Real Russian History

I just finished my third, of what I thought was my final book on FDR, (well at least for the time being/I started this series before I came on a mission)then LaDawn gave me another book on FDR by David McCullough (which I left at her house the other night). She also gave me another McCullough book on the Panama Canal (I gave this to my Dad a couple of years ago (about six months before he cruised the canal), but I had not read it. I started the Panama Canal book, but after reading about pickled people, it was easy to pick up another book that had been given to Chris by Marina, one of the secretaries in our office. It is called Natasha's Dance, a cultural history of Russia. I read the following passage the other night. I believe this incredible piece of history is only possible in Russia. I apologize to musicians wherever you may be!!

"Serfs were essential to the Sheremetev palaces and their arts. From the 200,000 census serfs the Sheremetevs owned [which probably means they owned more than a 1,000,000], several hundred were selected every year and trained as artists, architects and sculptors, furniture makers, decorative painters, gilders, engravers, horticulturalists, theatrical technicians, actors, singers and musicians. Many of these serfs were sent abroad or assigned to the court to learn their craft. But where skill was lacking, much could be achieved through sheer numbers. At Kuskovo there was a horn band in which, to save time on the training of players, each musician was taught to play just one note. The number of players depended on the number of different notes in a tune; their sole skill lay in playing their note at the appropriate moment[!!]"

We went out on Saturday to the Moscow zoo. It's not quite what you would call a world class zoo, but it was interesting. Many exhibit areas were empty but we were treated to bears that had been conditioned, over time, to entertain park visitors by waving to onlookers, hoping to get a little something to eat.

Our group outside the zoo waiting for the ticket booths to open. Bear working for food. Chris working at food (notice telltale Snickers wrapper on the bench!! Not quite Donald Duck!!

There was also a horse riding school adjacent to the zoo, where girls were practicing jumping their horses. When they raised the bar, one horse, actually the only horse with a rider with the skill to take the jump, refused to jump. With much prodding and subsequent whipping of the horse by the rider and the coach, the poor horse finally did make the jump, but the spectacle of beating the horse was more than we could bear, so we just walked off.

In the afternoon, we went to the Asian market so that Sam could buy a new bag to haul his stuff in. By this time it was getting very warm and inside the market it was oppressive. Chris nearly had a meltdown, between the heat and humidity and the masses of people. We had been joined that day with Chuck Johnson and his boss Vicki. I think by the time we found our way out of the market they had seen just about as much of Russia as they could take in in one day!!



After church, we had dinner at the Gibbons with Chuck Johnson and the Bensfields, members of our branch. LaDawn made three great salads with melons and hot homemade rolls. It was delicious. I couldn't pick a favorite salad, that's how good they were!!

Today, we have our presidency meeting and a final review of our seminar needs. It looks like everthing is in order, but I am sure we will have some excitement before we through. What would life be like without a few challenges.

I got my new phone yesterday (the last one was stolen) and successfully transferred all my data from my temporary phone to the new one. That saved me from having to enter about 50 phone numbers, though we could have proabably re-entered the data by the time we figured out how to transfer the data.