expelliarmus!

These 2 were a blast to be with. Happy 99% of the time- are they normal, I ask you? ;-P

Bohdan, the Big Brother mostly looks out for Karina, the Little Sister. However, he does get mad at her sometimes when she doesn't cooperate (or when, for instance, he doesn't share the last of the water in their bottle and someone else shares with her and she gets more than he had- this makes him mad...and sort of bumps the 'happy' mark down a notch or so...) She's a tough little thing, for sure. Takes tumbles, gets up, looks at herself in wonder and tears off to the next adventure. After one tumble down a grassy hill, off a curb and onto the sidewalk, she landed in a total heap and I figured it was time to stop and have a good howl. Up she stumbles, staggers a bit... Mom asks No blood, Karina? No, she says... and off she goes. The other 210,000 kids there were nowhere near as good-natured, for sure.

And- here they've each got a magic wand and are casting spells. Well, B was casting spells; K just sort of laughed and stabbed and chased. B only knew 2 spells, mind you.

His favorite was Expelliarmus! If that didn't work, he resorted to Expecto Patronum!

He completely defeated Little Sis and the world with those 2. Not sure anyone noticed, though...esp not Little Sis

family pic.... minus one getting-tired Little Sister

She was busy, thanks.

Karina and Mom

Bohdan and Dad

a picnic and then ice cream!

sometime after 12, we found a bare spot under a tree and broke out the sandwiches. Only thing was- only 3 of us had brought food...




















interestingly enough, we all got enough to go on a few more hours! Good thing we thought for sure we'd be starved!

When we left the gardens, we stopped for this


Karina's absorption in her ice cream cone sort of says it for all of us.

Remember When?

ahhhh... who did this as a kid? Or maybe later? ;) One summer, we made a 'slip and slide' out of big sheets of plastic, weighted it down at the sides and anchored the hose somehow at one end. Funnnnnnnn

And this- yes... friends who put a fresh spin on things. Just hang on- I'm looking for my cones... can't afford a towing fee...

2 of Auntie's Boys

Just chatted with Forrest and Owen...and their parents and their Mommie and Dawdy... Called to say Happy Mother's Day...and got the whole gang! Wonderful!









It amazes me that you really can have conversations with these 2 used-to-be-babies-now-big-boys. Not just short simple questions with 1 word answers but conversations. Ok- a lot of the conversation with Owen was: Can you see my hair? Can you see my mouth? Can you see my shirt? (As he moves around in front of the web cam.) But still...







Took some screen shots...Forrest wants them posted, so here they are! Have a great 'rest-of-1st-grade' Forrest...and a great summer vacation! Talk to you again soon, I hope! xo


ps- the upside down pic? Intentional. Forrest was messing with the camera, turning it around- so this one was upside down for that reason....

Happy Mother's Day!

When we were kids, we often took a walk back to the woods on Mother's Day. Our woods weren't the kind with a lot of well-kept trails- lots of brambles but also a lot of interesting patches of flowers, logs from fallen trees and other fascinating things. We usually ended up collecting a bouquet of sorts of wildflowers and sometimes dug up some of them and planted them on the shady side of the house. This pic reminded me of those happy days! Happy Mother's Day, Mom- love you! And Happy Mother's Day to the rest of you moms, too! xo

no pix...but a SUPER salad!

got in about 3 pm this afternoon, half-starved (that happens so easily to me... you know- the near starvation thing...) Quick peek in the fridge- not much there in the way of substantial stuff- I mean strawberry shortcake- yes- but right now, even that bit of goodness just won't cut it. There are frozen chicken breasts though. Partially thawed one, cut it into (large) bite-sized pieces, heated some olive oil with a pinch of salt in a skillet; when it's good and hot, turn flame down to about med-low and toss chicken in and (well- brown it, you know...what else would you do?) ;) But here's where it got fun- we have ties to the other former Soviet Republics you know... and one of them is Azerbaijan... and they sell Azerbaijani seasoning packs here... and I just happened to have one. (It's a mix of: marjoram, saffron, paprika, dried onion, cumin, carrots, oregano, allspice, parsley, celery, leeks, savory, parsnip tops, salt and sugar.) So, about a teaspoon (or 2?) of that in a bowl, 1/2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce, tbsp olive oil, tbsp cream and 1 grated clove of garlic; mix well and when the chicken is nicely brown on both sides, dump 'er in and mix 'er up good. Heat down low and let it simmer.
Tear up lettuce; cut up a couple radishes, a small cucumber, med tomato; chop some cilantro and parsley. Mix that all up.
Dressing: another sprinkling of the Azerbaijani seasoning, tbsp or 1 1/2 tbsp of mayo, splash of milk (to thin it), dash of lemon juice; mix well.

When the juice on the chicken has cooked down completely (all yummy and brown and sticky!), put it all together and toss... (if you're not half-starved, you can let the meat cool first, of course) and dive in. It was Oh So Yummy!

12 years ago 1 week ago tomorrow

Yeah- I had to think a bit, too.

The thing is- I forgot my bro and sis-in-law's anniversary... I did. Really and truly. And I need to go make that right... and here's something else- I just NOW (as in at the beginning of that sentence) realized that today (whoops- I really am mixed up- their anniv is ummm Sat, 9th...) is my sis and bro-in-law's anniversary. I'm getting more and more hopeless the closer to 40 I get. We're talking each day closer...and it's still a few years off but really- I'm sure it's all about 40.

Enough talk- I'll get them both right here...along with all 6 of the 'I'm-not-at-all-biased' beautiful little people! Happy Happy Anniversary K & M, D & R! I love you guys!! And many more happy years to you both! (and hey- you'll be 38 1/2 someday, too, if you're lucky...)


pic snagged from DeAnn; she took it last summer...- thanks D!

sick kid update

It's been a long drawn-out process, but there is finally a diagnosis- a real one, this time. (here's one link; didn't dig around to find the other.)

T has toxiplasmosis. So... now what? They're treating it of course. I remember a bit (all nasty) about toxiplasmosis from vet school. Not exactly the thing you want to get. What I don't remember much about are treatment and how contagious is it (ie- for others on the premises; like Should I be having my own self tested?)... If any of you are medical people/have had experience with this nasty piece of work, please feel free to write me a book. Thanks!

toxiplasmosis is the 'pregnant-women-shouldn't-empty-the-cat's-litter-box' bad deal.

his mother's son

Julie, as some of you may remember, broke her foot this winter. Leaped off a bus and landed wrong basically. Was mostly stuck in her 8th floor apartment for 6 weeks. Yuck. Even with good crutches, when the sidewalks are bad and public transportation or your own 2 legs are the primary means of getting around, well- navigating is easier with 2 healthy whole legs.

Sunday, Sasha took J's 2 sons outside to play football (as in soccer). No one knows why Elijah thought it'd be a good idea to play barefoot. So, after a particularly painful kick, he limped home. Mon- painful. Tues- J took him to the dr. Annnnnd- he broke a toe. Good thing they already had a good set of crutches in the house. (Good thing?) E had already practiced getting around on them, just for the fun of it.

And while we're on the subject of J and the boys. J went off to spend a few days with her grandmother. I spent last night and part of today with the boys. After supper (and before Zhenya had finished his homework... ummm- How was I supposed to know to ask about that?!) we devoured a package of pretzels (not easy to find here- we loved them!) and a big chocolate bar (I'll bet you can't get Roshen choc there and I'll bet you wish you could if you've ever tasted it!) while playing Phase 10. See- that's not going to be a big treat for a lot of you, but the whole 'sit around and play games' (except for poker) is NOT a Ukr'n thing at all. They both love that game, so it's our thing- when I come over, we break out the Phase 10.

Then they disappeared and were dead quiet for a long time- hanging out on Mom's comp playing a game. Are they supposed to be doing that? Does J let them spend hours rotting their heads like that? I worry quietly to myself...but see- I'm also enjoying the quiet and getting stuff done and... she never said NOT to let them... (I'd make a rotten parent- Just leave me in peace and quiet- You can burn the place down as long as you do it quietly and don't disturb me.) Really- I was keeping an eye on them. However- when Olya came over this afternoon to take over, E was out of that room so fast and busy doing other things... O spends way more time there than I do. I reckon they got 5 times as much comp game time just then than they normally do... ahhh well... (anything to stay on their good sides!)

once I was 2

This pic provoked some memories/feelings. Not the pic so much as the photog's blurb underneath it. My oldest bro and I fall into that category- the 'there are no pix of me at that age' category. I'm not sure when I really began to wonder what I looked like at 6 mos, 1 yr, 2, etc (and just for the record, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it now- it's just a curiosity sort of thing) and I don't really know when I first noticed that although a lot of people have pix of themselves and their babies from birth on, there weren't many of me or my bro Paul... Mom has one of the 2 of us- he was about 1 or 1 1/2 and wearing a shirt and some heavy duty rubber pants (you know- the old kind that go over the old style cloth diaper); I'm standing beside him in a non-descript dress of some kind and must be about 2 or 3. We're hanging out in someone's yard beside either the clothes line or a volleyball net (can't quite remember); the pic is fuzzy and not all that great. By the time my little brother and sister came along, if Dad and Mom didn't have a camera of their own, there were other people around taking pix. And let me tell you- those 2 are/were cute...like really cute... like adorable. Paul and I are ok- but we're just old enough at that point to be rather (completely) overshadowed by our beautiful younger siblings. Ken was golden and beautiful-that's all there is to say about it. He had gorgeous hair- long curls (Dad nearly cried when someone else gave him a haircut and didn't ask if they should/shouldn't). (K's own kids are also beautiful and blonde... doesn't help that it runs on their mom's side of the family!) Then there was Gina- chock-full of personality, brunette and just plain beautiful. The earliest pic I have of our family was taken when she was about 6 mos old and believe me, she looks like a little porcelain doll with dark hair. (And surprise- her & D's kids? Drop dead gorgeous...) ;)

Soooo- when Ken and Gina each got married and eventually had kids- it was fascinating to look at pix of the babies, trying to ferret out their personalities from their facial expressions and examine every feature, trying to figure out where each one came from and (I'll admit it) trying to see myself somewhere in that little tiny person... for sure we found great-grandma J's (Mom's mom) forehead in there... and then one of the kids looked like my dad... and then last summer, my sis posted this pic... the youngest of the twins. Beside it she wrote: Who does Miki look like here? Welllll, even I'm not that dumb... except for the too-dark eyes, it could be me at that age. So now I know... I've always had messy hair...

Cotton candy

Phyllis and I came to Cherkasiy this afternoon. 3 hours by bus. Not a bad trip really. Bus was only about 2/3 full- with decent shocks this time (the last time we made this trip, we jarred our bones loose, the bus was such a wreck). Got in, found a room at the train station. Most train stations have a half dozen rooms or so on the premises somewhere and they're generally quite reasonable. This one- let's see- it's the luxury suite, by the way- just thought that was worth mentioning- the room is small but 2 beds, decent furniture, has its own bathroom (the others don't); the bathroom is a smidgen less than clean and there's only a handful of TP (but- here's something- P brought her own, so we are all set!)...and it costs... (ready???) $18. As in Eighteen dollars. ;)

There's a McDonald's downtown. Now- I have nothing against McD's, but it's not usually a treat, I realize that- but one thing you can say about McD's: You know what you're getting, you know what it's going to taste like and it's fast. And, in a strange town, McD's is like a Mecca for foreigners. So, we went. Had a fish sandwich and fries and orange juice.
Then got some groceries for the morning... And as we were heading back to our little luxury suite, I spotted a lady making and selling cotton candy. Huge portion, made while you wait- for 5 hryvan (about 64 cents). You know- I never have been able to turn down cotton candy. Melts in your mouth- you know- a handful collapses right down to about 5 crystals of sugar on your tongue and in your teeth. Leaves you desperately thirsty of course. Proly puts you 5 miles down the adult-onset diabetes road and leaves your pancreas gasping for mercy...but! Ahhhhh- for sheer happy simple delight- it's hard to beat. I have always loved the stuff...just can't help myself.
Wonder if it makes me any sweeter? Ha- good luck.

a little bird told me

Today is an anniversary of sorts for a very special someone... AND it is also x days before that same someone's xnd birthday... confused yet?

Well here's a wee hint: Her bday is July 12... so if you can count, you know a bit more.
I started to say a whole bunch of stuff... but deleted it all. If you're lucky enough to know this lady, there's no need to say more. I'll just say I'm among those who count themselves fortunate to know her and to have spent time with her. Thanks Jeannette, from the bottom of my tiny hard heart for everything you are. We love you!! More than you can possibly know...
xoxoxoxo

ps- totally forgot to say that I got this pic off of Sharla's blog; thanks, Sharla!

flu

having recently been involved in several 'swine flu' conversations, thought I'd post this link... National Geographic, from my feed reader. They have a nice 'no need to panic' common sense sort of approach.

thurs too

this from the Kottke.org feed- only posting it because Hey- they do this here. I'm convinced it's in their genes. Every single Ukr'n can 'hunker' around like this for (seems like) hours. And notice the guy in the middle on the bench- he's hunkering flat-footed (so's the one on the ground, for that matter)- that's a lot harder than on the balls of your feet. You try it- it ain't that easy Joe.

Public Service message #(??): Be a good guest- don't put your suitcase on the bedspread unless you've got some protective something-or-other underneath it. You think those wheels are 'pretty clean'? Think again.
So- what's the deal? Well- just after The Big Career Change of 1994, Margaret said to me: Of course we'd never put our shoes or suitcases on anyone's bedspreads... She said it sort of matter-of-fact like and without waiting to see if I was actually going to do it or not- sort of like preventive medicine; I have no idea if I would have actually done that or not. I'm pretty muchly glad she made me aware of it though. And I've been amazed at what I have seen plopped down on people's nice clean furniture and all... and the only reason it comes up here is because I just got to scrub my white duvet cover- and then scrub again- to get off the oily gunk from (a very very good friend's) suitcase wheels. So I'm just saying... No suitcases on the furniture or bedspreads... Ok? Your mom brought you up better than that, surely...
Thanks!

In recent verb work and noticing of verbs and so forth:
In Ukr'n you use the same verb to:

• gas up a car,
• tuck your shirt in,
• dress a salad.

заправити I guess in a big picture sort of way they all mean 'to bring into order'... and knowing this beautiful language- I'll bet that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to that verb. No wonder we say such funny things when we try to talk... no kidding. Sometimes the 'Oh my- you-have-3-noses-on-your-face-and-I-never-noticed' looks on people's faces makes you realize you've had 100% failure in a recent communication attempt.

Yest during my massage, the lady in the next booth (or whatever- just a curtain between us and conversation is shared among all present) says in the middle of her massage: I was watching the news and in Japan- they're all walking around with masks... on the STREETS in MASKS...can you even imagine... (pause) in masks... and they think that's just normal... (pause) in MASKS... and if they sneeze or cough at work they have to go home... sneeze... I mean you can't even sneeze at work... I mean imagine... (that's when I got the giggles...and then the massage man did too and we just absolutely killed ourselves silently laughing for about 5 min- You hear anything and everything in here He says in a choked whisper). It wasn't all that funny- but the woman was just hilarious. She kept up a steady stream of this and that the whole time. BUT- today, walking down the street I saw about 200 univ students being marched to a stadium for some kind of convocation (I'm guessing informing them about Oh- swine flu or something)- all in possession of a mask and half or so wearing them... so it's not just Japan...

A day with Anya

It was cold when I got off the train this morning. It was pretty early, so I thought I'd walk to Anya's- give them all a bit more time to sleep you know. It's a long walk- about 40 min. Path goes through a low spot. Don't know how well it shows in these pix, but each blade and leaf in this spot was lightly and perfectly coated with frost.

Droho

These are Anya's flowers. Her front yard is one big flower bed...and she loves it and does a great job. My pix don't do them justice. We were sitting at the table yakking and she was watching people out the window and getting great pleasure out of them stopping to look at her flowers. There aren't as many though, as there were. A neighbor had a 50th birthday party to go to yest and Anya let her cut 50 of her tulips, narcissus and daffodils as a present.
And Oh! it was great to be with Anya again. For a few reasons her husband is mostly not working these days, so they're just getting by. But she and the kids and hubby were all in good form.

Boys are all the same!

Getting ready to leave on the train tonight, looked out the window and saw this little monkey shine with his parents. They were seeing someone off and standing at the edge of the platform...except Jr...who was sitting on the dumptruck he just happened to have along. Sorry for the exceptionally poor quality of these pix ...hope you can malt something of them. He was a cutie!

So-long

Because the train ride is a long one- like 13 hours- I walked from A's back to the station. Lots of beautiful flowers along the way...and the sky above that (cherry? apricot?plum?) tree was gorgeous, too.
The pic that's a bit of a mess is in honor of the bleeding heart that was in full bloom. I saw quite a few. They're some of my favorites.

And a bit of house- keeping. The 60th wedding anniversary? Re-checking facts- turns out it's 65 years. That really is a noteworthy achievement. And- 1 more death. A dear old man west of Indy. We spent a fair amount of time with him and his very special wife when I was in Indy. This is where we're all headed. Let us make the journey safely.

ps

I finally caved and watched the Susan Boyle thing this morning- someone had it on their computer. Yes, she's good. In fact, she has a beautiful voice. What do you think- Is she good enough to make the Big Time? If she does, will it be worth it? (To me, the lady seems quite happy, sweet and fine just as she is; think she can stay that way?)

And- when I checked my email and Blog feeds just now, I learned of a death, a heartattack and a stroke, all among old friends and acquaintances in IN. And a 60th wedding anniversary in WI. Life- it never stops making you catch your breath...

Cute Little Playground

Walking to Julie's yesterday, I took a back way, winding behind buildings and mosey-ing along. And was brought up short by a sudden onslaught of mint green and bubblegum pink. Stopped. Looked. And saw this freshly-painted playground. It was downright cute...if a bit much; very nicely done, though. The somewhat fluorescent green fake fern,

though, in the mint green planter was a bit painful to look at.