hello? hello? helloooooooo?

Just because it's been a LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG time and so that you'll know there's still life here. ;)

I, uh, don't like it at all. Unless it's toasted in granola. Just because.
(But you're cute, Dolly, you are.) 

Did I ever tell you about my co who could swallow a WHOLE handful of pills in one go...with one gulp of water...and one swallow? And how one time her hearing aid ended up in that pile of pills? And how she could even manage all the pills AND the hearing aid with one swallow of water? It's quite the story. And it's true. :) (And she was quite the lady- I miss her!)

Pinterest Fail

Or it would be if I'd gotten the idea off of Pinterest.

And no- There won't be a pic of this fail. It is delicious, though. Remember that!
You know those white chocolate covered pretzel things that have been on the scene a few years now? The ones that are first dipped in melted white chocolate and then rolled in/sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies? Here---> These Things. Well I do love them. And I've made them several times. And, you know, they've always turned out pretty decently. Someone brought me the makings not so long ago. Yesterday seemed like the time to make some. And for the first time ever- Wow. I mean those babies are UGLY. I mean the chocolate did not at all cooperate and they are.... just.... amazingly unpretty. (They taste good, however. Their deliciousness is directly proportional to their ugliness.) :)

And then there's the win.
Someone made eggnog last week and promised to save some for me...and didn't. At all. Boo-hoo. So, I went shopping for eggs and cream yesterday and made some MYSELF. So there. And guess what? It is Exceedingly Delicious! This is the recipe (pretty simple, actually). I made half a recipe, omitted the rum and used 2 small tubes of rum flavoring instead. Try it. I'm not kidding. If you like eggnog, you will LOVE this stuff!

This is exactly how I feel about math. Unfortunately, I was never very good at pushing numbers. And- speaking of math. I saw how my nephew is learning math now. It looked like a nightmare come true. If we thought math was hard in our day, I'm not sure what these poor kids have. At least our math problems never took a whole page PER problem until well into calculus. Goodness. I really don't understand how the new way is anything but more confusing.

It is that time of year. Again. Already. I'm sort of stunned. 2014 seemed to just vanish. Here's wishing you all the best possible 2015...keeping in mind that this might not come about exactly how we think but that it will be the best if we are careful on our part to choose wisely. And I'm off to have a 'cup of kindness'--- see above re that eggnog! ;)

The Fridge Got Married

What do you think about that??

No, Not THAT Fridge.

This Fridge.

This is the fridge that lives in our kitchen.
And, Why Yes, there IS a story.
Thank you for asking!

Just over a week ago, we went down south. All the way to the end of the world south...well, the end of Ukraine, anyway. Down to the mouth of the Danube River. And when we got back to our cozy little apt up here in the sort of north, we made a wee discovery.
First of all, we got into town really early. I mean really. (Because our city is in the middle and all trains are on their way to some end city a few hours, at least, down the road. And they want to be there at 6 am. Ugh.) And the night train had been HOT. As in SoHotICan'tSleep Hot. There was one 2hour stretch that I never noticed the time. (This is paybacks for never having had kids and losing sleep getting up with fussy babies. Nights on trains. So that I know what it's like. I feel your pain, I do. And do you know what? You cannot sit up in a rocking chair and cuddle the hot train and enjoy the smell of the top of its head while you're not sleeping.)
Anyway- so when we got back to the apt, we crawled straight into bed for a few more hours. Like 3 or 4.
And then I rolled out to the kitchen in search of cereal and coffee. And noticed the fridge light didn't come on.
And further more, the milk is...whoa- Very Sour. And Completely Warm. Oh dear.
And so's everything else. Everything. Everything is basically room temperature. Sure enough- it's off and has been for a while.
Long story somewhat shorter.
The fridge was plugged into a power strip with an auto shutoff in the event of a major power surge. There had apparently been just such a surge while we were away. That feature on the power strip likely saved the fridge. (Because of the ongoing crisis with Russia there is a bit of a problem with power supply just now- some days, the power is shut off for a few hours during peak usage time so that the commercial centers and hospitals near us have what they need. When it's turned on again, there are some pretty big surges.) However, you have to manually flip a switch to get juice back into the cord. Heh. And that takes a person. Present. Which there wasn't.
So, we talked to the landlord and he found and brought over a little surge protector that you set to a max output. If it tops that, it shuts off until the output drops below that level and stays there for 90 seconds or some such thing.

Here it is. See it? It and the fridge are Very Happy together.

See that number? 229? 
heh
We have 220 volt outlets here, theoretically. Our landlord tried it at his house (in a village on the outskirts of town) and said Set it to trip at 235 and you'll be fine. 
Thanks, We said.
We did.
And our fridge never stayed on for more than about 5 min at a time. This'll never work, We said.
Call the landlord back who consults his fellow electrical engineers at work.
Oh yes, in town it's quite high, They said. Set it at 250, They said.
We did.
The fridge runs and is happy. And that little gadget often registers outputs of around 245.
I'm telling you- Don't Put a Fork in Our Outlets. You Will Be SORRY!

And furthermore, I now understand why people unplug their washers every time they're finished with the laundry. I do, too.... now. And I also no longer leave my laptop plugged in when I'm not using it. 

The Picture I Didn't Take

It's a dark and starry night. We were on a bus and had been for a long time. I put Galadriel safely in her linen case and tucked her into my bag (Galadriel is my Kindle- we're good friends. She goes everywhere with me and has for 4 years or so.)
So, on the bus and thinking This trip has been so long already, it'll surely be time to get off soon. It's dark, I'd better get ready for disembarkation, in you go  Galadriel.
And up I come for some air just as this Man gets on the bus. He must have been wearing cowboy boots.... although I couldn't see his feet. But surely. Or leather biker boots. He was in jeans and a (PossiblyProbablyFake) leather jacket with shiny silver studs and buttons and rivets and things all over the shoulders and upper back and this really pretty cool black (PossiblyProbablyFake) leather cowboy hat.... and a big square brick red child's backpack on his back. The backpack had Wily E Coyote on it. I wanted so bad to get a pic but it was just too dark. K says it was surely his young son's (assuming such a child exists).
I'm here to tell you- A red Wily E Coyote backpack will undo your cool so fast.

Also there was a beggar. At a bus station. There are always beggars. Mostly they look like they need money for their next bottle of liquor or shot of something bad and illegal... or they're gypsies. This one got on and asked if anyone had any bread. I've never actually heard anyone ask for a piece of bread. I had a small bag of apples from a friend plus an apple I'd wrapped in a napkin and bagged before we left our apartment. People gave him some food and money as he moved towards the back of the bus and I dug around for the separate apple. Found a piece of chocolate candy along the way. He can have that,  too, I think. Everyone likes chocolate candy. And then Ahhh- the apple all wrapped in its napkin alone in its bag. I give it to him, he thanks everyone politely and leaves. And then I remember that there was also a small clear plastic baggie of dirty wet wipes and kleenex. And I suddenly wonder which bag I handed over. I dig. And come up with no bag at all. Neither the apple nor the garbage. Ughh.
Two hours later, I find the bag of trash and am completely overwhelmed with relief.

Also there was an overheard conversation. K was in the seat ahead of me. A man gets on and sits beside K. Thinking about our stop in the dark at an unfamiliar spot in the road, she asks him Where are we?
He names some unknown place.
Where are you going, he asks?
She says.
He says Oh that's a LONG ways yet and names off about 10 stops before ours. Then he peers at her.
Where are you from, he asks?
America, she says.
Where, he asks??
America.
WHERE??!?
She looks at him. I live in Ternopil (that's where our apartment is).
Oh, he says. Ok. Ternopil he can cope with.

Today I rode the bus with a Hapsburg jaw. And wondered what the chances were that it actually was one.... our just that kind of a jaw.
Ask your Uncle Google. ;-)

And lunch?

It was delicious!

No pix but a link. I was given this recipe this morning.  I found the website it came from (look back there).
But no pix. Not even of my incarnation.
But take my word for it- It was very nice.

Chicken With Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients

·         4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)

·         1 tablespoon olive oil (I used more)

·         4 garlic cloves, minced (Should have used more)

·         1/4 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil; 1/2 ounce), patted dry and coarsely chopped

·         3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

·         1/4 cup cooking wine (link calls for dry white wine; I used red and it was fine.)

·         3/4 cup chicken broth

·         1/4 cup heavy cream

·         1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, turning once, about 6 minutes total. (Chicken will not be cooked through.) Transfer with tongs to a plate. (I cut the chicken into large pieces at this point; strips would also be nice.)

(This is where I added about another TBS of olive oil so that the garlic wouldn't burn as the skillet was quite sticky.) Add garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper flakes to skillet and sauté, stirring, until garlic is pale golden, about 1 minute. Add wine and boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, covered.

Add chicken to skillet with any juices accumulated on plate and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. Stir cream and 2 tablespoons basil into sauce in skillet and bring just to a simmer.

Transfer sauce to a deep heatproof bowl or 1-quart glass measure and purée with an immersion blender until almost smooth. (Alternatively, blend sauce in a standing blender. Use caution when blending hot liquids.) If necessary, add water to thin to desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper.
Serve sauce over chicken and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil.
This one, as far as I'm concerned, is a keeper. It was fantastic. And, I'm pretty sure it'd be very nice with roasted peppers instead of (or in addition to) the dried tomatoes.

When Life is Ended

Last week I wrote about our old friend Fedir, who seemed to be nearing the end of his life. Fri morning we learned that he'd passed away the day before. Yesterday a group of around 20 of us celebrated Thanksgiving early. True to tradition in many homes, we each shared something for which we are thankful. What's been on my mind since hearing of F's passing: I'm so thankful he didn't have to face another winter. I'm so glad he could go before winter truly set in. I'm thankful he could go. 

Ukrainian fun'ls generally happen very quickly after the death; this one was Saturday morning. A handful of people from 3 corners of Ukraine simply dropped what they were doing, threw some things into backpacks and jumped onto buses...and by early Sat morning, Dima's house was full of tired but happy (maybe thankful is a better word?) travelers. K and I cancelled our plans and got D's house ready for guests. Cooking. Making beds. Putting out towels. (I LOVE to make beds and do towels. And I love to do that at D's- it's so organized there! There's plenty of room.) We all piled into D's van and were on our way (having picked up funeral wreaths first) to the village by about 9.10. It's an hour's ride to F's village. We had a short service in F's daughter's house. Neighbors and family came and went. At 12 noon, a truck came to collect the body and we all walked (about 45 min) to the cemetery. Another short service and it was done. One life quietly and orderly tucked away. 

Funerals are for the survivors. And one thing about this one- we all spent much time reflecting on F himself, on choices he made and stuck with, on what his life had become and the very sweet release death was for him. And on this: God likes to finish His work. 

procession through town (Yes, it was very muddy and sloppy. A long walk to the cemetery but it warmed us up...and we were very much in need of warming up. No heat in the house where the fun'l had been, cold outside. We were individual blocks of ice. The walk felt good.)

Entering the cemetery

The Ushytsya River near F's house. His village takes its name from this river.

I'm glad I knew F. I will miss him. I'll miss the long drive out to his house. I'll miss the delicious grapes that grow on the arbor by the house, the wonderful pears from the tree in the yard. But most of all, I'll miss him. I'll miss hearing his stories. He had so much to share and I'm only just realizing that we didn't ask half what we should have. All older folks have much to share. The oldest generation here in Ukraine, however, has seen so much. They've survived wars and famine and several major changes in government- not just in officials but complete changes in government. F was born when his part of Ukr belonged to (Poland- I think)- before the red army and the Russians overwhelmed Western Ukr.

And for the record: When I'm buried- I want an Amish casket. I don't want a $10,000 overpriced funeral home special. I want a pine box made by an Amishman. 

Remembering summer

I started this post ages ago while waiting in a cafe for a bus. And um. It never got off the ground. Now that it's cold out, I get the urge to do a shout out to summer!
:)

We saw some truly gorgeous sunsets in June. Looking out over the lake. 

And there seemed to be an unusual number of rodents and other pests around. Ugh. These dudes were divided up evenly among the cats and dogs, I found out later. :)

There's a portable a/c unit in the wood storage/furnace room....

....which is where we stored the veggies....

....and created a walk-in cooler, Ukie style! :)

I love calzones...and I had a very delicious one at the end of June!

Ukraine is full of poppies in the early summer. The roadsides and fields are gorgeous when they're blooming!

Keeping cool on the bus. Hold 2 straight-from-the-fridge bottles of water to your face. :)

July in Greece on Crete. On the brown side of Crete, the only side I've seen. This is at the historic site of the ancient palace at Knossos. It's one of my favorite places. For whatever reason, it completely captures my interest. I could spend hours roaming here, reading the placards, looking at the stuff, listening to the guides. These earthenware jars were used for storing water, olive oil, olives...and likely anything else that they needed to store. Some are estimated to have held over a ton of liquid.
Links to Knossos: wikipedia, web images, here, here

More of the ruins at Knossos.

again, Knossos

If Ukraine is hot in the summer, Greece is HOTTER. It's a different kind of heat. Ukraine is humid and close. Greece feels like the inside of an oven, sometimes a convection oven. Very hot and very dry. I spent hours on the roof of a house stretched out on a blanket in a narrow strip of shade under this little roof-let getting ready for things to come...and also simply having a bit of a siesta. Almost nothing happens between about 1 or 2 pm and 5 pm- Siesta is a serious business. Well, for one thing, it's too hot to move during that time. Everyone hops up again afterwards and roars on till midnight, though. :) 

Climbing Mars Hill in Athens.

The view from Mars Hill

Greek dogs sort of reminded me of Ukrainian dogs. :)

The Parthenon is in a semi-permanent state of restoration. 

More restoration. Interestingly enough, although construction on the Parthenon was begun in 447 BC, it was intact and in excellent shape for more than 1000 years. The Ottoman Turks had conquered it, turned it into a mosque and then also used it for an ammunition dump. The Venetians bombarded it and exploded it in 1867. Wikipedia, web images

Back in Ukraine. A team of horses; one has its foal along, a very common sight in the summer.

I love this honeysuckle vine. It add so much sweetness to each of the hot summer days!

More pix of the yard I saw every day for most of June. I love this place!

Hello Monday!

Having never had a kidney stone, I laughed robustly (but pretty quietly) over this one. Can the I'v-had-a-kidney-stone crowd also laugh? 

It's Monday. Unlike most people, I love Mondays. And have for slightly more than 20 years now. Ever since the big 'career' change. When Sunday is your biggest day of the week well, Monday is like a breather. At least when it's a quiet day..and ours tend to be. Thankfully.
Yesterday we visited our old and blind friend out in a village. The village is down a long and very pot-holey road that winds up and down and in and out of several major ravines. To me, the village is on the way to nowhere although there must be something farther down the road. Back to our friend. He's 86, blind, poor, stubborn...and has had an interesting life. He was forced into the Russian army at some point. When he'd had enough of that, he left. Deserted, I suppose, but he's never been a fan of the Russians. He was jailed (I think for deserting) and escaped from jail. He might have done that twice. He has grown children and grandchildren. He's a widower. And he's nearing the end of his road here. When we were with him yesterday, for a little while, I thought we'd be there with him as he finished. We weren't. We left when one of his daughters came to sit with him for a while. What struck me most yesterday was how strong his will to live is. We humans hang on to life with just about everything in us, it seems. Speaking was very difficult for him but he talked about the pills he was taking to make him better.
F's eyesight has been fading for the entire 14 years I've known him. His sense of hearing has been remarkable though, and for a long time, he knew everyone that visited him by their voice. Then that faded as his hearing faded. Another thing that struck me yesterday is that his hearing is better again. He once again knew me by my voice. The pic is from 2 years ago. 

Just a few fairly random thoughts.
My birthday is past again. I really like birthdays- my own and other people's. Our family never did anything big (or as my mom's family would say 'large') for birthdays but it was always a fun day. I remember the thrill of having a short birthday party at school- I loved having treats for the other kids and passing them out. I also remember Mom bringing cake in to school. That was fun! (I wonder if you can still do that? If not, I feel sorry for today's kids.) 
Back in the fall of 2007, I joined Facebook. And some time after that found out how much fun a F/B birthday is. Why? Well, of course, Because of all the birthday wishes from friends. Let me just say that, with a very few exceptions, all my F/B 'friends' are actual real honest-to-goodness friends and acquaintances. There are a small handful whom I've not met and even fewer of those who I likely will never meet. I don't collect F/B friends randomly or just for the fun of it. And just now, when I finally had the chance to read through the b/d wishes on F/B, I loved thinking of the people who had taken the time to leave a greeting. So many of the posts brought back specific and special memories of the posters. I can honestly say that these do more for me than just give me a temporary happy feeling. But then, I think that is part of what this great family is all about! We do help each other along the way.
And along that line- I've thought of our hymn- I Would Be True. Most of you probably know it. I often think of the line 'because of those who trust me'. And more than anyone will ever know, that has helped me. I'm glad that we need each other. And I'm glad that we have each other.

I love animals. I've always loved both cats and dogs. I've not ever really enjoyed sharing living space with a hair-shedding pet, though. But this cat is a rather special one. Someone callously said that the only reason he wanted to park right here on me was that he was cold, having just come in from outside. Whatever. It was still rather purringly special! ;) This dude's name is 'Fenya'. His favorite food is potato peelings (!). He also eats mice...but seldom catches his own. He likes to have them trapped and then hand-delivered! ;)

It's definitely time........

To do this again! Admit it- You've just been pining away for a comics post! ;)

  

This just made me grin. Isn't friendship a bit like that, though? Sometimes I think we give to and take from a friendship X and Y. And in the other person's eyes, it's more like M and N. But it's friendship. And it endures. In spite of different sunglasses and book clubs. :)

I have this J-boy nephew. He was 2 1/2 when I met him. And so lively and curious and full of life. And one day, he climbed onto the seat and then the arm rests and then the back of his daddy's swivel desk chair. His momma and I were chatting away. His momma had just warned him not to do that particular bit of climbing. And then the chair spun and he spun ever so gracefully and magically pirouetted from the chair back to the arms to the seat all while the chair spun around. And then he looked at us with huge eyes and said: Momma! How'd I do that Momma? How Momma, How?!??? And no one could answer him. The universe was deliciously random that day! And he was heart-stoppingly adventurous!

  

But after they're done with their little bit of boxing ring madness, they make delicious banana bread. As I remembered again just last week. :) (Warm banana bread, soft butter, a cup of tea. Do you get it???) 

I have a friend. A dear friend. When she's visiting here in Ukr and someone rings her doorbell, she loves to say 'Друг или Враг?' (Rus'n for 'Friend or Foe'?) Which can be sort of puzzling to the locals. But is sure a lot of fun! ;)

The students here? They love Google. In fact, they call (him) 'Uncle Google'. "Just a minute, I'll ask Uncle Google..."

Catered small parties are great! I like this guy. (But I don't like his shirt.)

See this? This pic of the red sauce? Do you even know how yummy it is and how easy it is to make? This is the reason to eat pasta. It's the reason to eat bread sticks (which you really really need, right? I thought so).

Ok. So now look at that up there. That would be a cheese quesadilla from here. (Prepackaged, ready to heat and eat.) But they're super easy to make, too. And super yummy.
Yesterday, our Tuesday evening English club stood us up. Completely. But K had already made the quesadillas. There was a part of a jar of whole canned tomatoes in the fridge. There is oregano, basil and black pepper in the cupboard. There is garlic in the fridge. After peeling those 'maters, I rough-chopped them and dumped them into a small kettle. And liberally added the basil and oregano. Pressed a clove of garlic into it. Added a dash of salt and a dash of pepper. Mixed. Simmered for about 10 min. (No onions or olive oil this time. Actually, I don't typically use olive oil in my sauce but most recipes call for it. If I use onion, though, I always saute it in a bit of oil. Onward.)
So then we ate those leftover, reheated quesadillas with this wonderful marinara sauce. I'm telling you, it's been a good day! So delicious. And so easy. And so.....
Happy. That is the perfect word for it! And you know what? Turns out you can marry Mexican and Italian food to each other (especially if you're in Ukraine using substitutes for the quesadillas-

ha) and everyone's pretty happy with the situation! (all about lavash)
Marinara sauce pic from here.
And then I had Earl Gray tea and that really made life full of purrs.
:)

oh boy

Umm
Have you (fountainmist) seen this??? Oh Boy. Oh my. (Blood sugar level is an issue, keep calm and don't click just dream. But wow- whaddadream!) ;)

And is this a bit.... uff? Not even really funny.

And I guess that's me for now. I'm here, you're there. Life spins. That's not so bad, is it? :)

Gulp

Every week we spend time with our always interesting, very special and somewhat eccentric friend Dima. His big thing for several years now has been gathering and drying many different plants and then making various tinctures, extracts and teas which he consumes himself and also generously shares with interested parties. (Aside: It's his "fireweed extract" that has significantly diminished my migraines. Hooray!)
He's also a huge fan of cottage cheese-based fruit smoothies for supper (Delicious!), mutton (Also Yum although four+ meals a week of it is a bit much maybe) and homemade raw fresh-squeezed fruit juices. His latest juice love is mixing various fruit juices with the juice of an onion. All freshly squeezed (or maybe "pressed" or "squashed" are better choices; I'm not sure you can "squeeze" an onion...) So,  in spite of not liking raw onions at all (because they really really upset my stomach and leave me feeling queasy and yucky for hours), because I'm a sucker and he's a good salesman, I tried a spoonful of it. Apple,  pear and onion. And felt rotten all night. I don't exactly recommend it. Ugh.

There's a tumbochka, too

That little divanchyk settee thing is part of a set. There's a little (well really,  it's kind of big, heavy and awkward) low table on wheels with storage underneath, too. Since the storage is only accessible by lifting the very heavy wooden top,  it's empty- except for a set of dirty sheers belonging to the landlord. In any case,  this brilliant piece of Soviet craftsmanship was the same red and black checked pattern as that poor divanchyk/settee- Oooo- ugly. So I also took the curtain and sleeping bag liner leftovers to it and,  with the help of that fabulous staple gun, gave it a new outlook on life.
And no, as someone noted in the comments a couple posts back- There are no before pix. None. Zip. Zero. I guess I was just too excited to stop long enough to do that.
Ahem.
And there are 2 more covered pillows now, both inflatable and fairly unexciting... although both tie shut with darling little ribbons. And that plain white pillow top got a simple white hankie with a simple blue  embroidered peacock stitched to the top. Sometime,  somewhere I got a ton of hankies,  mostly pretty... and I don't use hankies. They're fun little pretty-me-ups. And there are no pix of these newly-altered pillows. :-)

Oh the pillows?

Well yes,  I've been working on those pillows. As sometimes happens,  our plans for today were canceled. Everyone's looking out for the army these days and today was some big something or other to raise funds for the army. So people did that instead of come to our place. So I spent a good part of the afternoon working on this pillow. It's simple, yes I know. It has piping,  though. Some I made this time. And,  uh, it took me awhile to find the right presser-foot for the sewing machine and then to find the right cording for the piping (Are you taking note, Charlene?! You're absolutely right, It's The Piping!!)

Plus there was a simple square feather pillow to do (it needed a new casing as well as a new cover). And then there was the fun little new pillow! For a long time,  there  have been  four little, basically useless, tiny roundish neck-type pillows floating around this room. Noone ever used them and,  like everything else,  they matched nothing. K latched onto the foam one when she saw what kind peril it was in; I nabbed the other three  and had a party! One was regular fiberfill batting; one was  stuffed with puffy poly fiber balls; the last was stuffed with what looks like the hulls from something like millet. I made a casing,  put it all inside,  mooshed it around to a pleasant consistency and sewed it shut... and then made the cover. There 

are two more to go. :-)   

What to do? Besides wait...

We were waiting at the bus station. Well really,  we were waiting at a nice café near the bus station. The were no tickets on the bus we needed and the next bus was 2 1/2 hours later. 

So I  started a post of  some of my favorite shots from this summer.   I'll do the pix now and maybe do captions later since I'm once again waiting at that café for that same bus... and the Blogger app is not particularly user friendly. Urp.