Kilomenskoe - a park along the Moscow River was beautiful. Here Alexander the 1st had an estate. We attended an exhibition in one of the remaining buildings from the original palace. We saw a lot of young mothers with small children; something you don't see in Moscow much. Notice the puffy hem of the bride's skirt. We saw the puffy skirt (my term) all over the city. It reminded me of a parachute, but was very popular among Muskovites.
Hinchcliff Mischief
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
This is Ray's apartment complex in Naryan-mar. His apartment is quite comfortable with modern features. Naryan-mar is north of Moscow; 2 hours 40 minutes by plane. The following pictures are from my recent trip there. Ray's typical day here starts around 5:00 a.m. It is either daylight all the time or dark all the time. I would find that the hardest thing to get used to. A driver in a Land Cruiser picks him up and drives him to the office or the airport. He usually makes two trips a week to the field for meetings and inspections. What a way to make a living!!!
This nice building is where Ray works. The name of the company is Naryanmarniftygas (just like it is spelled). I got a chance to help Anna with an English class and then had lunch with Ray. I had to turn in my passport to walk through the door. If the Vice-President of ConocoPhillips came, he would have to do the same.
Orphanage we visited with about 36 children ages 0-3 years. The building was old but clean with bright colors on the walls. The children seemed well taken care of, but it was still sad for me to see. We played with the children two times. When you are throwing a ball and giving them a hug, they don't seem to mind if it is in English. Picture here is Anna who works for ConocoPhillips. She grew up in the area and was our guide while in Naryan-mar.
Cherie playing the tunes. Believe it or not, Ray has a grand piano in his Moscow apartment. The deal was if he took the apartment, he had to keep the piano there. When I was visiting last year the piano was so out of tune, I didn't want to play. So I hinted that it would be nice to be tuned for my next visit. Ray was true to his word and it plays lovely. Now the piano at home needs a tune, so I'd better make that call.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Dayna with her new favorite hat and Bridger making a pose. The following pictures were taken at the 2008 Smith Family Reunion held in Wallowa Lake, Oregon. The scenery was beautiful, but the company was even better. It was a reunion that took us back to real camping, and except for my meeting the bathroom rat, fun was had by all. We enjoyed the fireworks on the Lake when we parked along the road, took out our chairs and got the best view in the house to celebrate the 4th of July.