24 Feb 2013

Staring at 2:00 p.m. Moscow time.  Sunny and 17.  Just about perfect.  Sunday afternoon, going down.

We have to go to the Doctors' flat (Area doc and Area Mental Health lady) for dinner.  So I will finish this evening.  I think Dave and Dave know the mental health lady.  At least she is able to describe their personalities to a T.

I know Thomsen has missed my blogging, but I have been busy,  I will try to satisfy his curiosity with tonight's posting.  Since we have last talked we took a Saturday and went to the Pushkin Art Gallery and then had a week in Antalya, Turkey for the Interim Mission President's Seminar.  We came home from that 10 days ago and I have yet to recover.  Strangely, no one does my regular work when I am gone.  I feel like a mother.

Well, try to stay awake.

Finishing at 10:00 p.m. Moscow time, 11:00 a.m. in Utah.

We are on the way to the art gallery and are passing the beautiful Christ the Savior cathedral.  There is a new couple in this picture--Janet and Jon Jensen (the Russian's love all of those J's) who have come to replace the Walker's.

But we could not get in the cathedral because the Russian patriarch was holding some kind of service therein.

Here is a better picture of the building.  We have almost made it to Pushkin's joint.

Voila'.  Pushkin is the last word in the sign above.

(Maybe that gives you some idea why I have given up trying to learn Cyrillic.)

Dave Peterson, fishing.

Garner, asking LeeAnn how much that dress cost.

Ben on his B-King in  a little headwind.

Me and someone pulling a boat on the Volga.

Jones', Marlene and the  Jensen's coming to the next level.

Connie Thomsen's new look.

The poet and his muse.

Form over function.

The Fletcher's at dinner.

Dave Paull's horse in the jungle.

Doodles by a grandchild.

Lenin's tomb on a good day.

Another grandchild's doodling.

Rusty as the West Africa Area President.

Self portrait.  I've gained a little weight and lost a little more hair.

Connie Peterson's work after a bad day practicing.

The babushka docent and mother and child sculpture.

Just outside the Red Square McDonald's.

Guard changing in the winter.

I am fascinated by this little head-cocking thing they do as they make the switch.

One can always find a bride.

In GUM, for Rachael.

In GUM again.

The Jensen's at the Kremlin wall.

Antalya, Turkey.

Lost of green house/covered crop-raising on the way to the ground.

Gordon Hill's new ride.

Jenks, who we met in Istanbul last year, engaged, and has come to Antalya to help us with the meeting.

Our balcony with pools in the middle distance, stretching to the Mediterraneum Sea.

Fat city.  We are here in the off-season, of course.  Even in Turkey, February is off-season.  Otherwise we could not afford these digs.

Sister Johnson eating alone in the dining room.

She has her bathing suit on under these cloths.  Surf is not up.

The place must have half the surface area covered in pools.  Unfortunately for us the max temp we saw was 60 F, so there was no one swimming.

A wide-angle view toward the resort buildings.

A few hors d'ouvers.

Part of the lobby.

For Ben.

A flower ... in February!!

We went into town with Jenks and Maria to actually see Antalya.  Our resort (Susesi) was about 45 minutes east of the city.  We are walking toward a waterfall that empties into the Med.

Close.

I had been raining a great deal, hence the high flow.  I estimate it dropped about 30 meters.

Craig Thomsen trying to stretch his retirement dollars with a part time job.

Walking toward the sea.  The rain stopped for a bit.

This was a beautiful blue, but of course the camera can never capture the real color.

A fort guarding the harbor entrance.  1,500 years old, or so.

Old Town, Antalya.

Remains of an 8th century mosque.

More old town.

This is what happens when your house is a couple of hundred years old and  you don't have Andy for your husband.

Hadrian's Gate, Roman emperor.

A statue celebrating the people's affection for Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey.

We have wandered down the windy city streets to the level of the sea.  There were lots of boats vying for the chance to take folks out into the harbor and beyond.

Back at the resort on the premier day of the meeting.

The largest of the many pools.

We were in the building just left of center.

There were uncounted dining options.

Someone reading.  We slept with the door open to listen to the water beat on the beach.

Just  one of the many evidences of how hard we worked.

Routine dessert options.

A few more routine dessert options.

Veggies made into flowers--something Maureen does most nights at their house.

I am at work at the front table, or dozing, I can't recall which.

The MP and wives who will go home in late June.

Nathan Glad's MP is the 2nd one from the right.

 

Carter's, Elder Mikulin, Lochhead's and Dima Mikulin.

Bishop Samaykin and Boyce Fitzgerald our cheerful DTA.

A last view of the sea on a rainy, windy evening.

A friend I met at the airport on the way out of town.

Last picture:  Sister Carter, the Lochhead's and Marlene.