My Adventures Where in the world is ….

We decided we needed to get to know the missionaries better so we invited the Assistants to the President to dinner on Saturday.  It had been cold so I made Zuppa Tuscana not knowing it would be in the 50s on Saturday – warm enough we had the windows all open – of course, doing the baking I was doing added to the heat.  I made cheese rolls to go with the soup and brownies for dessert.  We enjoyed getting to know them.  They are fine young men.  Here is picture of them with Elder Morgenegg in our living room.

Elder Morgenegg with Elder Litchfield (born in Canada but now from Eugene Oregan) and Elder Hubbard (from Bloomington Indiana).

Windows here are interesting.  The first time we opened one we were afraid it would fall out and actually you can take them out.  If the handle is down it is locked closed.  If it is to the side it opens side ways like you might expect.  If the handle it up it opens at the top.  They do this often at Church when the room is too warm as it lets in just a little air instead of being wide open.  I think it is a great idea.  The windows are quite large and the picture doesn’t show that aspect.  I took another one to show Elder Morgenegg’s innovative way to block the sun.  We have a lot of pigeons that come and sit on our outside sill so having it only open a little will also not allow the pigeons in – I hope.

Here is the window closed. It is a very foggy day.

Here is the window opened side ways like you might expect.

Here is the window opened from the top.

In the morning our beautiful eastern facing windows really are too sunny to see our computer so until we get new curtains to block the sun Elder Morgenegg hangs our extra set of towels on the window. It works well but you have to move the towels as the sun moves.

So finally here is a picture of our small broom (the nice one) and our guest slippers.

We found the slippers at the grocery store in the valentine discount area.

Valentine slippers and our small broom.

So here are some pictures I found that show what I it was like when I went to the street market today.  These are from google but really represent well what is there.  The pictures may be copyrighted so I left them as is with whatever was added. Maybe I will have some of my own someday.

There were lots of artists. Some were being painted as I walked along. It was interesting that some seemed to be of local places and people but there was one section with paintings of Johnny Depp and other famous people. I liked one that had some beautiful local scenery, some painted on sections of trees with the bark on the outside edge.

There were lots of sections with little hand made crafts and also with handmade jewelry – beads and braided. It was all so interesting to see. The local artists use a lot of color in their painting and there are so many different things to see.

Here you also see the handmade combs that so many wear here.

And then there are the nesting dolls, called Matryoshka dolls.  They are as varied as the artists are and there are so many to choose from.  I understand that this is not a Ukrainian tradition but many Ukrainian artists make them as the tourists like them so much.  It is a Russian tradition imported to get business from the tourists.

Here are a couple of pictures I found that really show how they are displayed.  Many many together.

Notice the mails have big mustaches – traditional.

This one has some different ones.

They are big small and vary in how many dolls are inside.  One vendor told me it was 800 grivne and when I said thank you and started to walk off she said 700. I didn’t want to be rude but I did not go planning to buy anything today. I am sure for some this is very important to help them live from day to day.

I look forward to going again to this one or another one.  It is fun to just walk along and enjoy the beautiful things on display.