Boza and I checking out the new fence posts…
I have talked about this before…. But then if it has to do with my life in Russia, I have most likely talked about it several times…
The fence wars are starting for earnest…
Vova is upset, many of the other villagers are upset and I just watch the world going around and around…
Svetochka’s mothers Tiny Russian Village home is below the monastery and definitely out of the monastery property lines, but…
Many homes are not and that is going to become a serious issue real soon. An example is Vova’s home. It is located within the original monastery walls and land, he has rights to live there, but it is looking like that is the extent of those rights and what he does to his property falls under scrutiny by the church…
Makes sense to me, but then I have not lived here all my life and I did not go through the times when everyone was told that they owned so and so property. But yes, the church has had this property from the first stone laid for its foundation and the church is eternal in time and place…
The Orthodox Monastery has brought up the beginnings of their wall building and even as they will start slowly, one day they will surround the monastery with a wall and or fence to start with. There is no such thing as a monastery in Russia that will not be surrounded ultimately. Maybe in remote areas it will be left alone, but in a village like this, they will build that wall…
Svetochka and I are in a good spot and we can watch the goings on and not be bothered by the wall and such. But most of the Tiny Russian Village is actually on monastery property and that my friend is what it is all about…
It will get interesting before it is all done…
New family…
In Russia life is interesting. I went to town yesterday in the morning and a young man named Dennis picked me up. This is the driver that Svetochka has used before and or his dad. The young man was very polite, kind and helpful. He was patient and waited as I searched the town for medicine for Boza. Nice trip and nice kid, who is about 19 years old…
When he dropped me off at my walking spot to the Tiny Russian Village, I started to give him money. Him and his dad run a taxi service and that is how we know them. He refused the money…
Seriously, he spent almost two hours of his time, fuel and wear on his car and he refused the money…
Svetochka called him to see what was up and he told her basically, “We are family and you do not charge family!”
He calls Sveta, “Aunt Svetochka!”
I walked along the last two or three kilometers to the village home thinking…
Yes you know what I am thinking, “Just like in the old days in America!”
This is something that is common in Russia, people get attached to strangers and those strangers become family in that families eyes. I grew up with that as the normal, and every family I new as a kid had someone called Uncle and or Aunt and they were not related. Families are not always just blood relations…
Then all became better…
I have been feeling down about Boza and really am struggling to keep his left eye under control even somewhat…
This is a serious issue and soon the car will be done and we will get back to get his eye worked on. But, I still was done and out about the issue…
But as always, something happens and this little tidbit of life as it happened, made me smile. A young man had no issues with hauling this grouchy bear around and would not accept money for doing it, all because I am family…
I realized why I love Russia so much…
Giving is normal with the Russian people, especially the village people and life is as it should be. Those that have, give to those that do not and so on and so on. It is what makes me comfortable in Russia. For that is how I do things and paying it all along is what it is all about…
Russians will give the shirt off their back if you need it more than they do…
You should think about that…. As you warmonger against a country like Russia. Russia is a fantastic place and this young man gives me the example as why!
I guess Svetochka and I are aunt and uncle now…
Mommy Eagle is back…
The beast of the valley is back and she swooped in to straighten her subjects out real quick. I noticed yesterday that the hawks, ravens and other birds were in a tissy. I had talked about another big eagle, but not mommy eagle, who was trying to set itself up as king and or queen of the valley. It is a big eagle and I thought we had a new boss…
Wrong, Mamma Eagle has come home. She sailed across the lake and had a fish the size of an whale in her talons. Hawks were swooping around her. These huge hawks looked like fighter planes swarming a bomber…. She screamed her eagle scream and all got quiet in the valley. You could have heard a pin drop. The wind even stopped blowing. The little swallows all set on the power lines and shuddered as they watched her fly overhead…
Yes, Mamma Eagle is back and yesterday afternoon, I watched her and her family flying lazily far up in the sky. Oh to fly like an Eagle…
Oh Ralph was missing this morning. He sat in the forest edge watching us, he darned not come out for a few days at least. Mamma was soaring overhead at 4 a.m. and everyone is watching to see what mood she is in…
Mamma Eagle is a bad-ass eagle and seriously she is huge. I wonder if she will have anymore babies this year? I count seven eagles from her now. Too hard to tell them from each other and they are all the size of Papa Eagle…
Please Mamma Eagle be nice to your subjects…
Life is good…
WtR