BellisinKiev: Week 3: Hay Barn Fire, Birthday Party & A Surprise Visit!

It is difficult for me to write this week as my mind is elsewhere. I cannot stop thinking about what has happened in Ukraine. The terrorist act of shooting down a plane filled with innocent people, many of them children, is horrifying enough, but the aftermath is also sickening. Armed thugs holding bodies as hostage, preventing journalists, investigators and rescue workers from accessing the sight only serve to make a grotesque act truly monstrous. And behind it all, and I firmly believe his is, Putin stands defiant, using his propaganda machine to lure much of his population into believing the Ukrainians, and possibly even the Americans, shot down the plane.

Meanwhile, back here in our blissful summer home, life continues with my four dear charges thankfully oblivious to what is going on in the world around them....

Every morning Enzo, Maria and I take a jog in the woods.

Poor Pepper is on his second month of wearing a cone. He continues to fight hard to recover but he has had some setbacks. Our vet here discovered that his wound was infected with a bacteria so rare she had never seen it in her entire career. We are hopeful she was able to get it all out during his latest operation as the antibiotics needed for this particular bacteria have terrible side effects. For now we are watching him closely and hoping. He keeps himself busy hunting flies, sleeping and finding ever more ingenious ways of escaping his collar.

On Wednesday as we left the house to take Gio to camp we saw a giant ball of black smoke in the otherwise blue sky. It turns out a giant hay barn had exploded in the town down the hill from us.

Gio was fascinated and insisted we visit the fire every day after camp. It burned for 4 days so we had plenty of chances.

Pepper continued his quest to sleep in as many strange places as he can.
The shower is his latest, though the bidet remains his favorite.

Thursday night was Gio's best friend's birthday party. Andrea's family owns the terrific pizza place near our house so we enjoyed a wild evening of food and festivities at the restaurant.