2014 May Be My Lucky Year

I wasn't able to head back to Wisconsin for the Christmas holiday this year but a week later my parents came to Kansas for a visit. We celebrated the holiday with traditional English feast of a Christmas goose and for desert some Christmas pudding. A tradition we always follow is to bake an English six pence into the pudding and whoever finds the coin while chowing down on their piece of the pudding is sure to have a lucky year.  

I found the coin this year and I took a little a little bit out of it before realizing what I had.  

This year's Christmas pudding was the first that my mother had made on her own after my Grandmother [who was from England and brought our family this tradition] passed away .

Remember To Check Your Pockets!

Ukraine Is Game To You?

Another week and the protests continue...and John McCain decided to visit the protesters in Kiev this week as well which helps bring attention to the events in America.

 

One Less Lenin Statue

Ever since Ukrainian President Viktor Yankukovich's decision to not sign trade agreements with the European Union, most of Ukraine has been in a state of continual political protest. I say most of Ukraine because the city that Laura and I lived in, Kharkiv, has not had many protests at all and the famous Freedom Square [which I've written about many, many times] near where we lived has been blocked off so potential protesters can't get to it to hold their rallies. That's what happens when you are just 40 kilometers from the Russian border. [This blog has some photos of the barricades around Freedom Square.]

The largest rallies have been taking place in Kiev in Independence Square.  Whenever Laura and I would stay in Kiev we would try to find an apartment or hostel around the Square [which I also wrote about many, many times] so we would have been in the thick of it.  Here is an amazing video of the protest taken by someone who climbed up the huge Christmas tree that is in the Square [the embedded video sometimes does not work but you can always see it here]:



In a surprising turn, last night the Lenin statue in Kiev was destroyed by protesters.  The statue itself was the focus of one of m favorite winter photos from our year abroad.  To me it looks like Lenin is smuggling some snowballs or as one of my friends said, he might be holding a snow white kitten.  I'm glad I got to see it before it was gone for good.

Here a photo of the statue on the ground that may come to symbolize the protests in Kiev:

Riga Apartment Singing

While we were living in Riga, Latvia we shared our apartment with an opera singer and in the afternoons we could sometimes hear her practicing.  Here's a sample of what we enjoy throughout the summer.

Iowa Cornfields and Windmills

Iowa Cornfields and Windmills

Recorded: September 20th, 2013

Here is a little video I made on our drive from Lawrence to Minneapolis back in September.  Much of this was recorded between Des Monies, IA and Albert Lea, MN.

Other Sights From The British Museum

Other Sights From The British Museum

Photographed: May 20th, 2013

Besides seeing some of the Acropolis at the British Museum here are a few of my favorite artifacts we saw during our visit.

In the Great Court of the Museum you can find some of the largest pieces on display.  Two of my favorites are these totem polls which were made by the Haida people who are native to Canada. As you would expect their age is a little bit of a mystery but they are thought to date back to the 1850s.

This view from the second floor give you a better idea of how huge these poles are and how impressive it is that they were somehow transported from the Pacific Northwest to London and are still in one piece.

My favorite single piece from the British Museum was an Easter Island statue called a moai. I did my best moai impression while a crowd was gathered around the statue.  

Another group of famous pieces that any former member of a high school chess club would appreciate are the Lewis Chessmen.  These were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in the northwest part of Scotland.

They are thought to have been made in Norway somewhere between 1150-1200 AD and they are made of walrus ivory.  From one tusk the artist could make about four full size pieces and two smaller pieces.  And after visiting the gift shop I was even able to take home a replica version of the knight piece.