The Other Pattern

I've started the other pattern in the upper right.  Yay progress!

Egg Collecting

 Well, now that I have several, I suppose I'm a painted and beaded and dyed egg collector.  These ones are wooden and about the size of goose eggs. All completely hand painted, too!

One Small Table, Ten People

 On Orthodox Easter Sunday, we went to visit Liuba and Erin out in Zubresti.  Easter is the biggest holiday in the Orthodox tradition, bigger than Christmas.  The celebration actually starts at midnight, with a continuous church service from then until dawn.  People then go home for a couple of hours, break the fast they've been keeping since Friday morning, and bring their food to  the church to get blessed.  After that, it's feasting time.

We had ten people around this very small table.  As you can see, it's piled with food.  I'm not sure exactly how Liuba managed to fit everything on it.  All food served on Easter Sunday is col.  The food served on Monday is hot.  Easter goes on for three days.

Everything tasted wonderful, from the chicken aspic to the smoked sausages.  All eggs were boiled and dyed red.  We were each given one in the memory of a dead relative.  Then, we had "wars" to see whose egg shell was strongest.  Mine lasted a couple of rounds.  Lots of liquor was served, including vodka, homemade champagne, and homemade white and red wines.  There was also a homemade walnut liqueur that was ... interesting.

 About halfway through the feast, we had dessert - ice cream with homemade raspberry preserves on it.  This was not the end of the meal, however.  We also had cherry crepe tortes and bonbons.  We also had more food, including beaten meat (the Moldovan equivalent of a cold chicken fried pork steak) and terrine.  We sat at that table for seven hours.  It was an awesome experience and I want to thank Liuba again for her hospitality.

Over The Bird

The bird marks the center point of the bottom of this sampler.  I've got it done!  Now on to finishing up the second half.

Uniforms

 Last of Tighina fortress - more uniforms!

Getting Cornered

Another plant done, two more to go.... so close.

Didn't Expect This...

When you go visit a fortress in a breakaway area of the former Soviet Union, you -really- don't expect to see ... Texas belt buckles.  We were both amused and bewildered.  According to the guide, a Transnistrian local collects belt buckles and loaned his collection to the museum.  The museum also serves as the regimental museum, so there's a lot of stuff in a very small space.  This included some recently dry cleaned uniforms.