Windows to Russia

Several thing are floating around my mind this Sunday morning and maybe I will just rattle a few thoughts as I compose this article. I will say that the coffee is extra good this morning. Sveta bought me expensive coffee. Coffee that I would not buy for myself. Sveta bought me Jacobs coffee, a brand that years ago, was almost free everywhere in Russia as they tried to expand the brand and now that it is well known, it is expensive compared to other brands. I just wanted to tell you that I am drinking exceptional coffee this morning. For that I thank my sweetie…

Enough of that…

One of the thinking’s I am having has to do with peoples responses to what governments do in the world: Example; If I point out that the American government is killing innocents in Syria. Then a major response from the masses is, “Don’t put me or many people I know in that category. We don’t approve of what the government is doing and we are not responsible……….. “

A statement like in the above paragraph, is enough to make me cry, then make me mad…

Think about what I just wrote. I have thought about it and it bothers me. That is worse than telling me that I am  a “%^$*!@# Commie and should die.”

Well try this one I received this morning, “You ^&*%#$@* Commie. We have nothing to do with what our government does. We have our hands tied. How stupid are U! “

Cool and all I have to say is, “WE are responsible – and by trying to sedate your mental issues with lies, will not help in the long run.”

We elected 99% of the trash and evil that is running our country and that means that we – not them people, nor – not those people over there, had anything to do with our stupidity, ignorance and lack of caring about a damn thing in the world. We prefer that someone else “Do It!” and we then can blame them…

That is what is wrong with America: “It is always the other guys fault!” and until we can grow up and admit that we are to blame, then we will stay in deep doodoo…

Another thinking is about a package that I just got from Pakistan. It actually got here and that is two in a row. In fact all packages from China and Pakistan seem to make it. One from China and now one from Pakistan…

Hmmm! This is scary and I am knocking on wood all over the Doma (home), I have not received the last few packages from America and after a year, I still do not know what happened to them. There was a book that I really was looking forward to reading and it never came. Now this package from Pakistan is a book also, but it had a couple of interesting items shipped with it. Some beautiful cloth made in Pakistan. Unbelievably gorgeous. I will be doing a review of the book after I read it. It is a book by the Brigadier General, Nadir Mir…

Thank you Nadir Mir…

It is strange how packages from the rest of the world get to me, but packages that I send or receive from the USA have only made it one time either way. My son received something from me one time and I revived something from a friend in America. This has been years ago and looks like it will never happen again. maybe someone dislikes me receiving things from America?

I am just going to end this article with this thinking: “A great nation is like a great man: When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. Having realized it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it. He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts.” ― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The beginning for this great Cathedral started after Napoleon tried his hand at ruling Russia (Napoleon walked into Russia with 600,000 plus men and only about 30,000 survived,) but actual physical construction was not started until 1839. Originally dreamed up by architect Konstantin Ton, whose talents also developed the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armory. The huge cathedral was finished in 1883…

But alas it was destroyed by the Soviet government in 1931, leveled to the ground and even deeper, to build another dream that never happened, The Palace of Soviets…

That dream failed and as the Cathedral was gone, nothing happened until after World War Two. Then it became a spot for the largest swimming pool in the world. Which due to it being heated year around, was a fog bank of delight and everyone hated the pool, except as rumors state, “The mafia loved the pool!”

What you see now in its original place (and a lot safer than a thick fog covered swimming pool) is a rebuilt Cathedral started after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov ramrodded and with the Orthodox Church’s desires. They resurrected the cathedral to a tune of $360 million…

What you see in the photo above is the finished Cathedral in 2000…

So this one is not that old, but it is very beautiful. inside and outside…

This number two in the series of Churches from Russia, that I am going to post…

Number one is here… (Church of the Transfiguration: Island of Kizhi, Karelia… (1))

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was drinking a delicious cup of coffee on this cold and snowing day in Moscow. Russia is cold. The news reports are full of stories about cities in the Siberian Region that have lost power and it is -45C. degrees below zero. That is about -49 degrees F. Brrrrrrrrr….

As I was drinking this hot cup of coffee, I thought about Santa, Saint Nick, Father Frost, Grandfather Frost, Ded Moroz, Santa Claus, Chris Kringle, Pere Noel, Papai Noel, Viejo Pascuero, Dun Che Lao Ren, Kerstman, Joulupukki, Weihnachtsmann, Kanakaloka, Mikulas, Babbo Natale, Hoteiosho, Julenissen, Swiety Mikolaj, Jultomten and Father Christmas! Yes all Santa in different parts of the world.

I remember well the letter that was written by a young girl (Virginia O’Hanlon). As we grew up we were taught about things like this. I grew up in a world that it was OK to believe. You were expected to believe…

There are now people who feel that Santa should not be believed in.

In fact Russia had to stand up for Father Frost: there was a TV ad that was banned in December of 2007. The ad for Eto electrical stores stated Father Frost, Russia’s version of Father Christmas, did not exist.

But because Russia stood up for Father Frost (Santa) the Western press had a hay day with this and put Russia down for censoring freedom of speech. The Western Press says that the Eto Electric company had a right to say there is no Santa. Russia says that the company is not the one responsible to tell children that there is no Santa. That their actions undermined parental authority, trust and respect!

Russia still stands by the decision to leave the telling of “No – Father Frost to the parents.”

I agree…

I grew up in a world that even if you did not think Father Frost (Santa) was real, you would never announce it to the world. You had more respect for the kids and not kids who believe or at least want to believe.

The world has more important issues than trying to destroy Santa Claus and good or bad, believing in Santa is the least of the evils that we have tossed at us on a daily onslaught…

I for one do not care what he is called. I believe in Santa Claus and feel he is an important part of growing up.

Since I am under a 100 years old still, I have a lot of growing up to do and I still believe in Santa Claus…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: You have any names I missed for Santa let us know and I will add them…

This kozinaki recipe is so good! You can find this in all the Russian stores, but that is not the same as if you make it yourself. It really is a brittle type candy. Russians love their candies of all types and this one is a winter special. It has lots of nutrition due to the nuts and it has lots of sugar for the energy boost as you try to survive the long hard winter in Russia…

Lets make kozinaki

Ingredients:
1 pound total of shelled sunflower seeds, shelled walnuts, shelled almonds or shelled peanuts, all together or singularly,  all finely chopped…
2 cups (16 ounces) of pure honey…
6 tablespoons of sugar beet sugar or what ever sugar you have…

Lets make kozinaki:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread the chopped nuts in a single layer on a sheet pan and toast them in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, stire them occasionally to get browned evenly. I like to get them very brown and almost burnt, many just like to heat them up. The idea is to get them toasted real well…

Put a 2-quart sauce pan on the stove top to heat the syrup in. Put the honey and sugar in the sauce pan and stirring constantly, while bringing to a boil. When the syrup reaches 220 F. (Remember the set point is 220 and go a little higher to set harder or go less and set softer!) on a thermometer, lower the heat and stir in the nuts. Stirring often, cook for 15 minutes at medium heat…

Brush the inside of an 8- to 9-inch round pie tin or pan with ice cold water and pour in the hot nut mixture. Push the lumps flat and set on the window sill, uncovered, to cool down. When hardened, reheat the outer side of the pan by dipping it in hot water. Turn upside down onto a large plate and it should fall out with a plop. Then cut with a heated knife dipped in hot water, cut into rectangles. Refrigerated covered and it will keep weeks. Sitting on the counter at room temperature it will last about a week or as long as it takes the family to eat it all…

That is about one day… 🙂

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

-10 below zero and the wind is blowing at about 20 kph. That statement called for a second cup of coffee today, as I still am trying to adjust my old bones to the weather this year. Boza has grown his winter coat and he also seems to be already adjusted to the frozen ground with his paws. To be truthful, winter has been for over a month, but the snow has stayed away. Then the first day of winter came officially and the snow decided to follow…

Taking Boza for a walk today in between my writing on my novel and such. Was interesting. I had the new cell phone that I have talked about over the last month and took a couple of pictures. I was not sure if the pictures would be any good. for many Chinese phone cameras really plainly suck. I am very surprised…

It all started with Boza finding a little snowman or as Russians say, “Snow Women!”

Then as I looked around, I focused on the fact that it was seriously winter and we would not see the ground for at least 6 months now…

Oh by the way, do not believe any weather reports about Russia. Everyday it says “Sunshine” and there is a huge bright sun on my smartphone weather widget. Today was no exception. I realize that somewhere in Russia it is sunny, but in Moscow, sunshine is as rare as a dandelion blooming in the middle of winter…

This is a sunny day in Moscow and that is not very sunny…

Boza and I had a good walk, the camera works great and we are home warming up. Have a good day…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I have been posting a lot of recipes. I am trying to get them done before the holidays get to far into a full swing and I seem to be running out of time. This is a simple Jello as we call it in America. The Russians eat very little varieties of jello or Jelly as they call it. It is interesting to get to live in two societies…

Jelly in Russia is jello in the USA! In America jelly is spread on bread. In Russia, jelly is molded gelatin. But we both have jam, which is jelly with real chunks of fruit in it. A Russian does not understand a jam like a jelly with no fruit in it… 🙂

Lets make a chocolate version of jello…

Ingredients:
3 oz chocolate (Real chocolate!)
2 cups milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla (Fake is okay because you will rarely find real, in America! In Russia use real vanilla.)
2 tbsp plain unsweetened colorless gelatin

Method:
Pour over gelatin cold first boiled water (use – 1 part gelatin to 9 parts water). Use a sauce pan as you will reheat it…

Leave the gelatin to sit for 40-60 minutes and then warm on a very low heat, do not boil. Some say to strain the mixture and if using low quality gelatin please do so…

Then bring the milk to almost a boil (Milk will scorch, so be cautious.). Dissolve the chocolate, sugar, vanilla and then pour in the gelatin liqiud…

Stir carefully and pour into small bowls or a holiday type mold. Cool down in the refrigerator, then eat…

This is a product that can be found almost anywhere in Russia, Russians love chocolate and this is just another way to satisfy that sweet tooth that many Russians have…

I still have 6 more recipes to post before Christmas…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: I know you just said, “But they have jello in the store in a box and it is chocolate flavored!”

Sorry it is not the same and flavor is correct…

Kizhi Pogost is amid one of the many abounding islands on pleasant Lake Onega in the near arctic part of Karelia. The pogost, or enclosure, contains two amazing wood board churches dating from the eighteenth century and a towered belfry was constructed in the nineteenth century. Distant Churches like the Kizhi Pogost, were accustomed to serving the extensive community in size, but sparsely populated regions like Karelia. The onion-shaped cupolas are prolifically in Russia and the Orthodoxy and the cupolas are covered with narrow, diamond-shaped aspen shingles, which accept acquired a argent blush with the access of time. Wood architectonics is basic to Russian architecture. Thanks to approved repairs, the Church of the Transfiguration has survived into the twentieth century…

I am going to start posting images of the beautiful Russian churches as I find them on the internet…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I agree that perfect maybe too strong of a word, but it really is a perfect phone for me. After fighting with Samsung on numerous occasions and wearing out another half dozen phones. I have come across the perfect smartphone for everyday use…

It is Chinese made and the android inside is Chinese developed. It still is Android Gingerbread 2.3.6 and the Chinese have taken the plain Jane Android and tuned it up. Actually I should say that Konka did the tuneup…

I am not going to say what they did is the best, but they gave me a very solid core to work with and I have polished the Gingerbread that is in the phone…

They fibbed about the CPU speed and I overclocked the CPU to 806 MHz. That got the CPU to what they say it can do and it does it all day long. I just do not understand why they did not set it up that way to begin with…

I rooted the phone and did some ROM backups, so that if I destroy the OS, I can reinstall it. I also figured out how to get a CWM recovery installed and the phone is humming happily now…

One thing that is definitely an issue for someone like me, is the fact that it does have 4 G of ROM, but that really does not do the phone justice. The operating system eats almost all up and you have maybe 512 mg left over to install apps. I ran into the same thing on my Note, but it had 16 G if ROM and I had 11 G left over. So you see, you have to be careful about the ROM game. Lucky for me Konka has another great software trick and any and all app can be installed to the SD card and it does it automatically. The SD card is the same thing as ROM to this phone. It works good, except speed wise. Little bit slower…

It is a dual Sim phone and I have yet to decided to get another Sim card or not for it. I have tried two Sims and found that it works flawlessly and either Sim can be used as the main Sim. Konka has a little program built in that really does the job. It allows complete control over what and how you want your Sims to react and interact with each other. I am impressed…

The phone has wonderful reception and I am not sure if it has anything to do with the steel frame that is throughout the phone, but it has been a long time since I have had such good reception on a phone. This includes the GPS. The GPS has a little Chinese app called YGPS and it is the best GPS signal gatherer that I have ever seen. The first time that I started up GPS, it locked on in less than a second. I have never seen that before. I have since discovered that the little app gathers information from the net and GPS and saves it for a rainy day. It updates everyday and it is called the EPO and AGPS settings. This app allows me to adjust everything in detail and it just plain works. I realize that the hardware inside the phone has to be good also and as you can tell by what I just said, the hardware is up to the job…

Konka also fibbed about the dual UI and the Windows side of things is messed up. I am sending Konka an e-mail and try to get some help with that aspect of the launcher. I am not sure if my launcher is corrupt or it just does not work in all the phones of this type. I am using Zeam launcher and it does the job so well, that I may just keep it forever…

The phone is a plain and solid. The touch screen is sensitive enough for me and while it is much smaller than my Galaxy Note, it is much easier to carry and it laughs at rain, snow, sleet or shine. Kinda like a postman…

I am updating about this phone because, amazingly or not to you, people have commented and looked at the pages on this phone thousands of times. It caught me off guard, as I never figured anyone would care about a phone like this. A Chinese made, Gingerbread and rugged type phone…

I guess I am wrong and from what I am seeing, there should be more phones made that are waterproof, dust proof and shockproof…

Konka W880 is really a great phone…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: More information on the phone here…

Konka W880 Rough and Tough Smartphone has arrived…

Konka W880 A Tough Phone…

This video is Russia! I see this kind of way of life, everyday that I am here. Life in Russia is a “Bowel of Cherries” and no one cares about the pits. Or better yet, “This is Russia in a Nutshell!”

Lets salt the sidewalks and lets do it from the street and lets salt about 50% of the sidewalk and the cars…

I had to add this video (below) after the effect. I have seen them do things like this a hundred times here…

Now I know Russians and they would just take all this with a grain of salt (so to speak) and tell you, “It is a miracle that they are salting the sidewalks!” or they would say, “Good! Don’t need a stoplight there anyway!”

You know! They are right!

That is why I love Russia…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…