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Gabby's
Visit
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Home Diaries Best Pictures Road Trip
Gabby's
Visit
September 1, 2001
Dear Family,
Today's story is of the summer highlight -- Gabby's visit. (This goes to family so we can still say "Gabby" - otherwise it's the more grown up "Gabrielle". To family, kids are always kids.)
First, there's the standard Mom-hug at the airport. Gabby's a real veteran arriving at Borispol International so the arrival was worry-free. Despite the ten-hour time zone change, we gave her no rest on the first day and started with a small (3-day late) birthday party.
For dinner that evening, Marianne had made dinner reservations for us on a boat run by one of our favorite Ukranian restaurants. We had been meaning to go out on the Chaika for a couple years and now we had two birthdays to celebrate. Mine is the day before Gabby's -- but I'm more of a veteran at birthdays. Much more. Anyway, we invited our friends Marv and Marilyn Wodinsky and had a wonderful three hour dinner cruise on the Dniper River. It was really quite fun and I was surprised by all the river traffic we saw. It was mostly party boats I guess but a few work boats and then there was one that looked like a PT boat from the Scandinavian navy. I guess we were invaded and didn't even notice.
Before Gabby and our friends Roger and Kathleen got here, Marianne and I had been doing pretty well on cutting back our eating. I figure I won't even fit in the new car unless I lose some pounds. Of course, with guests, dieting tends to get lost. And when friends like Marilyn are good cooks, and invite us over for a wonderful meal, our memory of eating properly completely disappears. Must have been a "senior moment".
If you've read our last diary, you know we all went to Lviv and Gabby was indeed part of the group of foreign tourists who ran in front of a train to catch our ride. Here she is in Lviv armed with a camera like all good tourists should be.
After we all got back home and waved Roger and Kathleen goodbye at Borispol, Gabby, Marianne and Marilyn went out to "the Canadian dacha" for an afternoon in the countryside. Marv is with the Canadian embassy and they have a group of people who support a country place as an escape from the big city.
Now back home, the word "dacha" calls up an image of wonderful summer cabin with trees, fireplace, gardens, servants and luxury. Around here, the truth is more humble.. Also the local transportation is not as fancy as a new Ford F-150 pickup truck. Almost everyone has access to a dacha, either their own, their parents' or some relatives'. Sometimes the purpose of the dacha is to relax but more often the main purpose is to grow food - particularly potatoes. In the old days, this could make a life-or-death difference to a family. That may still be the case in truly rural parts of Ukraine but around Kyiv the dacha garden seems to be as much tradition as necessity.
Of course if you are just foreign dignitaries out for an afternoon, the work is pretty light.
Gabby's visit ended too quickly. One or two more diet-breaking parties and she was off on her return to California. This time the goodbyes were not too sad since mom will follow daughter in a couple weeks.
That's our family summer.
Take care. Do good. Avoid evil.
John and Marianne
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Emailed Sept. 1. Put on website Sept. 2, 2001
This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.