Dear Everyone,  (Including Nathanael),

It is Sunday morning, about 10:00.  The sun is shining brightly and the temp is 45 going to 62 on this May 27th in Moscow.  We are well other than congenital stupidity, total memory loss, and incipient (or full-blown) dementia.

(You know, self-diagnostics is a difficult proposition.  [Ben, was it Ben Franklin or Shakespeare who said, 'A physician who treats himself has a fool for a doctor?']  One needs one's wife to get an accurate diagnosis.  Isn't that right, Rusty?)

I have asked Marlene for a diagnosis but I can't remember what she said.

We will have to start our journey toward the church building in about a half an hour, so I won't get much written this morning, but I can start the picture upload which can run while we are gone.
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It is now Sunday evening a little after 8:00.  It will be light until 11:00 and light again about 5:00 a.m.

It has been about 10 days since I made a blog entry.  The hiatus has been because nothing very interesting was happening … until the latter part of this week, and the weekend, which I will tell you about after telling you how boring the previous eight days have been.

When my presidency is in town my work in unrelenting.  They are very busy and need a great deal of support.  The only relief I get is when they are out of the office traveling across this vast land.   While it is true they can email and telephone while they are on the road it’s just not the same as when they are in the office. 

(What is the name of that character in the Charlie Brown cartoons?  You know the one.  It’s that little kid who has the perpetual dust cloud floating around with him wherever he goes.  In this analogy I am not that kid.  That’s the role of my presidents.  They go around creating work for me and I am the one trying to clean up after them.)

Wait, this is taking on a negative tint, which is not the image I am after at all.  And, since I am too lazy to rewrite what has come before let me just extend and correct my remarks to say that these are wonderful men, and they generate a lot of work for me.

Anyway, they were out of the office two weeks ago, for a week, but returned this last week.  And their return brought with it a lot of work for your humble servant.  Thus, unless you are interested in the work I am doing (not) there was little to blog about.

But, things got more interesting starting on Thursday.  One of the very nice secretaries has decided to go on a mission.  She has only been a member for a year but the urge burns within her to share the gospel.  In the hinterlands of the Church missionary applications run through the Area office, which means they run through Sister Johnson.  Calls are, therefore, received in the Area office and then forwarded to the affected priesthood leaders who hand-deliver (because the postal system is so fabulous) the call letters to the missionaries.  This second step adds about a week to the call-notification process.

Of course Olga knows that Sister Johnson would have her call notice a week before her stake president would receive it, so the issue was:  Can she wheedle the information from Sister Johnson, or not?   We had a lot of fun with that question.  Pictures follow.

Then on Friday our Public Affairs Director retired.  He is Alexander Manzhos.  What a nice man!  He had been an Area Seventy for many years.  He served in the Area Presidency for a season.  Anyway, we had a Russian (though he is Ukrainian) retirement party for him on Friday.  It was very tender and fun.  (Pictures to follow.)

Finally, by way of introductory comments, we had Metro and downtown Moscow adventures on Friday night and Saturday as we tried to expose our law student intern, Travis Hunt, to as much of Moscow as one can stuff into a half-dozen weekends.  (Pictures follow immediately.)

I told you a lie above.  We didn't do nothing for 10 days.
A week ago on Saturday we took our 2nd trip to Izmaylova so that Travis could buy stuff to take home to Arizona/Provo for his wife and child.  Here is Marlene checking out some of
 the goods. 

This past Friday evening we had the Walker's and Travis to dinner for pancakes.  This is the last of the lot.  They belong to Travis.  He has got syrup, jam, bananas, yogurt, nuts and whipped cream on them.  I think all the brown, white and red food groups are represented.

The Walker's are a handsome couple.  They liked the hot cakes too.

Here is a clean shot of Travis.  I was thinking the other day--The Church produces these kind of young men by the bushel:  clean cut, smart, returned missionaries, responsible, good men, devoted husbands and fathers.  They seem so common to us, because we are surrounded by them.  You are surrounded by them.  It really is a miracle.

This was a very cute and curious young girl.  People (even 'mericans) don't necessarily like strangers taking their pictures, so I used my iPhone to sneak this one into the mix.

Marlene is very impressed with Moscow's dandelions.  I think I have shown some of them to you previously.  You will see more later.  We have seen several girls with these halos.

Yesterday we went to Leo Tolstoy's house.  This is one of Moscow's Pravaslavian (Russian Orthodox) churches.  They are always colorful and eye catching.  We passed it on the way to the home.

It is a little hard to see because of the white background, but there is a lady going through the trash can.  That is a common site for us.

Walking from the church back to the Metro last Sunday we saw something terribly heart wrenching.  A man was going through one of the containers that holds discarded bottles.  He was drinking whatever he could find in the bottles.  Oh, my.

Marlene noticed the modern wiring techniques at play in this old building.

Here we are at the side door, but tour entrance of Tolstoy's home.  He lived here during the winters from about 1885 to 1895.  He had already written his most well know works and had had his 'conversion' to some kind of Christianity.  He knew the Pravaslavian church has lost his way, so he seems to have invented a very strict creed which he followed.
The guidebook we were reading said his conversion caused tension within the family.  At dinner the wife would sit at one end of the dining table with the sons and he would sit at the other with the daughters.
That sounds a lot like our house except all the children sit with their mother and I sit with the dog.

A billboard on the wall of an adjacent building.   That is the beard that Nathanael's wishes he could have.

The front door.  A large, lovely, home.

Some suspects in the garden outside the front of the house.

A cute, little, summer room.

We met two Americans while we were touring the house.  He is just out of the USMC about to go to USC dental school. They had stared in St. Petersburg, were spending a couple of days in Moscow, were then going to get on the Trans-Siberian train and go to Beijing and then fly home to California from there.  Wow!
They don't speak any Russian.  Adventuresome souls.

I think this building is not being used, except as a green house.

We could not find any signs but I suspect this building, with the tree growing out the top, must date from about Tolstoy's time.

Here's a break from Tolstoy.  The Russian staff is presenting Elder Manzhos and his wife the gifts we bought for him.

Elder Manzhos graciously receiving some Russian history DVD's.  His wife is about to open the Matryoshka doll we got for her.  It was a little unusual in that the large figure was that of a man.  That is not common.

On the way back from Tolstoy's home toward the Metro.  I include it in case any of you want to hurry over for the show.  It will be on 4 & 5 Eyune (June.)

Last shot of Mr. Tolstoy for you Russian literature sophisticates.

We have now made our second appearance on Arbat street, where the swells shop.  The marketing folks have caught some flies in their spider web.

Everyone who comes to Moscow must see Arbat Street.

Ah, lunch!  I won't have to continue my vegetarian binge.  Protein.

This is my long lost Aunt Zhenia.  I happened to find her on the street playing Stairway to Heaven.
For a few rubles she invited me into the picture.

Marlene was sure this was an older, heavier, version of her brother Lewis.  I agreed.

Travis getting the required, under-the-hand picture in one of the Metro stops.
We were on an adventure to see some of the most picturesque of the stops.  More to follow with minimal commentary, since some of these are duplicates from previous postings. 

Extra long escalator.  I think we were going up.

Marlene and I had an unusual experience on an escalator like this, though not this one.
The 'rules' are that if you are just going to ride up, then stand to the right so the folks in a hurry can pass you on the left. We were doing that, chatting about something, and noticed a lady coming up behind us on the left.  But, instead of passing by she stopped just behind us and rode the rest of the way to the top standing just to the left behind us.

When we got to the top and started to walk forward she caught up and asked, in what we think was a British accent, "Are you foreigners?"  We said, "Yes. Americans."  She said, "You are beautiful people."

Being old and slow of mind we were too surprised to say anything, and in an instant she was gone into the crowd and we had lost the chance to thank her, let alone talk with her.

I don't know what to make of this.  Obviously Marlene is a lovely person, but ...

This was Friday night and the crowds were bigger than any I had previously seen.  There were mobs everywhere.
Lovely lighting.

Sometimes there is no more room.

I have to tell you a story.  When it's crowded like this you get on, without any hope of a seat of course.  But because Stevie Wonder taught all of the train operators how to drive they accelerate quickly and jerkily, and stop with the same skill.

With no place to sit, you hurry on, and look for one of the horizontal or vertical hand bars to hold onto so you won't fall into your neighbor when the thing jerks to a start.  And you don't have very long to find a hand-hold, because as soon as the doors slam shut Stevie Wonder hits the 'go' button.

Marlene was in the usual hurry to find something to hold on to.  She saw an odd-looking vertical pole near the back wall of the car and grabbed it as the train took off.

The guy holding his bundle of six-foot lengths of  metal  sheet rock corners was not amused.  He grabbed his corners away from Marlene with a scowl to boot. She did not fall to the floor because the car was too crowded, but after recovering from the shock of what had happened she could not stop laughing about the experience.

The guy with the corners was not nearly as amused.

More loveliness.

We are walking toward Lenin's bust.

Here it is in Cyrillic.  L E N ee N e.

Whoever decided that we need to kill dandelions?  The Russian's are not buying the concept.

The guys are fishing and the girl is exercising.

A Saturday in the park behind us.  A rather large contingent of runners.  Moscow Sport is what the leg of the sign says.

We thought we would be having hamburgers at the ward party later on this day, so I let myself be talked into KFC.  The problem with that is that I can eat home-boiled chicken everyday, if I wanted to, except I have vowed that no boiled chicken will ever pass my lips again.

Plus Moscow's KFC's don't sell mashed potatoes--which is what Ben always buys, and which I can now see the reason for, or for which I can now see the reason.

Proof that I was there.

The ward BBQ, where I thought I would be eating a hamburger.  It was not to be. Even Marlene was put off by the way the mystery meat looked.

We tried hot dogs but that was a mistake too.

Brother Nagele cooking up a storm.  I did not starve however.  There were plenty of cookies and some half-good potato salad.

Mormons doing what Mormons do.
This was like being transported to Utah.

Julie Smith who teaches English here.  That is how you form your tongue to make the Pssst! sound.
Julie guided us to church on the first Sunday we were here. Very nice young lady ... as you can see.

Jim Hopkinson, the Area Finance manager.  Another good man.

Marlene's favorite flower.  If she gets off the airplane, upon our return, with a dandelion hair piece do not be surprised.

We have our hot water on again.  The g'vmint has decreed it.  This gentleman has installed a water meter in the hole in the wall in our bathroom.

Some of the staff getting ready for Olga to open her call letter.  The gentleman in the left front is Andrey Filimonov, the assistant PA director.

Four missionaries come once a week for Russian language training from Andrey.

Olga getting ready to open her calling.  She is going to ...

Sunset.  About 10:00.  The buildings are alight with the sunset.

Love and peace to everyone.

May 16, 2012  7:00 p.m.  (Finished at 10:00)

We left work early enough this evening, about 5:30, that we are home, having eaten dinner (some Alfredo sauce the children sent) on some noodles the Russians sent, plus some sok (juice.)

It is a lovely evening, about 65 F.  It has been cool and rainy lately, but sunny today.  That's good because the dandelions are doing well.  You will see a picture in a bit.

Last Friday we left work about an hour early and with the Walker's, wended our way to nearly the end of the Green line so that we could see the park in which is situated one of Catherine (Yekaterina) the Great's palaces. It was built toward the end of the 18th century.  The story is that she came to see it, wandered around for few hours, did not like it, and never came back.

It is quite a striking complex of buildings, grounds and water features.  The flowers were outstanding.  In the middle of the grounds is a lovely fountain, computer controlled, which later in the evening is lit from under the H2O.  I have a few pictures.

The next day we returned to Red Square and its environs, for our 2nd visit.  We have been there so often they are beginning to recognize us.  Oh, wait, they already know who we are.

We did this frantic touring partly to expose a law intern to these sites while he is with us.  He is Travis Hunt, a 1st year BYU law student.  He is bunking with the Walker's for about a month, who as you might remember, work in the Area's legal office.

I don't have pictures but I would like to wax on a bit about Church on Sunday.  We attend, as you might recall, the International Ward, where English is the language of choice, but, oh my, what a variety of people we have in the ward!

The sacrament was administered by four Africans, one Colombian and one American boy.  An African, Serge, from DR Congo,was confirmed a member of the Church, in French.  He is a very pleasant man and was leaving the next day to go to South Africa in search of work.  He had come to Moscow looking for work and instead found the gospel.

Later in HP group I asked the nice man who confirmed Serge how he had kept up his French so well.  (I knew he had served there as a missionary, but that was 20+ years ago.)  He said, "If you are really interested I will tell you after the group meeting."  I said I was, and so he told me his story after the meeting.

He started his mission with companions who were not at all good with the language, but by the end of two years he had gotten pretty good.  After his mission he was sitting in his BYU dorm room one night thinking about how he could keep up his French while he studied to be an engineer.  (He now works for an oil company and every Monday morning he takes a flight to some outpost north of the Arctic Circle and then comes 'home' on Friday evening.)  So, at BYU as he pondered his French future, he decided to make a deal with the Lord.

Now, we pause to acknowledge that that concept is fraught with danger.  One does not typically dicker with God.  He knew that and went on to explain his deal.  He said, "Lord, I will pray night and day in French if you will help me keep this language alive in my mind."  And so he did.

Shortly after graduating he got a job in the oil patch in southern Louisiana.  Where else can one go in the US and speak French regularly?  One of his first overseas jobs was in Vietnam, a former French colony.  He has worked in China where he hired a gardener or housekeeper (I don't remember which) who spoke French.

As we talked in the empty HP meeting room I noticed a tall, black, recent convert, sister, standing in the doorway.  It was clear that she wanted to talk to someone, and it was not me.  She waited patiently for several minutes but finally eased her way over to stand next to us.  It developed that she had previously asked Brother Fryer (my oil patch friend) for a blessing.  She has been a member of the Church for about two weeks.  He invited me to help him with the blessing, again in French.  It was fun to listen, and understand about 50% of what was said.

Anyway, on to the pictures and the witty commentary.

Helicopters practicing for the May 9 Red Square performance.  Each helicopter is carrying a flag of some kind.
We saw these do a flyby when we watched the parade on TV.

A morning scene out our window.

We see this as we walk to the grocery store.

A dog, a cat, or a candidate for the meat wagon.

Sister Johnson is fascinated by these branch brooms.  She thought she would sneak a picture of this nice young man w/o him noticing, but it was not to be.

Our Russian friends had the first three days of last week off as part of the May 9 celebration.  We cross this street, risking our lives, every morning on the way to "work."  On this morning we were about alone in the city.

Marlene purchased some rain boots a few weeks ago and this was her first opportunity to flout them.
She tromps straight through the puddles, while I skirt lightly around them in my loafers. 

Another morning view.  Lots of moisture in the air.

Our street crossing on a normal day.

Just inside the entrance to Catherine's palace grounds.  

A sketch of the area.  The word in the upper left decodes to:  Tsar ish ina.  (Tsar = Czar)

These appear to be some kind of tulip.  At least the green part looks like a tulip stem.

Crossing a bridge to the fountain.  The babe has some strange ice cream bar in each hand.  I had to wrestle her for my share of the goodies.  You can see the palace way off  in the distance.  When we got closer to the buildings I never could get the whole thing in one picture frame because it was so extensive.
We are about 20 or 25 miles SE of downtown Moscow.  This would have been a country home 200 years ago.

What is going on here?
Sister Johnson has decided that she wants a blouse like the lady on the left.

You can look it up if you want.  I encourage you to go there. It is a nice web site:  

http://www.tsaritsyno-museum.ru/ru/

The SE corner of the palace.

One of the many striking towers.

A mock up of the estate.

This is the gate between the large building on the left and the main structure.  It's striking.

A cute girl in a cute hat.

I think one of these figures is a young Geo. Washington, but maybe not.

Tourists at rest.  Travis is on the left.

We are on top of a bridge that crosses a depression leading to the palace with is at our rear, or in our rear, or behind us.

The water from the left flows into a small lake that surrounds the lovely fountain in the next photo.  This is how the gardeners keep the 'stuff' from floating all over the lake.

We are en route back to the Metro and have paused to catch the light show.

More light and water show.

Two workers hard at it. When we first saw these men the box on the right was holding up better.

The carrots here are enormous.  The one on top is probably three feet long, or close to it.

The gardener is packing the bags to roll the groceries home.

The dandelions are doing well.  We have seen several young women make crowns of these to wear.

This display is just north of the north entrance into Red Square, which is just to our right in this picture.
Y'all have probably seen the movie.

I messed up here and missed the bottom of the sign.  It says, "Kill Bill, and is an ad for a sushi store.  You would have laughed had I not messed up.

Inside Red Square.  This is the famous GUM mall that faces the Kremlin, which is behind us. The Russian characters are 

 ГУМ = G oo m, or goom.  The initials stand for Main Universal Magazine.  Back in the day, this mall was designed to show the wonders of communism by demonstrating that the commies could provide really good stuff for the citizens.  It is a striking building, especially from the inside.

St Basil's.  We are on our way to tour the inside.

Lenin's tomb again.  I can't bring myself to give the state money to see the embalmed remains.

Inside the Goom.  Lots of very high-end stores.  We only spent about 10 minutes wandering around inside, but one could spend hours.

Several high end cars were parked around the store.  This was a nice looking Jag.  You cannot see it well but the color is a very deep chocolate.

The Russians love to pose for their pictures.  The lilacs were at their peak.
We are about to pay our 250 rubles to get into the cathedral.

For such a massive building the rooms inside were quite small.
We are taking a very narrow, winding, stairway to the 2nd floor.

The view of the outside from inside the cathedral.  We are looking north across the square.  One enters from the north end to the right of that building in the distance.  You can see just off the edge of the green roof some of the stands that held the dignitaries for the May 9 parade.

This is what those onion domes look like from the inside.  Very striking.

Another inside dome view.

We call our Rachael 'Rach' so this caught my eye.  The PAX on the top line is Rach.

Another lovely dome.  These bricks are painted on ... something like Ben's arms.

Another view from inside the church.  The stands are more visible here.

This where they keep the good stuff.  We did not get invited inside.

I thought this was a particularly lovely painting.  It dates from the late 1700's.

My attempt at artsy-crafty.  I did not have the light right.

Tourists at rest.

A young Russian riding his Johnson to fame and fortune.  Those are either gall-stones or golf balls.

A tourist at rest.

Better artsy-crafty.  These things really are striking.

Nathanael.  You have ignored my efforts to locate your car, but this time I am sure I have found it.   Blow up that brownish one in the middle.  I know you will like it.

Ahhh.  The real reason we are at Red Square.

I don't know why I shot spider-man, but here he is. 

We are eating outside.  The restaurant was a mob scene at 2:30 in the afternoon.

A lovely stream running down hill.  McD's is just to the right.

This lady walked by us while we were eating.  I think she charges folks to take their picture with her.
The doorway behind her is the north gate into Red Square.
You cannot see them but there were two characters near the gateway dressed like Lenin and Stalin.
Hasta la vista.
Aurevoir.
Dasvedanya.