JeRom's Journal

Зарплаты

2008-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Частенько, народ спрашивает о зарплатах в США, мол, ну сколько там "нормально" можно получать? Да хрен его знает, если честно. Что такое "нормально"?! Ведь человеку практически всегда мало.

Тем не менее, не вдаваясь далее в филососфские размышления, от которых потянет к той самой бутыолчке пива, уже второй день "потеющей" в холодильнике, скажу всю статистическую правду "ея" же холодными цифрами.

Намедни, работая над своими курсовыми для универа, обнаружил данные, которые как раз и помогут уталить информационный голод соотечественников в отношении з/п американцев.

Итак, рисунок первый, на котором изображен средний семейный доход в стране в целом, в штате Орегон, в городе Портленд (где проживаю я) и в графстве Вашингтон (одной из самых быстроразвивающихся областей штата Орегон). Годовой доход изображен в брутто или, по народному, в "грязном" виде.

На втором рисунке, показано распределение по величине годового дохода семьи, только ещё добавлены несколько областей штата Орегон для сравнения.

Бежевым цветом выделен процент семей, чей доход не превышает 35 тысяч долларов в год. Синим цветом обозначен процент семей с доходом в пределах от 35 до 100 тысяч в год. И желтым цветом обозначен процент семей с доходами выше ста тысяч в год.

Все данные за 2006 год.

Сбылось, тайна приоткрыта! Буратино нашёл золотой ключик и теперь все узнали, что кроется за шторой.

Теперь осталось узнать о расходах американцев и мы сможем, наконец ...

(оставляю фразу незаконченной, приглашаю продолжить её в комментариях).

No Excuse

2008-07-31T22:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that this page hasn't been updated in a while...and threre really isn't an excuse. I could find time once a week at least to jot down something so I can look back and remember what we did, what we looked like, how we played etc...

I am growing a baby! Inside my tummy--that takes some effort! And there are 3 other boys around here who are always expecting me to feed them! I do have an excuse!

Well, I did take the time to upload a few photos....I want to try and go back and put more--but here are some. Enjoy!

Click on the picture for more!

Unsere neue Bürger

2008-07-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Парочку дней назад, самый младший из нас (хотя это утверждение уже спорное на сегодняшний день) стал полноправным гражданином Германии.

Да, Германия может гордится очередным бюргером Lukian Von Kultajev! Вышел немец из тумана... вынул Луку из кармана.

Пролетарии всего мира соединяйтесь!

Правда, на фото в паспорте свойм европейском, выглядит этот новоиспечённый бюргер, как обыкновенный Лука Романыч из села Подсолнухово, Ростовской губернии. Причём, беднота босоногая, даже без одежонки на пачпорт сфоткался, стыд-то какой, господи, прости ты его душу грешную и родителей евоных, если такие вообще есть.

Так много хочется помпезного сказать на немецком по случаю, но из уст выходит сплошной хендехох, какой-то. Ладно, когда на "родину" поедем, вспомним чё-нить. Брудершафт какой-нить.

My Hair Talking

2008-07-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

Front Hair: Oh no! Not Again!
Back Hair: What is it? What is it? It's not like we have eyes back here!
FH: Two lines! She's pregnant, AGAIN! You know what that means?
BH: Yeah, cute little baby hands twirling us and playing with us. Isn't it great!

FH: No! It means 3 more years of ignoring us! FH: I mean look at this! Since having that first adorable baby, we have been Ignored. Left many MANY days without being cleaned, hidden under hats and scarves, and the worst...home hair cuts. Yes, remember the home hair cut? Now with 3 mouths to feed, do you think Mama will get to have her hair done? No way, Jose!
FH: Look at how she used to treat us, before those adorable little hands... Curls and soap with water and the touch of a professional to form and shape us. Even with the perm in 7th grade--at least she was trying!

FH: Wait a minute! A contest for hair! Maybe we have onle last chance! Oh, to feel the hands of a professional again--it would be like walking on the treadmill!

BH: Wait a second. What is this contest? What do we have to do?

FH: Well, the Moosh and Whoorl (at Hair Thursday) are helping one poor hair soul with their generosity! And we are in need for some grand generosity!

On top of all this baby stuff, we turn 30 on July 14th! It's all downhill from there!

Сегодня по "русскому" получил четвёрку (16 лет спустя)!

2008-06-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

В России решили проверить знание правил русского языка у населения. На восемь вопросов правильно ответило всего 4% респондентов.
Я сегодня успешно прошёл этот тест и получил четвёрку. А всё из-за этих суффиксов, блин (в данном случае блинчик). Где суффикс в шкафЧИКе, мяЧИКе, понЧИКе или в огурЧИКе? Хотя, для теста выбран коварный примерЧИК, согласитесь?!
Ладно, всё равно, как всегда, виноват учитель.

К удивлению, я обнаружил себя в 15% всех россиян получивших 4... Ха! Опять в меньшинстве.
Поэтому я и решил написать сюда, в журнал, давай-ка, родня, попробуй себя в правилах русского языка! Исправим, статистику! Надеюсь, что в сторону увеличения этого самого меньшинства.

Вы дали 7 правильных ответов из 8. Почти отлично. Возможно, вам просто оказался не по зубам суффикс "чик". Одна ошибка простительна. На фоне общих ответов это неплохой результат, вы можете радоваться, что ваш уровень - выше среднего. Таких, как вы, в стране, согласно опросу ВЦИОМа, – 15%.*

Сходи, проверься?

Не стесняйтесь, оставляйте свои оценки в комментариях... можно анонимно. Тест займёт не более 5 минут. Только, давайте честно, да, без шпаргалок и предварительного гуглирования правил русского языка.

Pedalpalooza

2008-06-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we joined in on the Pedalpalooza--a 2 week celebration all about bicycles. We rode the entire parade route to kick it off--out to around 30th and Stark--where the bicyclers just hung out and played in the sun.

We saw the crazy bikers last year gathering at Jamison park and wondered who are these crazy people all dressed up and bicycles decorated riding around town? This year we were 4 of those bicyclers--Jen a Piratess, Alyosha a batman, and Luka a monster--Papa went as a hippie Papa (his normal self) and photographer.

There are videos--maybe to come, but click on the big picture to see more...or here

Download video

Велосипедность

2008-05-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

С велосипедами у нас в семье связано многое: в 1999-ом мы с Женей впервые встретились в Бонне, где в одной команде оказывали техническую поддержку веломарафону;
в Техасе мы были одними из немногих рассекавших на великах просторы штата не только с целью прокатиться, но и по делам;
в 2002 мы проехали на великах против встречного ветра, 3-х недель дождя и жизни под открытым небом через 2/3 всей прибалтики (Эстония, Латвия и Литва);
последующие годы были отмечены полосой переменного успеха с двухколёсными друзьями - всего в США у нас украли 5 велосипедов, как дорогих, так и дешёвых, причём все были с замками, опять же, дорогими и не очень. Вот одна история из этого душераздирающего опыта;
В 2008, после того, как дядя Сэм вернул часть наших налогов, мы всё-таки решили, что не можем жить без велосипедов и купили опять пару, на этот раз, канадских "коней".
Недавно, будучи в отпуске в Техасе, удалось принять участие на велосипеде в парадной процессии, продвигая заодно предвыборную кампанию тестя.

Пройдя вместе с нами через радости и трагедии, Алёша почувствовал какое немаловажное отношение к велосипедам в этой семье, и решил, что пришло время и ему научится кататься. Кататься на двух колёсах, в техническом смысле, он, наверняка, умел и раньше, но не знал, а узнать боялся.

Что бы как-то поднять дух и объяснить наглядно, что падать можно безболезненно, я показал ему такой вид молодёжного уличного "спорта", как - parkour (от французского parcours), в котором основная идея - пройти уличные препятствия быстро и с наименьшими усилиями.

В детстве, мы все занимались этим "спортом", не зная, что он называется паркур, и занимались им часто по пути из школы домой, благо в последние годы в союзе не было проблем с препятствиями, в виде различных неоконченных строек.

Посмотрев все эти забавы, Алёша загорелся и решил тут же, что он непременно должен стать паркуристом и, уже на следующее утро попросил маму, помочь ему открыть окно (третий этаж), чтобы он мог попрактиковаться "как в том видео, которое показывал папа". После тяжелого и многозначительного взгляда мамы Жени, папа Рома спешно решил направить внимание сына на велосипед, сказав, что всё это можно делать и на велосипеде.

Глаза сына загорелись и уже через пол-часа он рассекал двор на двух колёсах без поддержки, прыгая по канавам и грациозно падая на землю, "как паркурист". Правда над поворотами нам придётся ещё поработать.

Внимание, велосипедный дебют или, как назвал его сам Алёша - "Action riding"!

Download video

What a day! --- Ну и денёк!

2008-05-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

Сегодня были на званом обеде у Даницы и Миланы, родители славно покушали, обсудили политику, книги, народы и обычаи, а также кто -где хочет жить (дружно решили, что Алтай - самое место).

А детишки наши, разных возрастов, самодостаточно и мирно играли где-то там, совершенно не донимая нас. Неужели мы дожили до этого времени?!

Лукашка пропустил свой полуденный сон и, как стойкий оловянный солдатик, продержался до самого вечера.Вот видео, снятое уже за ужином.

Download video

Alyosha talks about his self-portrait

2008-05-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today Alyosha painted himself or at least as he sees himself. Сегодня Алёша нарисовал свой портрет, или по крайней мере так, как он себя представляет.
Download video

No Joke!

2008-05-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is seriously not a joke! Look what was in our newspaper on Thursday....People who read our blog sure do work fast on pitching our ideas!

Holly -cow!

Another business idea - since meat and milk is way too expensive these days, besides, you always have to make sure the herd is not sick with some mad cow desease, we could start a farm, but not dairy or meat farm - a BioGas Farm! It is very simple - minimum conditions for cows, minimum considerations on the feed, as long as they poop-n-toot, we are in buisiness!

Also, as article above suggests, there is an opportunity for everyone to reduce carbon foot print - one way of doing so is to capture and store your own methane.

Life before kids, as we remember it...

2008-05-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Estonia's strategy to offset the greenhouse gases

2008-05-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

I love my country! We take things seriously and work hard to fight global warming.

From Russia Today http://www.russiatoday.ru/features/news/24625
May 12, 2008, 12:08
Estonia cracks down on cows’ 'discharge'Estonian farmers will now have to pay for their cattle’s contribution to climate change. A new 'digestive gases tax' is introduced to compensate for the greenhouse gas that cows produce during their life, reports MIGnews.com.
An ordinary cow’s daily digestion results in an estimated 350 litres of methane and 1,500 litres of carbon oxide released into the atmosphere. Experts believe farms account for as much as a quarter of Estonia’s greenhouse gas emission. Opposition parties called the new tax 'unprecedented for the European Union'.
----------------------

Business opportunities:
Who is up for a business here? I am thinking of starting a production of some sort of toot catalyst with meter for cows, to help farmers save money. Suggestions for brand names: Fart Sack TM or Moo-Ffler TM .

Treasure Island

2008-05-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we finished reading Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson tonight. Alyosha understood a lot of it, there were some parts that were beyond him, but he hung on every word. He loved the entire novel! Tonight when he was playing in the bathtub he had a little boat, that he made into a pirate ship, naturally. He called me in there have a look at his boat. He said he "beached it (on his legs) when the tide went out." Then he said, "what does that mean?" (they beach the pirate ship Hispaniola when they lose the anchor)

So I told him this story: When I drop this sponge, where does it go?
Al: It falls down.
Mama: Why does it fall down and not up?
Al: Because gravity. What is gravity?
Mama: Gravity is what pulls everything down to the earth. And the moon has gravity too, but the Earth is stronger. The moon tries and tries to pull things up to it, as hard as it can, but it can't. It doesn't quit trying though. The moon isn't strong enough to pull you up, but it does pull the oceans a little bit. It pulls and pulls at the water and the water rises up toward the moon a little bit. That is when the tide goes out and you can see more of the beach. The water is being pulled towards the moon. Then the moon gets too tired and the earth pulls the water back to where it belongs. That is when the tide comes back in and there is more water on the beach. That is why you can beach the pirate ship. If you put the ship in the water close to the beach when the tide is in it will float, but then the moon pulls at the water and the ship will be stuck on the sand since there won't be any more water. And that happens all the time, because the moon never quits trying to pull things from the earth.
Al: That is the coolest book ever!

Video for download here
Alyosha playing his new guitar (a real one) and singing like a pirate--click play!

The Sun and the moon

2008-05-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

Alyosha: Mama I don't want to go to bed it is still sunny outside.

Mama: Well, it's spring and soon it will be summer, the sun stays out longer and longer.

Alyosha: But it is still sunny, I don't want to go to bed when it is sunny. I want to go to bed when it is moony.

What I have been working on.

2008-04-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

One reason I haven't been writing too much on the blog about our lives is becasue I have been searching about our past lives. It is so cool to find a little tidbit here and there of a Great Grandmother or Grandfather 7-8-9 times ago. Anyway, it is a big project! and takes up too much time!
I am into the 1800's now, so things are looking up! Here is some information put together from various places about my 9th (Alyosha's and Luka's 10th) Great Grandmother from the Netherlands...

Margaretta Van Slichtenhorst
1628-1711
9th Great Grandmother of Jennifer Marie Bristow

Margarita's Poem for her Father, Brant Arantse van Slichtenhorst
I'm young Margarita van Slichtenhorst,
My father's the Master, we call him Baas,
Of de Heer van Renssalaer's Bouwerie,
This brought us here from the Zuider Zee.
My mother is dead, and I'm all alone
To care for my father's simple home,
But I try to do it as well as may be,
Though I long for my home by the Zuider Zee.
My father's a man who knows so much,
Though you'd not understand his Holland Dutch.
He is not handsome, and yet, you know,
He's brave and kind, and I love him so.

Hi Faithful people!

2008-04-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

What a year it has been so far! So busy, and now Alyosha is 4! Yikes! We have been doing everything except sitting still. To the park, bike riding, tulip festival AND the 4th birthday party. Click on these links to see more pictures: Birthday Party
Spring tim in Portland

Spring, Tulips and Red

2008-04-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Ах весна! Наконец-то.

В эти выходные она просто ворвалась к нам, открыла все окна, подняла настроение, схватила нас и уволокла по давней семейной традиции (да мы уже как 5 лет здесь!) на фестиваль тюльпанов в Вудборне, что в 40 минутах от Портленда. В этот раз мы прихватили с собой друзей (Итана и Ко).

Фестиваль проходит в месте где в давние времена проживали индейцы племени Калапуя. Разленившись от праздного образа жизни в богатой дарами долине Вилламетт, эти хлопцы придумали следующий способ охоты на диких животных - они сжигали траву на огромной территории, оставляя свеженькую травку только лишь на небольшом отрезке, прилегающим к вигваму. Звери, не найдя чего пожевать сходились на этой единственной уцелевшей зеленой территории и мирно паслись, не подозревая о коварстве и предприимчивости Калапуйцев. А те, в свою очередь, лёжа на топчане и отодвигая большим пальцем своих обленившихся ног шторки вигвама, стреляли в бедных животных из лука. Так, Калапуйцы, практически изобрели первую в Америке схему доставки свежей еды на дом.

Так, вот благодаря лени индейцев, сжигавших регулярно траву, в этой долине была очень благодатная почва, в добавок к естественным погодным условиям Орегона. Всё это создало наиблагоприятнейшие условия для тюльпанчиков, всех видов и расцветок, на чём и решили зарабатывать предприимчивые европейцы, выгнав ленивых калапуйцев в более скромные, по своей природе, места. Но, предварительно, они заразили их своими европейскими заразами, коих калапуйцы пережить не смогли и, в массе своей, вымерли.

Обычно, на фестивале не так много народу, но в эти выходные там было столпотворение. Огромные пространства залитые яркими красками тюльпанов распологали нас с Женей к умиротворённому созерцанию плодов своего творчества (детей). Лёшка и Лукошко наслаждались, в свою очередь, плодами развитого капитализма, который остервенело собирал кровно-заработанные гроши у населения.

- Папа, папа, смотри, какие качели! Ах, я никогда не катался на таких качелях! А какой коровкин поезд (MooCow Train)! Это самое лучшее что здесь есть! Папа, папа, смотри какой вертолёт!

Кстати, о вертолёте. Эта сволочь, летала над полём с тюльпанами, нарушая идилию, весь день! За 30 долларов нашлось огромное количество людей, которым хотелось сделать два круга над полём.

Славный денёк. Фотки здесь.

The Pirate without a ship

2008-04-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

There was a pirate. This pirate didn't have a ship but he really wanted one. So, since he didn't have his own ship he decided to build one for himself. So far he had one board and that was what he was sailing on.

Yes, he was in the middle of the ocean hanging on to one board and he was as happy as could be because that was the beginning of his ship. So, along came a shark. And the shark was so surprised to see a pirate just floating in the middle of the ocean-all alone and without a ship. (the shark didn't know that the board was the pirates 'ship')

The shark was so surprised that he stopped in the middle of his swimming to ask the Pirate what was going on. "PIRATE! Are you crazy? You are out here floating in the middle of the ocean with no pirate ship! A shark could come up and eat you any time he wanted."

The pirate replied, "First, I do have a ship. It is here, this board is the first board of the ship I am going to build for myself. Second, a shark could not eat me! If one even tries I will take my board and bop him on the head and he will swim away as fast as he can."

The shark was amazed that this pirate was so strong that he is going to build an entire pirate ship himself and so brave that he would float in the middle of the ocean just hanging onto one board. He was trying to decide whether or not he should just eat up that pirate or become his friend...so he decided to become his friend.

The pirate was pretty excited to get a shark as a friend. So the two of them swam around for a while, then the shark remembered that he was actually hungry. He looked at the pirate but remembered that he shouldn't eat his friends so he said, "Pirate, I'm hungry but I don't want to eat you. Do you have something I could eat?"

The pirate said "the only thing I have is this one board. If you would like to eat it I will give it to you."

The shark thanked him and opened his mouth wide to fit the entire board in his mouth. Then, the board got stuck and he could not get it out at all. The pirate tried to help but it wasn't budging! So, there the shark was with a big stick stuck in his mouth and the pirate didn't have is board to float on anymore.

The two of them made a deal...the pirate would sit on the back of the shark to get around and the shark would just keep that stick in his mouth forever.

After a while the head of the shark started stretching and stretching--and then the pirate noticed "Ha, ha, ha shark!! Your head looks like it is shaped like a hammer!! You are a hammerhead!!!"

The shark didn't mind being a hammerhead, actually he kind of liked it. Later he met a beautiful girl shark and they got married and had lots of baby sharks--and they were all little baby hammerhead sharks! And that is how there are hammerhead sharks in the world.

And, about the pirate...When the hammerhead shark got married he finally dropped the pirate off on a little island in the Caribbean Sea. There, the pirate built a ship so big that it couldn't even sail on the ocean. So it is just sitting there like a house and you can go visit it if you dare.

Pirates, sharks and Bananas

2008-04-15T19:33:00.001-07:00

There was a homeless man in the park today, sleeping by a stump. He was snoring and the kids thought he was a bear—but he turned out to be a man instead. I guess that really made an impression on Alyosha because he mentions it every time you ask him a question about what he learned about in nature school today… He asked why the man was homeless, and that is a hard question to answer…but I told him one reason might be because the man doesn’t know that he has any skills so he doesn’t know what job to do. That is why we are helping you learn lots of skills like reading and writing and about bugs and nature and bike riding…

He said that if he could read he would read lots of books about pirates and learn everything about pirates that he could learn about—and I told him that if he learned the skill of writing then he could think up of his own story and write it down and share it with grandma and grandpa and all his friends. This is the story he helped tell and when it was finished he told me to go write it down because it was soooo funny and he wanted to show his friends….let’s see if I remember it!

There was a pirate on his pirate ship. The pirate was standing on the very top of the mast of his ship looking out to make sure there were no sharks around. Especially one shark—a shark as big as the pirate ship who could eat up that ship in one gulp. He was looking and looking but didn’t see anything, yet he kept looking out.

All of a sudden he saw THE shark. He yelled down to all the other pirates “the shark is coming, the shark is coming” All the other pirates started running around figuring out what to do. The pirate yelled again “THE SHARK IS COMING” He yelled so loud that the pirates ears popped off their head and then popped back on.

They couldn’t decide whether or not to jump off the ship and swim or just try to go as fast as they could. So they saw an island and started sailing towards the island. The propeller on the ship was spinning as fast as it could and the pirates had paddles helping the ship go even faster.

The ship was going so fast that when it got to the beach of the island the whole ship just popped up on the land! And it was a good thing it did, because if it stayed in the water the shark surly would have gulped it up.

The pirates jumped out of the ship to have a look at the shark in the water. He was so upset because he wanted to eat the ship up. The pirates were laughing and laughing because they got away. They saw some banana trees on the beach and pulled down all the bananas and threw them to the shark. They said “Shark, you should be a monkey because we can give you bananas but we won’t let you eat us!”

And that is Alyosha’s story (mostly his…)

Что такое "бюджет"?

2008-03-09T21:07:00.001-07:00

Всей семьёй едем в машине, Женька и я разговариваем о чём-то и упоминаем слово "бюджет". Алёша, которому 3 года и 10 месяцев, оказывается внимательно слушал весь разговор.
Алёша: А что такое "бюджет"?
Я беру на себя нелегкую задачу объяснить это понятие ребенку. - Это, когда ты планируешь как потратить деньги, которые есть у тебя в ограниченном количестве. Например, у тебя есть один доллар, а тебе хочется мороженное, шоколад и покататься на лошадке. Но, всё вместе это стоит больше, чем один доллар и тогда ты выбираешь то, что тебе больше всего хочется или то, тебе очень нужно. Понял?
Алёша: Нет. Ведь, если у тебя кончились деньги, то ты можешь просто достать карточку и расплатиться карточкой...

Where's the fire breathing dragon?

2008-02-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

Alyosha: Mama, tell me story, tell me story, tell me story!! Tell me a story about mushrooms and blueberries....(where he gets the ideas, I don't know)

When I was a kid, I was 8 years old and we lived in Alabama on the top of a hill. And all around the hill there was a forest. And when you looked out over the edge of the hill, you could see all the city lights--it was very beautiful.

One day, I was very sneaky because I wasn't supposed to go to the forest at the bottom of the hill since it was very far away and it was a very dark forest. I snuck down there with my friend Aleuts on my bicycle. We were so excited to walk on the trail in this forest!

We got off our bikes and started walking on the trail. As soon as we walked into the forest it got so dark, like the sun disappeared. We walked right out of the forest and the sun was shining brightly! We realized that the sun didn't disappear, the forest was so thick that it seemed dark as soon as you walk in. We were excited and afraid to start walking on the trail.

We walked just a few steps into the forest and found a huge patch of blueberries. Those were the most tasty forest blueberries we ever tasted. We just sat down right there in the middle of the blueberry patch and started eating. Then, my friend found a beautiful mushroom. She said "Look! a forest mushroom, I bet it is even more tasty than the forest blueberries. Let's taste it"

I wasn't sure, because I knew that it was safe to eat the blueberries, but I never saw that kind of mushroom before. My friend said, "Let's just have a little bite, it won't hurt us!" Finally I said OK...and we each ate half of the mushroom...

It was totally not tasty!

Then, all of a sudden, we heard a "Crash, Rooarrrr" so we got up and ran out of the forest as fast as we could.

We hopped on our bikes and started riding them up the hill, but our fingers started tickling...then our arms, and our elbows all the way up to our shoulders. We were both just laughing and laughing and our back started tickling down to our bottom and our legs. We could hardly ride our bikes up the hill because everything was tickling so much and we were just laughing. We figured out that we ate a poison tickling mushroom!

By the time we got home to our moms and dads everything was tickling from our fingers down to our toes...everything except for our nose!

My mom and dad asked me what was wrong and I told them my friend and I had eaten a poison laughing mushroom in the forest that we weren't supposed to go to--

They said "oh, no!" and took us to the Emergency Room. There, the doctors gave me an awful medicine that made me throw up!! Yuck!! but finally I got all of the poison laughing mushroom out of me and I stopped tickling all over my body from my fingers to my toes, everything except my nose.

Oh, my goodness! I knew that it was not right to eat something from the forest that I wasn't sure about--but we were so silly and did it anyway.

Alyosha: Mama, why did you do that?
Mama: Because I didn't know what it was a I was curious to test it out.
Alyosha: Like Curious George?
Mama: Yeah, but that sure can get you in trouble sometimes?
Alyosha: Why?
Mama: It would have been better to pick the mushroom and bring it home to ask my mom and dad if it was ok to taste it...before I just tasted it myself. It can be dangerous to eat things from the forest if you don't know what they are.
Alyosha: Yeah...but what about the fire breathing dragon?

Spring will be here soon!

2008-02-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

We have been enjoying the returning spring! Playing outside, climbing trees, picnics, days on the winery estate. I am counting the seconds until we have this weather every day!!!

Three flying bears

2008-02-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

Every night I hear the same question:

Alyosha: Mama please tell me a story! The one about three flying bears in the forest, and make it scary. (He has never heard a story about 3 flying bears before, he just assumes there is one...)

Mama: One time there were 3 bears. They were quite unusual bears because they were city bears. They had jobs and everything. Their job was at the very top of the highest building in the city. Every hour, they had to stick their heads out of the window and roar what time it was. So, right now it is 8 o'clock and this is what they had to do...

roar....1 roar....2 roar......3 roar.....4 roar.....5 roar.....6 roar.....7 roar.....8

Imagine, every hour, they had to roar that many times. So when it was 12 o'clock they roared 12 times! After a while they decided that their throats were sore and they just couldn't roar like that any more, so they decided to give up their jobs and move to the forest. They came down from the top of their very tall building and started walking towards the forest.

It was quite a sight to see 3 bears walking along the highway. Cars were stopping and staring at them and the joggers turned around and ran in the opposite direction. It didn't bother the bears at all; they were just ready to get to the forest!

Finally they made it to the wonderful forest, there was peace and quiet and no people around for miles and miles. They just loved it! It was a lucky time of the year too, summer, right when there were tons of berries to eat. The bears thought they were in bear heaven! Fresh air, quiet, blueberries and raspberries to eat and a running river close by. When they got tired they just found a comfy tree and curled up at the bottom of it and went to sleep.

One night they curled up by a very short tree--it was short, but it had large roots that made a very comfy place for a bed. After watching the stars for a while they fell asleep. After a few hours, they were awoken by some loud music!

They thought, where was this music coming from, there are no people in the forest!! So they decided to get up and search around to find it and ask them to turn it down a bit. They looked and looked around and finally found where all the racket was coming from! There was a fairy party going on.

Fairies are little flying creatures who love to have parties at night time under the trees between the roots that stick up above the ground. And this was a huge fairy party! These little fairies had a tiny light on their bottoms that was shiny when they fly around, so you could see hundreds and hundreds of tiny lights flying in and out of the fairy house they built for the party.

The bears nicely asked the fairies to turn the music down, but no one listened. They said again "Please, please turn that music down, we are trying to sleep here. But the fairies acted as if there were no bears around! Finally the bears said ROOOAAAAR, and the fairies did pay attention to that, but just replied..." You bears are in the fairy forest! It is summer and we have lots of parties. We think you should find another forest to go live in.

Well, the bears were not happy with that suggestion, they loved the forest that they had found. There were tons of tasty berries and a fresh clean river and beautiful trees! So they decided they were not going to move, but didn't want to listen to the loud music every night.

Ok, this is the scary part...

Those three big bears, walked right over to the fairy house and just ate up all of the fairies....

Alyosha: Wait, I wanted them to be little bears...

Mama: Well, they are little bears, they are little like the size of Luka. But a fairy is smaller than your pinky finger so to the fairies, the three bears were gigantic. So, the bears ate up every last one of the fairies at the fairy party! They could feel the fairies flying around in their tummy, then all of a sudden the bears grew wings and became flying bears! Now they were three flying fairy wing bears and they flew all around looking at everything.

Alyosha: And they had a fairy light on their popka too! (popka is bottom in Russian)

Zhenka's Boutique

2008-02-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to go to my new page and my new venture. Zhenka's Boutique is a unique little web place for cool gifts. Right now there are only t-shirts, but there is more to come. I hear Luka awake in the next room! I have to go...but check it out and let me know!

30th Anniversary

2008-02-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is our parent's 30th Anniversary. We wanted to surprize them with a little letter in the paper and a couple of nice photos to go with it. Due to confusion--or something screwy with the lovely Graham Leader... They put one picture-at least it was the best one!--and a boring little synopsis of their life. Here is the letter we three wrote and they were supposed to publish. Oh well!

Thirty years and still in Love

Thirty years ago, on February 2, 1978, Steve Bristow and Rosi Baltrushaut said to each other that they want to stay together from this day forward. Language, distance, culture, age... they had no barriers, and through the many years didn't let anything stand in the way of where they wanted to go.

Rosi came to Texas speaking little English, without her own family, with a brand new baby and a lot to learn about Texas culture. She knew with Steve's support she soon would feel at home. With 3 babies, they decided to take a leap of faith and move to Alabama where Steve attended law school. He studied full time and with Rosi's support ($2.15 an hour +tips!! Tip those waitresses, people!), they finished school and brought the family back home to Graham as soon as possible. The next challenge, getting three daughters through high school and college. After nine years of tuition bills and numerous declared majors, they now have a Red Raider and two Aggies.

What is next? Those last few years before retirement, sons-in-law, grandchildren, travel? Definitely the next 30 years together will be even more amazing, if that is possible! Thank you for being such a good example of what marriage and a family can be like when you truly love each other.

With all our love,
Your Daughters

And here is the newspaper article! click for larger version: