Grandma’s back. A bicycle and boating outing. Russian hypocrisy about biolabs.

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Grandma Nadia returned after five days back home catching up - first time since the end of last year.  The kids were glad to see her.  She barks at them a lot, but also pays a lot of attention. 

Oksana proposed that she and I take the three kids to the park today, which would, conveniently enough, have left her alone.  Almost, but for one thing.  There was no borscht in the house.  Grandma begged off because she had to make it.  A house is not a home without borscht. 

Without Marianna, the three of us could go by bicycle.  Eddie and Zoriana wanted two things. First was to repeat their success of last week on rental boats. Second was to get some ice cream. Not, I am afraid, in that order.

Bicycles being quicker than buses, we got there at 9:40, before the boat rental was open. The kids eagerly accepted my suggestion that we get the ice cream first. However, the ice cream places also don't open until 10:00. We had Coca-Cola, Fanta and cocoa. Here are the kids climbing with their soft drinks on a Soviet era tank retriever.

A small rowboat was just the right size for the three of us. Eddie gets better every time we go out; he did most of the rowing, though Zoriana insisted on having her turn and also did a credible job. I was left to take pictures.

The water birds take no notice of the park visitors. There are mallards and seagulls all over the place. Lots of pigeons, sparrows and crows to police up the crumbs that the visitors leave. The pond is full of fish, and the fisherman line the banks, shouting at the paying customers who have rented boats to admonish us to stay away from their floats and fishing tackle.

The frogs and turtles are more shy, but at the far end of the pond they don't get bothered that often. Here is a fellow that stayed put as we let the boat nose up right next to him.

Our hour on the water gave the ice cream people time to open up, and there was no stopping the kids. Eddie debated a long time over his two scoops: lime raspberry and something white. Zoriana knew that she wanted bubblegum ice cream topped with a scoop of banana. I took plain old chocolate.

The three of us reflect different schools of thought on eating ice cream. Zoriana makes hers last half the day, licking it very slowly. Eddie licks his artfully, maintaining a symmetry throughout so that he doesn't lose any. I eat mine fairly quickly because I hate when it melts and runs on my hands, making them sticky.

We wrapped up at 11:30 and headed home. As I have written several times about the stairs we have to climb to get across the railroad tracks, I asked Eddie to take a picture. This is the shortest but steepest of the stairways we have to traverse. I discovered that if I hold my bicycle backwards, gripping the down tube with my right hand, the front wheel behind me, it doesn't catch on the stairs. Zoriana's is small enough that it doesn't bump anything.

We got home in time for some delicious borscht.

On the topic of war, one of the excuses Russia gave for invading Ukraine was the recently discovered presence of US funded biolabs.  They had to invade to shut them down.  Guess where else they are!  The evil Peter Daszik is working in Russia as well. Everybody in the world wants in on the act of making bugs that will kill everybody in the world. Hypocrites!

I keep stumbling across commentators who lend valuable insights on the war.  Latest is Sir Lawrence Friedman, “… Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London. He has been described as the dean of British strategic studies".  You might be interested in following him on Substack.

That’s the news from Lake WeBeGone, where Grandma has reestablished herself as the queen of the kitchen and the rest of us know better than to get in the way. The good-looking woman spent all afternoon at the beach with Marianna yesterday.  The older kids find their way there without help, sometimes without even a by your leave. Summer is one third gone already. They our making the most of what’s left.

Graham