Sveta and I just had a wonderful long weekend at our village that is called Sunrise to Freedom. I have written many articles about this village. This is a link to our articles on Sunrise to Freedom… (Read More >>>)
So this morning as I was drinking that wonderful cup of coffee. I was thinking about the village and how nice it would be to live there. It is so much the same as when I grew up in America that it really makes me homesick for the old days…
We have electricity in the village house, but that is where the niceties stop. You walk to the well and fill up buckets with water and wood is the fuel of choice to heat water, unless you are fancy like us and have propane. But propane is in small tanks and you have to haul those tanks yourself. Also finding propane is easy but finding someone with enough energy to fill it is another story all together. You also have the modern convenience of outhouses to let you know that you are in the modern world…
Speaking of outhouse ours survived the winter. Sveta and I rebuilt the outhouse and after the tons of snow that fell this last winter, I was sure that it would be crushed into the ground. But it was not! We also had re-supported our back overhang on the house and Sveta was sure that that would be on the ground. But it looks like Sveta and I are pretty good at “Jury rigging” because it all still stood strong and solid… 🙂
I realized that one of the attractions of the village is the fact that what you do is up to you and know one is there to tell you that you can not build that, or cut that, or smash that and or eat that…
Another true pleasure in the village is fresh goats milk. Our neighbor almost always supplies us with goats milk. That is as long as she has extra. This year momma goat has had four kids and by that fact she is producing a ton of milk. The kids are eating solids now and so momma goat is a milk producing machine at this particular moment. Sveta and I got several liters of goats milk while we were there this time and that makes for a perfect weekend. Raw goats milk is the best bar none. Real cream for the coffee and just shake the rest up good for the best glass of milk that you can find…
Our village is located near a fish farm that produces literally tons of farm raised carp. Carp is a delicacy in Russia. So there is always people coming and going taking care of the fish. Several of the men that still live in our village work on the fish farm…
So Sveta and I had a wonderful weekend and when we got home I realized that it was Memorial day weekend in America. But for Sveta and I, it was a weekend full of special memories and fun. For me it was also another trip back down memory lane to a time that was definitely cleaner, better and more fun than what the world has turned into…
Windows to Russia!
PS: Sveta and I will make several more trips to the village this year. We have lots of work to do on the old village home and we need to make sure that she will be a good village home for years to come…