and a hike

we took a hike one Sunday evening. No one is sure (that I'm aware of) why we opted to do this in our Sunday-go-to-meetin' duds... this is a mystery... do not ask...

ahh, we'll be going into the woods... looks pleasantsaw a few rocks (off to the right and dead ahead) and thought One Had Better Shoot Them... they're big you know
hmmm- more rocks

and a few more... and lots of dead fall

not sure you'd still call these 'rocks'

and then there was this old fire hose hanging from a tree

which was for this:

and there was a lot of heather. (for the record, I'm not sure I knew that heather grows other places besides the moors in Great Britain... there might be a few other things I don't know... there might be...)

now this was cool

even cooler from the other side. See those 2? They're Mr and Mrs. I like this for pic for some reason (and the people are fantastic, too!)

and the softest moss you want to meet. After feeling this, I understood how you could sleep on it- really is soft; the rock underneath not so much

another 'rock' (where'd they all come from, anyway?); this one had a cool shape the last part of the trail (a LOONNNNGGGGGGGG trail) led through lots of brambles... and we ate a lot of blackberries off those brambles... really yummy blackberries

leaving

city people stake out a bit of land and park a camper on it, plant a garden and Voila- a summer home! (here, they're called 'datchas')

there was ice cream at the end of the trail. I'd intended to skip the hike (I had 'things' to do, you know)- but was really glad I went. We were a mixed and eclectic bunch, as I said, not dressed for hiking... but it was one of those things that, in retrospect, you wouldn't have missed for anything!

I'm doing some posts ahead and scheduling them to post over the next few days... I may or may not post in between... we shall see. In the meantime:

it's open season on watermelon! Super Yummy Watermelon Season! This is at a bus stop I pass often... a similar pile on the other side of the road. We love watermelons 'round these parts

the name of a pub I passed recently... in Ukr, it says: Zer Goot (if you know any German at all, you'll get it). It looks mighty funny written like that, let me tell you... and it means absolutely nothing in Ukrainian.

Napoleon

ok- back to my newly-found friend, Napoleon. He made a huge impression on me, for sure. I always knew that N was:

1. short
2. Emperor of France
3. defeated at Waterloo
4. and- he died in exile... but not on Elba, like I thought (he escaped from Elba and Waterloo happened a few months later)- he died on St Helena

here we go... this place is well-worth a visit. I loved it... not the least because I love the Lord of the Rings (books- have never seen the movies and have zero interest in them, Thanks) and the descriptions of the battle was a lot like the battle descriptions in LoTR... or so I thought. So- Waterloo (wiki link). The Duke of Wellington was leading an assortment of allied troops from Germany, Prussia, Belgium and Britain. He was not impressed with his soldiers- thought them poorly organized and a motley bunch. The Prince of Orange and General Bluecher were under him. Napoleon had Marshals Ney and Grouchy (and that name, fyi, is pronounced sort of like GREW-shee... in case you care). looking up at the lion monument. This was built on/near where the Prince of Orange- one of the Duke of Wellington's commanders- was injured.looking down onto the museum/panorama/visitors' centerlooking mostly east- there were allied troops stationed at the farm just barely visible (just right of the center of the pic); it's the only place French troops managed to capture during the battle. looking towards Brussels (I think). Wellington's troops were stationed along/just to the right of this road, which was on a ridge; the 'view' that day was all theirs; neither Napoleon nor his main commanders were in positions where they could actually see the battle. Ney was fighting in a slight valley; Napoleon was miles away and not even on the battlefield.

these next are from inside the panorama, located at the top of that museum building above. It covers the entire circular wall of that dome and is fascinating... and somewhat gruesome.

not entirely sure just what this depicts BUT- the French cavalry charged units of Wellington's army scattered throughout the field and in square formations. These charges lasted for hours and only stopped when the French horses could no longer move over the field because it was so choked with the bodies of dead men and horses.

from the center of the panorama looking outward toward the battle scene.

enough already...

Napoleon's main men; Marshal Ney is on the left, I think. He had 3 horses shot out from under him during the battle. (Don't you just love the hats?)(having trouble remembering- should have done this sooner)- this is the Duke of Wellington, I think. His feathers aren't nearly as cool as Napoleon's men's...

so if that -^ is Wellington, this would be the Prince of Orange

This is General Bluecher, for sure, and he was one tough cookie. He hated the French and pursued them with vengeance. He also came in the nick of time, and essentially turned the tide of the battle, securing the victory for Wellington. Oh- and he was only 73 at the time...

Interesting stuff: Napoleon had the better army- more men, more cavalry, more heavy artillery. Wellington scouted the area heavily beforehand and picked his position well. The French literally fought uphill the whole day- they had not 1 advantage as far as the lay of the land. Napoleon did not go out to the battle site but commanded from several miles away; he was (likely) misinformed several times throughout the day as to the way the battle was going and issued orders accordingly. It is astounding to me that no one directing the French troops could actually see much of the battle- they had no vantage point to watch and therefore didn't know see the traps they sometimes walked into. And- Napoleon was not long back from exile on Elba (he'd escaped)- he was still very popular in France and quickly re-built his army; by all accounts, he was well-loved by the French. He lined the French roads with trees so that his army could march in shade (so- Did he plant full-sized trees or was he looking ahead to a future that never came to be? Didn't think to ask.)

link for the panorama and the official battlefield site

oooo- try this!

I'm trying to get some umph together to get back on track on this site. Although- this site has never been priority #1... or even #2 or #3. It's been something I've really enjoyed, though. So, while I try to get some stuff from the summer lined up, here's a New From Me Recipe (if you can call it a recipe)

I'm on a special diet... red meat... no joke...had some bloodwork done last week in which it was discovered that I'm anemic...and more than just a little with no In Your Face reason why, either. Dr said Eat lots of red meat- and she named every cut, kind of beef sold here in Ukr. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Nope, wide awake and in the real world. It's the most fun diet I've ever been on... maybe the only diet I've ever been on since I don't really believe much in diets. Just try to eat moderately...that's my big motto.

ahem

Lots of beef and pork, She said; Not much chicken, She said.

I told Karen. K said Vegetarians aren't anemic. I said we shouldn't get confused, that we should stick to what the Good Doctor says. (Oh yes- and lots and lots of spinach. Popeye and I could be siblings seperated at birth... I love the stuff. Not from a can, though, come to think of it.)

So in the interest of rapid recovery, I got a couple of small roasts. Today I did one up. (This is what you should try, not the anemia bit.)

wash the meat (beef or pork) and pat it dry with paper towel then

• brush on just enough olive oil to rub over the whole roast.
• Cut slits into the top of the roast and insert slices of garlic.
• Salt it top and bottom (I used coarse sea salt- it's fun, that's why).
• Sprinkle liberally with your favorite herbs (I used a French Provencal mix that I love- consisting of: rosmary, thyme, savory, marjoran, basil, oregano).
• Put a few dabs of butter on the top.

Slice carrots and chunk yellow tomatoes and place these around the sides of the roast.
Cover and bake on med-low for 90 min - 2 hours (or longer). Uncover the last 15 (or so) min.
Serve with rice- the juice from the tomatoes and meat is absolutely delish spooned over the top. Also good with potatoes.

Polish layover

when your tickets get goofed up and you accidentally need a place to sleep for a night because you failed to notice the scheduling mix up (but you're just glad the flight was booked for the day after you arrived instead of the day before you arrived...follow me? oh well, never mind) Well anyway, you're just glad for smiling faces... happy to share their food and space with you

and if there's a bit of this to go with it all... welllllllll Thanks E & L!

Summer!!

It's nearly over. I had great big visions of posting pix sooner, writing a bit- and didn't. I got distracted. Going through pix tonight and trying to find some interesting ones...they're all interesting to me! Let me know what YOU think! ;)

First off- this one's for Wand-errrrr this apron's always a hit. This year, we each picked an animal and named it after each other On a good day, the view out the upstairs windowbut there were a lot of other moments... (this one came with a rainbow- see it? You know what that means... and we had a lot of rain and a lot of storms)more rainbowrun chickie chick chicks... there's surely another storm comingyeah, thought so...pretty eh? you should see what the ground looked like...uh-huh...we had 3 hail storms this day; the last one produced big onesthey looked like cloves of garlic... these went into the freezer to show Dad laterthere were plenty (you've never seen hail, proly... right? right?)afterwards, clearing up a bit... but another one on the waymade for interesting skiesok- there was more than storms happening... we did a lot of this... and it was quite nice, thanksand some of this! Yes, that's the paddle from the middle of an ice cream-maker... and in fact, Phyllis is cleaning this one off... what's a person to do when they hand it to you, plunk? There's only one right answer...and P got it right! then there was the weekend. We were on the bus when this lovely equine specimen pulled up and patiently waited while his people had a chit-chat with someone. This is typical harness for horses in Northern Ukr; further south, there's no collar involved- just the leather.after the horse and the bus ride, we waited for someone near a coffee/ice cream/dessert stand... another situation where you have to make sure to do the right thing...yes, I think we're figuring it out!indeed we are! (that kid on the right? freshman univ student in Kyiv this fall... this just isn't right... she was about 2 inches tall when I came to Ukr... well OK- maybe 6 inches... or 10... but not very tall...at all... where does the time go?!)ah yes... then there's Murka. She's a good kitty... really...but twice we had a little incident wherein Murka-the-Good snuck inside at night. Both times she got royally chewed out by Someone... Me, in fact. So she did this.Both times. She brought me a mouse and made sure I saw it. And when I petted her, let her know I saw it, she took it off and... well, we can only assume what she did...

but I imagine it cu-RUNCH-ed and then we came to the wire... a phone call... someone's coming to sleep in this bed... soon...but that wasn't the worst of it... oh no. This bed's person was en route, too. Yikes. Boogie. I did. (and everyone had a bed by nightfall...)and then there was this sunset as I headed back across the road for the umpteenth time lugging something or other. :):)ah yes- this one has me wrapped around her wee little finger... how about those bows, eh? We nearly have the same name... not quite but almost... only she looks good in a hat and bows... heh... and then there was this... the apron... the pic is for his wife, actually... both wives should be impressed, really...and if you like potatoes (we DO, we DO) then you must peel potatoesI loved this view and the windows and door framing itMoving South

We have a combine in the wheat fieldyes, we dowhat I was trying to get but missed was the man with the pitchfork walking behind the combine periodically removing the chaff from the combine's belly. Never seen that before... (he was just glad it was a small field, he was)and then back north...

this was my across-the-aisle-neighbor on the bus I can't imagine having led a life as hard as hers must have been and still have to haul around on public transportation... she sat down and conked out... and stayed that way for a good long time.

and then there was the train ride with this little monkey-shine. She and her mom were there when we got there. Kids usually don't make for a good train trip but this one was good as gold.she was a doll... and everyone knew it!

there are more...a lot more...but this is enough for tonight. g'night!