Orthodox Easter and Grandpa's 75th. Also Jack's 40th

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My Easter morning began at 6 o'clock. Marianna woke up in her bassinet at the foot of our bed and started crying. I picked her up and laid her down next to Oksana so she could drink a bit for breakfast. I went downstairs and made myself some coffee. Soon thereafter Marianna, released by Oksana, came down and joined me.

I drank my coffee and fed Mariana some cereal as she sat on my lap. While we were enjoying a peaceful breakfast, the front door opened and Grandma Nadia came back from church with Eddie and Zoriana. They said Christos Voskrest. Christ is risen. And there were smiles all around.

While I sat and fed Mariana, grandmother got breakfast for the rest of us. Here's a picture of Easter breakfast. We have the Easter cakes, which to be honest look better than they taste, but they don't taste bad. It also includes bouzhenina, a delicious spicy meat dish, the Ukrainian national dish, sala, and hard-boiled eggs.

As usual grandmother fusses and makes sure everybody has enough to eat. She also fusses and make sure that the baby does need anything she shouldn't eat. I peeled an egg for Mariana and Babushka was distressed that I gave her more than she should have. She later objected that I fed Mariana cake crumbs. Of course this is what grandmothers are supposed to do. Make sure us of the younger generation don't screw up.

I never know what's going on. Thank goodness I've been married three times and I know that this is the way of the world. I'm not bothered.  Oksana had me buy a birthday cake for Grandpa. However, Grandma Nadia spent all day yesterday in the kitchen. This is something I am thoroughly used to. On a festival day, grandmother spends all day in the kitchen.

With my first wife it was Vietnamese New Years - Tet  - and wonderful little spring rolls, called Chả Giò. All the women get together, banished the men from the kitchen to go drink beer and enjoy their own company as they women chatted and cooked. With my second wife it was Japanese. Once again get rid of the men and spend the day making sukiyaki.  It  is delicious, and you are well advised to remind them several times that it is delicious.

A good time is had by all. And with in the Orthodox tradition is Orthodox Easter, which is today, April 24. So we she spent all day yesterday in the kitchen preparing stuff for today's breakfast, which you see on the table, and also for dinner, which will be coming up. I made a point of being quite scarce, coming into the kitchen a couple times to wash dishes so she could redouble her efforts at making today's feast.

Oksana had had me buy a cake for Sasha. It was unnecessary, because grandma cooked these cakes, as well as another one with poppyseed. The cake I bought sits in the refrigerator. It will not go to waste.

I had thought that they would spend the day together in the hospital. No, as stated above, I never know what's going on. Grandpa came home yesterday with Grandma to spend his birthday and the holiday with us. He's lonely in the hospital and this is absolutely the right thing to happen. I don't know if this was planned and I simply wasn't told, or whether this was an impromptu decision. Doing things on the spur of the moment is very much in the culture here, and not telling people would be characteristic as well. Anyhow, Grandpa is with us.

As I wrote this I was down on the playground with the three kids. And that was just 9 o'clock in the morning. Here are pictures of the kids enjoying themselves.

The trip to the playground turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. Grandma Nadia had insisted that Marianna wear that fuzzy pink sweater. She did not want to, and she took it off right after this photo was taken. Rather than fight it, I tucked the sweater under my coat so I could produce it immediately upon arriving home, making it look as if I had just helped her take it off.

Meanwhile, Zoriana took her coat off. You see her on the swing without it. And shortly afterwards Eddie wandered across the street towards home without saying a word to me. He is allowed to cross the street by himself, but he should've said goodbye. Zoriana followed him. At 4 ½ years old she is not allowed to cross the street by herself and got a bit of a rebuke. I picked up Marianna and followed them.

About halfway home Zoriana remembered the jacket, which I had not noticed was missing. Eddie volunteered to go back and pick it up as Zoriana and Marianna played around on somebody's front lawn. It gave the kids some more time in the fresh air.

If we had done some planning (see note above on planning, and lack thereof) we might have gone to Victory Park, the place where we had the barbecue lunch last week. However, as I write this it is 11:00 in the morning. There is no way we could pull it off. I am actually pleased that the children will be able to spend the time with their grandfather in any case. Who knows how long he will be home from the hospital?

On the subject of birthdays, I sent greetings to my son Jack on his 40th today to the email address I had when we were last in contact 11 years ago. In the certainty that he will not receive it, I copied my former wife and her three siblings asking them to forward it. I don't think they know where he is either, and am equally certain that they won't respond to me. Such is the power of the woke cancel culture.

That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong men never know what's coming next, the good-looking women don't seem to spend much time thinking about what they're going to next spring on us, and the above average children seem to roll pretty well with the punches.

Graham