A Pickle For Your Thoughts

Aкцент

2010-02-25T22:48:00.001-05:00

From Omniglot comes some interesting audio sites that document accents in the English language. Boy are there are a lot!

Here are just a few of my favorites from the alt.usage.english website.

New York

England (Cornish)

India

The first bit of text goes as follows:

Once there was a young rat named Arthur, who could never make up his mind. Whenever his friends asked him if he would like to go out with them, he would only answer, "I don't know." He wouldn't say "yes" or "no" either. He would always shirk making a choice.

His aunt Helen said to him, "Now look here. No one is going to care for you if you carry on like this. You have no more mind than a blade of grass."

A lot of the U.S. accents for this passage don't sound _that_ much different to me but I wonder what a non-native speaker thinks of them.

This got me interested in finding examples of Russian accents. I found a phonetics project from a fellow russophile entitled, "Identifing non-native accents in Russian".

Here is the audio test she gave to native and non-native speakers:

Can you identify who is a native speaker and who is not?

My first 3 Russian words

2010-02-11T23:27:00.001-05:00

Before I went to Russia, I knew a lot more than 3 words. Tonight while reading the best Russian language blog out there, I was reminded of one of the first words I learned in the wild, щас! You can think of this as a contraction of сейчас which means "now". When you say this word fast it comes out like sounding like "щас". One of it's common meanings in it's contracted form is "wait a minute" or "hold on".

If you are not familiar with Russian coins (копейки) then you will end up saying щас a lot in stores. Everyone from the store clerk in the supermarket to the villager on the street selling potatoes is eager for exact change. I felt better once I saw that even Russians have a hard time sorting out their change and instead just hold out their palm o' coins to the clerk who then deftly plucks the magic combination.

While I search my pile of change, I ponder another new word that has just been thrown at me: "нужно пакет?" Once you realize how close this word is to it's English counterpart (packet), you feel stupid because you've just been asked one of the easiest questions: do you want a bag?

Of course, the mother of all "words in the wild" is the ubiquitous command давай! A simple translation is "let's", "do it" or "come on". This was the first word I picked up probably within a few days of being there. I actually knew the verb (давать) and some of it's usages but that did not prepare me for encountering it in more situations than I could imagine, such as being part of a goodbye when on the phone - "давай, пока". An interesting footnote: this verb is of Turkic origin.

Happy Pancake Week

2010-02-09T22:24:00.001-05:00

his week is the Russian Mardi Gras celebration known as Масленица (Maslenitsa). Just like Mardi Gras and other carnival celebrations, it's a time to celebrate before the coming fasting period of Lent. The holiday also goes by such names as Pancake week, Butter week and Cheesefare week.

We decided to celebrate by making American style pancakes. In order to follow the Russian tradition, we should have made блины (bliny), and probably ate them for lunch or dinner instead of at 6 o'clock in the morning for breakfast.

Due to it's shared ancestry with pagan traditions, this holiday is also a time to celebrate the end of winter. A scarecrow called "Lady Maslenitsa" symbolizes winter and is burned at the end of the festival to say goodbye to the season.

And then, of course, there is the mosh pits... Actually this is part of the seven days of Maslenitsa. Thursday is the day of fisticuffs and rough housin'. The video above (facebookers - click the link) looks like footage from a game of "red rover" on steriods.

Super Bowl XLIV

2010-02-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

I would be remiss if I did not give at least a quick run down of the most watched sporting event in the United States: The Super Bowl. The term "super bowl" appears to be a play on Super Ball. Today is the second biggest eating day in the U.S., right behind Thanksgiving (boy does that make me proud of my country). This is also a good time to mention a fun phrase: armchair quarterback.

Here are a few things I don't understand:

Why isn't it called "Handegg" instead?

With such tight fighting uniforms and copious amounts of butt slapping, why are football fans not more open minded?

Chekov on BBC Radio

2010-01-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

"Shortly before he died in 1904 Anton Chekhov predicted he would be remembered for perhaps seven-and-a-half years. But far from being forgotten the Russian playwright, short story writer and physician is celebrated around the world and to mark the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7 broadcast a range of documentary and drama as well as short stories and essays. An outstanding line-up of contributors to the season includes Simon Russell Beale, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Ben Whishaw and Daniela Nardini."

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/chekhov/

Does your Santa Claus play the accordion?

2010-01-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

Hotel Room Bibles

2010-01-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

Last month we stayed at The Charles Hotel. It had been a while since I stayed in a m/hotel and I was reminded of the fact that most (all?) hotels have a bible in room.

Most of the bibles you find in hotels are thanks to a group of bible thumpers know as Gideons International who distribute bibles for free all over the world. The number of hotels which stock a bible in the room is up overall except for high end establishments which are removing them.

Will you be sad next time you open the nightstand drawer and find this oddity of American travel missing?

Russian Lessons for... Russians

2010-01-11T23:12:00.001-05:00

Here's an interesting video I found on master russian forums about Russians needing help with their own language. As for me, this is not a deterrent to study. Just the other day I spelled "SPOOH" in a game of scrabble without even realizing, so I am making progress.

Oddities in Icons

2010-01-10T13:09:00.000-05:00

Can you spot the interesting thing in each of these icons?

This one is a bit tougher:

Father Frost, Snow Galore and a sauna on wheels

2010-01-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

Дед Мороз (Ded Moroz) aka Father Frost aka Father Christmas is the analog to Santa Claus in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Unlike Santa, he is more active during New Years festivities which last for 1 week in Russia. And he also doesn't sneak around hopping from roof to roof but instead delivers gifts in person and has a sidekick who goes by the name of Снегурочка. Read more about Ded Moroz on Russia Today

Just about the time when Father Frost would be paying us a visit, we got hit with a pretty good storm here in New England. The high winds left some nice snow formations. But now, alas, the warm weather came and melted it all away :(

It's during a storm like this that I wish for one of these.

It's snowing all weekend

2010-01-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

Sometimes we put up signs reminding drivers to go slow and be cautious.
I wish all the signs said it like this:

(по-русски: дороги очень скользкие)

Click on for more discussion of New England accents.

Holiday Word Jumble

2009-12-28T01:09:00.000-05:00

Recently one of my co-workers reminded me how difficult English spelling can be...

This is a "holly berry" /ˈhɑli ˈbɛri/

A traditional decoration during Christmas time.

Which is not to be confused with:

Halle Berry /ˈhæli ˈbɛri/

An American actress.

and neither of these things is very holy /ˈhəʊli/

A belated Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T00:49:00.000-05:00

Sorry for being away for so long, but just as luck would have it work piles on during the most exciting time of the year.

Above is a shot taken on the way home from Christmas dinner at my aunt's place in Newbury, MA.

Many people decorate their house with lights during Christmas and it's also common for each town to make some display as well. Some towns, like our town Woburn, setup a nativity scene. This can be controversial because many people believe it violates the separation between church and state.

We ate a lot of great food, including a lobster casserole. And then after dinner we had the yankee swap, which is game of sorts where everyone brings a small gift and people take turns opening a new gift or taking someone else's gift. It's the ability to take someone else's gift that really turns it into an interesting time, filled with arguments about the rules and hiding of the good gifts in order to hold on to them until the end.

One other tradition for many folks is to watch at least a snippet of the most well known (or perhaps best?) Christmas movie in the U.S. - A Christmas Story.

A penny for your thoughts

2009-12-03T00:13:00.000-05:00

Here's the scoop on the origins of this blog's name. It's a play on the old idiom "a penny for your thoughts". One night I forced a few of my family members to brainstorm ideas for blog names and we started listing Russian foods. We soon came upon the ubiquitous pickle, a much loved vegetable in both America and Russia. And soon after followed the phrase "a penny for your thoughts" which means to voice your opinion or to chime in on a discussion. I don't think a better name exists!

[Be sure to picture a proper British gentleman, with monocle in place, saying it "A penny for your thoughts, gov'ner?" It's a lot more fun that way.]

Phrase of the Day - "Right off the bat"

2009-11-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

Right off the bat - informal. at once; without delay: "They asked me to sing right off the bat."

This saying comes from The Great American Past Time. Did you know about all of the other words and phrases that come from baseball?

Are there sayings in your language which take their meaning from sports?

Artichoke Heartichoke Dip

2009-11-26T10:52:00.000-05:00

Here's what we are making for Thanksgiving today. An appetizer to make your heart stop in it's tracks. It's heavy on cheese and mayo but sooo tasty.

Ingredients:

2 6.5 ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup mayo

Directions:

Preheat over to 325 degrees F
In a shallow baking dish mix all of the ingredients
Bake for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly brown
Serve hot with crackers

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T07:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We'll be posting some more substantial photos and stories later tonight about Thanksgiving in the U.S. In the meantime I thought I would share my favorite method for preparing the Thanksgiving day bird.

Take 1 large turkey and slowly lower it into a vat of boiling oil.

1 hour later you have a perfect, tender, juicy slice of heaven.

(Props to my friend JUD for introducing me to this idea)

Alice's Restaurant

2009-11-26T07:14:00.004-05:00

On Thanksgiving day in the United States it is a tradition for many people to listen to "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. The song is a satirical protest against the Vietnam war and is based on real events that happened to Arlo right here in Massachusetts. Many local radio stations make it a habit to place this almost 19 minute long song through out the day on Thanksgiving.

Until a few years ago I had never really paid attention to the song and thought it was just some boring song for older folk but after paying attention and reading the lyrics it has certainly become a new tradition for me.

(Download the song)

This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's Restaurant.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room, seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we decided to throw our's down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid, we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again, which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid. Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars, being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station. They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?" Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice (remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up, and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog. And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry, 'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street, where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York, and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections, detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there, and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre, with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna- know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing- you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting- officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there, and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud. I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant

Little Tragedies

2009-11-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to New York City to see Pushkin's Little Tragedies. This was the English premiere of Pushkin's four short plays. The man behind all of this is Julian Lowenfeld, an American lawyer by day and Russian translator and scholar by night. In 2005 he published a bilingual book of poems by Pushkin.

In his new endeavor, Julian seems to have stretched himself a bit too thin. He was the translator, director, musical coordinator and an actor. I must give him an "A" for effort but I hope next time he takes that energy and focuses on one area.

The four stories told in the 2.5 hour long set are: The Knight-miser, Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest and The Feast in Time of Plague. I am by no means a theatre expert nor even really a fan so it's sad to say that even I found the acting a bit wanting at times. I thought The Knight-miser was the best performance out of the 4. It's the story of a rich duke who is enfantiated with his money much to the chagrin of his lazy son. The story with the most potential (but perhaps the worst acting) was Mozart and Salieri which entertains the idea that Mozart dies at the hand of his jealous friend and rival composer, Salieri.

Regardless of all the mediocre reviews, I think it's still wonderful that someone is trying to bring Pushkin to a wider audience and I can not wait to see what Julian comes up with next.

The Big Apple

2009-11-23T22:36:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we spent the weekend in New York City. "The Big Apple" was the catchphrase of New York Morning Telegraph track writer John J. Fitz Gerald in the 1920s and was later revived in the 1970s by the tourism bureau. Read more about the origin of the nickname.

The best way to get to NYC is one of the many cheap bus services which ferry people between the chinatowns in Boston and New York. The oldest and most well known company is Fung Wah, which has been the mainstay for students and other frugal people wanting to visit NYC for cheap.

After about 4 hours you are plopped into a whole other world, Chinatown.

What I really love about Chinatown (in New York or Boston) is the immersion into another culture. We have a sizable Russian population in Boston. It's possible to spend all day going from book stores to grocery stores, restaurants and even to banya but it is all very low key compared to how Chinatown manifests itself.

First real snow in the Urals

2009-11-15T23:58:00.001-05:00

It really is a tougher, longer winter in the Urals than here in New England. Thanks to our reader "sigmund" for these photos of the first real snow, as seen from Ильменский хребет (Ilmenski ridge). On the day these were taken, the leaves were just finishing falling off of the trees here in Massachusetts.

More photos ...

What do you do to get ready for the long winter ahead?

Word of the Day - fruition

2009-11-15T23:46:00.000-05:00

Fruition [noun] - Realization of something desired or worked for.

Dormant winery plan comes to fruition. [source]
After years of haggling, Fillmore nears fruition. [source]
Michael Jackson hoped to bring 3-D, full-length 'Thriller' to fruition. [source]

The Fall of the Wall

2009-11-10T00:34:00.002-05:00

Some thoughts from two readers on this historic day. 20 years ago the wall fell between the Berlins giving freedom to East Berlin and signaling the end of the iron curtain.

First from an American friend who was there in Berlin when the wall came down:

I was in Erlangen, close to Nuernberg, and recall watching the news. The day the borders opened or maybe the next day, was a National holiday through out Germany and even the Americans got it off. We went to a small (Former) East German town. We had never been allowed to drive there before but it was only an hour away and just over the east, west border. All the locals were outside celebrating and drinking beer, a national past time through out Germany. We got to know a family and the man was almost 50. He felt that he would never be able to work again because he didn’t have the skills necessary to work in updated facilities. He said it was good for his children and he was happy for them, but there was an entire generation that missed out. Continue reading...

And from a friend in Romania:

Soon it'll be 20 years since communism fell in Romania. If you ask me what brought it down, it's hard to tell. On one hand it was definitely the madness and/or lack of sense of reality of its leaders. And it was also a bit of desperation of the people, we simply couldn't take anymore of that non-sense. One side had to give up, and it wasn't "the people". Of course, we ("the people") didn't think too much of what will it happen afterwards, and that's why such a big chance was waisted in confusion and stupid facts. I still think we suffer because of the communism, there's so many people who still think that "the state should provide for them". One remark I had, speaking of Rocky [Rocky 4]: none of the Romanian movies I've seen until now are about a self-made individuals. Perhaps we, as a nation, don't value that much individuals who break through somehow, someway. This is one defining notion about America: lots of self-made individuals.

Fall Leaves

2009-11-08T21:48:00.001-05:00

Many people in New England spend many hours outside dealing with all of the fallen leaves in their yard. Some people collect them into bags and haul to the dump. Others collect them into piles and burn them and perhaps others just ignore them.

The best part for little kids is at the very beginning:

Rake into a big pile

Take a dive!

Leaf fight!

Mount Misery

2009-11-08T21:36:00.004-05:00

We went for a short hike today in Lincoln, MA at the unfortunately named "Mount Misery" reservation.

View Larger Map

Mount Misery is really two parts: conservation land and a "mountain" (it's really just a small hill).

Swamp land with the final colors of fall

Inch worm captured by gigantic humanoid finger

We call these puff balls. They shoot a dust cloud of spores into the air when you touch them.

One question to our U.S. readers: what is the difference between reservation and 'conservation', e.g. Blue Hills Reservation vs. Lincoln Conservation Land.

Check out more photos

Halloween in Salem

2009-11-01T16:16:00.010-05:00

With the arrival of our baby next year, this was our last Halloween as the 'kids' in our family and we decided to go out in style. We spent Halloween night in Salem, home to the witch trials in late 1600s. Each year it has a huge celebration on Halloween night drawing thousands of people in a wide assortment of costumes.

A martian from Seasame Street with Caitlin (dressed as an Ethiopian bride). The martians from this popular TV show are a pretty strange bunch whose key phrase is "Yip-yip-yip-yip". Check out this video to get a better idea.

Random grouping of the evening: The Three Amigos with a demon angel.

The main characters of "The Nightmare before Christmas"

Characters from the original Street Fighter video game. Awesome!

Perhaps by now, you are wondering about me. What did I wear? I didn't have time to plan a really cool costume and I didn't want to go as something generic. At the last minute I had a stroke of genius! Something that was quick, easy AND scary. Take a look

Still want more photos? Have a look at the halloween album.

Here is a soundtrack for your next Halloween party courtesy of my favorite local radio station, WMBR and a show called Backwoods. This show in particular plays "oldies" rock and roll (songs from the early period of rock n roll music in America).

Word of the Day - "jot"

2009-10-31T23:11:00.002-04:00

Jot [verb] - to write down briefly or hastily.

I need to jot down this idea first.
Hey! Jot this down real quick.

The question to our Russian readers - what's the equivalent verb and example phrases in Russian?

Миасс, первый снег

2009-10-25T23:41:00.022-04:00

Thanks to reader, "Sigmund", for sending in these photos from Miass. We'll be waiting for photos of the real first snow. Just like our first snow, this is just a warm up.

First Snow

2009-10-18T10:42:00.014-04:00

Here it is, the first snow of the season.

It was beautiful but did not last long because it was warm out. This was just a tease.

Pumpkin Pickin'

2009-10-10T22:47:00.005-04:00

This weekend we drove out to a local farm to take part in one of our favorite rituals of the autumn season, pumpkin picking.

Truth be told, it's not really "picking", more like "carrying" but it's still great to get outside and visit a local farm to find the best pumpkin to make a jack o' latern for halloween.

The view of Smolak Farms

Technorati Test (please ignore)

2009-08-01T22:54:00.002-04:00

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