Liankacreations

  -What is that?- asked Catherine passing by a tripod -Tripod -Why? Good question. Why do we need the tripod in the library? - I video recorded my reading. -Wow! I feel “Wow!” myself. I did it again. A Middle aged Russian woman, living 7 years in the US, never studied English at the University, speaks with a noticeable accent, reads children’s books in English, and records them on the phone.  How did it happen? It’s all Covid-19 and the pandemic’s fault. If Covid-19 hadn’t stormed in our lives, I probably would have continued giving my knitting classes and/or could have made a couple of programs about Russian favorite food.  In the meantime, I tempt the patience of children and their parents by reading children's books. I try to be nice, so I limit time showing my face in the video.  I sent the recording to the manager of the children’s department of the NB library. She decides when to post it on the FB Library page. By the way, today I was reading a book “Life is ab...

  Yesterday in the library, a little girl asked me what is my favorite book? What? What would you say? I tried to think fast.. The book must be in English. And in her age category, which was 6-7 years old? I tried to think fast.. The first book that came to my mind was The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho). But the girl was too young for that. I was hoping that at least the girl's mother might be familiar with this book. And then I mentioned the book about The Ugly Duckling. Here, mom reminded her daughter what this story was about. The girl said that in fact they have a book in the house. We said goodbye, smiling at each other. The next customer (we call them patrons) made me forget about it until the next morning. When I could think and analyze what happened and draw a conclusion. Despite the fact that I read a lot in English, I do not remember many titles and names of authors. I should probably make a list of the books I've read. But what to do about it? Add a couple of notes, hig...

  So a week of vacation has passed. I haven't written a single word in the blog, I haven't washed a single window. The reason is a vacation - a trip to San Diego, California. The trip happened thanks to the Internet (I don't get tired of saying thanks to its creators) and personal networking (My friend Alyona invited me to visit with her. Unexpectedly!) A colleague asked me: when did you see your friend last time?  The answer was “never.” I met Alyona online, about 5 years ago. We talked infrequently, but regularly. Honestly, we are very different, but for some reason we communicate (let psychologists tell us why). The vacation turned out to be intense, unusual, and gave me a new experience. Earlier (before the pandemic) I got to the airport by bus. Dattco buses, how I loved them! The bus stop is just a 15-minute walk from my house. These buses took me to Boston and even to the airport, and back a few times. Now (while waiting for a commuter train), this company has cancele...

  Inspired by a conversation with my son and his wife, I made a Chicken Omelet Salad. I would really like to make a video tutorial, but... my kitchen is dark and not equipped in a modern way. And, considering my husband's and my interests, it will take some time before we actually renovate our house completely. But back to the salad.  You will need the leftovers of the chicken (about a cup), 2 eggs (beaten slightly ),  fry 3-4 omelets on both sides and chop everything very finely. Add a little mayonnaise, mix and refrigerate. I'm not a big fan of mayonnaise. But in some (to be honest, in many) Russian salads people use it. You can also add a little bit of onion (finely chop it and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown).

  Beautiful rainy morning.      It started as a usual Sunday morning in our family. Despite the rain, we got up early, however, this is also as usual. We went grocery shopping. The rain started and stopped and started again.      By the time we arrived home, the rain seemed to have stopped. I decided to take the dog for a walk. Quickly. To make it before the rain. I stopped taking Crackle with me to Bj’s gas. Daniel taught me how to get gas at another gas station (Royal Gas), next to the store where we shop. The price for gasoline is cheaper here.      So, Crackle and I went for a walk. He was happy. We stopped near literally everything... dog owners know - to smell, to pee. The rain started again. The walk was shortened. But we saw a hare. The hare was calmly running across the road. He didn't care about the rain, or the dog with the owner on a leash. Well, seems like a typical urban hare. Daniel recently saw an urban wild turkey, acros...

  “Let us temper our criticism with kindness. None of us comes fully equipped”. -Carl Sagan   Those who know me know that I have been living in this country for almost ten years. And all these years I have a few feelings that I carry on.  One of them is the admiration of coziness.  It comes to me suddenly, at different times and occasions, but sharp and clear.  Sometimes my cute “uncomfortable” dog Crackle causes this feeling to appear.  At first I would like to explain why Crackle is “uncomfortable”: -He doesn’t know how to walk on a leash -When I put a collar on him, he gets very excited and barks loudly (well, at least he doesn’t pee)  -On a walk, when he sees other dogs  … you know … barks loudly -He doesn’t know he is a dog, yes, he thinks he is my boss Therefore, I can’t take him to the park, the beach, or anywhere else during daylight hours. That’s why quite often we go outside at dusk. Since the main purpose of ...

  Tomsk expects the opening/breaking of the ice on the Tom River from day to day. Once in my previous life, the ice drift was a whole event. The beginning of spring. The Tomichi (Tomsk citizens)  went to the riverbank just to watch the blocks of ice break on the pillars of the bridge over the Tom River. The sight is fascinating. I don't know if I miss it? But I love the force/power in nature, whether it's ice drift, wind, thunderstorm ... All this reminds me of the storm in Lermontov's work “Mtsyri". I already mentioned this once, in another post here . Here is a short video my son sent me last year. The other weird, or maybe not, news about a building collapsing. The building belonged to the Electric Lamp Factory.  My friend Marina, whose photos I often publish when I write about Tomsk, worked there for many years. At some point during the Soviet Union collapse she was getting her salary by bulbs. Crazy times! The building was closed by court order. It was reported ...