Berries from Cyndy's garden. YUM!!! Nothing can compare to berries from your own garden!

This is where I am staying most of the summer.

These are just some of Cyndy's raised beds. We had fresh greens and broccoli for supper again tonight. They are fabulous!!!

Too cute. This puppy belongs to Cyndy's neighbor.

Today Linda took me to town to run my errands. We ate at the Drive Inn. We split an order of chive fries; they are the best!!! When we came back to Cyndy's we went for a walk along the river. It was very nice. Not many bugs cuz of the wind. After Linda left I weeded 3 of the raised beds, cleaned up the screen porch and started edging one of the flower beds. A shower feels wonderful after digging in the dirt!!! At about 5:15 we are heading to town for the parade.
It is wonderful to be on summer vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night Cyndy and I drank wine and weeded in the vegie gardens. We sat on the screen porch after dark. Life is good!!!

I am home and I am thrilled to be back! My nephew and niece picked me up on Saturday. We stopped by to see my son Alan at work. We then picked up my son Steven and went to eat at TGI Fridays. I had a good margarhita and a wonderful burger.
This morning I was up 5:30 and I have been listening to the Black Birds trill and I heard a Pheasant call. It rained during the night and there is a stiff breeze now sending ripples across the pond and gently blowing the wind chimes. I saw Robins, Goldfinches, a male and female Cardinal, and a Great White Egret was at the edge of the pond.
There are no packs of dogs barking and no crows raising a ruckus!!!
I have washed a pair of jeans, a shirt and some underwear and DRIED them in a DRYER!!! What a concept! They were warm and soft coming out of the dryer. WOW!!! What a thrill!!!
I bought ice cream and Hersey syrup and had a big bowl before going to bed last night. We also stopped at Target; it is amazing how nice the clerks are!!! They smile at you, ask you how you are, gladly give you change and nicely bag up your purchases for you.
Alan and Steven are coming up this afternoon and taking me up to Milaca.

I am now going to bed to try to sleep. I have to get up at 2:30 a.m.since the bus is picking me up at 3:30.
I will see everyone soon!

The day is done!!!!!!!!!! Several of us spent the last hour in Isobel's room cuz it is only one of two classrooms that have AC. It is in the 90's here. We drank champagne and ate chocolates and laughed. We went to Suzanne's after for a drink. I came home and started rearranging my packing and straightening up my apartment. We work until 1 tomorrow and that's it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am having a very difficult time motivating myself to get to work today!!! I am fed up with all the bullshit; it is time to go home to my family and friends!!!

Two days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tonight Isobel, Suzanne, Barb, Sam and I went out to Oliva as a farewell to Barb and as our last Wednesday get together. As always the food was excellent. We also had a very good bottle of Pinot Grigio.
I have made plans with Cyndy for Monday and it is exciting to be able to make plans with my friends back home. I am looking forward to sleeping in and weeding in people's gardens. I want to float done the river.
I want to eat cream. I'm looking forward to having sales clerks treat me nice and be able to talk to me in English. I look forward to being out in the countryside and not having a million (5 million plus, actually) people looking at me or being close to me! I look forward to riding in cars. I am looking forward to the Beet Fest.

FOUR MORE DAYS TILL I LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is killing me to still be here. I WANT TO BE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two more clay fish I made.

Yesterday Alan turned 21. Does that mean I am getting older?!
Friday after work we had a party at a restaurant to say good bye to those that are not coming back in August. It was fun. We had the whole patio reserved for us and it was a beautiful evening to be sitting outside. The food was wonderful.
I will be home in a week!
Barb, Isobel and I went to eat at an outdoor restaurant last night. Afterwards we went for ice cream and did some shopping. We each bought a skirt, Barb bought a top and I bought a vest. It was the last time we will have for just the three of us.
Today I am starting to pack my suitcases.

This portrait was given to me by a high school student. I love it!

As of today I am done with two groups of 9 year olds, three groups of middle schoolers, one group of ten year olds, and two groups of 11 year olds. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Graduation yesterday was short. At eight there was a supper downtown. It was a crazy party. The supper was hors douvres which were wonderful. Alcohol was a big part of the celebration. Never in the U.S. would a school allow that!!!
The DJ was hilarious; he kept saying gradiation for graduation and gradient for graduate.
One of the fathers wore a red leather suit with white shoes. VERY different.
I had a great time.

I now do not have hot water. Some people have been w/o hot water for three weeks and the director has not gotten them water heaters yet. On Monday I will request one but doubt that I will get it before I come home. It is a lot of work to heat water to bathe, wash your hair and to wash dishes.
I leave in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! This morning I have been gathering things that I don't need here that I will take home.
The weather this past week was very hot and humid. Between 4 and 4:30 yesterday we had rain which really dropped the temperature. This morning it has been cool.
I am going to graduation this this afternoon. Tomorrow I need to get groceries.

Below are more pictures from our trip last Sunday.

Pictures of one of the looms.

Pictures of the cloth on the loom.

Dresses at the clothing factory.

More buildings from the outdoor museum.

These are my lastest creations in clay.

I have posted some of the pictures I took on Sunday at the outdoor museum

This is a very 'blue' church; a beautiful blue. It was very big. We didn't go inside. I can't tell you anything about it cuz there were no English translations.

These are pictures of a fort that was at the museum. It was small.

Two more pictures of the fort.

Random pictures fromt he museum.

These pictures are from the 'Bread Museum' at the outdoor museum.

The sign on this building says 'school'.

An old plane at the outdoor museum. Can you read the word?

I have posted some of the pictures of our trip on Sunday, June 7 to Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi. Pronounce that name!!!
We had a good trip. The day started out cold and rainy and became very hot and humid.
The following pictures are from the outdoor museum we went to.
I will post more tomorrow.

This is an ancient house at the outdoor museum. More ancient houses follow.

The first picture which looks brown and dull I believe are mammoth bones. The whole exhibit seems to indicate this. Woolly mammoth-bone homes have been found in the Ukraine dating from 16,000 to 10,000 BCE.

These two pictures are walls of an ancient house. They have glass over the front protecting them. I have never seen anything like this. The walls are clay jugs that are mudded together.
Oh how I wish there were English translations!!!

This ancient house had a great door design! It pivots in the center.

Some of the stone work at the outdoor museum we went to on Sunday, June 7. More pictures follow. Very little info was given in English.