A Scatter-Brained Post

We are well into our 5th straight month of hard winter, which I think explains entirely the following:

1) My lack of motivation to take pictures or find anything of any interest to write about (okay, grammar police, about which to write).

2) My skin that has gone from pale to translucent.

3) The near gag reflex I have now when I see my huge black Patagonia coat and floral Boggs boots. I am thinking of burning them both when and if spring actually arrives.

4) My complete disdain and boredom with winter driving.  I think nothing now of heading out in a raging snow storm and am in awe that our tank-like Volvo is still functional after going over (and into) the crater-like potholes on every single road here.

5) My utter disinterest in the blizzard expected to arrive here tomorrow and dump over 2 feet of snow. What's two more feet, anyway? If I had been in Washington and this prediction had been broadcast imagine the utter panic and the chaos at Safeway.  Here, no one even bats an eye.  Well, we did receive a warning from the UN about a "cyclone" bearing down on us and to be cautious about our driving.  Okay, okay, so I will turn on my headlights and brake a bit earlier tomorrow....

Here, then are a few photos from the last week, in no particular order and perhaps of no particular interest....

Enzo, smelling riper than any 120+ pound beast should smell that sleeps on your bed, was subjected to a 4 hour session at the groomer.  Here he is sleeping off the trauma.  

Gio met up with his best pals Wilsy and Grace at a local Irish pub for some banana milkshakes and coloring. Never too early to introduce pub crawls to pre-schoolers.  

Refusing to pay any attention to the overnight snowstorm and to the blizzard predicted, the park authorities decided it is now spring and began to install the ice cream and beer kiosks.  

What qualifies for sheer excitement and raids on a supermarket here? Not snow predictions, certainly, but instead the discovery that Megamarket is now selling string cheese that actually tastes as good as the stuff in the States.  We expats cleared the place of its inventory within 3 days! And yes, I took this photo illegally but for once the Megamarket security drones were looking the other way. 

Gio's current obsession?  Wonderwoman.
 Yep. He is completely smitten.
I think I know what his Halloween costume will be this year.....

It is time to renew Gio's passport.  Here he is at the ripe old age of 6 days. The passport does not actually expire until December but with only one blank page left I think it is time.  

His new passport photo.  The hair gel was done at his insistence. 

Look!  Grass!!!!  Yes, we had quite a bit of melting this week, all in preparation for the cyclone/blizzard coming our way. 

If you look really really carefully you can see green shoots coming up out of the snow!

Enzo's favorite spot in Kyiv.  He and I head here to the abandoned botanical gardens every afternoon. So much to sniff, so many furry friends to meet, so many icy paths for me to slip on.   

And here are two random shots of our refrigerators (yes, we have two). This happens to be my favorite part of PEOPLE magazine and MTV Cribs- when they show the inside of a celebrity's fridge.  So here, a peek into a non-celebrity's.  This one is the "adult fridge."  Yes, there is quite a bit of alcohol, but this is a family blog so I did not show what is packed into the upper shelf and fridge door (not to mention the freezer!)

And Gio's fridge.  The usual kid stuff, including those yummy cheese sticks! 

Ciao for now.  Forgive me if I resist a post about this weekend's coming storm. I hope this is the last shot of snow I post for a long long time.