Ex Patria

Happy Halloween!

Monday morning

I'm really busy today, so you get this cartoon from Barry Deutsch.

I spent the Sunday getting Alan's new room ready.  He'll move into -- the pantry.  Yes, I know.  But, we have no other room, it also serves as a guest room, it's really a nice room with some cupboards full of food which we are hiding behind curtains, and we do have a space theme as of today. So, it's not so bad for a little boy of four. (No, no chocolate or cookies in reach.  Neither medication.  We made sure of that!)

When all is done and dried, you'll see the results.

Veggies! NO fish

How do you scar a child for life?

You take said kid to shop for veggies at the little corner street market.   You point out the display of fish.  Kid melts down screaming because the "fishes are dead!  I don't like them dead! I don't like it!"

You leave the market and take the kid home and try to forget the entire episode with the help of chocolate and favorite TV show.

Next day, husband takes kid to the big market to shop for pumpkin.  Husband, informed of prior episode, points out live fish in a tank.  Live!  Fish!  Swimming!  Kid is delighted.  Father and son watch the "fishes", father is proud of himself.  Psychological damage is undone.

Unnoticed by father and son, a customer approaches and after some haggling, decides on a particular fish.  Vendor pulls fish out of tank, clubs it over the head, complete and utter meltdown.

A vegetarian in the making, is what I call that.

Fall in our front yard

Seductive

Julia, who is one of the most amazing women in the Internet, recommended this site with recipes of yummy food.  As soon as she mentioned the nice photographs, I knew I ought not to check it out, because I'm a sucker for nice things, and I knew I would loose hours of time gazing fondly at pictures of pickles and muffins.  And then I did check the site, and it's hours later now. Oh, and I made banana bread.  No, I'm not going to take a picture.  Or, maybe.

However, I don't see why I should suffer alone, so herewith I direct you to the Smitten Kitchen.  Enjoy.

I'm almost unique

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Well, I know there is at least one other person in Germany with my name.

Just because....

... it made me laugh.  But it's painful.

Scarcity

Groceries are getting scarcer.  Imported items, especially all diary (including milk, cream cheese, regular cheese) are vanishing from the shelves.  The supermarkets stretch the items they still have to cover up the blank spaces.  I wonder how the situation will be in a couple of months.

We shift to lots of Armenian products.  Which is not a bad side effect but there are many items that just aren't being produced here.  Also, Armenia is an importer and not self-sufficient.  We do depend on imports. Prices will go up. The route via Iran is becoming more frequented and we hope that most sellers will shift to that route -- however, many Western producers do have packaging plants in Russia, so they cannot easily divert their products via Iran.

This is interesting to watch.  We are concerned but we also know we can get out if things turn ugly.  It is different for Armenians.  I wonder when this situation will begin to affect the general reverence for all things Russian.

The tastiest morsel

"Lavrov said that you have to bear in mind the following sequence: President [Mikhail] Saakashvili went to Washington; NATO agreed to take a new step forward in discussing membership with Georgia; and the next thing you know, Russian military officers are arrested. He said, “Trip to Washington, NATO decision, taking of hostages,” meaning Washington is encouraging Georgia to act against Russian interests."

There is an interesting interview on the web site of the Council of Foreign Relations. Stephen Sestanovich, former Ambassador-at-Large for the Newly Independent States under Clinton, talks about the crisis between Russia and Georgia, about the touted reasons and about real reasons.  It gives a good briefing about what is going on and why Russia is so obnoxious, and why the West should care what is going on. (I talked to my sister-in-law yesterday and she had no idea that there was something going on.  I gather it's the same for most of the US population.)

As an aside, all the Armenians I've talked to sided with Russia. They really don't like the Georgians and they are firmly pro-Russia.  I find that amazing, and it forces me to be really diplomatic in talking about this crisis. (That means, I keep my mouth shut.  I know, it sounds incredulous, but I can do that.)