Windows to Russia

Sveta and Boza are snuggled in bed after I walked Boza this morning. Sveta is a sleepy bug and when she gets half a chance she sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I am different and after a certain amount of time in bed, my body makes me get up, for I can only lay down so long. People are different in many ways…

The sun is up this morning and…

Just perfect for a Christmas…

* * * * * * * * * *

I am going to make a sweet potato pie for Sveta. This is in place of a pumpkin pie. We are going to have beet salad, Olivier salad, sweet potato pie, steamed chicken breasts, my famous mashed potato dressing and whatever else I put together… And of course hot tea with pumpkin spice in it… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

Gotta go, lots to do and Christmas meal to cook!

Everyone have a Merry Christmas…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

From Boza, Sveta and Kyle
Windows to Russia (WtR)

 

Boza and I walked and walked and walked. The weather was good and the temperature was even better. I used the tiny cellphone camera and just snapped images. What you see is what we saw as we walked and we also as you see found a road deep in the woods. The woods got mistier and mistier as we went deeper and deeper. It was cool…

What a wonderful walk we had…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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 more daylight everyday, then we get to see the never ending daytime in the summer. 🙂

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia

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 the war zones. War zones that we Americans many times did not acknowledge nor care to inquirer about. I can remember many times being ship born on the oceans to the next assignment. Yes they had Christmas aboard the carrier, but what is Christmas about steaming steadily and going to kill people who do not want you on there land?

Therefore, since being a little kid, I will have a rare, but not rare since being in Russia, Christmas. Sveta will come to us grouchy grumpy guys in the village and make us happy smiling guys…

Sveta is the family I never properly had and she naturally is capable of doing what is right, even when I seem to be incapable, due to my past…….

* * * * * * * * * *

I had a bad night last night and I am not sure why? I feel okay this morning, but I slept three hours more than normal and so did Boza. He never once asked to get up and go out! We went out and found it raining and after doing our business, we both decided to step back inside until daylight and then take a long walk…

Thus, that daylight has approached and we need to walk. We have a bunch to do today to get the home ready for a girl. Our favorite girl is coming and we need to tone guy stuff down and get girl stuff put back out for her to use ad get extra water in buckets and just make the home more presentable for Sveta to feel at home here… 😉

* * * * * * * * * *

Happiness is the best half of the family coming to say, “Hi!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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 from what I understand Orthodox Christians are required to eat sochivo. Christmas Eve in Russia is the 6th of January…

According to Orthodox Church Charter, eating sochivo partakes in the evening on Christmas eve after complete abstinence (fasting) from food during the day…

Of course like all Russian dishes there is a zillion ways to make this recipe and everyone has a better way than the next one… 🙂

So, Lets make a very special dish for that Russian Christmas Eve…

Ingredients:

16 oz wheat (1 pound)
4 oz honey
6 oz poppy seeds
7 oz walnuts
salt (to taste)

Method:

Filter the whole wheat (other words pull out the chunks of dirt and rocks), wash and put in boiling water. Bring to a boil, drain and wash under cold water, bring to boil, cover tightly and put in the oven until soft. (Or boil for 5 hours in pot.) Then take out and cool down.Put in large mixing bowl… (Idea is that whole wheat is hard to cook and it takes time)
Wash poppy seeds, scald in boiling water then wash under cold water and grind up until homogeneous and white, many people do not do this and leave the poppy seeds whole. Mix into the wheat in the large mixing bowl…

Then add the honey and a bit of salt. Most like to heat the honey so that it is thin and will mix better…

Combine all ingredients with the wheat wheat thoroughly.

If sochivo is too thick, then just add some water. At the end of mixing add chopped walnuts all over the top…

There you go and now you have made a dish that is approved by the Orthodox church to eat on Christmas Eve…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

The copy scores 71.5 in the Flesch Reading Ease test, which is considered fairly easy to read…

• A Bulgarian Christmas… (windowstorussia.com)
• Ikra ovoshchnaia (Vegetable Spread Recipe…) (windowstorussia.com)
• Cottage Cheese and Coffee… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee Thinking’s in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)
• Russia: Is There A Santa Claus in Russia? (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and Our Volga… (windowstorussia.com)
• Last Night The Wail of the Train Could Be Heard… (windowstorussia.com)
• Coffee and Teaching in Russia… (windowstorussia.com)

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, is the temperature. Therefore it has become warm for us here and all the snow is melting. It will be short lived and the deep freeze will be back, but with the warmth, came a beautiful noise this morning…

I stepped outside with Boza at 4:30 a.m. and I heard a babbling brook. Now I do not live near a brook or creek and it struck me as odd. The wind was soft and from the south and the snow was almost gone. I stood and sipped my coffee, as Boza ran to get his ball. When I stop in the yard too long, Boza gets worried that I might steal his ball and he goes to guard it! 😉 Poor little guy…

I was not thinking about stealing his ball, but I was thinking how beautiful the noise was of a perfect babbling brook right near our front fence. I realized that it had to be the melt-off running down the road. Though I normally never hear such a sound as this perfect. I had the flash light and investigated. I found that the road was still icy, but water was steaming down the hill on the ice. The water talked all the way down the hill as it meandered down the ruts in the road…

I stood mesmerized by the sound, as I turned off the flash light and closed my eyes. I allowed my imagination to take over and remembered when I was about 7 years old, deep in the woods in my native Missouri. I could remember the sharp odor of the cedar trees which were so abundant and the screaming of the Blue Jays. I was hunting with my BB gun and came upon a babbling brook. The same noise I heard then as I heard now. The brook ran over rocks and the ice acted to create the same sound as then, when I was little…

Boza stood next to me and listen also. I am not sure what he heard, but if his daddy is listening, then he knows to listen also. We stood and I remembered my buddy then, a female mutt named Gidget. Gidget hunted with me and she sat with me as we watched the brook babble and twigs and leaves hurried along as they went to another world away from our sight. Gidget was much like Boza…

What a beautiful sound this morning!

Have a nice day and may you find that babbling brook to listen to also…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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. Father Pavel paid a visit to me when I was eating fish soup at Vova’s. He brought me some gifts and they were very important to me. I had no idea that he would do this and what he gathered would not have been easy within Russia to get…

Vova had been sneaky and not told me about the visit, They knew that my Christmas was soon in coming and he wanted to give me these items above and the one item I will treasure the most is the Russian/English Bible. I have started to read in Moscow the “Everyday Saints” book and left it there. I guess God wants me to read it for now I have another one in my possession… 😉

He had printed his favorite prayer and put it in plastic for me, to protect it. He said it helps to make it through the day sometimes…

I will most likely read the Orthodox Faith Doctrine first. I will start that tonight. I sense it will help the most in understanding the Orthodox faith…

The whole area has become aware of me and people in the Big Village are aware as I walk the village shopping now. It feels good in a way and I feel both physically and spiritually welcomed in this area. Of course I am a very aloof person in many ways. But as always, certain people, including most kids and women see through that. Very few guys see around it and the ones that do become my friends…

Vova sees the Kyle I am and now it seems that Father Pavel is taking a interest in what I am doing and my future in Russia. It has been a long time since real friends have presented themselves. In America it is mostly a friend for what they can get from the friendship and or relationship. Here from day one with Sveta and now as I finally expand outward with my wings, Russians have shown that they befriend, they mean it from the heart…

The fact that this American has embraced a Tiny Russian Village and actually wants to live in that village and is excited about a monastery in that village, has stirred the people around the region and as Sveta says, “That is just right!”

Time for a second cup of coffee; Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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 “is killing hundreds of thousands of his own people”…

Yes, still today according to our administration, Assad is still killing them by the hundreds of thousands, mind you!

To Obama’s parting shot that the entire country of Syria is outraged and believes that its ruler doesn’t represent them, the snake-in-chief’s well worn monologue is a litany of lies, half-truths, false narratives and poisonous insinuations. It is worth studying only by students of the western propaganda matrix…

Its significant message is that the criminal coalition led by the US has no legitimate purpose, will not act in good faith, and does not want any real reconciliation in Syria. Otherwise its leader would not display such obvious arrogant falsity, ill will and bad faith. The criminal coalition should be ignored and the fight against its proxies should continue until there are none left. That is the only negotiating strategy this gang of thugs will recognize. It is only the success of that strategy up to now that has brought the illegitimate Obama regime and its vassals to the table, where they hope to somehow steal a “win” for themselves regardless of whether the Syrian people “win” or die. There is no good-faith dealing with a toxic and obnoxious bunch of lying murdering thieves such as these…

Snake-Oil Salesman are scum and we have a “Narcissistic Scum in Chief” amongst the rest of the crappy trash running America!

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

PS: I will not even talk about the rest of the transcript! I do not have enough heart medicine to survive all the prevarications and hypocrisy…

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 a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of Mass or worship services.^[3][4] In Europe, especially in “Germany and Poland, boys would dress as bishops begging alms for the poor.”^[5] In Ukraine, children wait for St. Nicholas to come and to put a present under their pillows provided that the children were good during the year. Children who behaved badly may expect to find a twig or a piece of coal under their pillows. In the Netherlands, “Dutch children put out a clog filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas’ horse. On Saint Nicholas’ Day, gifts are tagged with personal humorous rhymes written by the sender.”^[6] In the United States, one custom associated with Saint Nicholas Day is children leaving their shoes in the foyer on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas will place some coins on the soles, for them to awake to.^[2]

The American Santa Claus, as well as the British Father Christmas, derive in part from Saint Nicholas and in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint’s name in that language. However the gift giving associated with these descendant figures is associated with Christmas Day rather than Saint Nicholas Day itself.^[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas_Day

* * * * * * * * * *

I have to tell you something…

There must be a hundred people up the hill and it is snowing to beat the band. Father Pavel was in the bell tower ringing the bell and at -8 below, he had to have been freezing in the sleet, snow and hard wind. Vova is playing his church music full blast and it wafts all over the village. I have never seen anything like this, here we are in the middle of nowhere and there are people everywhere…

I thank God everyday for allowing me to have found Sveta and for her to allow me to live in the families village home. I am blessed and I know it. I just hope I am able to repay the debt I feel for all the blessings that I receive…

Learn something new everyday…

Church Holiday: Saint Nicholas’ Day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)