(belated celebration of June 12 which is my father-in-law's birthday. And our Independence Day, by coincidence. Which I celebrated by not singing the new old anthem. But if you think that it means that I don't like Russia you're wrong, even despite that I root for a Germany football team. I think Russia is not just a state; it's a state of mind; ( Read more... )

11 months of work seems 12 months too many. I really need a good physical shake-up. A month of catamaraning would suffice; but I have to skip catamaraning this summer, because my son Andrey is having exams till July 17. (And I'm going to offer him a motherly support by kicking his ass on a daily basis cooking him the nice thick steaks.)

I think what ( Read more... )

Я вообще-то человек не особо верующий, но к чувствам остальных отношусь с большим пиететом. Кроме того, по моему мнению, в России сегодня профильные спецшколы, включая церковные, остаются последним прибежищем детской духовности. (пардон за вполне понятный шовинизм... если вам так легче, можете считать, что это была шутка ;))) Поэтому когда по ( Read more... )

To finish with the gowns I made for Dashka, here're the photos from her graduate ball last year. (I don't know the authors of the pictures, it's from CD given to Dasha after graduation). Thank God, boys don't wear ball gowns!


( Read more... )

***
The little joys of being a mom:

To watch a flower-bed of girls around him,
So pretty in their for-special-occasion dresses,
Trying to exert the sixth sense
To feel which one of them
Left that love-bite on his shoulder
Last Monday.

To watch him from a crowded hall
Playing a violin on a low stage,
Leading a black-and-white chorus
Of ( Read more... )

All this week my nights are devoted to the odd experiment. I'm spending my energy for decreasing the entropy of a large piece of pink silk. As you can guess, it (entropy) gleefully recoups its losses in all other parts of a home. The question is not who will win because a result is known a priori. The question is how did I come to this life.

When ( Read more... )

Here's some photos of the last canoeing and my comments. River Schlina, 300 km North-North-West of Moscow. I haven't yet got the others' photos, here's only mine. So, as you can guess, there is no me here, except for a wet stripped sock.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

This is the anatomy of canoe. It has a sceleton from aluminium tubing and a ( Read more... )

...to this puddle of shi-- ah-- to this blossoming spring city, to this Augean stables that is my lab among the massive invasion of fire inspectors, to all the adjourned work that always wait for my absence to start outrageously propagating itself. Where are my muck-rakes ( Read more... )

This is how it works: Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

I thought it would be like in a joke about a flea. Well, you know it of course. A student is ( Read more... )

My almost-a-year-old partisan war against the elevator in my new apartments ended up yesterday night by an open battle. As a result, my self-respect was smashed to pieces like Tataro-Mongol hordes after a Great Standing on the Ugra river. In case if you're unaware of this tragical story, I must explain that this beast refuses to take seriously my ( Read more... )