27 April 2013. Saturday morning, raining lightly but it will be about 65 today.  We plan to go to Victory Park with the Jones' and Jensens', making this the 6 J's day out.  Victory Park memorializes the Great Patriotic War--WWII for us.  This will be our 3rd or 4th trip but we vow to spend more time in the exhibit hall.

Today reminds me of a line I am reading from a book by David Remnick, Lenin's Tomb.  He describes his first winter in Moscow as a reporter for, I think the Washington Post.  This is early 1988--

"I had imagined a winter out of ... Doctor Zhivago, a Cinemascope of whiteness and cold.  But real winter was endless and foul, a gray slog that began in late September and ended with the even uglier spectacle of late April, known euphemistically as spring.  The melting snow  the dun-colored landscape, the buses so caked in mud that you could not see out the windows, the sudden appearance of defeated-looking weeds, all reminded one Moscow friend of 'and old wxxxe disrobing.'"

Well, it's not quite like that anymore.  It looks like an old man disrobing, and I should know.

Here are a some pics from previous adventures.

The view from Marlene's desk--some of her family.  Very homey I'd say.  And, of course the wallpaper is primo.

Marlene is drawn to taking pictures of twins for some reason.
We are on our way to a Jewish cultural/tolerance exhibition hall.
Springtime in Moscow.
Falling down is a constant risk.

The exhibit is housed in a former trolley garage--something like Trolley Square.  It was very impressive.
You probably know that the Jews have a rich history of mistreatment in Russia.  At the same time a significant number of the early communists were Jews.  They have a complicated history in this country.

I think the Hebrew at the top of the sign decodes to, "Mormons are really gentiles."

We were told that $50,000,000 had been spent on outfitting this large facility.  They had many and varied inter-active stations.
We started with a 5-D (moving chairs and sprays of water and wind) film of the creation from Genesis.  I had an idea for another location for such a film.
Marlene is seeing me in 3-D and is not impressed.

'Center Tolerence.'

The exhibit's intent was to show Jews in Russia across the centuries and across the country.
They tended, of course, to congregate together so they could build synagogues and teach the scriptures and their history to their children.
Several statue scenes were meant to capture what life was like for them across time.  This woman is sitting in an old synagogue.

This is the orchestra at Temple Square, Russian affiliate.

The famous Tretyakov Gallery has a adjunct 'modern' art building down by the river and Gorky Park and the Garden of Fallen Statues that I have shown you previously.  I had wanted to see it for some time so we got there a couple of Saturdays ago.  It houses 20th century art, much of it from Soviet-time.
This Challenger(?) was sitting in front of the gallery.  It must have cost this guy an arm and a leg to get this thing shipped to Moscow.

I just love this statue of myself.  I keep waiting for the royalties to arrive but my mail box remains empty.

This mother chicken (Ma Hen) has something to do with fertility.  Marlene felt perfectly comfortable standing next to it.

Addie giving the loser sign to her dad, with the hat as an added touch.

Famous for some reason.  Beige man on a red a horse.

Really fascinating--two soccer players competing for the ball and the only thing touching the base is the side of one man's foot.

Some heroic workers making steel for the motherland.
Ben could use  one of those haircuts.

Lenin, I think, leading the world to a better future--in all directions.

Yellow chicken flying a purple kite and perhaps having a bowel experience.

Uncle Joe Stalin honoring one of the ladies loyal to the motherland.

A large version of this piece called, I think, 'The worker and the Milkmaid,' adorned one of the Soviet's world's fair exhibits.

A very nice painting of part of a Russian village.  It was very striking.  
It reminds me of my front yard during the sprinkler insertion exercise. 

A self-portrait when I was 16 and had just moved to the farm north of Rupert.

What Marlene and I look like currently

'The Girls at the Dance.'  Reminds me of my sisters, except it is one short.

The Excedrin headache fix.

This will be me after my  'non-homecoming' talk.

Dave Paull thinks he has found the cure for his poor golf.  This exercise will loosen his back muscles, such as they are.

I am having trouble with a caption for this one, but it's too rich to let pass.

"Where can I turn for help?"

"Who needs suspenders when you have hips like these?"

"Is that a cat on your face, or were you bitten by the dog last week?"

Nathanael working out with his sling shot.

This was titled 'Family.'  With four children it must be Rod and Becky and their sweet children.

We came down from the 2nd level to find this statue lying on the floor.  It took several looks to be sure it was not a real boy.

The U. of U. mascot.

Modern art at nearly its best.

One more in a string of cute children.  In this case the mom or dad were happy to let us take his picture.

The Lochhead's in the office conference room, waiting for a video interview with Elder Christofferson--testing their availability for some additional service.

We never tire of seeing these cute children.

We are freezing our butts off, waiting on a train station, for our guide to lead us to an orphanage, and noticed this burger joint across the street.  We don't see tons of English signs, but some.

More butt freezing.

After the orphanage at Chile's back in Moscow.  Irina (left front) had been our guide and the narrator for the anti-smoking puppet program.
We are hosting her and the Walker's for dinner, given that the Walker's are about to head for Norway and then home to Weiser.

We have been asked to be home teachers for a half dozen ILP (International Language Program) students.  This is the half that were willing to come and eat our soup a couple of Sundays ago.  Nice girls.

Marlene feeding the pigeons just outside the Russian Orthodox church on our way to work.

Here is the church, newly painted.

Oh My looking at the window washer about 10 days ago.

We have wanted to see the 'Metro Museum' for several months, and finally got there a couple of weeks ago.  Mr. Lenin, who was dead before it was built is, or course, the inspiration for the project.
He may also be the U. of  U. mascot.

This is a mock up of the Metro car driver's station.

We are going to the Torro Grill for some kind of lunch.

More good stuff.

A little girl stomping her feet in the run off.
Notice the obligatory shovel.

We have gone to the Dom Musica for a performance of some famous Russian dance troupe and this brother and sister have come to the event in native costumes-other than the backpack of course.

The dancers were very impressive and marvelously costumed.  Their shtick is to move around the stage, often at great speed, as though they are floating.  There is no sense that they are moving their legs and feet to move.  It's facinating.

An exterior shot of the Dom.

Another babushka willing to show off her venushka.

Moe's, a semi-Cafe Rio.  They had the best Mexican we have yet found in Moscow, not a high standard, but still ...

These bomb disposal thingees are found in most Metro stations.  I can't decide whether to be comforted or worried. 

We went to Sparrow Hill last Saturday, the one year anniversary of our first visit to the hill, when we had such a good time with the Earth Day festivities and the kilocycles racing up and down the street.
This year it was cooler and rainy and the motorcycles were not racing, but still some gathered to tell stories and see each other.  A Honda club arrived en masse--about 30 of them.

It was fun.

This was  good English speaker and quite friendly.  I asked him, because of his helmet-cam,  if he had recorded himself racing through the city.  He said he had, but more particularly he had recorded himself crashing a couple of times.  I looked up his YouTube contribution but it was not much to look at.

He seemed to have some leadership role in club.  Maybe he had the most published crashes?

You can't have a gathering of motorcycles without finding a few babes here and there.

This lady was having wedding photos taken on the cycle.  Notice the veil on the helmet.
Ben once glued a Santa's Elf hat to his lid.
I think he was already married.

Same girl posing.

For Rachael.

She somehow got on her beau's cycle wearing these shoes.

A girl doing a burn out.

A nice dad.

There was a car show over by the University.  Always poseurs of course.  Nice Caddy.

My dream cycle.

A 'Volga' the predecessor to the Lada.  I believed it was modeled after Ford.

A dawn where the sun was visible out our back window.

Senior missionaries snorting something Thursday evening.  They said they were sucking milk through a cookie, but I was not there to certify the claim.

The office party for the Walkers--yesterday.

Vladimir is having a great time.  Elder Walker is playing his saw.

President and Sister Lawrence, Sister and Brat Walker, and Sister and President Bennett.

Us and the Walker's.  They have been great friends.  We will miss them.