I like Halloween. I like it for orangy, spicy, colorful attitude, fun preparations and sweets generously distributed at any corner. It also gives me an excuse not to clean the spider web above my front door for two weeks or so. That’s a real perk. Despite the tradition, I don’t Continue reading “Happy Halloween!”
I naively considered that today is the only one holiday – St. Patrick’s Day. It turned out NOT. On March 17, 1861 in Russia, the last day of Maslenitsal, on Forgiveness Sunday, Alexander II published manifest to abolish slavery and it was publicly read in all churches all over Russia. I somehow remembered the year of abolishment from my school time, but of course, I forgot the date. There is almost no one talk about slavery in Russia, and nobody cares what I can’t tell about American South. It is a hot topic here and people talk about that with or without any reason. I met so many people who feel strongly guilty, even those whose relatives never even kept slaves. It is interesting, that slavery in Russia was canceled in the same year that the civil war in America started. At first I thought that maybe the war happened at first, then Alexander II decided, why should we trouble … let’s cancel it as well. But no, apparently, Russia abolished slavery first, and then a month later the Civil War started in America. In any case, Karl Marx & Co was actively watching everything what was going on, and noted that Russia and America were the last two from powerful countries, who abolished slavery.
Anyway, Happy St. Patrick’s Day and the abolition of Russian slavery to ya’ll!
THANKSGIVING… I like the way it sounds,…and even if this holiday has absolutely different idea behind it, it is just sounds right to thank for everything and everybody: for long days and short nights, for my family who tolerates me, for my kids who teach me how to live, for my friends and potential friends, for pain of unconditional love and comfort of mutual love, for sunshine of Central Asia and heavy rains of Saint-Petersburg, for beauty of Rome and unbeatable charm of Europe’s cobblestone streets , for American South with its’ hard to get accent and honey sweet attitude, for BBQ, for irises in earlier in spring in my Gramma’s garden, for Gin and Tonic, for Long Island Ice Tea, for Long Island itself, for NYC and Broadway, for good books which are already written and which are not written yet, for fresh coffee in the morning from clay Prague mug, for Turkmen carpets, for Italian language I never learnt, for Atlantic Ocean and cute Pacific seals, for San-Francisco’s everything, for Russian birches, fairy tales and New Year eves, for shortbread cookies, fresh seafood, for good old movies and classic theaters, for Russian churches, for glintwine on Christmas market, for poetry, for crepes with caviar, for green tea with mint, for Moscow metro, for mutt dogs with smart eyes, for Central Asian markets with mountains of watermelons and hills of bullheart tomatoes, for fried eggplants, for apple pies with melted vanilla ice cream on it, for smell of fresh cut grass, for my exhausting but inspiring nostalgia, for hopes, for all little and big things I deeply loved, or love, or may love in the future. Thank you!
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. This year it went unusually quietly for me. The best thing came from my Zumba instructor, Janice. It turns out that she is Irish ( this, of course, explains a lot, especially her irrepressible energy charge). Janice brought to class all sorts of green hats and handkerchiefs, was fun and cheerful, and even made us dance under few Irish songs.
And I remembered my acquaintance with this cool holiday in one of my first Continue reading “Happy St. Patrick’s Day”
Marriage With A Foreign Accent 