Father Frost Finds a Home

Well, I put her off for just over a year and today was her day. We adopted a Father Frost, who will be one of Chris's treasures that she will return with from Moscow. It is quite a piece and very Russian.








I found a painted box, for a really good price. This craft is quite unique and caught my eye ever since we started window shopping in Moscow. There are many different schools of artists. This is one of the highest quality. It really is quite stunning. The picture does not do it justice. It is painted on gold leaf. The box itself is paper mache. That is how the light is made to shine through the windows. It's only 4 by 3 inches and about 1" deep. Sister Ireland saw me negotiating and we did a two-fer and saved an additional 400 roubles. The lady who sells the large Father Frosts, gives an angel ornament to the husbands, for free.

My box. There are three main words that you can see in the painting. Magazine is a general store. Apteka is a pharmacy. Trackteer is restaurant (normally spelled pectopan and pronounced restoran). But the tracteer is a place where you can get food when you are on the go. You just pull up your troika and fill up and take off. Just like a drive-in!!

After Ismalofski, we headed for our concert with the Irelands and the Yorgesens. We met up with Anna, the Ireland's translator (to help them communicate with individuals when they are working on humanitarian projects. Finally, we met a Russian lady (a recipient of a humanitarian project) who had the tickets for all of us. This was a sort of benefit concert with winning acts from a talent competition that took in over 40 Russian cities. There were singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians, a girl with hula hoops, and other assorted varieties. Two dancers, who were twins, were our favorites. (See video below) The young girl with the hula hoops wasn't bad either!! We ate a stardog on the way to the concert and a hamburger at McDonalds on the way home. We got in at just after 8:00 p.m. I tried to Skype some of the kids but they weren't online.

Chris and I at St. Basils.

Christ the Redeemer Church taken from the south side of the river.

The Theatre on the right hand or south side of the river. That's the Kremlin in the background.


The girls happy as clams in Ismalofski.

Mambo Dancers


Hula Hoops