Windows to Russia

The day is; Sunrise – 8:58 to Sunset – 15:58! Exactly 7 hours long today, then starting tomorrow it is one minute longer and goes up from there. This is the shortest day of the year December 22nd, 2015… The days are very short, but after today, I get to look forward to more and […]

At 9:30 p.m. I will be at the train station and pick my sweet pea up! Boza and I are lucky, we have family to be with us for Christmas… I have spent a bunch of Christmases alone or without family in my lifetime. Starting at an early age as I sat in trenches amongst […]

Sochivo is a traditional dish of the Orthodox Christmas Eve. Sochivo is a special vegetable dish made from scalded wheat grains, and sometimes rice or lentils, mixed with seeds (poppy seed, almond or hazelnut), juice,  and honey, which is approved by the Charter of the Orthodox church to be eaten during Christmas Eve. In fact […]

The wind changed direction yesterday and what was a northern deep freeze, became a southern heat wave. I have noticed that weather is reliant on many things, but the most important issue here in Russia is the direction the wind blows. It basically flows from the north or from the south and according to that, […]

Father Pavel is the monk in charge of the monastery in our village. Yesterday was a special holiday for the Orthodox (Holiday Here,) It was interesting for me and I got kind of excited about the holiday. Then after the bell was done ringing, the sermon was done and everyone left, or so I thought. […]

Remember the Snake-Oil Salesmen? The transcript of Obama’s year-end press conference reveals him as a snake-tongued liar and deceiver without equal in the current US political hierarchy. From his initial assumption that in the case of Syria it is right and proper for the US to “speak out on behalf of its values” when Assad […]

Yes you read correctly! Jolly Old Saint Nicholas or as known by; “Santa Claus” to many! Saint Nicholas’ Day, observed on December 6 (in Western Christian countries) and 19 December (in Eastern Christian countries), is the feast day of Saint Nicholas.[2] It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to his reputation as […]

Yesterday I met the lady at the white home. Boza and I were following her trail as she dragged her sled into the woods, back and forth, from home. We wanted to see what she was doing! We talked to her for a minute, when we found her on her way back from the woods. […]

“What most concerns the [New York] Times is that the crude politics of Trump shatters the lying rhetoric used by Democrats and Republicans alike to justify the policies of the ruling class, at home and abroad. Thus, it worries that Trump is doing “serious damage” to the country’s “reputation overseas” by “twisting its message of […]

Yesterday was a beautiful day, cold as hell, but beautiful. The sun tried its best to warm what it can, but when father frost is fully awake, she just has to take second fiddle during the winter. The issue is that the sun never stays around long enough to make a difference. I guess she […]