Flying monkeys

We were with the hospitalized children today. It was the first day warm enough to open an upper window but too wet from last night to go out. So there were high spirits all around, and no where to vent them. Plus they had to turn off the TV when we arrived. Never a good idea. Our craft got 22 takers and 8-10 who circled the room, too advanced for crafts, but interested and available for poking, grabbing, commenting.

We played indoor games after - I have not lost that many consecutive games of Chinese checkers in a long time! But since I was playing dominoes with another kid at the same time, it was not surprsing. I lost at that, too. Out of the corner of our eyes we kept seeing something happening by the window, but when we got a full look, all was quiet and absolutely angelic in a way that told us something really was going on big time. But we could not catch it.

Finally on the way out we walked beneath the window and found the drive littered with green plastic monkeys, dice, dominoes and checkers. That's why the game bag was so light.

Last night we ate out at a Georgian restaurant. The food is not quiet as sweet as the Russian food and very tasty. The best part was the English menu. There were:

"Sauces for Combustable Meat" (we assume that meant the meat was grilled but
no one ordered it case it torched the table

"Chicken on a Russian/Georgian" (turned out to be a dish prepared with
different spices depending on the country of origin of the spice)

Several dishes wiht "Language" in it (turned out these were meals
containing "tongue" which makes sense in a Translated by Google sort of way)

Dinner, as it has been in every country, is accompanied by the cook's favorite soap opera. Since it is in Russian with no subtitles we are free to write the storyline as we see fit. Now three days into it the plot is so complex we need a chart to remember who is relating to whom. Luckily the bad persons - around the world - have evil pointy eyebrows.


The 5 pm service at the church across the road was still going strong at 5:40 when we arrived after shopping at the local Carousel (think Cosco Russo). In fact I think I recognized the end of the Epistle and the beginning of the Gospel, but it took 20 minutes to get through the sequence hymn, and we had to go for dinner. In a move I am sure is still hotly debated by the local altar guild, the bases of all the gold candelsticks were wrapped in cellophane.
"We have to protect them."
"People should just learn not to kick them. Why should we change?"
"Holy Father says we have to be welcoming..."
"Hrumph. In my day..."

The weekend before us!