Kuchma Kot and Krasotka Koshka

Lina moved in with us after Roman died and will stay until she feels able to face the empty flat again.  She has her best friend from childhood visiting her this week and they have been staying at the apartment together so that is good.

When Lina moved here she brought Roman's cat. Krasotka (Babe) is a very pretty one year old female with soft silky black fur which she keeps very clean.  We have had quite a few smiles watching this young cat adjust to our house and to Kuchma and watching Kuchma adjust to another cat and a female at that. When one or the other had been outside and came in, they would run up to each other, touch noses and then she would bat him upside of the head.

At first they squabbled, then they mated and now they ignore each other.  She will have kittens in mid March sometime of which we will keep one, maybe two.

Because the apartment was ground floor, she entered and exited through their kitchen window, sitting on the ledge until it was safe to jump down or until Roman opened the window to let her in.  She is not fussy about using our front door to go in and out, preferring that we open the living room window so she can enter and exit as she is used to.  She bangs on the window to be let in.

Kuchma comes home after hours away all dirty and ragged looking; Krasotka comes home as clean as when she left.  Including feet.  One day she banged on the window to be let in, then ran and used her litter box.  House trained!

She is the most curious little critter especially when it comes to shelves.  She climbs up on the book shelves, climbs into and empties the shelves in the closet. She loves to sit on things and look. Like Tanya's desk or the coffee table or the kitchen counter.  Actually she likes to sleep on the kitchen counter as it is right over the radiators and nice and warm.  She will climb on my knee at meal time and sit.  If Lina isn't here she will jump onto the table and park her butt on Lina's place mat and watch us eat.

She likes to play but has no one to play with.  Kuchma does NOT play.  One day, the two of them were sleeping on the divan in the front entry.  Kuchma's tail would twitch and she would grab it.  Finally she dragged it into her mouth and chewed on it.  Kuchma woke up and stalked off.

To Kyiv and Back

There is an apple crisp in the oven so I have a few minutes to blog.  Even with a sore thumb.  Put a razor edge on the paring knife to slice the apples and sliced my thumb instead.  Wondered why the apples were so red.  Anyhow...

Went to Kyiv for a couple days.  Everyone was in the city at once so it was well worth my time going up.  The days were a bit longer than calculated though.  It was my first time outside the city limits of Zhovti Vody since we got back from Turkey in early October.  Things change.  Like rail schedules.  The express doesn't stop at the little siding anymore so the nearest station is over an hour away.  The night trains still stop so it was leave on the 12:30 am train and arriving back at 5:00 am.  My 39 hour trip morphed into a 53 hour trip with two nights on the train.

Met over breakfast with a prof from Ag Economics College of Agriculture and Bioresources, U of Saskatchewan.  A number of universities were meeting with Ukrainian universities looking at potential cooperation. May be some potential to link U of S with another large Ag university.  I hope so.  Don't get me started on the state of university education and scientific research in this country.

Then met our friend,  Lera (Valerie) for lunch, after which we went to an Agricultural Exhibition clear across town.  I had a meeting there for 3:00 pm with a client and Lera volunteered to interpret for me.  We had worked together several times over the years on STEP projects.  Lera is still in project management but "misses agriculture".

At the "InterAgro GrainExpo" several Saskatchewan companies were there with STEP in a Canada area.  Some companies I knew and three people so it was nice to visit with them for a bit.  The owners of one company turned out to be neighbours of people I knew well from Saskatchewan so we had a great visit.  You never know who you will run into.  When I first stopped at the booth and spoke to the lady, she was quite surprised that I spoke English so well, so I played that gag for a few minutes.

The meeting with potential clients went very well.  My friend Vlad and his partner Oksana had organized it as they were clients of his company.  It was nice to talk beef cattle production for a change.  They asked for a proposal so that is progress.  They are also frustrated enough with how badly things are going that they are willing to listen which will also help.  Cattle production in Ukraine tends to follow the old Soviet Collective Farm model which was based on dual purpose cattle and extremely high input costs.  Breaking that mindset will be the key.

Once that was over, I met an old friend, John Jackson, out of Kansas whose consulting firm has an office in the city that he has to visit several times a year.  I had supper with John and his business associate Hriday Gupta from Nepal and crashed on their couch for the night - which lasted to noon the next day.  Guess I was tired.

In the after noon I went back to the Ag show just to see what was happening, then has a long supper visit with John and Hriday again and caught the 11:00 pm train for home.  Got to the house at 6:00, had a shower and a bowl of hot Borshch and slept to 1:00 pm.  Guess I am not as young as I once was.  Trains and I are not as comfortable together as we were.

It was nice to relax.  I have been glued to my computer since November 1 on two projects plus all the stress of January (more on that later) so this weekend I am relaxing by working on the proposal for the beef client.

The 40th Day

Tomorrow is the 40th day since Roman died.  As I understand it the Orthodox believe that the soul enters Heaven after 40 days of judgment.  One thing certain, if you look at the number of 40s in the Bible, there are quite a few, so presumably it has some significance.  It has been a long 40 days, I can tell you and not much to smile about.

Roman's wife, Lina has been staying here until she feels up to facing the empty apartment.  She is like a daughter to both of us so she can stay as long as she wants. She brought her (well, Roman's) year old female cat which has given us some smiles and I will write about Krasotka another time.  Lina walks to work in the morning and takes a taxi home in the evening.

Prayers for the dead which is basically the funeral service were held on the third day (Holy Trinity) after death, January 3 (counting the day of death as Day 1) .  Roman is buried a short two blocks from our place in the cemetery where I take the dogs for walks.

Prayers were held again on Day 9 (Hierarchy - 9 layers of angels arranged in stacks of three for the Trinity again) which was January 9, and we had a family lunch at our home for about 15 people.

Tomorrow, prayers will be held again.  We could attend the prayers but won't.   We will have a lunch at a restaurant for about 20 invited people, mostly family.  Our friend Galina, came from Moscow on the overnight train and arrived mid morning.  Tanya's niece Sveta arrived tonight from Dnipropetrovs'k in time for a late supper.  Both of them are the kind of people one cannot be around without smiling so it is nice to have them here.  It was so funny - when Sveta walked in the door, the noise level went up about 5X.  She and Galina egg each other on.

I have not felt like writing so didn't.  Or reading, so I didn't.  Thanks to one of my faithful readers for leaving a comment somewhere tonight and giving me the spark to write.  I was planning on starting again after the 40 days, so this will give you notice, I will be back on this blog and back commenting on yours shortly.  

С Рождеством; Христос родился

Christmas Blessings

wishing you

The Gladness of Christmas,

which is Hope,

The Spirit of Christmas,

which is Peace,

The Essence of Christmas,

which is Love.

Merry Christmas

Roman Petrovich Romanenko 9/12/1982-1/01/2013

Roman Petrovich Romanenko passed from this life at about 10 am this morning, January 1, 2013 after suffering (from what we believe to have been) a massive heart attack. He leaves to mourn him his beloved wife, Liana; his mother Tanya Romanenko and his step-father Allen Hingston, his brother Andrei (Tania) Bainov, his aunts Raia (Vladik) Vaiman, Vera Romanenko and Luda (Valerie) Antonova, niece Masha, several cousins and an extended family too great to number. Roman was predeceased by his father, Pyotr and his uncles, Vasyl Romanenko and Sasha Franskevich and both sets of grandparents.

Roman was born December 9, 1982, in Beli Yar, Republic of Khakasia, Russia SSR. He moved to Zholti Vody, Ukraine with his parents at about 5 years of age and attended school in Zholti Vody. He moved to Dnipropetrovs'k when his folks moved there and that is where he met Liana Rozhko, who was a grad student at his mother's research institute. They had six wonderful years together, the last three here in Zhovti Vody.


Roman's health was very bad most of his life.  At 16 an emergency operation saved his life and he inherited diabetes and a bad heart from his late father. He was unable to do physical work and had no aptitude for academics, (though he could have if he applied himself).  He was quite artistic but Ukraine is over run with superb artists.  His computer was his refuge and he was quite at home on the internet.  He was never in a bad mood and could always be relied on to bring smiles to everyone's face with his humour.  He loved to cook and was the best shashlik BBQer in the country!

Funeral arrangements TBA.

*****************

We all knew, and you knew too, that you were living on borrowed time, my son, but even another 10 years would have been nice. But it was not to be.  Rest in Peace.  The world is a sadder place.

In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

HOW THE ANGEL GOT ON TOP OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE

With many thanks to Baxter Black for my favourite Christmas story ever.  This fairy tale answers that age old question, “How did the angel get on top of the Christmas tree?"

Santy wuz lyin’ there in front of the fireplace, laid out in his Lazy Boy with his feet up. Suddenly he looked up and glanced at his watch.  It was ‘leven thirty.  It wuz Christmas Eve and he had to be outta there by twelve or he wouldn't get all the toys delivered on time.

He jumped up and run to the back room. He tore through the closet lookin’ for his red suit. He shook the moth balls outta the sleeve and slipped into the britches. He heard a great big RIP. He backed up to the mirror and he had tore the seat right out of them britches.  He glanced at his watch and it was 25 to twelve. So he skinned off the britches and run 'em down to the little tailor elves and said, "Boys, sew this back up!" And they did.

Santy come in and throwed on his coat and hunted around in the closet fer his boots. He couldn't find ‘em 'n holler’d, "Maw! Where's my boots at?" She said. "They're out on the back porch where you left ‘em when ya came in last Christmas.  An' shurnuff, he run out on the back porch they’d built on the trailer house ‘n’ there they were. He’d pulled ‘em off wet last year and they’d dried and curled up. He stuffed his feet down in ‘em an’ dadgum, if the heel didn't fall of the left boot.  Santy glanced at his watch and it were 20 to twelve.  He ripped them boots off and took 'em down to the little cobbler elves and said. "Boys, hammer this back on!" And they did.

Santy slipped on his boots and run into the house, grabbed his coat and took out across the yard to hook up the sleigh. The yard light had burnt out and somebody'd left the fresno parked in the driveway.  He hit that sucker at a high lope an' went head over heels an’ lit with a great big war whoop, spooked the reindeer an’ they went over the top rail into the beet tops! Santy glanced at his watch an' it wuz a quarter 'til twelve!

The little cowboy elves saddled up and brought the reindeer into the barn, put 'em in the hitch and hooked 'em up to the sleigh. Santy jumped up in the buckboard seat, cracked the whip ‘n’ the reindeer took off and Santy just sat there! The tugs had broke on the harness! Santy glanced at his watch. It was 10 till twelve.

Santy said "Boys, gather up them reindeer and I'll fix the harness." Then he hooked the team back up leaped in the sleigh and slid on down in front of the house.  Just as they pulled up to the house, one of the runners fell off the sleigh.  Santy looked at his watch. It was 5 till twelve

They welded the runner back on and Santy run in the house. He grabbed that big bag o' toys, slung ‘em over shoulder…Yup, you guessed it. The bottom fell out of that bag and toys went everywhere!

Santy wuz down on his hands and knees, scramblin’ around stuffin’ them toys in a Safeway bag when a little angel come flyin' in the door with a Christmas tree over his shoulder.

He said "Santy. Where do you want me to put this tree?"

Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Winter Day Market

This morning the sun was shining brightly; not a could; not a whisper of wind.  It was -19C (-2F) but quickly warmed up to -15.  The soft white snow covered a multitude of sins and crunched underfoot.  A perfect day.  So Tanya and I went to the market which is held every Sunday morning from 7 to noon.  She bought a sweater and gloves for Masha and a turkey for Christmas (mine), a goose  for New Years and an old duck to add to kholodets.

Kholodets is like headcheese in that one boils whatever until the meat falls off the bones, adds gelatin to the juice and lets it set.  It is eaten with hot mustard and is a major holiday treat at our house.  Since the main ingredient is two ox-tails, I suppose you could call it tail cheese but it doesn't sound like a big seller.

Lina is home sick with a terrible cold.  There is no heat at her office and if she brought an electric heater she would have to pay for it herself which would not be easy since she hasn't been paid for two months, we learned today.  The funeral and headstone business is pretty dead in the winter other than ceremonies.  Instead of telling some people they were laid off until spring, the owner just stopped paying every one.

The roads were plowed and sanded in town and behold! We have another stop light at a bad corner.  Not sure what is going on here.  But something strange is in the works.  Bank machines are always short of cash.  People are pulling everything out that they can. Rumours abound of something terrible happening in the new year regarding banks and currency.  Word on the street is that some government employees have not been paid for a couple months in some oblasts.  The PM and entire cabinet resigned just prior to a meeting with the IMF and I have been too lazy to track down why and who replaced them.

Today was our 6th anniversary so we threw a chicken in the oven and Andrei, Tanya and Masha came for supper. Tanya is 20+ weeks and starting to show. She goes for another thorough check up on Dec 25th.  Over 35 and almost 10 years since the last one, means the health system here gives her special treatment.

Andrei and his mother do not always see eye-to eye, so to speak.  He and I get on well, as we have a common enemy.  When they were going home tonight I said to him "Thank you for your mother".  His reply just cracked us all up. "Na zdorovia"  which means "To your health" and the tone was "You are welcome to her".