Snowpocalypse

The snow finally stopped falling in Kyiv last Sunday night, but not until 40 million tons of snow fell from the sky making it the biggest snowfall in 100 years!  The density of the snowfall was unbelievable. 

I don't think snow could ever stop Ukrainians.  They are amazing.  They charged through the snowstorm, battled the elements, skied down Andrevsky Spusk, abandoned trains to walk home across train trestles, pushed buses out of the way, delivered Domino's pizza, brought out the tanks, manned the food markets.  You can read more about the crazy weekend and see photos by clicking HERE.

Monday the city was shut down and you could hear the grinding noise of snowplows and the scraping of shovels everywhere.  A lot of people worked very hard to start clearing this snow even while it was still snowing.  I saw the police and the army out clearing the sidewalks.  I also saw volunteers who traveled around the city digging, shoveling and helping people who needed it.

It's still near freezing here and spring seems a long way off. 

Waiting For Spring

It's not spring here yet. I have been perusing my favorite blogs around the blogosphere and many are sharing photos of the beginning of spring. Flowers, trees blooming, no snow, lots of sunlight. Here in Ukraine it is STILL snowing and COLD. I took this photo two days ago to highlight what it looks like here now. It was a lot prettier looking in color, but I did not realize that I had my camera set on black and white and I don't do total post editing processing and add fake color, etc. (read photography snob) You can't see the outdoor ice rink in front of the church builidng, but it's still there today and people are still skating outside on it!

Be Thankful For Life

This week was supposed to not be a busy one as most of our leaders are off in another city teaching at an "Ukraine Without Orphans" conference. I wanted to spend the extra time writing for my blog as it seems I have not had enough intellectual energy lately to write posts. Then life got in the way here, I got bad news from home and also was feeling physically down as I have been fighting a cold off all week. Everything will be fine, but sometimes you have to take some time out to appreciate life and the people whom God has blessed you to go through life with.

So, yesterday I took a long walk even though I didn't feel like I wanted to be outside. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Some rain, but sunshine between times. The leaves are changing here so here's some photos to give you an idea of how beautiful it is. We have to soak up the sunshine and colors while we can!

Kyiv Days

Every year Kyiv celebrates itself with a weekend called, "Kyiv Days." Its a great time to get out in the amazing weather and walk around and enjoy the city. Artists and crafts people from all over Ukraine congregate on the famous St. Andrew's street to sell their work.

Lots of paintings are displayed. Some amazing, some not so amazing.

If you look carefully, you might find a bargain.

I Like To Take Photos

If you haven't noticed, I like to take photos. I've shot all the photos on this blog's sidebar. I like street style photography and end up taking a lot of photos as I go to and fro around Kyiv. I am still getting the hang of what I will post on this blog as it is new to me.....so, I decided to post some of my favorite photos from April. Let me know in the comment section if this is interesting to you or not or what subjects you might like to see in future photo posts.