Little Brother. It always amazed me that this kid not only moved out of the home we grew up in but actually survived. Because... he was one of 2 Little Kids in the family. There were us 2 big kids and those 2 little kids. And Everybody Knows that Little Kids need people around to take care of them. That's Just How It Is. I have no idea how it happened nor do I know how he survived but he did. So one day, I was at his apartment. Ok. So 'survive' is a good word for what he did there. Being the Big Sister, I dug up a tub of elbow grease and had a blast. Somehow, it was a whole lot more fun cleaning his apt than it ever had been cleaning up after him at home. Not that it was just him to clean up after. You know what I mean. So, nice tub of elbow grease. And the washers and driers are in the basement. And his laundry basket's overflowing. And there's a stack of quarters and soap. And he sure doesn't mind if someone puts all those ingredients together to see what will happen. So. Off I go. Sort and stain treat and start a load or 2  or so. And more and more and more. And no more quarters. I ask for more. He's horrified. I gave you a whole bunch, he says. I know, I say, but they're gone and I'm not even half done. Well, he says (in a very unimpressed voice) That should have been more than enough to wash AND dry it all. I don't have anymore. 

Heh. I had to go get more. I got some real insight that day into an alternative method of doing laundry. And into the cause for the uniform color of everything. ;) 

And- we're still friends... I think...

I guess I'll mostly let these be. Just like they are. 

ok- I'll say this. No smart phone here. And definitely none of the above (things). 

(I'm really happy you have an app for that. I do, too. Just a little different, that's all.)

That's it. Good-bye. ;) 

friendship, laundry tales, musings

Sorry. This just seemed sort of fitting for the weather and all the bugs that seem to be flying around. And we're not talking about insect bugs, either...

It would be a whole lot easier for most people to love them if the sounds were disabled. I've never really understood why the sound effects are such a great thing, actually. I had a very satisfying moment on a city bus in Odessa once. A couple of (approximately) 5th grade kids were clustered around one boy who was playing a game on his cell phone. Lots of little beeps and zings and weega weega weega's. After about 5 min, I went back to them and said quietly- You know, this is a bus and there are a lot of people on here. We all have to listen to those sounds and maybe a lot of people really don't like them. When you're in public, mute the sound. It's the nice thing to do. They were all big eyes and then they did it. Zap. Just like *that*. 

Since the advent of e-books and e-book readers and with lots of time spent on buses and trains... well, I have a lot of favorite books. I miss holding a book in my hands when I read... but e-books are pretty convenient when you travel and move all the time.

It was like that here last week and earlier this week. Temps soared above freezing and stayed there for days. All the snow and ice melted. Lots of mud. Everywhere. Especially inside the door of the apartment. It finally mostly dried out. (The stuff outside, that is... the inside stuff got wiped up again and again and again and... you get the picture.) Then yesterday, it dipped below freezing again. And today it's been snowing. All day. The 'small snow big snow' kind of snow. 

153 days... and counting! Plus- friends from across the water coming to see us! Yay! They should be in Europe already. And by Mon, we should be seeing them!! :)

V day is nearly here. I miss candy hearts and all the other fun Vday candy. This ad is from a year ago I think... please don't tell me you did this. Please...

Dontcha just love these guys?!

passwords

Just in case you didn't know about passwords and the need to change them periodically or the need to make them 'hacker proof'... here's an interesting little chart. :)

I have a few more posts knocking around in my brain. They just haven't found the exit yet. It's cluttered in there you know.

So for now- we're going to focus on pork chops and mashed potatoes. With or without salad. Because. I can deal with that! ;)

That's basically how I feel about football. Basically. The Colts and the Packers, though, are sort of an exception. Ok, my life won't change because of the outcome of 'the game'... but still... A little more Green and Gold with a side of cheese never hurt anybody, right? ;)

Color is Good*

COLOR  IS  GOOD

Yesterday I went to the doctor

For my yearly physical.

My blood pressure was high.

My cholesterol was high. 

I'd gained some weight,

and I didn't feel so hot.

My doctor said eating right

doesn't have to be complicated and

it would solve my physical problems.

He said: 

Just think in colors.

Fill your plate with bright colors.

Try some greens, oranges, reds,

maybe something yellow, etc.

So I went right home

and ate an entire bowl of 

bright colors.

And Sure Enough,

I Felt Better Immediately !! 

I never knew eating right could be so easy !!

*Thanks Julie!! xo