Catching up and Explaining Things

 

Hello everyone,

Welcome to today`s edition of my Scribbles.  Thanks to you all who read my journal yesterday, I hope you liked the photos.  I realise now that there was more I could have told you about Russia and the people there, at least the ones I know of anyway.  I was asked several questions and I`ll do my best to answer them now.

Jeannette (Jottings) and Lisa Jo (Damaged Goods) said said liked Roman in the sailor hat.  I agree and I`m thinking of having it enlarged and framed, with his strong resemblance to Slava he really looked like a Russian baby....but in my completely unbiased opinion, far more handsome...lol!

                                        

Barb asked if Roman will grow up being able to speak Russian and does Slava speak it to him.  Well the answer is hopefully to the first, and yes to the second.  Obviously he will speak English more fluently but as long as he can converse and understand his grandparents that is all that is needed.  Although, being fluent would help him get a job, Russian speakers are needed all the time now there is more trade with the Eastern Bloc countries.

                                       

Dan mentioned that the decor etc. looks very 1950`s.  It is very much like that, everything is brown and and dark wood, even children are dressed in brown and other drab colours.  The thing is that Western clothes are very expensive and there are many things that we take for granted that are unavailable there.  For instance, children don`t have car seats, they are unheard of.  Kerry`s brightly coloured buggy attracted many glances as the are not seen often either.  Most of Slava`s parents electrical appliances are from England and bought for them as presents.  But I think on the whole change is coming, it`s just going to be very, very slow.

                                   

Joan (Joan`s Musings) mentioned the weather on the day of the wedding.  It was lovely though not as hot as it has been here of late.  Russian Summer`s can be very hot indeed,  something I didn`t know until Kerry told me, I always thought of Russia as a freezing cold place, which of course it is....in Winter!

                                      

One more thing that I forgot to explain was the wedding cake, not at all like our traditional tiered fruit or sponge cakes.  They are more like gateaux and are very rich, being covered in layers of coloured cream, icing and frosting is unheard of.  The lions on the top are not to my taste but they apparently signified Julia and Sergei`s star signs, Leo and were made of chocolate, which is something that the Russian`s excel at.  Kerry and Slava always bring us lots of it home and Jim takes some into work where his colleagues eagerly devour it.  They look forward to the Russian visits and always ask when they`ll be more chocolate..!

             

Kerry and I have been quite busy over the weekend.  On Saturday we went to a fete at the school across the road.  It was a really hot day and there weren`t as many people as we thought would attend.  In fact, I`m sure the organisers would have been very disappointed at the turn out.  As it was we didn`t stay very long but we thought we`d watch the Fancy Dress competition before we went home but there were only two entrants, I felt so sorry for the children and their Mum`s, having gone to all that trouble.  I hope they were both given a prize for their efforts.                                               

               

On Sunday Danny and Kerry came over for dinner with it being Father`s Day.  The only one missing was Jim, who had to work on late shift.  We spent the afternoon in the garden with Roman who played in his new paddling pool. We didn`t know if he would like it but he had such a great time splashing around and playing with his toys that he didn`t want to get out, and made sure we knew it too...lol! 

            

Today Kerry and I took him back to the baby clinic to be weighed again.  He had been the same weight  three weeks ago as he had been at the end of March, and the Health Visitor was wanted to see him again when he got home from holiday. Kerry was much relieved to find he had gained two and a half pounds since then and they said it must have been the virus he couldn`t shake off that had caused the problem.  This afternoon we went for a long walk via the local playground.  The borough council are renovating it by putting new equipment in for the kiddies.  We hope to take Roman there but can only hope the vandals don`t get to them first like they did recently, it`s such a pity they have to ruin what is there for little ones.

           

That`s it for now my friends,  I have a few things to do before Kerry arrives with Roman, and then Im` going to catch up with journals.  I hope you all have a lovely afternoon and don`t forget England are playing tonight, even if you can`t stand football keep your finger`s crossed for Sven`s men when they play Sweden. Bye Bye for now. :o)