Kaleidoscope Renzoku

 There was a challenge on Temari Challenge a couple of months ago to puzzle out a twelve-point renzoku star on a simple twelve division ball.  I didn't do it at the time, but wanted to.  Luckily, I had a birthday gift I needed to make!  Her favorite color is blue, so I picked four blue colors of Watercolours and went to work.  This ball is the result.

End Of The Line

The walking area of Odessa ends at a promontory with a colonnade looking over the port.  These pictures were taken by it and the building that goes with it - a former governor's mansion.  Evidently the raised area was built for the governor's wife.  Anyway, it's a way to show off the beautiful weather we had.

Down The Side

One of four flowers done down the side.  One of two wreaths, too!

Half Done

Halfway done with this renzoku temari.  Surprise!  There's not a single variegated thread on it!

Odessa Industrial Port

There's a nice walkway along the bluff above Odessa port, and we walked it.  Here are some photos of the industrial port, including one with Odessa's tall ship.

Looks Like a Fortress

It's definitely coming together as a picture now.

Kompot!

 We asked our agent about the best place to eat our first night in town.  She suggested a few places, one of which was Kompot.  It serves local Ukranian food, which, according to the menu, involves a lot of potatoes and chicken livers.  The big draw for us, though, was a drink.  Kompot, which the restaurant is named after, is popular throughout eastern Europe.  Kompot is fresh fruit that is put in a jar along with a little sugar.  Boiling water is poured over it.  Once that is done, it's capped and turned every once in a while, then enjoyed cold.  This stuff is GOOD.  I've started making it at home.  First we tried the cherry, then the strawberry.  Maybe I'll put up a recipe for my apple kompot on my blog in a week or so.

The rest of the meal.... I had chicken dumpling soup, which was good.  Andreas had chicken stroganoff.  He said it was pretty good, too.  The serving was huge.  My chicken Kiev (okay, so what else should you try in the Ukraine?) was on the dry side and could definitely have been made better.