Buried for Q's birthday

Today we celebrate Quincy crossing into double digits from under a massive blanket of snow.  Just as we were starting to see grass, Friday afternoon through today we were pummeled with sideways blowing snow & ended the weekend under several feet of it.


The impact?

More shoveling
The kids started enthusiastically,.....

But eventually got lured by the newfound ease of climbing the suddenly shorter trees...

Leaving Logan bearing the brunt!

Shrinking Roads & Buried Cars
While you could hardly call our street a 2 lane road before - now it is once again down to a single track.  And the streets that were validly 2-3 lanes are all down to 1...

While you do see plows on the main arteries - side streets are totally out of luck

The buried cars are everywhere

(the 2 cars on the right are parked in what is normally the middle of this 4-lane road!)

A hidden car in front of our neighbor's house....

In Chicago, I recall them towing cars just down the street to make it possible to plow.  We miss you Streets & Sanitation!


Chicken Thighs or Bacon
We stopped at our neighborhood grocery store to re-load our dwindling provisions.  Clearly their trucks have had trouble getting there too.  The normally vast meat counter was down to 2 choices tonight.  The yogurt spread out into a single facing.  The scarcity made me greedily buy 30 eggs and as much produce as I could fit in my hand basket.  

(no photo taken - too focused on hoarding)

The Good news: Party just in time & an extra day off
With the city essentially shut down this weekend, we lucked out that Quincy had elected for a Friday afternoon birthday party.

That left plenty of time for us to celebrate as a family & play with new toys

But maybe one of the best gifts of all - the announcement that school is closed tomorrow  (along with government offices & all city employees who do not clean streets - there must be at least 5 of them)!


So here's to Quincy, extra time off to enjoy joining the double digits & SNOW MELTING TEMPERATURES that certainly must come soon!

Importing St. Paddy's Day Spirit

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Being 1/4 Irish is more than enough for me to justify celebrating the day full-on.  And now we have the added incentive of needing to 'represent' - the holiday is completely invisible in Kiev (except in the 1 Irish bar in town).


We made Irish stew.....

Baked green cookies...

Of course, had green beverages......

However, the best part of the holiday was the 'sourcing trip' to Dublin....

(Leprechaun gear purchased in Dublin)

2 weeks ago we met our dear friends Carol & John for a weekend in the fab city.  
Headlines:

Charming old city 

(the city center- nothing going before 11 am)

(St. Patrick's is quite impressive)

(totally peaceful villages)

Great pubs & live music

Surprisingly fab food

My visions of all fried pub food were so off - such cosmopolitan fare!

I LOVE GUINNESS!
Not only is the brand a marketing machine, but the beer is so smooth and surprisingly light

(at the Guinness Storehouse we learned how to do a proper pour)

We are now proud certificate-carrying Guinness professionals....

So here's to St. Paddy's Day, the spirit of the Irish & the joy of being festive

Cheers!

Women's Day in Berlin

Last week was International Women's Day.  Originally started by Socialists "in commemoration of the outstanding merits of Soviet women", today is a cross between Mother's Day & Valentines Day.....

In Kyiv that means, flowers..... 

(Its typical to bring them to ALL the women in your life - kids bring them to their teachers, bosses to their employees, etc)   

It also means chocolate.....

(I've never seen so many men in the grocery store.  Lots of man-to-man consultation going on in the chocolate aisle)

Given EVERY woman is honored, bulk buying was common  

(a friend's husband brought ~150 flowers to work - one for every woman in the office)

The other exciting feature about this day - it is a NATIONAL HOLIDAY!!!!   

With a long weekend & a focus on celebrating women (read: husbands more willing to manage at home solo), my all-female painting group took a 'girls trip' to Berlin.  What'd we find?

A mix of old & new

Nod to its mind boggling past

A huge 360 exhibit illustrates Berlin the 80s - showing both sides of the wall....

Hard to fully comprehend the idea of living in a city in essentially 'lock down' - one friend on the trip lived on the east side & confirmed the picture is fairly accurate

Several monuments honoring Jews...

Loads of museums & galleries

And even a 'matching bar'!

(Appropriately, this bar was called "Newton's" - life sized nudes for ambiance)

And of course fun shopping....

Berlin is cheaper than Ukraine (silly high taxes on imported goods here) & has many brands we don't.  I loved the streets with cute botiques

The kids were quite excited about these 2 brands.....

Quincy said the Dunkin Donuts would buy a week without feeling homesick

Here's to Women, national holidays that celebrate them & the cheap thrill of treats from home