Day 97 To Palanga

We spent the morning doing what needed to be done around here, and Del did some work on his lecture.  Then about 12:30, Daiva called to say her meeting was over and she would meet us in10 minutes to head for Palanga.  That's the place where we went to the Stinta festival this winter.  We walked through the forest and tried to visit the amber museum, but it doesn't open until tomorrow.  It is in a former palace and the grounds are huge and being prepared for spring planting.  Just off the grounds, there is a reproduction of Lourdes.  Paths wander through the woods and down to the sea.  There was a sign that said that the intrnational scout jamboree was held in the park/forest in 1933.  It still amazes me to be able to walk among thick trees and still hear the ocean.

After a nice  long walk, we went to the main street to the sea.  It had been closed for the festival, so we could walk down the street and look.  We were able to see a felt making demonstration, some weaving, wood carving and a really old one man band.  Both the man and the instruments.  He was quite energetic playing his squeeze box, drums and cymbols.  There was no harmonica, but perhaps he had only so much breath.  Del was able to buy a kaliedascope (sp) of wood with amber inside.  We talked with the wife of the man who made it, but he had stepped away for awhile.

One of the things they did was rent little metal big wheel looking things for little kids to ride.   Those younguns could  go to town on those things.  We came across a boy of about 5 who was pedaling  as fast as he could crying "Mama, Mama."  We stopped and Daiva talked to him.  She tried to persuade him to stop and wait until his parents found him, but he  would have non of it.  He hurried along, and we followed along for a while.  In a little bit he stopped, closed his eyes, mumbled and crossed himself several times.  Bless his little heart, he knew where to turn in times of trouble.  Then he rode off again, still calling and crying.  I was about to cry myself.  We walked in the direction he had come from to see if we could find anyone looking upset, but we didn't.  A little later we saw him riding along, holding tight to his mother's hand, or being held in a death grip by her, I'm not sure which.  She was not smiling, I can tell you that.  Dad came rushing up. and the boy jumped off the trike and  threw his arms around him saying "sorry, sorry." and off they went.  I'll bet that is the last time they  rent one of those things.

Our next stop was at a nice little Ukranian resataurant for a late lunch of borscht and dumplings.  The borscht was wonderful.  It was a hot soup full of vegetables and meat, not the cold soup most places here only serve in summer.  The trick to the Ukranian version is to make it with saurkraut instead of just cabbage.  We each ordered a small bowl.  Based on the size of that, the large bowl would have come in a wash tub.  It was served with a cold  soft white dinner roll looking bread that had been split and filled with lots of butter and the strongest chopped garlic I ever tasted.  Maybe it was the size of the chunks, but it packed a whollop.  The dumplings were small flour dumplings filled with meat.  They were about the size of a tortolini, but round with a shallow indention  and served in a bowl with sour cream and crackling - little bits of fried bacon.  Each bowl had about 20 dumplings.  I couldn't finish mine, but all those skinny people sitting around me in the restaurant were having no trouble.  Daiva had potato dumplings with mushroom sauce.  I thought they might taste like pirogi , but they didn't.  I really liked the texture of these dumplings and the small size.

I just reread to check for typos and the soft white dinner roll reminded me of Heidi and the rolls she saved for Peter's grandmother.  At least I think that was who it was.

After lunch, we headed for the bus station.  Daiva assured us that she would wait with us until the bus left.  I laughed and told her she was a good moma, but we had had lots of experience in riding buses now.  She laughed and said that I should listen to mama.  Fortunately, we were able to walk right onto the 5 o'clock bus.  It was one of the private large van types, but it had good shocks.  We got 2 of the last 4 seats, so we were lucky we didn't have to wait for the next one.

It was another good day.  Tomorrow will be quiet.  It is graduation day at LCC and a church service is part of that, so we won't have a service.  I think there will be a couple more before the last group heads away for the summer.  We will miss everyone.

Day 96 Library Week Reading Marathon

Do reading marathons have to be the same number of hours as a running marathon is in miles?  If so, it wasn't really one, but, Lord have mercy, I'm pooped.  This was a public library event to celebrate Library week.  They sent our invitations to people to bring their friends and a passage to read.  It started at 7 with an hour devoted to vampire stories, but we went at 8, because we were to meet Daiva and Arvydus, and Daiva doesn't approve of vampires.   I had been asked to bring something to read, so I brought The Hungry Caterpillar, hoping that if I didn't say anything, they would forget about it.  That didn't happen, so I read the words I knew how to pronounce in Lithuanian and the others in English.  I expect it sounded kind of ridiculous, but the audience was kind enough to act as though I had done something.  It's amazing how impressed people are when you even try to say something in Lithuanian.  I told you people here are kind.
It ended at 11:30.  There was music and singing to break up the reading.  Quite a few people wore costumes.  I met Harry Potter, Hermione, Pippi Longstocking, an angel with white feather wings, a black dress and black lace tights, a sailor and various other costumes for books I didn't know.  Some people read for 5 minutes and some for 15 or more.  We only recognized a few words, of course, but the language is beautiful and some of the readers had beautiful voices and stage presence.  I have to say, it did get a bit long before it was over, but I'm glad we went.

It's too late to go to bed early, but I am going to get as much sleep as possible because tomorrow is a street fair in Palonga.  Love street fairs, especially in a beach town!

Day 95 The Green Door Neighbors Begin to Leave

Baby Levi and his parents left today.  We decided that we would have an early breakfast for all the Green Door people so we could say goodbye to them and they would not have to worry about last minute dish washing, etc.  Our friend John also left today, so it worked out fine.  We just had boiled eggs, cereals, apple things made from puff pastry and some bananas.  We will miss them.  Susan will leave in a couple of weeks, but Christine will be here most of the summer.  We now have enough silverware and bowls that they do not have to bring their own.

This afternon I had to go into school with Del because they were having a little ceremony regarding the books he brought for the library.  He was not aware that he had to make a little speech, and I certainly did not know that he was going to call on me to make one also.  I just thanked everyone for making us feel so welcome and their kindness and all.  Del did a good job of talking about the Fulbright program and the fact that most of the books were a gift from the United States to their library.  There were various other people from the school and his class who made little talks, and the Associate Dean, a young woman who is in my advanced class made a nice little talk thanking me, and we both got beautiful flowers.

Tomorrow night we go to the evening of reading at the regional library.  It's part of the Library Week celebration.  We were told to bring something to read.  The thing goes on at least to midnight, and possibly all night.  I didn't quite understand that.  We'll let you know.

We have heard a little about the storms in Virginia, Alabama and so forth.  Our great niece 'Emma posted a
picture on FB of the sky over Farmville that gave me chills.  Thankfully, Longwood was not hit.  Alabama was again hit hard.  We lived in Huntsville when a tornado hit, and while it was devastating, it could have been so much worse if it had hit during the school day.  Only the after care program kids were there and they were taken to a safe area by their teachers and some painters who were working here.  Some parents were killed and injured in the school parking lot and the school was demolished.  I don't remember how many people were killed or injured.  I remember that  a speech therapist who had been my supervisor when we both worked in outpatient rehab was in her second floor office reception area with a client when it struck.  Her therapy room was hit, but the phone kept ringing and ringing.  She crawled to the doorway and was able to drag the phone by it's cord.  It was her husband telling her he had heard that a tornado was headed her way.  She could look out behind her desk where the wall should have been and see  that it had landed on her car. She and her client had only a few scrapes.  Fortunately, they had just left that therapy room. because the therapy table was gone.    

Day 94 No Loaf of Bread, 2 Jugs of Wine and 5 Librarians, and Me

Another do pretty much nothing day for me.  I'm getting too good at that.  It may be the pills, but I could just doze all day.  The guys left early for their conference, and I cleaned up the breakfast things.  Then I went upstairs to see if Brook, Darius and Levi needed anything and arranging for them to come down for breakfast tomorrow morning before leaving for Poland.   It will be a Green Door farewell breakfasst.  I also invited the other neighbors.  Hope they can come. I also took advantage of their offer to "shop the cabinets" for spices, etc. they could not take with them.

A quick trip to the Iki for  a few things for breakfast and that was pretty well it until time to get dressed to meet the librarians at Stora Antis/Fat Duck.  We were a somewhat less sedate group than I usually see dning here, but  we didn't get kicked or anything.  I think everyone had a good time.  I took pictures of the place and the food last time we were there

Day 93 Quiet Day for Me

Del and John headed out early to take the ferry to the spit which is a forest and unspoiled beach.  They walked around a bit and got home around 2. I stayed home for a lazy day, except for a trip to the old market for socks and vegetables.  I did get patted on the bottom by an old man who is crazy, according to my sock lady.  She grabbed his arm, shook her fist at him and scared him away.  He didn't appear dangerous, just happy and just not right.  She appologized all over the place.  I think she thought he had frightened me, but I could have taken him if it had come to that.  I also stopped in at a beautiful linen store and bought a hat to keep the sun off my face and this blonder every month hair of mine.  I think I am destined to have perpetual hat hair - just put away the winter haat and now out with the sun hat.
After the guys got home, we had a late lunch and went about our business until time to go to a cocert at 6. 
 I had a nap, because doing virtually nothing can wear a person out. We wine and cheesed for dinner and headed out to the bus stop. 

The concert was quite good.  The first performers were a male and  a female pianist who played Schubert and some more modern pieces.  Their playing was so much like a conversation.  They were later joined by the strings. I'm glad we got tickets.  It was the first time I ever sat close enough to be able to see broken bow strings flapping in the breezes.  I wonder how many strings a bow has.  Another question for you music people -are there left handed string instruments, do lefties just accomodate  as they do to the rest of the right handed world, not that I'm complaining or anything, or do we  have to play something else?  I've always wondered about that.

 I was impressed that the women of the group were all dressed in long black skirts and black velvet tops.  Sometimes in the US we have been to performances where the some of the women looked like they had just run in from the gym while the men wore dinner jackets.  Even those who had made an effert to dress nicely were distracting because there was so much variety in the clothes they chose.   Here, the whole group looked professional, although I don't know where they got so many matching Nehru style suits.  I don't know, though, they may be in style for evening wear.  I haven't seen the Oscars for several years.  In any case, because of the uniformity of dress, I could glance at them once and forget about it.  Of course, I really didn't forget about it, or I wouldn't be beating the dead horse for you tonight.

No teaching for me tomorrow.   I have been preempted by the Del and John  show.  Daiva has plans for me to make the session up, but I think that is not going to be happening. I'll just have to let her dock my pay.

Day 91 &92 Home again, Home Again...

Yesterday was travel day.  The shuttle picked us up at 9:15 to go to the airport and after only an hour and 40 minutes flight, we were back in Vilnius.  We took a train right from the airport to the train station.  While on the train, we met a young couple, the man from Israel and the woman from Lithuania, both of them students, and another young woman who was traveling home after a volley ball tournament.  we had seen the team flying to Prague and again on the flight back, but she was the only one on the train.  She is a tenth grader who has hopes of studying in the US on a volley ball scholarship.  We had a couple of hours before our train left, and we walked into our flat at 10:30.

I was too pooped to do more than brush my teeth, but it was well worth it.   One thing we did not get to see was the annual Easter Monday symbolic beating of the wives.  They even sell fancy braided switches with ribbons on the end for the job.  I'm not sure how they measure up to the "rule of thumb."  Needless to say, we did not buy one of those, but I did take a picture.  Our guide saw the looks on the faces of the North American women while she was telling this lovely tradition and hastened to assure us that there was a good purpose behind it because the belief is that being hit on the bottom prevents drunkenness.  If that is true, they should put one of those sticks beside the door of every bar in the world, or in every car.  Perhaps it only works on women, however. Somehow, I just could not see myself wanting to pass down that tradition, but that's not my business.

This morning, we did housekeeping duties in preparation for Del's fellow Fulbrighter, John Lubans.  He arrived from Riga this afternoon and is staying in the owner's flat.  Unfortunately, his wife Cheryl is back in the states until May, so she is not with us.  We had a nice walk around Old Town and a pleasant dinner.  John was born in Latvia but escaped with his mother and two brothers when he was 2 years old.  They were in a refugee camp for 2 years and eventually were reunited with his father.   I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for his parents to make the decisions they had to make and then the hardship of carrying them out.  He has had the opportunity to reunite with family, and they are planning a big birthday bash for him in June.

Tomorrow, Del and John are going to visit the Spit, and I am going to offer my services as baby sitter for Levi.  They are leaving on Thurs., so I know they have lots to do. 

Day 90 Easter Market

Today we walked across the Charles Bridge with hundreds of our closest friends - at least in proximity- where we all enjoyed the Easter Market.  There were many stalls with local goods, especially blown, carved and painted eggs.  They were beautiful, but I figured I would never get back to Georgia with them.  There were also food vendors selling the most delicious sausages - I tried Del's - and Prague ham and a tiny potato dumpling, cabbage and ham dish that are supposed to be eaten together.  I decided to try the ham combo. It was good, but too huge for me to finish even with help from Del.  It was also the most expensive meal we have had here because they would not sell a smaller portion.  When I went to put it into the trash, two older men who were sitting there tried to tell me something, but I didn't understand.  When they picked my plate with left over dumplings, ham and fat and bread out of the trash and began to eat it, I understood.  I was about ready to cry, but they were smiling and appeared quite happy that I had placed the plate so that the food was not lost.

I also went to a well known establishment which will remain nameless to avoid spoiling Christmas surprises, where I bought something from a young man originally from Dallas who moved to Prague after finishing the Art Institute in Chicago.  He said he loves it here.

The highlight of the day was visiting a Mucha exhibit.  He was a famous illustrator for magazines, posters, books, ads and did a poster of Sarah Bernhardt.  He died in 1939 shortly after being interrogated by the Gestapo.  I recognized his work, but did not remember his name.

I should confess that I am one of those Americans I never could understand.  Why would anyone ever stop at McDonalds when there is so much wonderful food from the country one is visiting?  Other than once per country to get Del's happy meal toy, of course.  That was before I discovered that in Prague, you can reward yourself with a large, yes, a large coke with ice, that has just the proper ratio of syrup to fizz - heavy on the fizz- after walking around the city for hours.  It is just after you get off the Charles Bridge and before you get to our hotel.  I feel a little embarrassed to walk into the hotel each afternoon with a coke in my hand, but not so embarrassed that I stop doing it.  Fortunately, the water is okay to drink here, so we don't avoid the ice.

A blessed Easter to you all.  We head out tomorrow at 9 to get to the airport and will train home from Vilnius.  On Monday our friend John, who is in Riga will come for several days for a conference.  It will be good to see him.  His wife is home for a few weeks, but we hope to see them again in May.

Please forgive the punctuation.  I just can't seem to make myself worry about it in my old age.

We knew that our friend Ed is having a special birthday, but had forgotten that it is this weekend.  A finer, kinder, more genuine man you will never meet.  Actually, you can say that about the whole family.

Days 88 & 89 You Have to Put This City on Your List!

Yesterday was a full day of sight seeing.  We started out at 10:30 and got home  close to 9.  The tour was a six hour one with walking and lunch and a 1 hour boat ride.  There were 10 of us in the group and it worked quite well. There are so many beautiful buildings - the palace, the cathederal, churches, synagogues and more.  I don't know how to tell you.  When we get the picture situation straightened out, I'll post them.  I think that after a while it begins to feel as though you are in a movie.  Apparently, Prague has served as Europe for many movies, most of which I haven't seen.

The tour ended at the site of the astronomical clock.  The original part of the clock was installed in 1420 and it has been made more complicated over the centuries.  It has been under repair for some time but was finished yesterday, so we got to see it.  We stayed after the tour until the hour so we could see it put on its 20 second show with saints moving about and a skeleton marking the time, etc.  It was such fun to see.  It is the only one of the clocks still working.  Then we grabbed some dinner and walked back to the hotel to collapse.

Today Del went back out to see more of the city, and I stayed back to recover from yesterday.  I just did not have what it took today.  We had an early dinner and then went to the marionette version of Don Giovanni.  It was fun.  We sat in front for the first act and got to see the hands doing the work.  It was my favorite part.  It was so crowded there and so hot that we moved further back for the second act.  it was so much cooler, but I missed seeing the business part of the show.

Tomorrow we will have to decide what we want to see more of.
Good night all.  Sightseeing and blogging just don't go together well for this old gal.

Day 87 Safe and Sound in Prague

We have only been here a few hours, but we already know that this is an amazing city.  Everyone we know who has been here raves aabout it, and we can see why.  We got our first real view of the city from the hill where the monastery we were supposed to stay at is located.  Turns out they have some sort of problem, probably plumbing, and sent us down the hill in a prepaid taxi to a beautiful hotel that translates to the three swans.  It has more stars than the other hotel, and is quite convenient.  The only reason we had chosen the other hotel was because it seemed fun to stay in an old monastery, so we really did not mind.  It was nearly 7 when we got settled in, so we walked around the square and got some dinner.  By the time we got in it was after 9 Prague time, which is an hour earlier than Lithuanian time, and I was ready to relax.  Tomorrow is going to be a full day.

My computer does not seem to like Prague, even though we have free wireless service in our room, so I am using Del's.  I have to put Picasa on it before I can download any pictures, so  you will get a double or triple dose tomorrow.

Nuight all! 

Day 86 Work Day for Del/Lazy Day for Me

Del went out early for breakfast so he could be ready for a car to arrive to take him  the half mile to the library for his conference.  I stayed in bed and enjoyed better life through chemicals.  It was great to sleep all through the night.  He brought me a cup of coffee when he came back, which put him way at the top of my list.  I ate a pear so I could take my morning pill and eventually went out around 11 for more coffee and a roll.  The picture of a cup on top of a cup was to show a different way of serving white coffee that I thought  was picture worthy.

  I took another little nap and then  walked down to the library to meet him and the group that was going to a late lunch/early dinner.  It was really pleasant, but I felt sorry for the interpreter because she had trouble getting a bite in between words.  At least she was getting paid.  She had interpreted the meeting and I think came to the meal to interpret for the woman who is president of the school library association.  She actually understood  quite a bit of English and occasionally spoke it, but seemed more comfortable with translation.  One thing she did was ask me, in English, about the education of autistic children in the US.  That is a big topic here, as everywhere, I guess.

We insisted on walking back to the hotel, and I had another nap until after 7.  We were not hungry, but I needed to eat something for the pill, so we went down to the Belgian restaurant attached to the hotel.  I do wish I had been hungry because they had mussels/mussles everything, and I do love them.  I decided that bruschetta and ice cream would do the job.  Our server was a cute young guy and when I asked which of the two ice cream dishes he preferred he lit up with the biggest grin and suggested the one I ordered.  Del ordered ice cream with Belgian waffle cookie, which was really a waffle waffle.  When my dessert arrived, we both nearly cried laughing.  The waiter laughed as well and said "Belgian joke."  My guess is that they just love for someone to order that dish.  Fortunately,  I was able to run upstairs to get the camera, because this just needed its picture taken.  Did you note the spoon?  I needed that monster to get to the 3  scoops of ice cream and all the lovely fruit.  Our friend Miss Annetta would have loved it, except she might have thought all that fruit was wasted ice cream space.  I have known her to eat 5 scoops, tiny little thing that she is.

Tomorrow afternoon we head for Prague.  We have heard so many wonderful things about it that we can't wait.  Dianne and Walter have given us lots of suggestions, too.

Don't you love the Italian restaurant salon?  It just tickled me.

I almost forgot the highlight of Del's day.  He stopped in mid sentence with one of the Lithuanian librarians to say "Look at that!"  I said "You mean that little red car?"  He looked at me as though I was nuts and said"That's no little red car.  That's a Lambergini."  I don't know how you spell it, but it still looked like a little red car to me. 
I sent you all an Easter card on Facebook.  I love that company.  Thanks, Jim for the introduction.

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Day 85 The Good News-The Dr. Didn't Weigh Me/The Bad News-I Went to the Dr.

Staying off my neck did not have the desired effect, and after staying awake all night mostly sitting in a chair, I gave up and admitted that this was not going to get better on it's own,  During the night, Del emailed Rasa, at the embassy, who looks after all the Fulbrighters, asking for advice.  She returned the email as soon as she got to the office this morning, and at 10:00 I had an appointment with an English speaking neurologist at a private clinic.  We went rushing out without breakfast to catch the cab to get to the clinic in time.  It was amazing.  Everyone treated me so kindly.  The doctor's nurse escorted me to every station.  The doctor, herself, was about 55 and had excellent English.  She was also very thorough, pricking me all over my hands, arms, etc. with one of those neurologist pins, rotating my joints, probing my neck.  She said she thought I had cervical radiculitis which sounds something  like siatica of the neck, but suggested x-rays.  (Del's diagnosis was sciatica, by the way.  I reminded him that that nerve is not in the neck.  I had diagnosed Iki-itis secondary to toting heavy bags from the Iki.)  After the xrays were done, she prescribed naproxin to cut down on the inflamation and pain and some sort of gel to rub on.  I also need to get a special pillow and to turn Del into a  beast of burden.  No more toting and carrying for me.  She also took my blood pressure and gently alluded to the fact that weight loss often helps decrease blood pressure, but there was no scale involved.  I still haven't gotten over the time I got something in my eye and they weighed me at the Akron Gen.emergency room before doing what needed to be done to be sure I would be able to see.

Anyone care to guess what a visit with a neurologist and xrays cost?  $105 US.  Insurance will cover it, but can you believe it?  $105 US.  No wonder US citizens go abroad for procedures.  Maybe I should get a few double chins taken off before I come home.

There was a Vaistine (pharmacy) in the same building, so Del walked next door to a coffee shop and ordered coffee for us while I got my medicine.  It was aabout 12, and this was our first coffee of the day.   We asked the server if she would call a taxi for us, and she did.  We went outside to wait in the beautiful fresh air, and when the right taxi drove up, she came running out of the shop to tell us it was there.  People really nice.

We taxied back to the hotel and then walked down to the Italian restaurant in a beauty salon.  Vilnius in Your Pocket recommended it, and who could resist eating good Italian food in such a venue.  We walked into a quite fancy salon and turned right to enter a tiny restaurant with about six tables for 2 or 4.  The person in charge explaned that they plan the menu each day based on what looks good at the market and order  meats and cheeses from Italy each week.  You did get a whiff of hair products from time to time and a couple of women in salon capes came in to order coffee, but it was a charming place, and the food was delicious. 

Del and I each chose a pear and gargonzola salad and a small plate of pasta with shrimp and pesto.   The salad was beautifully composed on the salad plate.  The pear strips were perfectly ripe and the gargonzola cheese was so ripe it was almost like thick cream.  It was dressed with a trickle of balsamic vinegar and basil oil.  The pasta was fresh pasta with large and small shrimp and tiny slivers of zuchinni  with oil.  The pesto came in little cream pitchers.  The pasta could have been eaten without it, but was even better with.  The only alarming part of the meal was that we had each eaten a piece of bread with our salads and saved the other slices for our pasta course.  When the young woman brought the pasta, she removed the bread before we realized it, but she kindly brought it back when I asked.  Del was just sitting there looking pitiful.

We walked around a bit, but my pill had not kicked in and I needed to get home.  I did not begin to fade until after we had seen the last of the market vendors, however.  Perhaps it was physical, perhaps all in my head.  We didn't buy anything.  It seemed disloyal to my market friends in Klaipeda.  I won't feel the same in Prague, I'm sure.

 Once the pill took effect , I was able to lie down and had a 2 1/2 hour nap.  Around 7:00 Del walked down to the Iki to get bread and cheese and grapes for a picnic because I had to have food for my pill and neither of us was really hungry after our lovely late lunch.

We took a few pictures today, but I will download them tomorrow while Del is off giving his speech.  I'm going to stay here and only meet them for dinner.  I may walk around a bit, it just depends.  Sure is fun to take me off for the week end.

Day 84 Lazy Day For Me/Sightseeing for Del

We slept until nearly 9 and then went out for breakfast.  The only thing we don't like about this hotel is there is no coffee available in the morning.  Otherwise it is great.  The concierge recommended a good place around the corner, and we headed out into the beautiful day.  The first pictures you will see are of people buying greens to take to church for Palm Sunday.  I suppose in place of palm fronds.  You will also notice that getting into and out of church was not easy.  I wonder if it looks like this every Sunday. 

We walked a little and came back to the room where the rest my eyes for a few minutes turned into a major nap.  When I woke up at 2:30, Del went out to see the town, and take most of these pictures, and I stayed home.to relax.  I don't know why I felt so tired.  He got back about 5:30 and we headed out for a walk and to dinner at a tapas bar and restaurant.  We had not eaten lunch, so we were glad to eat early.  We shared a cheese tapas and a bruchetta type tapas  or is it a tapa?  Then I had a bowl of seafood soup and Del had paella, followed by ice cream with toasted hazelnuts.  It was even better than Tex-Mex.  The waiter asked hoow we knew some Lithuanian.  Clearly, it doesn't take much to impress him.  Heasked where we were from and when we said the US, he said that explained why we were easy to understand.  He has a hard time understanding the British.  Don't we all? 

After dinner we walked around the city for a good while.  Del was covering territory he had seen this afternoon, but he didn't seem to mind.  The churches are beautiful, and there is a huge synagogue.  We walked past several embassies, as well. 

We were taking a picture of people sitting at an outdoor cafe, wrapped in shawls provided by the establishment, when a group of young people in costume, jumped in front of the picture and began to pose.  I asked if they were actors and, of course, they were.  We laughed and waved and they walked on down the street.  A second later, the guy in the motorcycle suit and mask  got up from a table and came over and started to talk.  He wanted his picture taken.  One of the group he was with knows someone in Jersey City, and they knew Atlanta.  I don't know what was going on, but they were having a great time. Someone said something about footballers and being in Japan, but I didn't understand.  Who knows, maybe they were famous athletes.  They looked like they could have been.  We saw him go by on his bike as we were going into our hotel later on.  He had on a helmet rather than the mask.  Maybe they were poking fun at the Americans and their cameras, but it was still fun.

Tomorrow I am going to be up bright and early and ready to do the town!
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Day 83 Off to Vilnius and Tex-Mex

We took the train to Vilnius this morning.  It really is quite comfortable, except for the fact that the seat backs are proportioned for people with longer trunks than ours.  A little blow up pillow takes care of that with no problem.
We were seated in front of a boy about 9 or 10 and his grandmother.  He was so cute, talked the whole way there (almost 5 hrs).  I understood a word everynow nd then, but I certainly would have loved to be able to understand the whole conversation.  He wasn't loud or anything, just happy and talkative.

Vilnius in your pocket mentioned an authentic Tex-Mex restaurant, so we took out walking to take care of my craving.  It was a little more than a mile, which isn't a problem, but the slight rain that started shortly after we started, made the walk less fun than it might have been.  Del had enchiladas and I had fajitas and we each had 2 mojitos.  The food was delicious, and quite reasonable.  The same could not be said of the mojitos.  64 litas of a 117 lita meal was for 4 mojitos.  Ask me if I care.  Remember, though, that 100 litas is about $40 US., so it was still a pretty good deal.  The area we walked through was beautiful, perhaps we should examine it more thoroughly tomorrow at lunch time.

It sounds as though the storms have really been bad at home.  I saw on Facebook that a tree fell on Rosa's tree house, swing and slide.  Fortunately it went that way and not onto the real house.  It could have been tragic during the night.  They were blessed.

We will take lots of pictures tomorrow as we ramble, and I brought the gadget to transfer them to the computer this time.
Have a great rest of the week end.

When we get to Prague, we start spending Euros, and the story will be quite different.  The exchange is not so favorable.

Day 82 Nobody Threw Anything!

Things went pretty well today, I think.  I only stepped on the interpreter's tongue twice,  and I mostly managed to keep the slides where they were supposed to be.  I'm not sure the things I had to say were relevant to most of the group because the involved children go to school in a segregated  setting rather than being included in neighborhood schools.

I think teaching English has been help;ful to me, because I felt rather calm about the talk.  Del said that the important, but unstated, truth is that I was calm by my previous standard, which means I was not in a panic.  Good thing, too.  They picked me up at 10:30 for an 11:15 talk.  I thought that would give me lots of time to set up and unpack my limited dog and pony show.  Unfortunately, that is not the way things are done here.  We went upstairs for lovely tea and waffke like cake and went down to the meeting room 5 minutes in advance.  Fortunately, I was able to use their computer with my thumb drive and I only had a few books, hastily made materials, gold fish crackers and 4 jars of bubbles to unpack.  At the end of the session, I drew numbers to give away the children's books and the bubbles.  I figured SLPs love free stuff whereever they live, and they do.

After the drawing, they presented me with lovely parting gifts - 13 beautiful tulips, because an even number is only for funerals, two books about Lithuania and Klaipeda, chocolates and 8 little bottles of various types of mead ranging in alcohol from 12-50 percent.  We will be sharing that with Mark and Sandy when they arrive.  I don't know whether to work our way up or down the potency scale.  Based on the little I can read, it is made with midus, or honey.  Do I recall that mead  is always  made with honey?

After that, the administrator/interpreter, a school psychologist and two slps went up for coffee and more special cake.  We talked more about autism and parent training.  They are very interested in learning more about the Hanen program.

Tonight we went to a neighborhood restaurant we had not been to before.  It spoke of being a steak house, and did serve steak, but a large portion of the menu was Greek.  What a treat to have something different.

Del had salmon, and I had a bowl of mussels in wine.  Neither of us had had lunch, so we had dessert.  I wish I had had the camera, even though Jane Snow said last week that she disapproves of taking pictures of food in restaurants.  I see the point, but sometimes I can't resist.  Del had apple cake with vanilla sauce.  It's not what you think,  The plate had a baked apple with top cut back so that a apple cupcake cut sit inside. It wasn't frosted, so you pour the vanilla sauce on top of the whole thing.  I ordered pistacio ice cream, because it's hard to get ice cream here instead of gelato.  It was served in a edible light green spun sugar bowl.  It was so pretty, but I didn't eat it.  I'm not fond of that sort of thing, but the ice cream was delicious.

Tomorrow we head for Vilnius and on Wed. to Prague.  And now to sleep!  Happy tax day!

Day 81 I Can Power Point!

Spent the day putting stuff on Powerpoint and reviewing.  I guess I am about up with first and second graders.  Del added some graphics.  That was beyond me.

I have a few things in my bag for demonstration purposes. Hey, I teach English to adults, I can do this.  As long as I don't forget to advance the slides.

Day 80 Be Careful What You Wish For.

Shortly after we came here, I asked Daiva if it would be possible for me to visit a preschool or school so I could learn about how  things are done here.  I didn't hear anything until 2-3 weeks ago when she said that the logopedists wanted me to come to their meeting and talk with them about services in the US, especially with autistic children.  I thought that would be fun, sort of casual, etc. and have been working on what I would talk about, etc.  Then today while I was out at school, at the mall and having my hair cut and dyed, I got an email asking what equipment I wanted for Friday and saying that 60 people have registered.  Less than 200,000 people live here.  How many speech therapists do they have in preschools?  Del called me to ask me if I wanted him to email them back and what to say.  Tomorrow morning, I guess he will teach me to power point, and tonight I have been expanding my remarks.  I only wanted to see the cute little children, you know?  I'm guessing they believe the anyone who comes 50 miles to talk is an expert myth.  Or they need continuing education credit for the year.

By the way, I am very much afraid that I am going to come home a platinum blonde.  It keeps getting shorter and blonder.  Oh, well, what to do, what to do, as Daiva says.

Day 79 No More Lithuanian Class Until April 29

I spent the morning working on the things I'm going to say when I meet with the local SLP group on Friday.  They call themselves logopedists instead of SLPs but it's the same thing.  I'm not planning any formal presentation, just a discussion of what we have done in the settings where I have worked and what they do here.  They are particularly interested in Autism, as we all are.

Fortunately, I had prepared too much for the English classes last week, so I didn't have to do anything else for tomorrow.  We'll have a couple of weeks off from class because of break and Del's conference.  The really big news is no Lithuanian class until the end of the month. Woo hoo!  Today we learened some history, some adjectives and some compliments.  With our little cheat sheets, Del and I can tell you you are smart, elegant, strong, sexy, feminine, masculine, handsome, beautiful, happy, romantic, interesting, special, cute, energetic, hard working, cheerful, happy, good hearted and wonderful.  There are a few others, but you more than get the point.

The history part was interesting, especially since we were not expected to understand or speak in a language not our own, and because the only thing I had known before coming here is that Lithuania grows basketball players.

Day 78 A Visit With My Market Friends

Today has been chilly and rainy all day, but we were out of meat and ibuprophen for my achy neck, so the delicate flower  hauled out the umbrella and took off to the market.  My first stop was at the stall of my teacher friend to ask her where I might buy small wire cutters and wire for beading.  She left her stall and walked me down the street to a small hardware store, in the rain.  I didn't find what I was looking for, but what a sweet heart.

My next stop was inside the market to buy chicken breast, some pork and some bacon.  When I went to the bacon counter the man began to wave his arms on either side of his head and saying the Lithuanian word for six, because the last couple of times I was there I bought six slices.  While he cut them, all the time shaking his head and saying six, I noticed that he had sause in the other counter.  I asked for a slice and told him my mama made it.  He looked quite surprised and said "Mama?"  I asked him the name of it and  he told me.  I tried to say it after him, and then told him that in the US it is called sause.  He laughed, threw up his arms and yelled "I love you!"  The meat aisle got a good laugh out of it.  I guess I'm growing on him.

Del reminded me that when we lived in Lexington, Virginia back in the 70's I always used to look at some of the old gals there and say I wanted to grow up to be a character, but feared I didn't have what it took.  In Lithuania, I think I may have some character potential, or maybe they just think I'm a crazy American.

The highlight of my day was discovering the fresh vegetable vendors have arrived.  I bought a whole tote full of things - lettuce, radishes, parsley, spring onions and something that tastes like a mild turnip but is all white and elongated rather than round like a turnip.  I know it isn't a parsnip.  One lady was selling little bunches of a leaf I didn't recognize.  I asked what, in Lithuanian and handed her my dictionary, but she demonstrated no glasses and finally pulled off a leaf and insisted I taste.  It was the strongest garlic flavor I ever tasted, but there was nothing that looked like the beginning of a tiny bulb at the root end.  I wonder how it would taste in a stir fry?  I'll try it tomorrow.   The last thing I bought was a branch with tiny green leaves that seems very important here.  You see it for sale everywhere, and people walking down the street frequently have a branch sticking out of their totes.  Maybe they are just glad to see anything green after winter.

By the way, have I confessed that Del and I have become little old people that people stand up and offer seats for in the bus?  Even really old people do that for Del because of his cane, but at least it's only young people in my case.  I still think of us as people who should stand up for old people, and we still do, but these days they are pushing 90.  And when we were having lunch yesterday, Brook, a sweet girl, said so ernestly, that she and Darius have been so impressed with the way we have not let the weather stand in our way and are always out and about no matter what.  I told her that we had lived through, though with much moaning and complaining on my part, 18-19 Ohio winters, so we could handle anything.  She said that it was different when you have a car.  To be honest, I would have to admit that I do go out in weather I would not have gone out in at home without a car being involved.  If we were out of meat, I would made Del walk or done without.    There is always a cheese sandwich or peanut butter. 

Day 77 Busy Sunday

This is the last Sunday we'll be at church before some of our LCC friends leave for home, so we wanted to do something to thank them for their kindnesses to us.  We got a couple of kinds of cookies at the bakery and I made some finger foods and salsa to go with them for the after church time. That meant I spent the morning in the kitchen with frozen puff pastry.  They don't have frozen pie crust here or crisco  to make it from scratch, but puff pastry is good stuff.  I don't think they have filo dough in the stores, either.  

Then we went upstairs to have lunch with Levi and his parents.  They will be leaving soon for the summer.  He will get to see his Pittsburg grandparents when they aren't in a skype box.  We had a late lunch, because Darius is from Poland and went to the consulate to participate in a ceremony for the first year anniversary of the tragic deaths of so many Polish government officials.  The pilot was someone he knew, so it particularly sad for him.  We left just in time to pack our tote bags with goodies and head for church.

I felt a little guilty, because we had to leave the after church coffee time after only 15 minutes to go to the ballet, so other people had to clean up.  They had agreed ahead of time, but still.

We hurried down stairs to meet Audrone who met us in a taxi to get to the concert hall on time.  The dance was quite unusual - more like modern dance and somewhat funny.  The male dancers were not actually dancers.  They were well known Lithuanian actors from movies, and theater-actors who dance, I think they say in the US.  Del said he thought the choreographer did the dance on a day when she was not feeling too good about men, based on the humor that related to them being hit in delicate spots.  It was sort of a more elegant slap stick sort of thing.  Not at all like the first production we saw, except for inventive use of stools in place of the chairs she used last time.  We enjoyed it, though.

The stage was sparsely set.  Black curtains with a back drop of square white pillows - 19 across, 7 down - fastened together by the four corners so that there was an oval space between each pair.  Occasionally they back lit with red or white lights that shone through the ovals.

We got home and skyped with the kids.  Enzo and Stacy went back home yesterday.  I know Sally and LeRoy are feeling pretty sad today.  There were so many darling pictures of Enzo on FB, some with his cousin Rosa.  He seems like such a happy baby.  I'll bet he is a tired little fellow after his trip,

Day 76 We Live Across From a Wedding Picture Venue

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Today's pictures are an assortment.  A few were of the train.  I want to get a better picture of the conductors or car sttendents.  The uniforms remind me of pictures I've seen of flight attendents when they were still called stewardesses and dressed well.  There is also a picture of the Magical Mouse.  He is only 17 cm high and has an inscription that says "Transform your thoughts into words and words will turn into miracles."  If you whisper your wishes into the mouse's ear, they will come true.  I love the statues dotted around, just waiting for you to stumble upon them.  Or you can go to the tourist bureau  as I did and get a map and description.  We still mostly stumble across them, because I'm not good about remembering to take the little map.  There are 23 listed on the map, and we've seen quite a few of them.

During our walk, we got to observe a Klaipedian, if that's a word, wedding tradition.  We had been told that couples like to have pictures made on the bridge and at certain monuments, but we had not realized that they make a circuit around Old Town having their pictures made.  We saw 4 brides in about an hour.  I expect we will see even more as wedding season arrives with warm weather.

We also discovered today that the monument across the street from us is a popular picture venue.  I was familiar with the definition of the word "venue", of course, but until niece Sarah began planning her
October wedding, I never heard the word all that much.  Now I have learned that with weddings, it's this venue, that venue and the other venue - for the wedding, the reception, etc.  A wedding party and their professional photographer were outside doing pictures when we came home from our walk and shopping.  Apparently, part of the tradition has something to do with members of the party having a rather subdued pillow fight - wouldn't want to mess up hair, I guess.  I took some pictures from the window.  Nosy Americans!  Unfortunately, the wedding party blocked my view most of the time.

I'll check into that pillow fight deal and get back to you.

Tonight was taco salad night.  Nothing else sounded appealing, somehow, and now that I've found salsa ingredients, it's a snap.

Day 75 Dog Socks for Del's Dogs

Our Lithuanian class was cancelled today, so we stopped by the open air market on our way to the bus stop to the Hyper Maxima.  My former teacher buddy stopped me to scold me about not being properly dressed for the weather.  I introduced Del and she started to scold him too.  She was particularly upset about my Tevas.  I assured her my feet were fine and pointed out my hand knit wool socks.  We happened to be standing in front of the stall where I had bought the socks, and the two ladies started to talk about us and shake their heads.  I managed to get a word and a gesture in edgewise to explain that we wanted to buy Del some of her dog hair socks.  20 Lita later we were off, and Del is the owner of at least part of a dog.

Since the Acropolis and the Hyper Maxima are right there, we decided that the nearby McDonalds was calling our names.  Del had not been to get his Lithuanian Happy Meal Toy, and a hamburger was starting to sound pretty good.  Actually, it was the hope that they would have yellow mustard on them that appealed to me.  I've made hamburgers a couple of times, but they are not the same with the mustard we have found here.  French mustard and French's mustard are such very different things.  In any case, we bought our Happy Meals and were talking away about that, when the man at the table next to us with his son asked if we were traveling the world to collect the toys.  He had been talking to his 6 year old son in what we learned was Danish, so we did not realize he was understanding our conversation.  Anyhow, we got to talking about his life and ours, and I commented that I was sorry that the EU meant we only got a stamp in in our passports the first place we set down in, even if we never left that airport.  He explained that I could go to passport control in any country and tell them that I would like to have my passport stamped for a souvenier and they would gladly stamp it.  Who knew?  Who also knows if I will ever go to that trouble, but it is nice to know that I could.

The hamburgers did have yellow mustard and the french fries were hot and crispy.  Ketchup costs a lita a packet, by the way.  Maybe we will go there again before we leave.  Chick-fil-A should not worry, however.  It will always be my fast food of choice.  They don't have those here.

Then we were off to the mall for Del to get a haircut and to do our shopping at Hyper Maxima.  It was a Red Letter Day in the grocery department.  I found tortilla chips flavored only with salt and Lays potato chips flavored only with salt.  How hard could that be, you ask.  Very.  Del also restocked on chunky peanut butter, and I found pecans.  I had asked people about them, but no one knew what I was talking about, even when I showed them the Lithuanian word.  I'll make something and take them to class next time.

Dinner for me tonight was potato chips.  Del had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips.   I wish I were ashamed.  We did have fresh strawberries for dessert.  I don't know where they were grown, but we probably don't  want to talk about how much we paid for them.  Thankfully, they were delicious.  It would have been a shame if they had not been sweet.

Day 74 Met the Jewelry Master

I am assuming I'm starting to get arthritis in my knuckles.  One will get achy and swell for a few days and then it will go back to normal and another will take a turn.   This week my ring finger was the offending finger and soon my rings were stuck on so tight it was beginning to worry me.  I'm not sure if my finger was really starting to hurt or if it was all in my head, but I began to have visions of the finger getting gangrene or something in the middle of the night.  This morning I went into the fancy jewelry store around the corner where they sell Cartier and other fancy stuff and asked for help.  The young woman in the shop directed me to the jewelry master down at the traffic circle.  I went into the building and entered a large room where there were several small windows.  A person sat behind each window.  I stopped at the first window and gestured to my finger, my rings and made a cutting gesture.  The man pointed me to another window.  I told my story again and the woman asked me to wait a few minutes.  Soon , she beckoned to me and when I walked up, she pointed to a door over in the corner of the room.  As I walked over, I heard a key turn, and a man let me in.  He led me back  past several work benches to his own bench, took my hand and began to  examine my finger.  He looked at it from every angle, tried to push the rings up and down and press on my finger to see how much room was available and looked at all his various clippers.  He tried several, but was unable to get them between my finger and the ring.  I began to get a little nervous when he picked up a small hack saw, but figured it had to be done.  He managed to work a thin strip of flexible metal between my finger and the rings and used a small plier to pull it up as far as he could.  Then he went to work.  He cut through it in just a short time.  I was relieved, because I had also noticed something that looked like a dremel, and I had been afraid that would be his next step.  After he got the first ring cut off, he played with the other two and gestured that I should try to get them off.  Ever the lady, I waited until he turned his head, spit delicately on  my finger and was able to get the engagement and wedding band off, so only the anniversary band with the little diamonds had to be cut off.  I asked how much I owed him and he said "ne" which means "no" but I insisted he take 10 lita.  It was worth more than $4 US to get my finger out of that ring without a trip to the emergency room.  I asked if he could repair it, but he indicated through gestrues and words that I should come back in 2 or 3 days because my finger was too swollen.  People really are nice.  He had to know I would have paid just about anything to get that ring off.

I spent the rest of the day washing and rewashing a load of clothes.  I had washed one single sour dish towel all by itself and noticed that it still smelled, but did not realize that the washer also smelled.  When I took out the load of clothes, they also smelled.  I rewashed them with baking soda.  Then I rewashed them with red wine vinegar, which was all I had.   Next I combined the vinegar and baking soda, which Del thought would neutralize each other. Then I walked over to the little Iki and bought a bottle of white vinegar and ran an empty wash.    After that, I ran the load again with the other half of the large bottle of vinegar.  I still think they have a slight smell, but I put them on a drying rack to see how they seem in the morning.  I hope I didn't wash holes in them.  We have half our stay left to go.
I'm not sure how I feel about front loader washers.  For one thing, I can't open it to put the item I found on the floor 1 second after I started the machine.  It also seems to only hold a quart or so of water.  I'm used to seeing clothes really drowning in water, so I can't see how they get really clean.  I guess you can't teach an old dog new laundry tricks.

Love to hear how you guys are doing, and what you've been up to,

Day 73 Rainy Day

Today has been a rainy day.  I took a cab to school as usual on Wed., even though it's not dark at 7 A.M. anymore.  I get up at 5 anyway, and decided I did not want to get up even earlier to take the bus when I can go by cab for around 4 dollars, but came home by bus even though it was raining pretty hard because my friend Audrone was bussing it.  She gets off one stop before me.  I was pretty wet by the time I got home, but it wasn't particularly cold, so it didn't matter.

We spent 3/4 of each class today on the various past tenses.  The negative past of irregular verbs is particularly hard.  I think everyone feels so relieved to have learned irregular past that it is hard to comprehend that we English speakers really want them to say "I did not think" instead of "I did not thought."  Since I either never knew or have forgotten the reasoning behind the grammar rules I am teaching, I just say "Those crazy Americans, what were they thinking?"   Since that is mostly just remembering the pattern, we went on to an activity where they decided whether a sentence was correct or incorrect and how to correct it if necesary.  It was a review of previous lessons, so it was pretty hard for all of us.  When I had had all I could take, we moved on to vocabulary games.  We all enjoy them.

After the second class, I had tea with Daiva and Audrone.  Audrone asked me straight out if anything I saw on Sunday made me think her son is autistic.  I told her the definition of autism and asked her what she thought?   She said her sister -in - law is concerned.  I think he probably has some sensory issues, but don't so many of us.  I think she is going to make an appointment with a logopedist or a specialist in autism.  That should relieve her mind.

We went to dinner at the jazz club tonight.  It was quite good and very pretty.  We wanted to try it  before going on the week end for jazz.  It was kind of funny.  I think they may have been training a new bartender.  One young woman was making drinks and the servers were over at the far end of the bar sampling them.  I had had wine with dinner, but did ask if they make mojitos, just for future reference, you understand.  They do, they do!

Day 72 I Got Nothing.

We are a couple of Sad Sacks around here today.  Del feels yucky, and I'm still nursing my neck. We both worked all morning, and I went to Lithuanian class.  He didn't have what it took, so stayed home.  My achy neck and I got all the way to the bus stop before I realized that I left the homework I spent hours on on the table.  I rushed back home, got it and still got to class on time.  That probably means I left home too early, but it saved my bacon.  We read menus and presented recipes.  It was sort of fun to see that I do maybe recognize more than I thought.  Then home by way of Iki for milk and water.

 It was a nice warm day,  and an older Lithuanian lady sat down beside e on the bus and started to talk to me.  I explained that I didn't understand, but she kept talking.  A young woman sitting across from me asked if I was at LCC, and we had a little conversation - in English.

Other than that, I got nothing.  Can't think of a single thing that might even remotely be of interest to me, much less to you guys.  But, tomorrow is another day.  Who knows what might happen?

Day 71 Break out the Tevas Day - Yea!

For some reason, my neck, which has bothered me from time to time for 30 years, took a notion to come on full force last night.  I didn't sleep much, so I headed to the neighborhood pharmacy, notes in hand to find some Icy Hot or something like that.  The lady was most helpful, assuring me the whole time that she was sorry she did not speak English.  I got what she recommended, but I haven't noticed much difference yet.

The good part of the story, however, is that since it was nice and springy and dry outside I abandoned my boots and broke out my Teva Dozers.  I don't know why they named them that, but I love those ugly covered toed hiking sandals.  Anita and I got them for walking in Italy and Greece several years ago, and they are wonderful for little old lady feet.  It is still chilly for having bare feet sticking out the open parts of the shoes, so I put on my hand knit wool socks and off I went.  I had a pain in my neck, but I had happy feet.  My boots are really comfortable, but I am so tired of winter footwear.  Mrs. K, a teacher at Overdale always started wearing sandals way too early as far as I was concerned, but I do see where she was coming from.  Fortunately I went when I did, because clear turned to rain by mid-afternoon.

I've decided that Del and I almost make one brain.  He said this morning that I should dampen a towel and microwave it for my neck.  I immediately went to the cupboards for a bag of brown rice and to the dresser for a white cotton sock.  Somehow I only got here with one to wear with my tennis shoes, but I'm glad inertia kept me from throwing it away.  I filled it, tied a knot in it and stuck it in the microwave.  Bliss!

The sight of the knotted sock reminded me of a story involving my nephew, Willard Montellous Robinson III, or Monte.  I would have to do the math, but I think I was 12 or 13 when he was born.  He stayed with us quite a bit when he was a year or so old because his mom's daddy had a stroke and she was needed on the Eastern Shore to help her mother take care of him.  I thought Monte, and later, Melissa, hung the moon.  Monte fell in love with a little stuffed dog my cousin, Garland, jr. had given me.  It was made of real white rabbit fur, and I had kept it in the clear plastic box it had come in.  He was convinced it was a kitty and either called it Kitty or Fluffy.  I can't remember.  Adoring aunt that I was, I gave it to him, and he loved it mightily.  Within a couuple of months of being loved by a one or two year old, it was a sight to see.  Eventually, it ended up tied in one of his daddy's black socks.  There was a little square of the fur left, and he used it as a lovey, sometimes sticking it in his ear when he went to bed. Sometime later he lost Flufy or Kitty, which he still called it even when it was reduced to sock form  on the ferry to the Eastern Shore.  His parents thought they could just stuff another black sock, but Monte was too smart to be fooled by that.  Even after the sock was gone, he continued to hang onto the piece of fur.

I was a freshman at Westhampton when Melissa was born, so I didn't get to spend as much time with her, but she was a special little girl.  I remember she loved to climb.  If I recall correctly,she tried to join her daddy on the roof when he was working on the antenna  while she was still a preschooler.  She was flower girl at our wedding, but that's a story for another day.  Monte was supposed to be the candle lighter, but the florist forgot the long handled lighter thing so he couldn't reach.  I was so upset.  He did look cute in his   choir robe though. 

Tomorrow we have to write out the ingredients for a recipe in Lithuanian.  I donated the recipe for Vidalia onion dip to Del.  Equal parts of grated onion, grated swiss cheese and Dukes mayonaisse, if you can get it,
stirred together and baked at 350 for about 45 minutes depending on thickness  or until bubbly, set and beginning to color. Serve with bread or crackers or apply directly to hips or waist - that's where it's headed anyhow. Use a paper towel to sop up the standing puddle of grease that will be on top when you take it out of the oven.  I make it once a year to take to a picnic or something so Del won't eat the whole thing.

Day 70 A really Great Day!

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You are spared looking at many pictures of the Hill of Crosses because the camera spent the day on the tracks between Klaipeda and Vilnius.  Someone (I) dropped it between the seats and didn't notice, but it was there waiting for us when we got on the train to come home.  On the other hand, you missed seeing many pictures of the Hill of Crosses.  If you read yesterday's blog, you have the history of the place, but being there, realizing that it was bulldozed and the crosses destroyed 3 times under Soviet rule and quickly put back up by the citizens is inspiring.  There were large crosses, some of them of wood, some of metal and lots of smaller crosses.  One was just two sticks fastened together  with a hair sdrunchy.  I assume that some girl wanted to leave a cross and just made one from sticks she found and the scrunchy she was wearing.. I think there probably more rosaries than crosses.  They were just strung on the crosses, one after another.  Our new friend Eurika, who took the picture said that her friend from Finland left a rosary and found it again 5 years later in the same spot.  It is true that when the wind blows it is like wind chime music.  We walked over to the monastary and visited the chapel.  The pulpit is in front of a full length window placed so that when you look at the priest you see the Hill of Crosses behind him.  So beautiful.  Look up the Hill of Crosses on the internet for some beautiful pictures.  There was also a large star of David that had a message that related to the Holocaust.

Audrone, her husband Vladas, their little boy Joris and Vladas' sister met us at the train and off we went to see the Hill and the monastary.  Next we had bubble play, thanks to Del's having found them for me.  Joris and I had the best time, and since I don't know the proper words in Lithuanian, he was nice enough to imitate whatever I said and then tell me what to do in LIthuanian.  His mom translated, and I did it.

We drove back into town and visited a beautiful church.  We walked around and looked at it and then Joris pointed to the front bench and gestured for us to sit.  He sat down and spent 5 minutes just looking up toward the altar.  Del coughed and he turned to him and put his finger up to his lips.  His mom and dad had a hard time keeping straight faces.  When he had sat there long enough, he got up and gestured for us to do the same.  I don't know what he was thinking or whether he was praying or what.  His eyes were open, and he never took them off the altar.  Once we got back outside he began to jump and talk a mile a minute.

We had an early dinner in a renovated bomb shelter.  It was a beautiful place.  Del ordered kepa duana with cheese and garlic, and Joris was the primary competition.  We pushed the bowl toward him when it first came, and after that, he took some and pushed the bowl back across the table to us.  We shoved it back and forth between each forkful.  He was very kind, however, when it came to the last piece; he offered it to Del, but seemed quite pleased when Del pushed the bowl back toward him.

Then off to the playground  for more bubbles, the slide and the see saw. 

It was starting to get windy, and poor Joris was only dressed in a shirt, a flannel shirt with a hood, a leather jacket, a wool hat and a down jacket with a hood, so he needed to be out of the cold.  It was 55 degrees F.  Eurika was kind enough to ask us to her flat for tea.  We were stuffed full of dinner, you  understand, but we also had lovely chocolates and cookies.  We turned down the opportunity for ice cream, as much as it pained me to do it.

In her first career, Eurika was an art teacher, but after her father started a business, she went back to school for a masters in management.  She works in the business but teaches part time in an afternoon program for children. Audrone pointed out some of her work, and it ws beautiful.  I think artistic talent must run in the family because her brother, Audrone's husband, is an architect.  Del looked  him up and he has won awards for his work.

Then off to the train.  Joris was a bit bumbed because he was not going on the train with us, but he got over it.  A man who had had a bit of drink was sitting in my assigned seat, so I just sat down in someone elses.  I appoligized to the man who looked as though he belonged in my seat and he just sat down beside me.  He said he spoke only Lithuanian, but asked if I was from England.  I explained, and he showed me camera photos of his wife and daughter.  Between my trusty dictionary and his limited English, we had a grand old time.

Finding the camera made it an even better day.  Fortunately, I follow the advice Tracy gave us several years ago and download all the pictures each day, so losing it would have been a financial loss, but I wouldn't have needed to cry about it.

Day 69 Me, My Kindle and My Favorite Spot on the Sofa

I felt blah today.  Nothing to actually complain of and the day was cool but clear, but I spent most of the day curled in my spot with EHJ reading a mystery of no particular merit, except that it was free.  The hot water is back, so we ran the dishwasher, did more laundry and such like.  Del worked most of the day, and we skyped with the kids. 

Rosa is so excited.  Her Aunt Stacy and baby cousin Enzo arrive from Colorado tomorrow and she is going to spend the night with them at her grandparents.  Her spring break starts Monday, so she will be able to enjoy them while they are there.  I think of Sally and LeRoy.  Enzo is the first of their grandchildren to live away.  I know how hard it is for them, even with Skype, which is a fine thing.

Since I have nothing to say, I thought I would tell you story of the place we will visit tomorrow.  The Hill of Crosses is outside the city of Siauliai, a 2 hour train ride from Klaipeda.  I will correct any errors I got from the internet after we actually go there.

The crosses began appearing as a defiance against foreign invaders in the 14th century and in Medieval times as a peaceful resistance by the Catholics against oppression.  A large number o crosses were added  after the 1831 peasant uprising.  During Soviet times, the hill was bulldozed and the crosses destroyed in 1961, 1973 and 1978.  The crosses were destroyed, roads to the place closed, and the ground was covered with waste.  Each time the people quickly rebuilt.  Now there are at least 100,000 crosses from very tiny to 3 meters tall.  They say that when the wind blows through the crosses and the rosaries hung from them the sound is like music.

You can read a much better account by googling or swag bucking the Hill of Crosses.

We are so eager to go, and appreciate so much our young friends picking up at the train station for tthe drive out to the site.  Fingers crossed for good weather.

When you get a chance, drop us an email to let us hear how things are going with you all.

Day 68 On the Run All Day!

As I mentioned in the title, we were on the go all day today.  After bathing and washing hair in cold water - no hot water for the 3rd day- we headed out to Lithuanian class.  It was drizzly off and on all day after raining hard most of the night, but not really too cold.  I think the teacher is dumbing down the class, or at least not going as indepth into grammar as before.  For the last two sessions she has emphasized  words and signs and tasks of daily living sorts of words and foods.  I now know sale, discount, cheap and other words essential to my life.  Today we went over a receipt from the Iki and for homework, we need to write out the ingredients for a recipe from home in Lithuanian.  We also went over all sorts of food names, but only a few vegetables - beets, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers- were the main ones.  I keep asking everyone if there will be different vegetables in the markets in summer, but everyone just seems puzzled by the question.  I love all those veggies, but where are the leafy greens, the peas, the green beans, that I would expect they would grow in summer.  They do grow lots of berries.  I hope they will come in before we leave. 

Then we walked to the train station to get tickets for our trip on Sunday.  We had just walked out of the station when Audrone called to say she would pick us up to go to buy the tickets.  Bless her heart, she had sent us everything we needed to know, but she was worried, I guess.  I had translated and written out the information in Lithuanian and the lady at the station did a great job of interpreting what we were trying to do.  Maybe those lessons are paying off to some extent.  Of course I made use of every handout Lillia has given us, a dictionary and a phrase book to translate 5 sentences.

After that we walked to the Travel Agency to firm up the trip to Rhodes the end of May.  I think it will be great to go there again, and Del said he was as excited as he had been in a long time.  It is amazing how inexpensive the flight and hotel are.  It's one of those charter deals the agency is sponsoring.

By then it was 4 and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we went into a small cafeteria to have "linner."  Afterward, I walked over to the Humana where I bought a raincoat, two silk scarves, one from a fancy shop in Thailand, and two balls of fancy yarn.  All for half price.  Yea, me.When we get ready to go home, I'll either take stuff back there or see if I can find anyone big enough at the University to wear the coats, especially.

We finished the day by visiting a couple of book stores and then home for coffee.  We had walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 - 3 miles over the course of the afternoon and were starting to damp and cold.

Have a wonderful week end.  Feel free to skip over tomorrow's blog, unless you want to hear ramblings.  The hot water is back, so it's catch up time around here.  Can't wait to hear that, huh?

I forgot to ask if they do April Fool's Day over here, and I have no idea why we do it.  Guess that means a trip to Google or Swag Bucks.