I was searching for information on English translations of Pavel Bazhov's wonderful Ural tales when I found some of them available online in Russian.
I also stumbled on this LiveJournal full of wonderful images including old book illustrations (more here), Russian embroidery and much more. Even if you don't read Russian, it's probably worth clicking around to see what inspirational design and paintings you may find.
These photos are for those of you, who mistakenly got the impression from my previous photos that Cat is a gentle child, who doesn’t chase pigeons and other small creatures.
The move to our current flat was supposed to be temporary (around 6 months), but we already spent over a year living here. Once the decision to stay in UK was made, we started looking for a new accommodation and were horrified to see how much the rental prices went up. And with the property prices falling, everyone agrees that it is bad time to buy. And so we decided to stay here for a bit longer, while we consider our options.
Therefore on Sunday afternoon we done something that should’ve been done months ago – we rearranged the furniture and swapped rooms with Cat. Now we are back in the main bedroom with the inbuilt cupboards. My workspace is also better arranged with the printer next to the desk and space for some drawers to store all my craft materials.
I want to use some of my free time to concentrate on creating items to make our living areas more visually pleasant, because I hate living in the bland environment and realised that I feel drained of energy surrounded by white walls and pale carpet. However as a small start and celebration of us taking the first steps in improving our flat (isn’t it ironic that flat is also synonym for dull & monotonous?) I bought a print from Rima Staines’ etsy shop. If you have time visit her blog and her website to marvel at the magical world she created. And even if you don’t have time, stop by Once Upon O’clock to listen and to see something unique.
Exactly one year ago Cat had her first cold (though I didn’t blog about it until the day later) and we spent most of the day cuddling up on the couch. The only reason I know this is because I finally bought some photo albums and today started to choose photos to put into them. This year I have a cold and would’ve loved to spend all day long on the couch. Instead we entertained each other the best we could. Bored with my sluggishness Cat went to explore, found the case for my glasses, took out the wipe cloth and proceeded to wipe all her books in turn. Thankfully we have many, so I had a nice break lying next to her watching her clean.
P.S. It is hard to believe that a year ago she couldn't even crawl
Человек предпологает, а бог распологает
Russian proverb, which roughly translates as man plans, but God does (Sorry guys, I have a cold, probably mild fever and my brain isn’t up to translating. Anyone wants to offer a better translation?)
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For over a year we were talking about moving to Australia and even started collecting documents to apply for spousal visa for Clive. However, when my husband resigned from his job, he was promptly offered a great position. So after all our preparation and planning in a second everything changed. The offer was too good to refuse, and we decided to stay in UK for few more years.
If I know you in real life and you haven’t received my group email about this, please let me know, as it highly likely means that I don’t have your latest email address.
I thought I finished crocheting the shawl, but when I looked at it I realised that I made the beginners mistake of getting too caught up in the stitches and forgetting to check the whole. Its sides are tonally unbalanced due to one having more dark colours than the other. Ironically after reading This Year's Word: Half Way Point post I was contemplating the Balance, the word that I would choose as the theme for the rest of the year. I have a tiny bit of yarn left, so I can unravel few rows and use it to shift the colour change somewhat. Or should I just leave it as is?
Pattern: Eva's shawl
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock
This week Cat started pointing at me and saying “Mama” throughout the day. About time! I was getting slightly grumpy at being called generic “Eee!” or hearing whiny “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!” when she was super hungry or in desperate need of comfort.
I also realised that she says few Russian words, like:
где (where), usually it’s где bum (where is ball?) or где ты (where are you?);
туда (there), as in “let’s go there” when I’m going in one direction and she is insisting we go in the opposite one;
один (one), два (two), три (three), we usually walk downstairs counting the stairs instead of catching the lift and since we are on the third floor there are a lot of stairs to count. Though when she counts on her one she usually says один, один (one, one) or один, три (one, three), but asked how many legs she has she replies две (two).
And she also says up in English. There are few other words, which I can’t think of at the moment.
