April Showers Bring May Flowers; Mayflowers Bring Pilgrims

There are tulips everywhere in late April, early May. Some solid beds and some very pretty gardens. Our flower garden will take time but it is well on its way. Fancy tulip bulbs are relatively expensive so we have to be patient. Tanya bought three each of these frilly purple and red ones. the white petals on the ground ar efrom our yellow cherry tree. All it takes is a few years and we'll have a solid bed of them. She planted a number of very small bulbs that we dug up from an abandoned dacha yard. They have no flowers this year but should by next year.

This front flower bed represents about 10% of Tanya's flower beds. Another twice as big is full of roses and there are several other areas that will maintain flowers until snowfly. Will post pictures as they bloom.

There is a flower shop located in the same building as my hairdresser, so when I get a haircut, Tanya gets a new houseplant. We bought this Christmas Cactus a few weeks ago and it never stops blooming. My mom had one of those for ever and it bloomed constantly too. Not sure where it and her big fern ended up but in a good home, I know.

Mothers

When #1 Son was in kindergarten, we still had two small girls at home, so on several occasions I took time off work to accompany the class on outings as a parent volunteer. In spring we went to the goose nesting site at Wascana Park to see the baby geese and ducklings. This is a fenced in area, requiring a guide with a key to enter. Safer from human and large anmal predators.

Apparently Mrs Barry, the kindergarten teacher, was not accustomed to having any fathers along on her excursions, as she said to us, "All you Mothers, sit over there".

Recounting the incident some years later, I commented that while I had been called a Mother before, it was always as part of a compound word.

Mouse About the House

We have a little mouse living upstairs who is getting quite brave. We heard him rattling around for a few days then we started seeing him scuttling across the floor. He climbed up on my desk when I was working and wandered around briefly , then climbed down again. Last night he ran across the floor out from under Tanya's desk and under my printer table. Tanya figures if we feed him, he might get big enough to attract Kuchma's attention. Maybe bread crumbs?

There is this stereotype about married couples that one always does something that annoys the other spouse. Squeezing toothpaste in the middle is the standard. Or open windows vs. closed windows at night. With us, it is bread, though I find it amusing, not annoying. Tanya likes the crusts. So she cuts the loaf from both ends. Then down the sides. Finally the bottom and the top. Which is OK if you put it back in the bag. But I have lots of crumbs for the mouse.

Rain

It rained all last night. A good slow soaker, finally. The garden soil is black, with the green shoots of corn, peas, beans, potatoes easily visible. The tomatoes and peppers transplanted a few days ago are all perky. Tanya's flowers look remarkable.

We didn't go to Dnipro today. Tanya had ordered a bunch of plants and bulbs from InterFlora Ukraine, back in mid March. They arrived today at the village post office so we drove out to get them. The puddles hid the depth of the holes in the road so I drove in 1st gear most of the way.

Tanya spent the afternoon sorting the bulbs and putting them in water to plant in a day or two. The plants coped with shipping fairly well, except a climatus which was mouldy. We took pictures of the climatus, a bad bulb and a rotten root of some kind and emailed them to the Dnipro office. They will replace them if they fail to grow. InterFlora Ukraine's late spring catalogue is on-line here.

In other new, I bought a new charger for AA NiMH batteries. The instructions come in 16 languages. Canadians who complain about French on their cornflakes box, all I can say is quitcherbitchin.

Fooled it

Performed D and C*, computer works fine. Even the DVD player seems to be working. I am ripping a copy of John Denver's Greatest Hits Vol 2. Wouldn't mind Dolly Parton's Biggest Hits either.


*Dismantle and Cleaning. You thought it meant WHAT???

Checking In

1. Finished the Business Plan. My Associate (who is still my friend) will edit and review it with the client. Adjustments will be made and funding agencies approached.

2. I am going to Kyiv and Chernobyl next week to begin another project. That will be a blast. At least it is about beef cattle and I am working with my buddy Artur Gordin from Pereyaslav-Kmelnitsky.

3. We bought the tickets here in ZV instead of having to go to P'yatikhatki. There is an office open here. Large Soviet looking woman in Soviet looking uniform with definite Soviet attitude to customer service. Sat safely separated from the great unwashed by a plate glass window and metal grill. Little drawer slide in and out money goes in; ticket comes out. she wouldn't get swine flu but she might have been a carrier.

4. Set a new standard for Tanya's flower gardens. showed her the slide sets from The Butchard Gardens in Victoria. We are going to Dnipropetrovsk tomorrow to the flower garden market.

5. I am about to dismantle and clean my desktop computer. I have a bottle of canned air and a vacuum cleaner. If you never hear from me again, you will know I likely had pieces left over after reassembling.

Today's Stories

Maxim was quite proud to tell Tanya yesterday that HIS Baba Lucia had a delphinium in her garden and Tanya didn't. Today at the market Tanya spotted a delphinium and bought it in a flash. She can hardly wait to see Maxim's face when she tells him that now SHE has one, too. Children!

Kuchma got his revenge for rescuing the swallow the other day. He got one this morning. Tanya took the broom to him, which likely won't deter him. Reminded me of the little girl digging a hole in her back yard. Neighbour asked what she was doing. "Burying my dead canary". "That is a pretty big hole for a canary". "It's inside your cat".

Lena's mother gave herself a black eye while Lena and Roman were here. Left the spoon in her cup and took a fast drink of tea. Reminded Tanya of the Russian tourist drinking tea somewhere in Europe. Waitress says "You are from Russia". "Yes, how did you know?" "You left the spoon in the cup". Next restaurant he is in, he takes the spoon out of the cup. Waitress says "You are from Russia". "How do you know?" "You put the spoon in your pocket".