Spring misc.

Blogging is hard when there are too many thoughts in one’s head. Too many. I want to talk about many things and get lost among them, and freeze halfway.

What are the things I’d like to tell about? Well,maybe the most remarkable one is that my nephew moved out for some time, and we enjoy peace and silence. For some reason he relocated to his own former apartment where he used to live with his father. Now it’s given for rent most of time, but he caught a moment when it was free from tenants. He found a friend who agreed to live together. My nephew can’t live alone, so wanted someone for a company. He did kind of a bet or a challenge for himself: to stand the whole month there without adults. The other boy seems to be very patient – actually the whole thing largely depended on him. They really almost reached the whole month, though turning the place into awful mess.

The month ends on this weekend. Then my nephew will return here. The break was really useful for me and my daughter – I almost regained my consciousness. I remembered, even a little, that I exist and have my own needs. Very little, very slowly, my self is awakening from long sleep.

The cats feel good too. I haven’t mentioned yet that we have 4 cats in total now: 2 adult cats and 2 young kittens. It’s a separate story, though I’d like to tell about them someday. It’s fun! So interesting to watch their different personalities and relationships with us and each other. My nephew loves them, but his manner of love keeps the cats nervous. Now that he is away they can express themselves freely.

What else should I tell about? Long, long spring… Bright sunlight at daytime and freezing cold at night. Icy roads that drive me mad. Well, now not so icy but wet. Water and mud and slush of melting snow, absolutely impossible to walk freely. I wear rubber boots moving around my living area, or just avoid to walk. Russian roads!

And there is a hope ahead. The significant date, 70-th anniversary of World War II ending is in May. Russia places great importance to Victory Day, and people expect a large-scale amnesty. If it comes true, my brother may be released in May instead of August. Seems not such a big difference but it is big for him and for me, well, for all of us. Some more effort. Some more waiting.

Russian spring

Long-awaited spring has come at last. This year’s winter was really a long one. Below-zero temperatures and snowfalls continued throughout March. The only thing that gave some hope was just a common-sense thought: winter cannot last eternally, can it? Well, now April has come, and spring is here! The air is warm, and my face is not freezing anymore. And the most happy thing is, the snow is melting. We got tired to look at this snow for about half a year!

But snow melting is the dark side of our spring as well. When such a huge mass of snow melts, can you imagine the amount of water? I really wonder how it goes in other Norhtern countries like Canada or Finland. But here in Russia there are no facilities to drain this water from streets and especially from residential areas. So there is water all over the place – If not water, then slush, or dirt, or ice. We have to think over each step when walking around, or find and remember some safe ways without the risk to get our boots wet through. This season I decided to wear rubber boots for walking in my district. Usually such things are used for gardening, hiking and the like, only kids wear them regularly. But recently they kind of came into fashion, which is quite right – fashion dictated by the necessity!

One more ugly side of our spring is junk of all sorts appearing from under the snow as it melts. People throw garbage underfoot without thinking. In winter it subsequently gets covered with each next snowfall, and the area looks clean. But now… everything hidden under many layers of snow is coming out. It makes a very depressing look. Big spring cleaning usually takes place around late April, but before it and soon after it things go as usual: junk is scattered everywhere, with anyone hardly keeping attention to it. I don’t know why. Sure municipalities don’t have money to hire enough staff for cleaning streets. But why those living here continuously pollute their own environment?

My daughter is the one who reacts sharply to such things. Bored to stay indoors and feeling fresh spring air, she calls me for a walk. She loves cool wind and even rainy weather. But seeing all that dirty ground… She gets irritated and starts to think aloud what is wrong with us Russians. Really, what is wrong with us?

And then we return home, and she decides not to go out for one more week or so, until it gets dry at least.

 

At the pond

My daughter and her friend about 2 years ago