Eddie did a wonderful job as the photographer for the first face-to-face meeting of the ArtTalkers Toastmasters club since the beginning of the war. You can see his work in the brief article I wrote as the incoming vice president for public relations recapping the meeting.
The second speaker, Natalia Baliuk, gave a heartrending account of her efforts to learn the fate of her grandmother and several other relatives who had been living in Mariupol. She describe how she would get some clues and chase them down, only to find that the situation had changed and they had had to move once again. The best information she got had some of them all live in a basement a week prior to her inquiry.
Her tools are better than in prior generations. Shortly after we met, Oksana had me search for two of her uncles who had left the Soviet Union at the time of the Ukrainian Holodomor never to be heard from again. Though it would have been dangerous, both for them and the rest of the family, to tell anybody where they were going her assumption had been that it was the United States. I had the missing persons expert who had reconnected me with my friends (and subscribers here, hello) Edward and Braxton 25 years ago check things out. Nothing ever came of it.
It is dangerous now for Russians to communicate with Ukrainian family and friends by email or telephone. It is likely Oksana will have lost touch with more of them before this is all over.
On the way home from the meeting, photographer Eddie saw this poster that I had commented on stuck to the wall of the Metro station. He grabbed the camera out of my backpack to capture this piece of historical madness showing travelers all of the incorrect ways to wear masks.
The most popular incorrect way was the first, not covering your nose. It made it practical to breathe and meant that you were not cultivating viruses in the humid environment of your own exhaust.
My favorite incorrect way was the second, on my chin. It better expresses total contempt for the entire exercise.
I would recommend method number three for members of the vaccine cult – the blind leading the blind.
Number four looks like nothing at all, my favorite way to wear a mask is not to do it, but if you look closely the mask is on the top of this guy's head.
Number five also has its appeal, but the mask might fall off. In the beginning they were expensive, close to a dollar apiece, but after a month the price had fallen to less than a dime in quantities of five. I never bought five of at a time, preferring to wear masks until they were totally ragged, discolored, and their appearance made them look as useless as they were in reality.
The Ukrainian text says for your own protection you should wear the mask this way and maintain social distance. The social distance was always a joke on the Metro, and I am pleased to say that despite decals on the floor showing what one and a half meters looked like, nobody was stupid enough to try to adhere to it.
Boarding the train, I noticed that the last holdouts have finally abandoned masks. I didn't see one for the entire duration of our trip.
It has been 10 days since Sasha returned from his amputation operation. Five days ago he got up by himself and tried to negotiate on crutches. Bad move. He fell down and cracked his hip. The next day we took him to a hospital, where he had a couple of days to have the diagnosis confirmed. He has been in bed since.
The hospital knew how to handle bodily functions. There was a grab bar he could use to lift up his body so they could slide a bedpan under him. We improvised a bedpan, but it wasn't comfortable. Just this morning Eddie, Zoriana and I cycled to the Nova Poshta to pick up the bedpan Oksana found on the Internet. I'm sure Sasha will use it gratefully sometime today.
There is talk of more surgery, this time an implant to fix the hip. But they can't do it until the amputation wound heals. There was mention that it might be gangrenous. Moreover, as was the case with the amputation itself and the discussion of stents for his heart, his red blood count is dangerously low for any kind of surgery, and his failing kidneys are another counterindication. At this point you, dear reader, must be thinking more or less the same things I am. Oksana had a heart-to-heart yesterday during which Sasha noted wistfully that Germany allows euthanasia.
Grandma Nadia has not been home for six months. She told Oksana she would like to go. I'm not sure I believe it, but I assured her today that as soon as we have some practice with the bedpan we can manage things ourselves if she wants to slip away. I doubt she will do it, but I've been wrong before.
The war appears to be at a stalemate, though I hope the current situation represents a slow motion turnaround. The Russians have given it their all and they simply have not succeeded. Time is not on their side. They are quite totally out of friends and allies. They are running out of munitions. The soldiers are less and less willing to keep going. New conscripts are increasingly hard to find. The ethnic Russian civilian population is becoming disenchanted. Recruiters fishing for volunteers among the ethnic minorities in the hinterlands, offering $2000 a month to sign up, are not finding a vast number of takers.
Meanwhile, from all I observe Ukrainians are resolute about keeping up the battle. Morale in Kyiv is high. Here's a note from a friend – names and places in southern Ukraine changed to keep them out of harm.
As you know xxxxx's mother is in Russian-occupied Ukraine. The people are resisting occupation in very creative ways. Here are a few examples:
1. No one in the local area will take the Mayor position - it has been offered to many collaborators but none have taken the position.
2. All Russian government notices seem to have splattered black paint or ink, so they are not readable.
3. All the Russian flags on government buildings, schools, hospitals, and banks are under guard - however if the guard takes a break or leaves the Ukraine flag takes its place.
4. The price of goods at the local market is very low (for example 1 Kg of Strawberries is 15 UAH) because there is no market to send them to.
5. The Russians are arriving just as farmers complete harvesting for the day, take the harvest at gun point, and send it to Crimea.
6. Farmers are now watching out for who is watching them and they stage accidents or for example, seed crops that are ready to harvest they set them alite and let the Russian army come to put it out. The already gathered seed is taken out in the confusion.
7. In the markets there are fruits that have had needles put in them and randomly they are added to sales to Russian soldiers and collaborators.
8. Many farmers are just outright burning their crops creating black clouds that attract military units to engage in firefighting thus helping the war effort.
9. @DRDRE is either a meme or actual cosmetic surgery practice which advertises breast implants that are decorated with camouflage or with the Russian flag on the implant. A second ad by a young woman explains the pride she feels in having the Russian flag so close to her heart as she grabs a hold of her enhanced breast (no nudity) and walks off into the sunset.
10. The internet is no more in regards to mobile users however, it seems people who are hardwired into the internet by cable still are able to contact outside of the Russian-controlled zones. This is how we talk to Margarita's mother she goes over to the neighbour and she uses their limited wifi.
11. Free sim cards are being passed out to connect with a Russian mobile service and as I understand it sim cards are taken and put in public trash bins some distance away.
12. A taxi driver picks up young drunk Russian soldiers and drives them miles away from where they want to end up. It seems not far from Ukraine's front lines and points them in the Ukraine direction as he drives away letting the drunk soldiers believe they are only a short walk to where their camp is.
I have had a few laughs with this but I will admit I have shed a tear or two as well.
That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the man of the house is grateful to remain strong enough for the tasks that come his way, the good-looking woman expresses her appreciation for that, and the children are relishing the summer weather.
Sad to hear of the hip fracture. At his age there is no point to much of a repair. From now on likely wheelchair bound, diapered care and fairly quick end. Downhill future. Muscle atrophy becomes faster. Facing this with a relation myself and personally terrified of a similar fall. There will be some hard times ahead and having family around will be essential. The children are what is important, as you know. They will need to understand what is happening. Quite sorry.
Interesting. I can't remember the last time I saw someone wearing a mask. It's just been forgotten, almost like it was all a hysterical fad that has fallen out of fashion. I wonder what new fad will replace it.