Rosing

I've got a bit of the middle rose motif done.  This thing is so huge that progress in the pictures looks small.

Thank You Linda

This temari is even more beautiful than the picture.  It sparkles!  It's also a wonderful gift from Linda W in Cyprus.  We were in an exchange late last year, and hers was stolen by cargo handlers at Turkish Air in Istanbul, along with thirty bags of mail headed to the embassy here.  She made this ball to replace it.  Isn't that generous of her?  I love it, and it has a special place on my temari collection shelf.

Hanul Lui Hanganu

Last weekend, we got away from the city and went to the village of Lalova.  It's about a two hour drive from Chisinau, mainly because many kilometers of the road are unpaved and rutted.  The reason for the trip was to give our dogsitter time overnight with Mattie the Sharr mountain dog before we leave on Wednesday for a trip to the US.  They did very well together, and everything's set for us to leave.

In the meantime, pictures of Hanul lui Hanganu, the hotel where we stayed.  It's a small place, and somewhat hard to find in the village.  There's no sign outside at all.  Nor inside, for that matter.  You walk in, wander around to the kitchen, and are greeted by first name (in Russian, then Romanian), then asked when you want to eat the next meal - lunch in our case, even though it was after two!  No English spoken, but signing works very well.  They're ultra friendly.

The top picture is the view from the outside patio.  The river is the Dniester (Nistru), an the opposite shore is the rump state of Transnistria.  Second picture is from the same area, closer up.  Third is a part of the courtyard of the hotel.  More pictures in the next few days.

See The Face

The peacoc's face is visible now, along wth the beginning of the sweep of its neck.  I've still got no non-brown-ish colors on the left, though.

Animals On The Walk Back

These were all taken on the quarter mile walk back to the car.  They show how the village around the monestary still is in the nineteenth century for the most part.  There were all of four or five local cars around.  Population of the village is about 300.  The scenery looks peaceful, but it hides a lot of poverty.

Roof Rack

The biggest news on this this week is that the roof on the right is completely backstitched.  Other than that, some progress made on buildings on the bottom.

Outside The Monastery And Little Boy

Just a few shots from outside the monastery, and then some of a little village boy playing with a soccer ball.  He was so absorbed in it he didn't notice people watching him.