Liankacreations

  I was about ready to forget my Russian superstitions. But my husband likes me being myself. On the weekend, we cut the fallen (blooming, but beginning to fall down due to lack of support)  gladiolus to bring home. All are pink. Who knows what happened to our gladiolus all of them are pink now. In Russia, people make bouquets of flowers only in odd numbers.  Even numbers of flowers are used for the cemeteries and funerals.  I mentioned this to my husband. But, honestly, I was ready for even numbers. I was ready, and he wasn't, he pointed to exactly 3 of them.  Daniel makes a good laugh at my omens and beliefs, but still respects them. However, it seems I am losing my Russian soul.  Another superstition: don’t sew just before leaving the house.  My opinion is it all depends on what you are sewing.  For example, sewing a hole in the dress you were going to leave the house in is a bad omen. But a friend of mine believes that any sewing (before leavi...

  I knew it, I always knew it! Oh, no, I didn't know, I felt it!  I'm writing a post, emotions are beating over the edge... I don't know where to start from/ who to start with... the post is being written thanks to my husband, but I'll start with dad. To begin with, my dad was a “storyteller.”  No, he didn't write fairy tales, he told them. The main fairy tale of our family: the swarthiness of the skin and brown eyes were inherited by him and my younger sister from the great-great-grandmother of a gypsy who ran away from the gypsy camp.  Look at our photos, how different we are. Our parents told us that I looked like my grandfather (dad's dad), and my sister looked like my grandmother (his mother).  To be honest, I believed in it as a child. As I grew up, I began to doubt whether my parents would come up with anything. I don't even know about Dad, if he believed his own words. You can't ask now. When dad was no longer with us, but the Internet and social...

  It is my day off. I went to the rendezvous today…rendezvous with the ocean.  Good thing I don't need to make an appointment for this. I hate appointments. LOL. When I first moved to New Bedford, the ocean was WOW! for me. I admired it, its power, waves, wind, smell, boats, even seaweed, and huge seagulls, of course.  I was collecting seashells and taking them home every time until… Until I get used to the fact that the ocean is here, it’s not going anywhere. And I am here too. Sometimes I can smell it in my backyard, if the wind is blowing in the right direction. I am happy to know that yes, there is an ocean 15 minutes away from here. But I hardly find the time to visit it. Pity. My colleague talked about her hobbies, something like she needs to find a new hobby… I am thinking, should I create a hobby of visiting the ocean once a month? Can I call it a hobby?  Maybe it’s better to call it a tradition?  What do we need to create a new tradition? A company, a r...

  June, 2024 Recently my library got a donation (a box with riddle cards), something like American Riddles. I tried a few cards, didn’t get any answers, not even the wrong ones, lol. But I came up with my own riddle: the house smells like garlic and onion, but there is no meal cooking on the stove.  While you are thinking, I will tell you what I learned on one of the Russian independent YouTube channels. However, you may have already seen or read about it in the news.  An U.S. soldier (Gordon Black) was detained in Russia last week. Today, the Vladivostok court sentenced him to almost 4 years in a penal colony. There are a couple of links to the articles I found and read. They actually answered my questions about how he ended up in Russia and so on. But before learning his story, I thought of him and remembered my “life insurance” experience.  It was 2018, I know the year because in 2018 I went to Russia.  My husband mentioned a few times that I should get life ...

  Summer has officially begun for us on Sunday evening - we watered the garden.  Actually, my husband started watering the flower and vegetable beds a couple of days ago. But I didn't take it seriously: it often rained and was cool at night. But now… My eyes itch from pollen, allergy pills are a necessary breakfast supplement. And… watering the gardens. But I don’t complain, don’t I? My Tomsk friend Marina put on a coat when she and her husband went to watch the half marathon* in Tomsk. Forecasters predict frosts from 32° to 26°F in the north of the Tomsk region on June 4 and 5. And in general, in the first half of June, the air temperature will be 2-4°  below normal. Meanwhile, forests are burning in Buryatia**. Since May 26, a ban on visiting forests has been introduced in the republic. Nevertheless, the Buryat Republican agency reports that more than 440 people are extinguishing forest fires in an area of over 34 hectares. It is believed that the cause of the occurrenc...

  It seems I got into a pattern of bad baking. Well, I am an ordinary person after all. Last year I didn’t grow any sorrel. My last plant died a year before. We bought seeds on Amazon, and in late summer I planted sorrel. Surprisingly, it didn’t die over the winter. However, It shouldn’t surprise me. The  winters turned out to be mild. My sorrel grew out well, and I craved for pies. Small sweet & sour pies.  The thing is, I'm not good with dough, just at all. A friend of mine showed me the process of preparing dough a few times but I didn't get it.  Honestly it’s not that difficult. Just beyond my ability. I bought dough. The only problem was that I couldn't find the pie dough. I bought pizza dough. What is the difference anyway? So, I had dough, made the filling (cut sorrel, mixed it with sugar, crushed it a little with a pusher). Here, if I had pie dough, I would bake them.  Here is a short video. But I didn’t, so I fried.  Well, I got my pies, dirty ...

  When to read memoirs … impression of the book  “A backpack, a bear, and 8 craters of vodka” I thought that the best time to read biographies and memoirs was retirement. It seems I was mistaken. Very soon after February 24, 2022 I received an announcement in my work email. Bridgewater University (or their bookclub) invited people to talk with the author about a book  “A backpack, a bear, and 8 craters of vodka” by Lev Golinkin. The  book is about the immigration of a Jewish family from the Soviet (back then) Ukraine. Everything about Russia and Ukraine is on air now, so I decided to read it. At the very beginning, the author told non-Russian readers about the life of a Soviet kid. And I, who grew up in the October-pioneer childhood, was bored to read about it. I knew perfectly well what Octobrists, pioneers and even the Komsomols were. With the zoom meeting date approaching, I pulled myself together, checked out the book again and made myself read. And, surprisingly...