Just some images of the Tiny Russian Village place we live…
Today we need to finish the garden and goof off…
WtR
Category: Russia
Had to take a pain killer last night. Worked too much, Dug too much, walked too much, planted too much, hugged Svetochka too much and had to drag Vova’s Niva across a field to jump start it. Just too much in one day, but happiness is abound and I feel like singing like a lark this morning. Now if I could just sing!
We have half the garden in, the strawberry patch is done, the irises are done, a mint grass patch for tea time is done and the tomatoes are in and covered with old bottomless buckets. I checked the new fir tree this morning and after checking the T-rose; I declare all is good in the Tiny Russian Village…
Svetochka is sleeping, Boza has been walked and is sleeping again and I am sitting here drinking coffee, taking my heart pills and writing an article for today…
Today we will finish planting the garden. We will put in beets, carrots, sweet peas, turnips, spinach, rutabagas and tend to the newly planted potatoes. Yesterday we planted some Blue Eyed Potato seeds and they truly have bright blue sprouts coming out of the eyes…
Over forty potato plants put in and the garden is looking good. I will be posting images as the garden develops. In fact I will post all the gardens as they develop, looks like I will be running around a watering a bunch… 😉
This year the chickadees have decided the yard is a good place to be and as I worked the garden, these little souls grabbed worms and grubs from the freshly turned ground. I would ignore them and they grabbed and ran, as I worked. They also are using the bird bath that I made last year and are a bunch of happy critters…
Birds are my pest control and I encourage as many birds as possible to come on in…
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A few days ago, Sveta and I built a brick BBQ grill. It is just a small stacked walls of broken bricks and last night we had shashlik and it was oh so good. I built the fire and Svetochka cut up the chicken. The grill worked perfect and now we do not have to have a flimsy metal grill (into the trash it went.) We will get some concrete and I will disassemble and mortar together the bricks later. It was perfect and a perfect way to end a day….Bozachka thought it was the best thing also and guarded the grill like a real watch dog as the shashlik cooked… 😉
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Oh yes and you all have a nice day…
WtR
I think that the image of a walking burger is so appropriate for Moscow and what I think about Moscow. If I saw that burger walking around the Tiny Russian Village, there would be a war. I would stomp that burger and run it out of town. Somehow it just seems normal in Moscow, but is that real life and is promoting burgers good for us?
Yesterday Svetochka and I planted, a bush style spruce tree, strawberries, a T-rose, moved an iris bed, planted two pear trees and went to the Big Village to get food. Today we need to get some more strawberry plants, if possible, start digging up the main garden (called a kitchen garden in Russia,) then I need to get out the chainsaw and weed eater and start cutting things up…
Svetochka planted her first gardens and flower beds! 🙂 I did not realize that she had never really planted much of anything and I taught her to make brick borders around some areas and we planted some flowers and stuff. I had a happy Sveta as she realized that she could do it and be successful. I forget that Sveta is a city girl, born, raised and infused with Moscow. It just seems strange that they have this perfect spot in nature, these city folks, that I love so dearly. Yesterday, I saw an awaking, as Sveta got in touch with nature and saw that plants can be moved and cared for. Svetochka is just the perfect girl and wants to learn all the time. I am a lucky guy…
The apple trees are in bloom, the cherries are in bloom, the yearly delicious asparagus is just popping up, the grass is growing like a weed, the peonies are a foot tall and the Tiger Lilies are all reaching for the sun…
Boza and I got up at around 4 a.m. and walked. He is sleeping as is Sveta, as I write this post. I let them sleep as long as they want. I drink my coffee and by the second cup I will be done and outside working. I have to start digging the main garden. Got to get the tomatoes in and potatoes. Then we will see what seeds we have and decide what we will plant. I am thinking carrots, beets, garlic, onions and various grasses for seasonings…
I rewrote a Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver song that I love and it fits so well to how I feel about the Tiny Russian Village…
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“Take Me Home, Village Roads”
Almost heaven, Russian Village, Deep Green Valley, Para River.
Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze.
Village roads, take me home to the place I belong.
Russian Village, Babushka mamma, take me home, Village roads.
All my memories gather round her, farmer’s lady, stranger to the city sky.
Dark and dusty, howl of the wolf, misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye.
Village roads, take me home to the place I belong.
Russian Village, Babushka mamma, take me home, Village roads.
I hear her voice in the morning hour, she calls me, it reminds me of my home far away.
And driving down the road I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday.
Village roads, take me home to the place I belong.
Russian Village, Babushka mamma, take me home, Village roads.
Village roads, take me home to the place I belong.
Russian Village, Babushka mamma, take me home, Village roads.
Take me home now, Village roads,
Take me home now, Village roads.
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I am so glad to be back home. My soul has found its home and it does remind me of the home far far away in my childhood and growing up. Sometimes we have to wander away from the past to find the future and gather up the past, even if it is just memories of a time gone by!
WtR
What else can be said?
The village, a bike and the sabaka!
Svetochka takes wonderful images. This is her idea of a perfect world…
WtR
You watch as the US tries the same games in Russia as they successfully did in other countries. Russia is not other countries and Russia is stable. I see a backlash upon the US and it is growing…
I see fear in the making within the US administration. Wake up people and drive that fear home against the US government…
America us unstable and ripe for a legitimate coup…
WtR
To make the presidential Easter cake:
- 450 g wheat flour
- 130 g butter
- 14 g dry yeast
- 10 g vanilla
- 150 g raisins (soaked in brandy)
- 180 g sugar
- 10 g salt
- 60 g candied fruit
- 9 ml cognac
- 45 ml milk
Grab a bowl – Pre-soak the candied fruits and raisins. Grab another bowl – put in flour, yeast, vanilla, sugar, salt, and milk. Knead the mixture to make the dough and then knead in the melted butter. Take soaked raisins and candied fruit (leave the cognac and brandy with the fruit,) and add to the dough. Knead the dough again and the finished dough should be left in a warm place for 2 — 2.5 hours and it should increase in size by 2.5 times…
If you follow the recipe correctly, you should have a 1 kg of Easter cake. Yes, you can cut it up and share…
WtR
The Vostochny Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодром Восточный Kosmodrom Vostochny “Eastern Spaceport”) is a Russian spaceport under construction on the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East. When completed in 2018, it is intended to reduce Russia’s dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first launch took place on April 28, 2016 at 02:01 UTC.
What a success story! A success that all in the west would not know about. Sad really, hate news from the western media about something so wonderful as Russia going to space. One day we will live in space and travel to the stars. I dream about that happening and wish I could go…
It is enough to get excited over…
WtR
Did not make it to the Tiny Russian Village yet!
Delays and more delays and so we went to a movie yesterday. A movie that is made in Russia, by Russians and for Russians. It was really good. Called, “Flight Crew (Russian: Экипаж, translate; Ekipazh)”……
“This is not a film about heroes, but of ordinary people. About ourselves and those around. About our contemporaries, in which the entire country is held.” – Now I can say it held to that story line and was wonderful; wonderfully made and wonderfully exciting to watch…
I understand that it is only the second disaster film fully produced all in Russia and it was wonderful. Sveta loved it and it was worth a trip to the big screen. Svetochka was enthralled and I even ended up on the edge of my seat as we watched disaster after disaster fly across the big screen. It was a fantastic movie and worth staying around an extra day for. We may go see another one (movie) today and leave very early on Saturday…
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We still have some loose ends to tie up and we are not in a hurry. Life is too short to drive yourself to an early grave. I have to stop and smell the coffee and the roses at times. Speaking of roses; I bought a cream colored Tea Rose, plus two pear trees, four tomato plants, 12 strawberry plants and some other goodies to plant. I am so excited to plant the rose and see if I can start a tea rose garden in the years to come…
Speaking of coffee, my cup of coffee this morning is so good. I woke all fuzzy headed, but now I feel okay. Sveta is snoozing away and I need to get her up in a few hours. We have to finish getting ready and then gear up to leave tomorrow morning. Boza knows we are leaving and he looks at me like, “What! Are you always this slow? Lets go!”
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Delayed, but Hey….its Okay!
WtR
I have been home in Korolev, Russia for about a month now. Today Sveta is home and we will go to Globus (like WalMart) and grab some end of the garden season stuff. They have great deals right now and I saw some dirt cheap (pardon the pun,) orange and crimson Tea Roses. We also found some pear trees and if they still have them, we will get them. Time to have pears in the village… 🙂
I have a box of coins I collect as I buy things and this is my mad money. It is a large shoe box and it is almost full of coins. Might be time to break out the rainy day money and buy some plants. I think we need to get six tomato plants, two pear trees, a dozen strawberry plants and whatever else we can afford. We have the Blue Seed Potatoes and I have 12 packs of different seeds in the village for the rest of the garden…
Therefore, I will not post for a few days. Getting to the village and getting the village home up and running again, will be a busy job. Then I will be in the village for about six months, before I have to leave Russia again. Russia requires that I leave the country every six months and then I can come back for another six months. It is a pain in the butt….but it is a thousand times better than what we use to go through. (I use this leaving issue as a time to do business in other countries and such. So it all works out!) There was a time, I had to leave every three months for up to a month away from Russia. This is where I talk about how Ukraine use to be my second home…
I can’t wait to see the look on Boza’s face when we get to the village. He will be waiting for his collar to come off and run the fields and forests. I also see that Sveta is excited about spending sometime in the village. She has discovered a perfect world down there, as I have been rebuilding everything slowly, but surely…
Still have not found white lilacs…
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Next post from the Tiny Russian Village….Have a nice day…
WtR
On April 26, 2016 it will be exactly 30 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster hit the Soviet Union (USSR). Just 970 years to go. Then maybe that Ghost Town will be inhabited again. Problem is, will mankind make it that long before we eradicate ourselves. Watch a soul moving video. Listen to the words carefully. The words tell a true story…
Russian Video from Russia: Chernobyl – Ghost Town For 1000 Years!
On April 26, 2016 it will be exactly 30 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster hit the Soviet Union (USSR). The catastrophe became the worst nuclear accident in recorded history and Russian lawmakers feel its lessons should serve the international community…
We posted this video several years ago on the Russian Video Blog…
It makes a tear come to my eye and touches my soul, when I play it and think about what happened…
The song is excellent. But….sad…
WtR