Windows to Russia

This morning at 5:30 a.m. the outdoor thermometer said, “-15”, actually it shivered and said that. I know it shivered, because after I tapped it to make sure it was settled, all the numbers below 0 fell off and went to the bottom and what did not fall is hardly enough to read the thing properly anymore…

What a bummer!

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Therefore, with the demise of our outdoor thermometer; Boza and I went walking in the frigid, crystalline, and clear sky of Russia. That is a rare sky in the winter. Oh, it is always clean and frigid, but clear, hardly ever, clouds seem to be the norm…

Boza checked his winter fur coat before going out and he was satisfied that he had enough fur to do the job, then I proceeded to put on long underwear, two pair of heavy cotton pants, three pair of socks, the heaviest coat, a stocking cap, scarf, gloves, emergency bag of peanuts, flashlight, three shirts (two – long sleeve,) and a partridge in a pair tree… (I am not as furry as Boza!)

I take a bag of peanuts with me, in case something happens on the long walks I take. Sveta appreciated them the other day, as we ate peanuts in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. They were really good…

I had two cups of coffee before we left and now I am sipping on a cup of hot tea as I write this article…

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I sat on my bench I made in the summer this last year. It was crisp, but I sat to hear what the world would say to me. I was attempting to hear what songs nature would sing today to me, for yesterday, I was presented with an orchestra that beats all orchestras. Today was too early and all I heard was cars in the farthest reaches and highest reaches were filled with jet engine noises, as I could see the dot of light transverse the sky…

But yesterday I had a song of nature…

Boza and I had walked for several hours yesterday and we stopped near the cemetery and sat on a log. Boza was busy taking a snow bath and I really thought he could try harder to make snow angels, but he refused to listen to me, as he rolled in a snow drift. I was listening to how quiet it was…

Then I heard a woodpecker. He decided that we were not evil and he went back to work. Then some chickadees joined in with their little chirps, then a few more woodpeckers joined in. Within a few minutes, a breeze blew and the trees creaked, the birds chirped, the woodpeckers pecked and all of a sudden; twenty more woodpeckers joined in and hundreds of birds and a single yelping Fox…

It was unbelievable: The woodpeckers were drums of various types, the trees were musical notes from wind instruments, the birds were the ringing of bells and other instruments and then from nowhere came our huge flock of sparrows. They run in a flock and were born in our yard. Sveta got a taste of them, when they buzzed us one day. They are a huge ball of fluttering wings and they decided to join the band as it played. The noises all went together and I for several minutes enjoyed a song of nature. Then…

A big fat stupid Raven, came uninvited…

He lives in the cemetery and he swooped down among us and saw Boza and I. Then he screamed bloody murder and told the whole world as far away as New York City, USA, that we were near his cemetery. The orchestra ended and I got mad…

I shook my fist at the Raven! He looked at me as if, “Gotta do better than that!”

Then I yelled at him and shook my fist! The Raven was undeterred. But Boza jumped on me and told me not to threaten a Raven. Then since I was really grouchy; I took my walking stick and showed the Raven who was boss. I waved the stick of death and destruction at him and he decided that this bear was in a really bad mood and he flew off, cussing all the way. Boza started to growl at me as if it was all my fault and told me to stop threatening the Raven with death and destruction…

Since I am the boss; I waved my staff of magical powers at the fleeing Raven and Boza jumped on me one last time and we stomped home… 😉

But, Oh what a beautiful song I listened to in the woods yesterday. Nature knows how to play music and I will try to go back and listen some more…

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The walk yesterday had another twist of nature and delights…

Boza and I were walking along the river. The river is full and wonderful, but as we walked we noticed that someone had been cutting down trees recently and we decided to walk over to the edge of the river bank and see what some human was doing. I could see no reason why some fool human would be cutting down these trees?

We walked upon the set of trees we saw cut down and I looked at Boza and said to myself, “Self, this is no axe or saw!” and or then, “Self, this is no human!”

Then right behind us, a tree fell…

I mean fell five feet from us and could have killed us. I spun around and Boza spun around. I looked at the tree and followed the trunk to where it was broke off, or should I say cut off?

I said,”What The! (and maybe a few choice words after that)”

Then all hell broke loose. There was three beavers staring at me and they did not know we were there…

The snow was a perfect muffler and Boza and I had sneaked upon a beaver family at work. The beavers screamed in terror, I screamed in terror and Boza yelped in terror. Then before you could blink, the beavers jumped of the edge of the river bank and took a slide down onto the ice. Slide off the ice ledge and slipped under it to their home. I stood there is awe and Boza finally woke up to the fact that something interesting had happened and started to bark as if he was in control of everything…

Then Boza and I walked the river bank and found that there had to be hundreds of beavers all along the bank of the river. We found trees cut off and path after path leading down to the river and we walked for over a kilometer. Fresh cut trees everywhere and now we were looking for falling trees. I snapped some images later in our walk after recovering, but need to go back with the big camera and try to catch the beavers at work…

These beavers all live in burrows in the river bank and I could not find a single structure or entrance anywhere. The water level is high and the holes are underwater. But I found the beavers…

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I guess that is enough for today. Our walks are interesting to me and I look forward to seeing new things everyday. One thing I have learned is that we are never to old to learn and never to old not to explore new stuff…

Just need to teach a beaver to say, “Timber!” Ouch…

Have a nice day…

Kyle and Boza
Windows to Russia (WtR)

Sveta is back in Moscow and Boza and I are in the Tiny Russian Village. The winter chill has set in hard today and we are going to see many -20 degree days coming up soon. That cup of coffee is sure talking sweet this morning and I am on a second cup as I write this…

What a wonderful visit Sveta made to us to guys! We walked, we talked, we laughed and we just got lots of simple things done. The trip was way too short, but I think that Sveta has seen the beauty, perfection and soul healing of the village. I see that the village is starting to talk to her and she sees it in a different light than they did many years ago, when it was simply a place to bring a child for healthy summers. Sveta sees a village home and a tiny village that is safe, secure and wonderful; all year around…

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This morning I reinstalled Windows 8.1 back on the laptop. I gave Windows 10 a better than fair chance and actually tried to make it work, even with all the flaws. I thought about going back all the way to Windows 7, but Windows 8.1 is basically the same with different eye candy and Windows 8.1 is still functional with basic tweaking. Windows 10 is truly a piece of CRAP! I tried Microsoft; for months, but you screwed up a good thing, all in the name of the all mighty dollar ($)…

Therefore, I am sitting here revamping all my software, images and what-knots and enjoying Windows 8.1. Never thought I would say that Windows 8.1 is actually an acceptable operating system, but compared to Windows 10, It is…

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I have never owned so many boots. I have even more than what is in the image above, but these are the main boots I use. They start from the left and smallest in height; rubber shoes, Velcro short boots, medium snow boots and extra tall deep snow boots. I also have some Finnish made boots, but they are not as warm as the Russian made boots…

This morning I wore the medium snow boots and they were just perfect. The one thing that has to be a fact in Russia is; you gotta have coats and boots and you never have enough of either… 🙂

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Boza is sad today and he always does this after Sveta leaves (Me to!) Today he will not eat and will be happy to walk, but he will spend his time looking around for Sveta. It makes me sad to see him this way, but by tomorrow, he will be back to normal (Me to!) and we will have a long walk then. Today he was excited to get to the frozen lake bed and he ran like the wind, chasing snow devils as they swirled across the dried lake bed. He is so fast and in seconds crosses the lake and I am just starting to walk across it. I have to call him and make him slow down, but he just looks at me like I am an old spoiled sport…

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Well I gotta work on the OS that I installed and get things updated. At least I can update when I want to now and not when Windows says I have to. Talk about eating up internet traffic data and that is something that is short on supply in a Tiny Russian Village in the middle of nowhere…

Have a nice day…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

The weather was virtually perfect for the time that Sveta was in the village. It warmed up when she came and tonight after she leaves, the arctic blast will come back. It is as if Old man Winter likes Sveta and allowed some warmth to invade, just to keep Sveta a happy girl…

Therefore in counterbalance, by The New Year, it will be -25 below and wicked payback weather. Looks like half of January will be deep and deeper freeze… 😉

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Yesterday, The three of us walked for 3+ hours. We walked deep into the woods, we walked to the water source, we walked to the cement pond and well, we walked everywhere. One thing interesting happened as we were walking…

I heard a puppy yapping and this was while we were deep in the woods. Sveta did not hear it and Boza seemed to not hear it. But I did, therefore, I thought I was hearing things and when I heard a raven make its funny noises; I decided that I was hearing just a raven…

Then as we sat upon the bench at the Holy Water Spot! I heard a noise in the woods and as Boza and Sveta ignored all around themselves. Out of the woods popped two young guys and a puppy!

I was vindicated, for I knew I heard a puppy or a small doggy yapping. Sure enough, I tell Sveta to grab Boza by the collar and here comes a little puppy bouncing around as all wonderful puppies do and wiggled himself up to Boza to say, “Hi!”

The boys were looking for a fir tree (not a pine,) for New Years and they had a hatchet in hand to accomplish such a feat. I recognized them and they are from our village. Believe it or not, we have several homes with people going to stay the New Year and that is really great…

They were looking for Bald Mountain and Sveta told them just up ahead, that they were almost there. I could see the look of relief on their faces, for I know they thought they were lost. Then since the puppy wanted to stay with Boza and us. They had to pick the little guy up and carry him away as he whined in protest of leaving his new friend… 🙂

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Tonight I drop Sveta off at the Elektrichka (train) and Boza and I are bachelors again, at least until Sveta comes to keep an eye on us. For you know, we are just guys; You Know?

Fact is that I am almost healed again. My feet have become healthy again, my diabetes is under control again, my heart is 100% more stable, the only thing that expresses itself with me in the village is my arthritis and it is really bad. I just ignore the pain and keep keep going. In the village I am much much healthier…

Another fact is, we miss our girl and she is the bright spot of our lives. Someday she will be here permanently and that I can feel in my heart, for she misses us also…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

How about a Tiny Russian Village Sweet Potato Pie recipe? Easy enough to make in the middle of “Nowhere Russia!”

No, not Pumpkin Pie, but Sweet Potato! This pie was also baked in a tiny toaster oven, so you have to have the right size of pie dish to bake it in. I used a deep aluminum bread bake throw away pan. Contrary to popular belief, a toaster oven can actually bake and bake I did. I baked a real sweet potato pie and I have a sweet pea of a girl who will testify that it was delicious…

This was Sveta’s first sweet potato pie and I can see that it will not be the last. The issue is that in Russia, sweet potatoes are hard to find and these had to be brought with Sveta from Moscow. Now pumpkins are a dime a dozen, but Christmas is special and Sveta needed a special pie for the holiday… 😉

Lets make a sweet potato pie!

Ingredients:

Two large sweet potatoes,
One cup of sweet condensed milk,
One teaspoon ground cinnamon,
One quarter teaspoon nutmeg,
A pinch of ginger, (Two pinches for you, I have huge fingers!)
I small package of vanilla pudding mix,
Two eggs,
Three teaspoons of real butter.
A package of ginger cookies, any type will do and or gram crackers will do just as good! (and)
One can of spray whipped cream…

Lets Make Filling:

Start a pan of water boiling on the stove. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut up into the pan of water. Set on low heat and put a lid on the pan. Let boil lightly and check on it a few times. Once the sweet potato slides easily off a fork stuck into it, it is done enough…

Drain the water off the sweet potatoes and mash the sweet potatoes until you are happy with the consistency. I toss in one teaspoon of butter and it helps to make a smoother blending…

Now in the same pan with the mashed sweet potatoes; add all the sweet condensed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla pudding mix, two eggs and once again blend well. Set mixture aside for now…

Lets Make the Crust…

Grab the cookie for the crust and crush the cookies. Ginger cookies are dry, so they crumble easily and Gram Crackers do to. But in Russia, we do not have Gram Crackers, so we find any ginger cookie to use. Put the crumbled cookies in the bottom of the baking pan and pour two teaspoons of melted butter on top and stir it up to coat the crumbs…

Then add the sweet potato mixture and fill to the level you want. I just poured it all into the pan and it was deep enough to hold it. Then after tapping the pan bottom against the table a few times to settle air bubbles out; off to the tiny oven…

All I can say at this point is that I baked the pie 15 minutes at a time (timer on machine,) 45 minutes on bottom only heat and five minutes with top and bottom heat. It looks like the last 5 minutes was really too much (bottom started to burn,) thus, turn top heat on during the last 5 minutes of the 15 minute cycle. Pie is done when a knife stuck in comes out clean… (Oven has no heat adjustment, just a mechanical timer! You have to adjust yourself to suit the needs of the greater…)

Image at left is what we had to work with as we ate it and if all the Ooo’s and Aaaa’s from Sveta are an indication, then I know I will have to make this pie again… 😉

The can of whip cream is a very important part of the dessert. Sveta would be grouchy without her whipped cream on top and we are lucky that we found it at the big village. This is one of those imported products and now Russia produces her own whip cream in a spray can. It is good…

This is called; The Tiny Russian Village Sweet Potato Pie…. Or as I call it, “Yummy!”

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia (WtR)

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…

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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… 😉

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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…….

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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… 😉

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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…

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