Fiber Arts Exhibit at the Museum

Yesterday I went to the Fiber Arts Exhibition at the Museum of Natural and National History here in Kherson (it was translated to me as the Museum of Local Lore - I just gave it the title of what is actually in the museum). My tutor, Lyudmilla, and my team mate, Melinda, went with me.

I went to another exhibition there a couple years ago. Really enjoyed that one a lot, so wanted to see this one, too.

This one was very different. First, there was a size limit on the submissions. According to the website, they could be no bigger than (30x30x30cm). Actually, here is the add for it:

2011
THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ON MINI TEXTILE

June 15 - 22, 2011, Kherson, Ukraine

International juried exhibition on mini textile (30x30x30cm). Artists from all over the world, who work in different techniques of textile are invited.
Deadline for slides, photos and CV - 1 February 2011.
Please contact to receive the Entry Form.
http://anschnei.public.kherson.ua
anschnei@public.kherson.ua

If you click on this, you will find information on another exhibition to be held later this year - FIBERMEN - for men only. I think that's a wonderful idea. I'm hoping to go to that exhibition, too, when it happens in October. If we are here then - we might be in a different part of the country at that time. We'll see.

Anyway, the exhibit was "interesting". The pieces were small and made of many kinds of "fiber" - paper, metal, cloth, string, wool, felt, etc. Some were painted, some were felted, some were woven, some were cut out. Some of them were nice to look at, one was obscene, and most were the kind where I stood there and said, to myself AND outloud - HUH?? There were 3 or 4 I would have hung on my wall in the livingroom if they'd been given to me. I would not have bought any of them. I'm very picky about things like this, I guess.

However, we enjoyed it. A lot. I want to go again. And I have several ideas running around in my head now about things I could make like that. (Such as - get out the sewing machine and just stitch random patterns in a contrasting color to the fabric, mount it and hang it on the wall - I don't know why, but I could do that - or give it to a friend for a birthday present....). No, actually, I do have some real ideas. Don't know if I'll ever get around to them because I have so many other things I want to do, need to do, as well as just live every day life. Laundry and vacuuming do exist in my world.

After we looked at all the exhibits, Lyudmilla, Melinda and I then looked at an exhibit on the Cossacks and Tatars in Ukraine many years ago. You know, those long baggy pants in red or blue cloth, can kind of look like a skirt when a man is just standing there getting his photo taken - but somehow there is NEVER any question as to his maleness, his masculinity. No, infact, I find them very attractive. Too bad guys don't wear those anymore, except in reinactments! (The photos were from the 1800's or early 1900's I'd guess.)

Quite often they are portrayed wearing red or blue pants. In fact, that is what traditional dancers wear.

After the museum, we walked up to the main walking street and stopped at a little shop that sells Italian Gelato. Yum yum! I had a scoop of lemon and a scoop of "forest berries" which turned out to be cranberry. Both were very tart, the berries being more tart than the lemon. It was exactly what was needed. Lyudmilla had never had this before and I enjoyed her delight in tasting the 3 different kinds I bought for her. :-) It was a simple pleasure on both our parts. The lemon, however, was too tart for her taste. She did, however, love the chocolate. :-)

Outside it was hot, and more than a bit humid for me. I do not like being covered in sweat all the time. In fact, I'd brought along a dry washcloth to wipe the sweat off my face while in the museum, but used it the whole time I was away from home. I noticed Melinda doing the same thing with a tissue and a younger woman on the marshrutka home using what looked like a hankie. It was miserably hot and humid for me, but then I was raised in very dry Colorado.

So, now I have ideas running around in my head about new things to create with my hands, with the loom, with floss and needle. However, at this exact moment what I need to do is create something with flour, sugar, eggs and butter! Tomorrow is one of our team mates birthdays and I'm bringing the dessert for our team dinner. So - off to the kitchen I go to at least get started.

Have been busy lately. Not the kind of 'run around town and get lots of errands done' kind of busy. No, just the kind where I do stuff all day long and then wonder where the time went and why didn't I ever take time to write on my blog?

Have finished part of what I had set as my goal on the blanket I'm cross-stitching. It goes really fast when I set small goals and work toward them. I don't feel so overwhelmed by the whole project. I finish the little section, or the item (like a flower, or the stems of several, or a butterfly) and then I put it all down some place where I can just look at it. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with the individual stitches - and especially the ones that aren't "perfect" - that I can't see the overall blanket. That's why I do the 'setting apart' exercise. After an hour or so, whenever I pass it and see it, all I see is the completed whole, not the individual stitches.

Does that make sense? :-)

I like what I'm seeing in the completed whole. The good news, too, is that I'm well over half-way finished now. It needs to be done by the end of the month, according to what I heard on Sunday, but that's not going to happen. If everything goes as planned, I may have to mail it rather than give it to the person I'm making it for. If that's the case, that's ok. Not my first choice, but ... many things in life are not first choices.

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Wow, my typing this morning is really weird - I keep transposing letters and making new words, or wrong words. :-)

I decided on the spurr of the moment yesterday to go out and clean our section of the stairwell. It's been driving me crazy. Every time I go out there all I see is all the stuff spilled on the walls. It has never been like that before, in all of the 12 years we've lived here, I've never seen stuff spilled on the walls.

Now that makes me wonder - what the heck went on while we were gone?? Most of it looked like coffee or hot chocolate. In America it is common to see people walking around with cups of liquid, sipping from them, possibly splashing a bit here or there as they walk, etc. But not here. No, here you might see someone with a bottle of beer or a bottle of water. Very rarely do you see someone drinking a bottle of soda (most soda is sold in 2 liter bottles, not smaller). But coffee? No way! Coffee is drunk after a meal and maybe for breakfast and that's about it.

So, what was that stuff on the walls, spilled here and there for 3 or 4 flights of stairs in our stairwell, starting about shoulder height? I have no idea.

I started by going out and sweeping all of the stairs from the landing above us (dirt comes down as people come down) to the landing below us (dirt comes up as people come up). There was a lot of dirt, even though I swept all of this a month ago (apparently I'm the only one sweeping them).

Then I came back in the flat, put on one latex glove (the kind used by doctors), got a bowl of cool water with some Mr. Proper in it :-), grabbed a rag made out of one of Mel's old sport socks, and went out and washed 3 flights worth of walls. You know, our walls are lime green and white - only the lime green is washable. The white is whitewash and just comes off with water - not good. I also washed the brown paint on each side of each step. I did not wash the brown paint that encircles each landing - I need a mop for that due to all the bending over.

The water was filthy. I figure that is the first time those walls have ever been washed since the building was built. Since they were painted a few years ago (I think I wrote about that, but I'm not going to go looking for that post right now), there was only a few years worth of dirt and grime on them.

When I come up the steps I always lightly touch the wall with my right hand since my left hand has my purse in it and the left is where the banister is at. That light touch just kind of steadies me on my way up. Then I come in and immediately wash my hands. Well, last night we went out to find the lunar eclipse and when coming back up later, I could feel the difference immediately when I got to the part I'd washed. It was slick and smooth - and clean! :) :) :)

This makes me happy.
Now - if I could just feel that happy about dusting, mopping and vacuuming here in our flat.........

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Yes, we went out and walked around in the mostly dark for awhile until we found the eclipse of the moon. Finally found it just a couple doors down our own building. Figures. The street view was too bright due to street lights (would rather have the lights than the eclipse), there were too many 5 and 9 story buidlings in the way or there were too many trees with lots of leaves on their branches to see the sky. Just down the walkway in front of our building, tho, just a few meters away, was a clear view of the sky.

The moon was really tiny, way up there in the sky. Tiny and very orangish red. I was disappointed. After seeing the eclipse in Colorado last December, this one was hardly worth looking at. Teeny tiny moon, not so good view, hot and humid air. We went back inside.

Finally, just 15 minutes before it was all over, I discovered a link to a live view of the eclipse. I clicked on it and watched the end of the eclipse. That was as good as what I watched in Colorado last December! Bigger moon here on my computer than up there in the sky - and even here on the computer it was, what?, 3 inches across at most? :) :) :) But it was way too cool watching the sunlight come back there on the far left side, turning the moon from dull copperish-red back to brilliant white.

By the way, this eclipse, viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, was 'blood red' due to the ash in the upper atmosphere from two volcanoes erupting. Hmmm - I need to write about that, too, but it's going to have to wait. Anyway, there are End Times implications for that, according to several websites I've read. More about that later, too.

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And now, I must go get dressed, make a couple phone calls and get busy with my day. What I do is going to depend on what I learn from the phone calls.

Bye.

We've Come To See The Tapestries!

I've been working a lot on my embroidery project and my left thumb is beginning to tell me about it. Bummer. Woke up with pain in it this morning.

I love doing embroidery, though. Absolutely love it. Actually, it's a big cross-stitch blanket again, not a true embroidery project.

There is something magical about taking a needle and colored thread, pushing the needle in and out of the fabric in specific ways, changing the colors here and there in specific patterns and ending up with a beautiful 'painting on cloth.' It's so simple. So beautiful. So easy. (So time consuming, written in a whisper.) And the results can last well past the life-time of the artist who creates the whole thing.

Reminds me of visiting Stirling Castle several years ago and seeing this:

We actually got to watch a woman work on one of the tapestries while we were there. This is part of what began my interest in weaving, although I know that tapestry weaving is very different than what I'm learning right now.

While in Izmir, Turkey 10 years ago, we took a tour and saw rug weaving. This flicker account has a couple photos posted of what we watched. Here is one of them:

The photographer posted a couple other photos on his account as well. Check them out! (I wish we'd had digital photography and flicker accounts when WE went to Turkey!) I guess that this was my first real introduction to this sort of craft, not the tapestries at Stirling Castle. Wherever it happened, I would love to do this myself.

Sometimes when I think about things like this I wonder if we'll be able to do these kinds of things in heaven. I've probably written about this before, if so, forgive me for repeating myself. But in the New Heaven and New Earth - will we do things like this? Perfectly, over eternity to learn our craft, practice our craft, become better and better at it? Do it all for the glory of God, our Father and Maker, rather than out of self-pride?

I wonder. And I hope.

God has given us so much creative ability, so many different mediums to work with. A needle and thread. A brush and oils. A stick of chalk. A loom and yarn. A wheel and fleece. A piece of ground and a group of plants. A wheel and a lump of clay. A few sticks and a few dried reeds or grasses.

In our perfected body and mind, completely sinless, no pain, no frustration, no anger - what will we be able to do, to create with our own hands?

And the greatest thing of all - no sin.

Ahhhh - how I look forward to that! No comparing my work to someone else's and being jealous. No fear of causing someone else jealousy. The ability to do it for God with a clean conscience, pure motives, child-like knowledge that He will be pleased with my efforts and love me, no matter how it looks! :)

Someone recently told me that they are not looking forward to heaven because it will be so "boring" doing the same thing all the time. Actually, I began to question that person's salvation, but understood the pressures behind that statement as well (death looming in the family). I look forward to heaven because I'll have all the time I need to do whatever it is that I want to do, to do what needs to be done, to explore, to create, to relax, to live!!!

(PS - the title of this post comes from:

. Whenever I think of tapestries, that quote, originally said by Harrison Ford with a really bad Scottish accent, comes to mind. hahahaha!)

Thoughts on Sarah

Last night, after Ira and little Sasha went home, I got out my blanket again and started working on it. And I thought, 'I should listen to some audio Bible while I work.' (How can I call that 'work'? It's not work - it's a labor of love, er... a joy to play/rest(?)/create!! on. Create - that's a better word.) '....while I create.'

I'd already listened to a sermon or two from Hebrews at various times during the day. Sometimes the listening gets broken up into segments, which is really nice, especially since you can't click on the pause button when you're listening to your husband or the preacher preach. *grin* I had listended to the sermons in Hebrews 11 on Abraham. And I thought to myself - Genesis! I want to listen to Genesis.

I discovered that if I want to start somewhere not at the beginning of a book, I have to download the mp3 file onto my computer, then open the file, highlight the chapter I want to start at and then click the Play All button at the top of the screen. I did all that, starting at chapter 9.

Sometimes you notice more in a passage when you read it after you've heard it preached!

I listened all the way through to, hmmmm - where did I stop? Don't remember the chapter number because I never saw it, just heard it while I was creating. It was during the "This is all your fault, Abraham, that I gave you my maid servant to have sex with so I could become a surrogat mother and now she's thumbing her nose at me" part. I think. It was late by then, well after midnight and I was tired. (Fortunately I was not tied, which is what I typed first and had to correct. With my eyesight, thread and needle in hand, and at that hour, I easily could have indeed been 'tied' as well as tired.)

Listening to the passage, after the sermons earlier, brought lots of non-Biblically answered questions to mind.
- I wonder what the valley looked like before God rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah? The passage said it was green and well-watered. It must have been beautiful! Look at photos of the area now - not quite so green and beautiful.
- The preacher I listened to earlier said Sarah was a bitter and unhappy woman, even though in Peter she is not mentioned that way (his words, paraphrased). I have never understood why people think she was a bitter and unhappy woman. I hated the book, The Red Tent (I think that was the one) where she was also cast in an terrible light. The preacher also said that nowhere in scripture do we learn that Sarah was a Believer. We simply do not know.

I admit - I was shocked. In fact, if I'd heard this sermon first or second of all the sermons I've listened to, I probably would not listen to this man again. It sounded to me like he had a thing against women. Actually, he doesn't, from his other sermons - but I still do NOT like what he said about Sarah. (Maybe I should listen to that sermon again and make sure of what he said....)

Why do people pick on Sarah? I don't get it! Have they never thought about what life was like for her? I think she was a remarkable woman - traipsing around all over the desert with her husband, living in tents
after living in what was probably a pretty wonderful home with a foundation in Ur and Haran, being lied about by her husband - practically handed on a silver platter to Pharoahs TWICE so they could make her their wife and put her in a harem (think 'prison') to use her whenever the urge came over them again, going through her whole life with people thinking of her negatively because she had no children, and so forth and so on. I think people who call Sarah "bitter" have never really thought about what life was like for her. What was she supposed to do? Smile sweetly and submit without ever thinking or feeling or desiring to be a mother? Get real!! She did submit to her husband - and look what it got her - nice accommadations in Pharoah's palace with a view toward his bed. Ei yi yi. Would I ever trust my husband again if he even thought about doing that ONE time?? It may not be completely real, but I prefer to think of Abraham and Sarah like the artist did in the painting above.

Actually, I am rather incensed by it all. And then - the writer of Hebrews talks about how wonderful her husband was and only makes one positive statement about her faith (and that only in context of having a kid) and people assume she was "bitter". I'd laugh, too, if someone told me I was going to have a baby now and I'm only 57, not almost 90. Did God talk to her like He did to Abraham? Questions, questions. Sometimes I think we make too big of assumptions about things we really don't know or understand. Even my questions are based on what life is like now, and for me. How can we truly know and understand the motives of someone unless it is spelled out specifically. This is a case where I wish the Bible said more.

Well, I have more questions and more thoughts on the passages about Abraham and Sarah and Lot (hmmm - now that I think of Lot, I think that's where I stopped last night - at that passage that was so hard to teach in Junior Church when I was going through the Bible chapter by chapter, story by story with the kids. How can you leave out a whole section of scripture if you're teaching the whole scripture? But how do you teach that to a group of kids? VERY carefully and by asking the parents first and explaining how you're going to teach it. I think I did ok - there were no complaints and I did get the point of the chapter across. I think.)

For now, the blanket is calling me, and in a couple hours Nina will be here and a new adventure will begin.

On the Loom

An overwhelming urge to pray for California this afternoon. Almost an overwhelming feeling of sadness accompanies that urge.

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I've started weaving again. Feels good. The scarf I'm making is almost finished. It's supposed to be for me - but I never wear scarves so I may give it away. Well, almost never. When it's -20 F outside I wear a scarf over my mouth.

Nina Upstairs chewed me out for not wear a hat the other day. You would think that after 12 years she would know I don't wear hats unless it's -20 F outside. :-) Ha ha! Actually, I do wear them when it gets well below freezing - around 10 F or so. If I wear them before that, I just sweat in my coat and that's the fastest way to freeze to death. I lived in Alaska, I know these things. (laughing to myself at the abserdity of it all)

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Yes, I've been working on my scarf. It's basic color is black. I'm using 3 skeins - 1 black, 1 varigated black, white and gray, and 1 red. The basic pattern is 5,5,1,5,5,repeat with red being the 1. Because of the verigated skein, some squares end up being larger and totally black, while others end up being 10 black with white/gray on either side. I'll post a photo(s) when I finish. Actually, I'm almost finished, so it might just be in a few hours or a couple days.

I have plans already for the next scarf. I want to try a different weave, not just the simple over under over under, but something different. Along with the loom, Sue bought a book of different weaves you can do on this kind of loom (thank you, thank you, thank you, Sue!!). I'm excited to start trying them out.

What is so wonderful about weaving is that it goes so fast with this size and kind of yarn. I can do several inches in just a few minutes.

Meanwhile, I did start the embroidered blanket and have finished the top left corner already. Like I may have mentioned before, it's a simple pattern and not nearly as detailed as the last blanket I did. I am hoping to have it finished by summer, God willing.

I've got several other projects started and/or in mind as well. I could just keep myself busy for the next year even if I don't do any housework or ministry type things! haha! I'd also end up twice as fat as I already am. So I'm trying to get up and move around many times a day, plus do a set of toning exercises. And as the weather gets better, I'll start walking again. We'll see how it all turns out.

Last FO For A Few Days

I finished knitting this little scarf for Stirling back in March or April, I think. I just never took the time to sew up the seam until tonight. I've decided I have a bunch of things that just need to get finished, I guess!Stirling asked me for a "Stoplight Scarf". I'm not sure what that is, but I got the colors and knitted this, experimenting for the first time with using two colors in one row. Kind of a Fair Isle look. I liked it. Not sure I'm real fond of these colors, but hey, it's a Stoplight Scarf after all! (I'm also not real sure it will be long enough for him, but it wraps around Eithnee's neck a couple of times, with some to spare. She modeled it for me tonight, very proudly I might add. I think Kara's in trouble - she seems to be quite fashion conscience at the ripe old age of 9 months!)

And here is a photo of Eithnee. It's fuzzy, I know - that's because she squinted at the purple light my camera shines each time it takes an indoor photo. I have lots of photos of her making odd faces because of that. But I kind of like this one. I am a grandmother after all! (grin)

FO - But What Is It?

I couldn't sleep last night so I got up, put on my headphones, started a sermon I'd downloaded awhile ago and warped a circular loom with some yarn I've had for several years. I've been thinking about this for several months. I do have another unfinished thing I've been working on, but it requires very small stitches that make my eyes tired very quickly and I need good light to work on it, so it was not an option at 1:30 a.m. Weaving a circle has been on my mind for several months. So! Strike while the iron is hot! Or, do it while I'm motivated. Or, maybe better - what else should I do at that time of night?

I've tried making several things out of this yarn and somehow I just lose the motivation to continue. I really like the color, I just never end up with something I really like. Well, I warped that loom and worked on it until 3:30 a.m. Today I finished it. I looked on the internet to see if anyone else weaves circles and if they do, what do they do with them when they are finished. I found one place, a private blog, where the woman has woven several of these. Then she crochets a band around the edge and makes it into a very nice looking hat

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I need to weave in the tails on the back and edge. It curves up in a slight basket shape, which I did not expect. I had originally thought maybe several of them sewn together might make a shawl or even an afghan. But with this upward curve - and the fact that this is acrylic, not wool so blocking it will not really flatten it all that much - well, what shall I do with it? Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll just ponder it for awhile and some night when I can't sleep again some wild idea will come to me and I'll pop out of bed, hobble into the office room, turn on my little lamp, put on another sermon to listen to and make something interesting in the middle of the night. Ah ha!

I'll just put it into a bag and let it marinate awhile with all my other unfinished projects......

Ta Da! Another FO

Ok, this is not one of the projects that I had half finished, stuck in a box or basket for the past year or 6. No, I started this one about 3 weeks ago and finished it just 5 minutes ago. As you can tell from the photo, it needs to be washed and ironed. Then, and only then, will it be folded, and put away until Christmas. Yes, this is going to be a Christmas present.

I wonder if the person who receives it will notice that the pattern is not centered in the bib of the apron? I didn't notice until 6 minutes ago. hahahahahahahahahaha! Oh my - I'm laughing inside, really, truly. Such is life. At least it wasn't MY mistake, but the company who printed it printed it wrong. I don't think it will be a problem, tho, unless the recipient looks down at her bosom and wonders why it has shifted to the left one day. :-) ;-)

Another One Already!

Yep, finished another project today. I started working on this one again earlier this week. Guess I wove about another 10 inches on it, plus added the fringe today. These things are very quick and easy to make. Actually, the longest part of making them is setting them up. I used drinking straws, regular buttons, and parts of two skeins of yarn. The base threads were plain blue, the ones you can actually see were red, white and blue verigated. It's only 45 or a bit more inches long - made for a child, but will be going to an old folks home in a nearby village tomorrow.

Ok - what's next in my basket of unfinished projects?? Will have another one fairly soon..... :)

Bits n Pieces

Today is a mostly lazy day. I have done some things around the house, to be sure, but mostly we've been relaxing.

Well, I have been relaxing. Mel, on the other hand, is never relaxed the Saturday before he preaches. His mind is constantly going, mulling over this and that. He reads. He studies. He mulls. It's actually a beautiful process to watch and listen to. I like that he talks so much to me while he is in process, verbalizing things, sometimes asking my opinion, sometimes sharing something with me that he's learned that never makes it into his sermon.

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I realize while I'm writing this just how much I like being the age I am right now. The kids are grown and gone. We have the flat to ourselves, the fish and the cat (oh- and of course the ants, too).

I've almost always enjoyed being the age I am at that time. Except being a teenager - I can't say that I really enjoyed being a teenager. But I enjoyed being a young 20's, being a newlywed, then a young mother. I enjoyed watching my kids grow up. I did not enjoy so much watching them leave home, yet at the same time, it was very good to watch them go. Now I enjoy being a grandmother, tho I wish it was not from afar. I'm glad, yes I am really, truly glad, that it is Mel and me alone right now. I enjoy each stage of my life. Besides, I may end up living with one or more of my kids again some day in the future and they can take care of me. {hear an evilish laugh! heh heh heh}

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As I write those words above I am somewhat nervous because I have this nagging suspicion or fear that if I verbalize my pleasure in something, God will change it somehow. Bad way to think, I know, I know. Yet, there is a certain amount of fear that when I enjoy something or someone an awful lot, God will remove it/them so that I concentrate on Him instead. I don't know why I think this way about people. I do know why I think about things and places that way: because God has done just that many times in my life. Removed the thing, moved me, or whatever. It has never been easy for me, but He does it anyway. The good news is that each time, it's just a tiny bit easier to 'let it go.'

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Why am I thinking along these lines this evening? Probably due to the sermon that Mel and I just listened to. It was from Hebrews 11 on Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac to the Lord.

I am so glad I found these sermons by Arturo Azurdia. I think I found them by way of Rebecca Writes. From there I went to Monergism, where Azurdia's sermons/website are listed, along with a whole lot of other things if you go exploring. I have listened to his whole series on Revelation, Mel is most of the way through Hebrews, and we've listened together to a variety of them.

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My last goldfish died. I think I fed it too much. I gave it too much food one day by accident, the next day he/she was laying on the bottom of the pond. Two days Fishie laid there, only moving around when I forced the issue. The 3rd day, he/she was belly up.

Bummer. I MISS him/her!

Fishie was always happy to see me. I'd walk up to the pond and he/she'd swim right over to the edge and beg me for food. Fishie would swim right under Cheyenne's tongue as she drank out of the pond. Sometimes Cheyenne would watch him/her, but never once did she try to catch Fishie.

RIP Fishie.

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I waited 3 or 4 days and then decided that the pond was very nice like it is - but... BUT it needed something more. So while I was in Nikolaev on the "adventure" last week, I bought a pretty pink plant. I repotted it and set it kind of behind the pond. Now the purple pond with the blue glass fountain that sits on a bright pink bucket with bright yellow lid has a dark pink plant sitting there behind and above it, planted in a white pot next to another dark green plant potted in a white pot. How's that for adding color to your life? I notice that there is no bright red. That's probably because I really do not care for bright red, or bright orange either, for that matter.

The plant is very nice, adds something to the area.

BUT it is not alive in the same way an alive creature is.

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When Mel and I went shopping over at our local Oskar Thursday, I stopped in at the tiny little pet store beside it to see if they had any gold fish.

No gold fish, but they do have guppies and a couple other fish. I bought 3 guppies. They are kind of plain little things - no big bright beautiful and colorful tails. Just plain little guppies with so-so black and white tails. I carried them around Oskar in my cart, watching over them like a mother hen. Yes, of course! They were in a plastic bag!! :-)

We finished shopping and we brought them home. I took the rubber band off the top of the plastic bag and put the bag to float in the water to equalize the water temperatures and eventually to add a bit of pond water to the bag water until I could just dump them into the pond willy-nilly.

I came in and sat down at the computer. A couple minutes later we heard a fish jump. Oh ho! thinks I to myself. One of them has made it's way out of the bag, floating there on the water. I finished what I was doing on the computer and went out to check on the fishes.

I looked in the bag and there were only 2 fish. I looked all over the pond - no extra fish. Finally I looked over by the balcony door. They lay poor little guppy fish, all dried out and starting to curl.

I picked him up (it's a him) and saw that one of his gills moved very weakly. Life! I quickly put him into the pond. Within just a few minutes he was weakly swimming around. No, it's more like he was just kind of hanging there in the water, moving his gills a bit, but he was alive.

Oh my.

Yesterday I looked for my 3 guppies and could only find 1. I picked up the fountain to check and see if the one had died and gotten stuck against the filter. Immediately, one of them went shooting out from under the overhang and took a flying jump out of the pond and onto the rug in front of the balcony door. Good grief. These guys are easily spooked! I gently picked him up and dumped him back into the water.

He was very traumatized. Too much in too short of time. Poor little fish. I'm not sure he's going to make it. The first Flying Guppy died. I found him against the filter this morning (good news - second Flying Guppy did not shoot out of the pond this time when I picked up the fountain). I waited to pick it up until I was sure the one healthy guppy was looking at me, watching me. I talked gently to it - they can hear you, you know - and then picked it up and found poor dead guppy under there.

Such is the life of fish. I have one healthy, one not quite healthy and one dead guppy. It's hard to see them in the pond because they are gray and the pond is dark. I have to really search. But the blue fighting fish, Sargon, is still alive and doing well. Knock on wood, cross my eyes, er, whatever I'm supposed to do...

I miss my golden Fishie.

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Thursday evening while I was listening to the sermon with Mel, I realized I was going to run out of the embroidery floss color I was using. I bought this as a kit 4 or 5 years ago so I can't just take it back and say, "Hey! I need more of this color floss! You goofed up on this one." Nope, I'm going to have to go searching to see if I can find this color here in Kherson. I searched all of my floss last night, going through the 3 floss containers and two bags that have floss with other stuff and none of the colors even came close to matching. I really hope I can find some before we go back to the States in November. If not, I will have to wait until we get home and then finish the project there. I'm taking the project home with me, one way or the other, because it is a gift for someone. I'd just hoped I'd have it completely done by then.

~*~*~*~*~
I continue to monitor earthquakes and sunspots. The sun is still spotless
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 42 days
2009 total: 184 days (79%)
Since 2004: 695 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
Updated 21 Aug 2009

There is a very interesting article today on spaceweather.com about disappearing sunspots.

As far as earthquakes, there have been 2 or 3 small ones in various parts of Colorado recently, plus a large one in eastern Colorado. This larger one happened in an area that has no previously recorded earthquakes. It was also quite near to where friends of our live (hi Marsha!). Unfortunately they were gone to Kansas and didn't feel it. I like earthquakes that do no damage - that's why I write 'unfortunately'.

~*~*~*~*~
We have another spider on the balcony. A nice little garden spider has built it's web between the clothesline wire and the grapevine. Two spiders, I guess, because there are two webs fairly close together. I don't know - do spiders build more than one web, or is it one web per spider? I'll have to look that up.

Anyway, I found it while I was hanging clothes out. So, I hung the clothes in such a way as to do the least amount of damage to the spider's web. Trying to make up for murdering that spider so many years ago, I guess. ha ha! But I'm glad they are there as they will catch and eat flies and mosquitoes. I don't think their webs are strong enough for the wasps, tho, that will be here as the grapes continue to ripen (they are mostly purple now!).
~*~*~*~*~
I have a couple of more things I want to write about, but they will be complete posts all by themselves. So for now, this is it.

Where Have You Been??

Ok, ok - I confess. I've been here at home. Watching old Star Trek TNG reruns in the early evening and the first season of 24 later in the evening. Mel and I have limited ourselves to TWO episodes of 24 only each evening. Wow - is that show addictive!

I have also been working on finishing another afghan to give away to someone in need this fall. A needlepoint rabbit is about 2/3's finished - all mine, all mine! And I have the pillow top finished to the point where the next stop is making a back for it. I even dug out an old bed pillow that I'm going to take apart and stuff this smaller pillow with the innards. This pillow top was started almost a year ago in the Saturday craft class. I decided I needed to try and finish it at home instead.

And I've been doing some other writing. News/prayer letter updates, thank you notes, birthday cards, my own thoughts (maybe they will appear here, maybe not at this point).

The knee is better. Mel and I walked to the store today to buy some much needed produce. I wore a pair of shoes I bought in France and did much better than with my old ones. I am happy! I will be very careful with that knee, believe me. Stepping down into a pile of sand some builders had left just off the sidewalk about did me in - but, it didn't! And that is progress. Huge progress for me.

Mel has been sick with either a stomach virus or food poisoning. Could be either since he's had some meals away from home. He's better today, but spent the day yesterday mostly in bed, sleeping, when he wasn't running for the other very important room. Such is life.

All for now. But I'm back!

Rocking and Rolling Across Ukraine

We had a great trip to Western Ukraine last week. Mel rented a full coupe for the trip up to Kiev. That means we had four bunks to ourselves. The good news is that the top bunks can be raised and latched into place against the wall and Mel can then sit up straight. Otherwise he sits bent over like he’s riding in a Lada. Not fun! The other good thing about renting the whole coupe is that we get four sleeping pads, four pillows and four wool blankets. Mel likes to use an extra pillow and I use all the extra pads and blankets to sleep on. Those train seats are hard, even if they are “padded.”

The first part of the trip – the Kherson to Kiev leg – was fairly uneventful. However, neither one of us slept very well, what with all of the rocking and occasional sudden jerks, the train speeding up and slowing down at seemingly random intervals, plus all of the train sounds and station sounds when we’d stop. To put it mildly, I was a grouch when we got off the train the next morning. After getting off the train we quickly walked down the platform, dodging taxi drivers and other travelers, pulling our suitcases behind us over the bricks. (The wheels make a really cool sound as they roll over hundreds of bricks and ‘cracks.’ When we first came to Ukraine very, very few people had pull-along suitcases and everyone always turned to watch us go by. Now they are common place and cause little, if any, interest at all – yea!) Mel quickly took the large suitcase down to the “kamera” while I stayed on the ground level outside with the smaller one. In the kamera we can store our bags for the day for just a few griven (less than two dollars). The kamera is one of those little secrets that we did not know about for several years, one of the things that are so common place to Ukrainians that they never think to tell you about them. Mel found out about the kamera while traveling with one of our guys one time and we use it quite often now. After depositing the bag and collecting his retrieval token, he met me outside and we headed for the metro (subway).

I’m not sure what was going on at the metro, but there must have been 150 men standing around outside of it. A few soldiers or militsia were scattered through the crowd. The only women were obviously headed inside the metro station. The funny-to-me thing was – Mel didn’t notice that the crowd was almost 100% men! We pushed and shoved our way along with the rest of the metro crowd through the two unlocked entrance doors (of a possible three), past the long lines at the token machines, through the token gates and onto the escalator. Down, down, down underground we went. Every time I’m on one of these escalators in the metro now I think of my sister, Heidie. She came to visit us a few years ago and we took her on a tourist trip through Kiev, including the metro. One of her questions: Why are all of the people on the escalators either leaning forward or leaning back? It was a joke – made from the optical illusion caused by the steepness of the descent/ascent of the escalators. Fortunately, the train we got was not very crowded. (I had a panic attack in the metro one time during rush hour. The trains were all packed and I could not force myself to get on one. Instead, I stood at the edge of the tracks, my face buried in the front of Mel’s coat, sobbing while he held and comforted me. I’ve discovered that if we are just patient, usually within 15 minutes a less crowded train will come along and I can get on.) The good news is that it’s a direct shot from the train station metro entrance to the station we needed to get to the home of one of our team mate families. From that metro station we walked the mile or so to their house. J was there and greeted us with breakfast and the offer of a bed, if we needed one. And yes – I needed one! After we ate, J left for work, Mel picked up a book on Norway to read and I went to bed and slept for about an hour. I felt much better then … actually not mad at the whole wide world any more!

Mel and I left soon after T got home. We knew she needed to pack for the family and we wanted to get to the city center again and get a cup of coffee. While in the mall under Independence Square (the square made famous during the Orange Revolution – where hundreds of thousands of people protested during the last elections and forced a change), we went into a bookstore and I browsed the books in English section. Bought The Wind in the Willows and King Solomon’s Mines, neither of which I had read before. As the afternoon grew late, we headed for the train station. We stopped at a big supermarket across the street from the station and bought food for the next two meals. Then – back to the station to wait for the rest of the Kiev team and the train to Western Ukraine!

The train trip to Western Ukraine was almost 15 hours long. I quickly discovered that the train tracks between Kiev and Kherson are actually in good shape. A lot of work has been done on them over the last 5 or 6 years and it shows when compared to other routes. The wagons themselves (including the state of the toilet rooms) are also a lot nicer on the Kiev-Kherson train. The trip from Kiev toward Mukachevo was loud and very rough in places, with a lot of ‘rockin’ and rolling’ down the tracks. The great thing however , was that we were with several of our teammates this time. Most of these people we see only two or three times a year at most, and sometimes we don’t see the kids at all. So it was great to be able to spend time talking and catching up a little while we sat and drank coffee or walked up and down the rocking train to the different coupes before bedtime. I had brought my tatting along and spent quite a bit of time tatting as well. Fortunately, both Mel and I slept better that night than we had the night before, even with the rougher ride.

As we were traveling, someone checked the schedule posted in the hall and discovered that we had a whole 2 minutes to get everyone off the train the next morning! All the luggage, all the kids, all the adults – through a very narrow hall, past an open very hot water heater, out one door, down 5 very steep steps and onto the platform – along with any other passengers in our wagon who might also be getting off the train at that stop! C was traveling in our coupe with us and he and Mel “made a plan.” We conferred with E and J and the next morning it worked great. Mel and C on the platform first with their baggage and me to watch everything, the kids and mothers off next, and finally all of the baggage handed off and passed from one person to another out of the way. Someone timed us and it took less than a minute to accomplish – about 58 seconds! Good teamwork, guys!

The bus to the sanitory was waiting for us, but we needed to wait for the train from Odessa to arrive, too, about an hour later. I had to laugh – everyone in the train station knew where the Americans were at, getting off the two trains. They were the only ones with piles of luggage and the only ones cheering because they made if off in time. We Americans tend to be a cheerful group and very self-congratulatory.



Train station where we got off in Western Ukraine.
Note: on top of pole to the right of the station is a stork's nest.

Today Was a Really Crappy Day

Today was a really crappy day. Actually, it was more than that. It was a really shitty day. Oh my gosh – I can hear someone gasp. Did she really say that? Can a missionary say “shitty?” Only if she really, really means it. (see The Air Up There movie for further reference and approval).

It started out ok. We got rain. Deep, dark gray clouds that burst in a huge downpour that quenched the hot dry earth. It was wonderful. It was needed. The rain was a blessing.

And then – the rest of the day happened.

Mel went to Ovir with Irina to try and finish getting us registered here in the city. They told him I needed to come in as well (first time for that), and that he needed to get our insurance card translated into Ukrainian (and the translators wanted a real copy of it, not the Xeroxed copy – huh???) and another letter of invitation for me by name individually. Plus they wanted Sergei N. to come in as he is the one who signed the letter of invitation. So, Mel called me and told me to be ready (dress up nice, he instructed) to leave by 2:30 to be there at the KGB building by 3pm for our meeting with the Ovir officials. I said ok. He then took off with Irina to get all the additional stuff done in a very short amount of time (amazing what money can accomplish).

I thought to myself – great, I have almost 3 and a half hours before I have to be ready to leave. I’ll clean the toilet – it needs it. Into the toilet room I went. The toilet “shelf” only had a tiny bit of water on it – not a good sign. I pulled the plunger – nothing happened. I turned and looked out at the clock on the livingroom wall – 11:45am and no water – not a good sign. Sigh. Sure enough – the water never came back on until late this evening.

I decided to tat awhile – the one bright spot in my day. I actually made something – I made a circle of 7 rings, all joined together – and I did it right for the first time! I’ll frame it! No, actually, I plan to sew it onto the pillow patchwork quilt thing I’m making in the craft class so I can look at it and beam with pleasure. Or maybe I’ll hide it so I won’t have to remember this day. Decisions, decisions.

I finished my ring and proudly laid it on the table. I came into the office room and got on the internet. Well – I tried to get on the internet. I fought with the internet connection. I tried the cable six ways until Sunday (is that a phrase?) and then I finally went to dial-up. I downloaded an email from our team administrator wanting to know why we are over budget for the year at this point. I got out all of the financial records and started going over them.

I finally called someone and asked a question about something and got into an argument and hung up on the person. I was livid. I was steaming. Mel and Sergei had arrived and Mel was fixing lunch. I was walking around the livingroom yelling – quietly yelling. If Sergei had not been there, I would have been in tears and really yelling. As it was, I later apologized to him for exploding as I did in front of him and he said don’t worry about it – he understood completely. Well, I finally sat here at the desk while Mel and Sergei ate some lunch, going over the financial reports and writing an email back. Hopefully it’s ok – it’s the facts and nothing but the facts, ma’am. (And no, it was not the financial administrator of our team I got into an argument with!)

Then Mel called a taxi and we headed downstairs. At the bottom of our steps we met two people coming in (they will remain nameless). They had come for the church board meeting. But there was no board meeting because only three of the guys are in town right now – everyone else is at camp or in St. Petersburg, Russia. One of them got into a major argument with Sergei. Our neighbors sat on the bench outside and listened. The taxi arrived and we got Sergei away from the person yelling (quietly, but yelling) at him and we took off for Ovir.

We met Irina at Ovir and went inside. Into a not-wide hallway with about a dozen people lined up, crowded together, all waiting to get into one of two tiny, little, itty-bitty rooms when it came their turn. Irina claimed her spot next in line and came over and sat down with us around a corner. When the person in front of her was next, she got up and went and took her place in front of all the other people who had arrived after us (no “take a number, please” here – more of a “save my place in line, will you?”). We sat and sat. And finally we were called into the first itty-bitty office with 3 desks, 4 officials, two of us and Irina and Sergei. To put it very mildly – it was a little crowded. And a little hot. Three computers, a couple or three printers, shelves of notebooks labeled in Ukrainian with all sorts of official words, like Propiscus and Protikol and Studyenti and many, many more. Notebooks of forms to fill out for every occasion.

I was given one of the two empty chairs, Irina the other. Mel and Sergei stood in the tiny space between the door into the office and the door into the second teeny office. They moved around a lot as people passed them. Now both Mel and Sergei are not what you would call “small men.” The room got hotter and hotter. I sat and watched. I sat and listened. I sat and watched the hands on the clock move from 3:30 to 3:45 to 4:00. I understood about absolutely nothing that was said – I’m not sure if it was in Russian or Ukrainian actually, but I think it was mostly in Russian, but spoken very quietly.

Sergei had to give his passport. They took it away and made copies. They put all of Mel’s papers together and finally told him to come back on Tuesday and get his passport – he was registered. They told him to leave (go sit down on the soft chairs, was their order) They played with my passport. They played with my papers. They looked at the fronts, they looked at the backs, they read every word of everything – kind of. They decided that I was definitely in trouble. I needed to be punished. I needed to go to court tomorrow (which is actually today now) and see the judge and find out whether the judge thinks I’m so bad that I need to be kicked out of the country and have my visa revoked (I am 5 days overdue on my registration after all!), or maybe I’ll have to pay a fine instead. (We are all betting on the fine.) The official looked at Irina and said, “In the East women are viewed as second class citizens and if their husband is registered, they do not have to be. But Ukraine is a civilized country, so wives must be registered here as well.” She laughed rather sarcastically, and I wondered why since for all I could tell, he may have been going over the periodic table of the elements with her. She wouldn’t translate it until we had left the building. So, one young man copied out everything needed from my papers onto another paper, by hand, in ink. Then he did the same for Sergei. Two sides, 4 pages each total. Then Sergei and I signed our individual papers. I have no idea what I signed – but Irina read it, she signed her part as my translator and told me to sign where the marks were at. I signed.

And then I thought – oh no! I signed one place with my first and last name, I signed the other two with my first name, middle initial and last name!!! This is grounds for having the papers thrown out on a whim and having to start all over from the very beginning IF someone decided they want to prove they are in charge of their part of that paper – my signature. We will see. Tomorrow I will find out – when I go to court and face the judge and receive my sentence.

We left the KGB building. Mel’s phone rang and it was the person who had been arguing with Sergei in our stairwell. That person wanted to talk to Sergei again. Mel handed the phone to Sergei as we left the building. The person on the other line started in, yelling again. Irina and I walked off, Mel rolled his eyes, followed, with Sergei trying to calm the other person down as we walked around the corner to Pan Pizza. We needed a snack to get our strength back. Irina and I shared a pizza, Mel had coffee and Sergei ordered an omelette (his stomach is still bothering him from the food poisoning/virus he had over the weekend). Sergei’s food arrived, but he decided he really didn’t want to eat the spider that was cooked in the side of the omelette, so we called the waitress back over. After examining the spider and seeing that several of it’s legs really were cooked IN the egg mixture, she took it back inside to the kitchen. He still got his meal before Irina and I finally got our pizza.

Mel and I came home in a taxi because at that point I did NOT want to walk. I just wanted to go home and cry and release some emotional pressure (and get over a hot flash I was having). Mel got into the taxi, reached up and out the open window, grabbed the plastic doohickey thing around the window and pulled the door shut. And broke the plastic doohickey thing – yep, broke it right it two. We got home and the driver got out and came around to Mel’s side. I walked up to the stairwell door and opened it, turned around and just watched. Both of their backs toward me and the neighbors sitting on the bench watching what was going on. Mel and taxi guy conferred. Taxi guy took the broken parts out of the window. Mel got out his wallet. They talked some more. The neighbors leaned forward, trying to get a better look and hear what was going on. Mel opened his wallet, the taxi guy looked into Mel’s wallet – several times. Mel gave him the fare and something more. He turned and walked over to me, and we came upstairs. The plastic doohickey thing cost us 100 griven, or about $20 because, as it was explained to Mel, the driver was going to have to replace them all since they are sold in sets, not individually.

I checked email again. I’ve been trying to find out some info on our insurance and why we haven’t been reimbursed for meds this whole year. Now, I would have realized this was happening a LOT sooner if we had been getting our mail on a regular basis. But, just last week we finally got 4 envelopes, the oldest one was stamped June 13 (we still have not received all of July’s mail to say nothing of August). I had eagerly opened them to look at the EOB’s (Explanation of Benefits) and found absolutely none inside. I had tried to get into the internet site where we can look up all sorts of important stuff that we need but don’t know that we need until after we needed it already and it’s too late. Hear my frustration? Well, I’d spent over an hour earlier trying to get info and could not stay on-line either by cable or by dial-up. Finally, tonight, I made it. Emails back and forth to our mission headquarters started flying and I got mad. Really, really mad. Crying mad. Panicked mad. Shouting mad (except it was then midnight and I didn’t want to wake our neighbors so I didn’t). I wrote a frustrated, very frustrated at the system (not the person) email and went to bed. I don’t know if the problem can be fixed – and if not, we will be paying a lot of money because I did not catch a problem with our insurance until just today. A lot of money out of pocket that we should never have had to pay. So, we actually pay it twice – once in insurance premiums and second at the counter when we did not pay the right amount.

It is after 3 am. I have to be in court in 7 hours and I am wide awake. This day is not getting any better. But I feel better now. I cried. I told Mel all about it (poor man!) through tears and runny nose. I tossed and turned. I finally got up and wrote it all down. It’s been a shitty day. But maybe I can go to sleep now. (I still will have to apologize to the person I hung up on. But – “I’ll think about it tomorrow” – I’m in Scarlett O’Hara mode again…..)