We Have a New Pet! My Daughter's Rescue Kitten.

Just two days before going back to the city from the summer house in  a remote village, we found this creature. My daughter saw her at the beach and came to pet, and the kitten followed her. I thought it was our neighbours', but no - nobody claimed the poor thing. Nobody expressed the desire to take her, too.

Malnourished and dirty, but full of courage and incredibly cuddly - she starts purring before you start petting her - she won our hearts immediately. My daughter was very sad that someone could throw the baby cat away, she just could not believe someone could do it on purpose. "Most likely, she is just lost! Wandered away!". Of course, I don't believe a small kitten would have wandered away from her mother. Most likely, someone decided to get rid of her.



We just kept feeding her and cuddling with her to make her feel safe and protected. My daughter was hopeful that we could keep the kitten, but I had my doubts. We live in apartment in the city, no garden or yard, and we have a large dog. Can we keep the cat or her life would be deficient?

I do some volunteer work as a photographer for a rescue, and I know that it is not easy to find good families for kittens. There are just too many. Actually, I also know that I can adopt out almost any animal (without grave issues), but it takes time and promotion efforts. Sometimes it takes months. So, keeping or giving away?

 

We did keep her, after consulting between ourselves. She does not need much space or food; as for the boring life in the apartment, we will try to make up for that by frequent visits to the summer house and maybe some walks in the city parks later (the latter is dangerous, too much infection). Right now her life is not boring, she keeps exploring the flat and terrorising the dog. My Malinois with jaws of steel is extremely tolerant and clearly the kitten is safe with him.

We call her Wing Chun - Chinese martial art. She moves softly and strikes hard like Yip Man. In these photos, she is still very thin and her eyes are sad. She has gained weight now and looks much happier, I will share new photos soon.

I am quite happy about my daughter's behaviour. At 10, she already understands that pets need to be cared for, every day, consistently, and that a responsible and good person would never abandon a pet. She cleans the litter box and feeds her "baby"; they play and sleep together. So, probably keeping the kitten was not a bad idea. The dog's life is not boring, too.

Russian Scarf For a Picky Girl

My daughter is very picky about her clothing, so when she asked for a Russian scarf I knew I had a problem. I told her that I needed some time to think and choose. As she is just nine, I did not want a very classic looking scarf, and certainly not a black or red one. I was looking for something more subtle, to go well with grey and beige shades that she loves. Finally, I found this: Amber Evening ("Янтарный вечер"), a smaller sized scarf (34 inches or 89 cm), which seems to fill the bill. Its soft grey background and orangey-creamy roses look good with Madina's own subtle colours.

What I especially love about Russian shawls is their versatility. It suddenly became cold? Cover your head with it!

..And when it becomes warm again, you can just drape it around your shoulders. Or fold it and put into your purse. My daughter is an expert now, and she is the only girl in her class who has a scarf like this - not something synthetic.

I do not have a scarf like this for sale, but I have many others in my Etsy shop.

Silk Damask Made into a Casual Top

Silk damask is often seen as only fit for very formal gowns. Something long, narrow and stiff: beautiful, but not to be worn every day. Chinese gowns, in particular. I have been wanting one for years, but I know I would not wear it much. However, it can be used to produce something very easy to wear, too - like this sleeveless shell. My mother used beautiful vintage silk damask to make this little blouse for my sister. Katherine adores it and wears it a lot, to the great dismay of my daughter who hopes to inherit it in good condition. But then, damask is so sturdy - she does not need to be upset. The top still looks new despite extensive wear. It can be dressed up or down.

You can order a similar one here.

These are the pieces of damask fabric that we have in stock right now.

Our Walk in Botanical Gardens

We have had a wonderful walk in the Botanical Garden today. It is still almost bare, but beautiful nonetheless, with plenty of new fresh grass, violets and some trees in bloom. Those trees stand out against the dark brown and gray background and it is a lovely view.

Right after the entrance, we were greeted by the arrow-wood. I have never seen it in bloom before, because I do not go to the Garden that early in the spring. Next year I will. The arrow-wood has the most wonderful fragrance.

My daughter and sister skated around. Madina (daughter) is still getting used to these after the child's model she used before (with wheels in two rows) and falls from time to time. But overall she is doing well. Has not hurt herself, and enjoyed the ride.

I spent several minutes with the violets, still covered in raindrops after the night rain...



...and then ran to catch up with the others.



Then I was delayed by this lovely tree. I am not even sure what it is. Looks a bit like cherry tree...

This... I do not know what this is, either. The white ones are lady's purse, and what about the blue ones? We have a lot of these in the cemetery, they always seem gloomy to me, but here in the meadow they appeared more cheerful.

We played frisbee, and then I took a break to take a couple of photos.

Madina's emotions are priceless! She is 8 years old now.

Katherine is always cool, calm and collected. With her Black Belt in Taekwondo, she has stunning muscles. She was awarded the belt just recently. Katherine is 14 now.

...And after play the family decided to have a rest on the grass.





I think Madina does look quite like her Papa, especially with this grumpy look.

Why buy a pillow when the Papa is there?

...And then it was time to go home. These several hours were very well spent, and we agreed to visit the Gardens again in a couple of weeks to see new flowers that will be there by then.

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Our Sunday Morning in the Park

We have had a wonderful Sunday! In the morning, I went to the bazaar and bought some lovely vintage silk with ikat pattern, several beautiful vintage rugs to make pillows and two new old stock dresses from ikat silk. I am very happy with my finds! All of them and "the items thereof" will soon be listed in our Etsy shop, Mulberry Whisper.

Then we went to the park all together - my husband, Madina and myself. Madina tried the inline skates for the first time; before, she only used the four wheelers. She adapted fast, and soon was circling around us.

Madina and Jahongir are racing. Surprisingly, my husband can run quite fast and I was very impressed.

I envy her stamina, it is very hard to wear her down. She can play actively for hours.

After some playing at the ground, we played frisbee, and I have no photos because I was playing, too. It is a lot of fun! Two little boys ran over to join us, and they were hilarious to play and communicate with. The larger one (about 6 years' old) kept punching, pushing and beating the smaller one (probably about 5). The small one would yell and cry, and the larger one would then respond in a very business-like way: "Okay I am sorry". Then everything repeated again within a couple of minutes. It looked like a well established pattern and was very funny. I did try pacifying them but to no avail, and that is none of my business, anyway.

They also invented their own scoring system and kept proclaiming themselves the winning team called The Awful Ghost, which greatly appaled our daughter ("They can't throw well! They can't catch! What does it mean - "we are the winners"?).

Finally we thought that the three kids needed some drill to learn to handle frisbee better, and asked them to stand in line and catch the disc, and we would be keeping the score. The boys did not like the idea, as it seemed too difficult to them, and the smaller one said: "We do not intend to take part in this ridiculous activity!" (zic!). Without further discussion, they turned their backs at us simultaneously and retreated to the playgound. We just had to laugh again.

When leaving the park, I discovered a patch of violets and hung on there for a couple of minutes, enjoying their sweet fragrance mixed with the scents of moist warm earth, dead leaves, new grass... spring is in the air.

The Paper Laptop of Our Poor Girl

I guess our family could face charges of children abuse and neglect. Can you imagine, our 8 years' old daughter has no laptop, no tablet, no iPad, no iPhone, no smartphone, nor even the most basic mobile phone. The poor child has to read paper books, draw on paper, play real toys and go to a real Taekwondo club, where she exercises in real life, instead of making a computer character sweat for her. How cruel!

So, because she is so deprived of electronic toys, she made for herself this laptop, using an empty candy box as a basis. Are my readers crying already? Can I use this for a fund raising petition to get some money and buy her a real laptop? Look at all the painstakingly drawn details, from the floral wallpaper to the keyboard and folders on the desktop.

The folders are as follows: Work, Photos, Films, Internet and Other. I just had to admire this attention to details; she also has not missed a single letter in the alphabet, and she did everything on her own, without even asking advice. This paper gadget was shown to me with great pride and came as a surprise.

And this is the exterior of this unique paper laptop. By the way, very nice souffle sweets, these were. They are traditionally called "Bird's Milk" here. This is to indicate that they are amazingly, unreally delicious, like nothing in the real world. Back in Soviet times, we had souffle cakes under this name.

...But, seriously, I think it that limiting child's screen time is not a bad idea. We are doing that on purpose, because we are seeing too many computer- or phone-obsessed children around. We want Madina to live in the real world and to be able to use the gadgets when she needs, and not the other way round - living in the virtual space and only eating and going to the toilet and doing chores as necessary. She does not seem to suffer without electronic devices, though, and we read a lot and play table games. We have several - Spot it!, Sleeping Queens, Moose in the House, Rat-a-Tat-Cat, Quirkle and Sсrabble and some others, and enjoy them.

What do you think? Do you like her laptop? Would you limit your child's screen time?

Snow Fun with the Dog and Sleighs

Last year we bought a weight pulling harness for the dog to make winter even more fun. My daughter loves her little sleighs, and I thought that some additional exercise would be beneficial for Jager, so I did some research and bought this harness. Obviously, for sleighs like this - small ones, where the rope is fastened at a low level - you need weight pulling harness rather than the more professional sledding harness. A professional sled harness is for taller sleighs, and the vector of effort there goes in parallel with the ground like here:

(source: www.windchill.com.au)

Obviously, with the children's sleighs like ours, it would be uncomfortable and even damaging for the dog, because there will be a very large pressure on the croup. All that pulling effort actually should go evenly and smoothly to the sleigh, without pressing too hard on any spot on the dog's body, so for our needs a weight pulling harness was the best, according to the professional advice. You can see that there is no pressure on the tail area if the dog pulls. The load distributes evenly to the dog's back. 

This is a cleverly made and inexpensive harness that fits well. I bought it on Ebay from there very nice and helpful US sellers - 5kpetproducts. They make these harnesses themselves with a number of other products, and helped me choose the size properly.

We have had lots of fun with it last year; we even gave a ride to my younger brother...

...only he was not very good at driving this vehicle and got lost somewhere on the way. 

I could not see any difference in the physical shape of the dog, frankly. He is fully grown and, while I think such workouts are beneficial for him, I do not believe they can make his chest wider or muscles bulkier. That was just time well spent. 

If you have a large-size adult strong, healthy and energetic dog, you can try this, too - chances are you will both enjoy playing like this in the snow. And then, who knows, you might become a fan of weight pulling or sledding! Just make sure that you start with empty sleighs and increase the load gradually, and be patient while teaching the dog. 

Vintage Photo - Girl with a Kitten

This is a vintage photo I have found ages ago, so I do not remember the source, sorry. I just love how these two look together; they look comfortable. The kitten is alert but I think it is the photographer and not the girl who is making him somewhat tense. This girl is lovely with her windswept hair and she seems to look straight into my eyes. Her dress and booties are adorable, and overall she is such a nice child that I feel like hugging her. 

And just imagine that the photo was taken so many years ago, she has long grown up and died (hopefully at an old age and with lots of grandchildren she survived by)! I cannot say I just love vintage photos because sometimes they make me sad; I can say that they attract and fascinate me. 

On Dogs and Children. And Happy Holidays to Everyone!

My daughter Madina and my Malinois Jager became best of friends during the last year or so. When she was smaller, she would often feel jealous because I spent quite a lot of time with the dog, too. Besides, she could not really do much with him - he was too strong for her to play with. Of course Jager was always extra careful with her, because we explained to him in a very persuasive way that he should not hurt the human child, but that meant they would not play - he would prefer to keep away. Now they weight about the same - Jager being much stronger of course, but still, it is easier now for them to interact. They play games - for instance, Madina hides toys for him to seek. She is also now very skilful in petting him - she used to be somewhat clumsy before.

All in all, I am very happy about how they go together - my 8 years' old daughter and my 4 years' old Malinois from a working kennel in the Netherlands, a very serious dog who can be quite dangerous and make great harm to a person (which is basically what he is bred for - protection work). We did our best to ensure they both understand how to treat each other and have a clear hierarchy - the human child is more important and is never to be harmed. So, now they are a great team, but I always keep an eye on them to ensure safety. I do not leave them alone if I leave home and put the dog into the crate, just in case; this is not even so much because I do not trust the dog, but who knows what the child might invent while I am not looking? 

These are just some thoughts which came to my mind while I was looking for an appropriate photo for the New Year Wishes. So, now come the wishes! 

Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you peace, love, great health, prosperity, cool adventures and lots of fun! Take a good care of yourself, your family and pets, and enjoy life! 

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, Illustrated by Kalinovsky

Now I have the privilege of owning this amazing book - Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There with illustrations by Gennady Kalinovsky, an eminent Soviet (Russian) artist. I collect books with his works, and this one is a pearl of my collection. No, not even a pearl. A Cullinan diamond!

I am sure no one needs extended comments and explanations, as everyone has read the book. If you have not, or if you have forgotten - read it! It is a true masterpiece. I have read a good review of the illustrations today and it said that probably the book was so fascinating and outstanding not because it was clever, full of chess and mathematics and absurdities and curiosities, but because it was full of love for the girl, and these illustrations do reflect that love and desire to take care. I think this might be true. And although Alice is not as pretty here as in some other books, she is very touching, vulnerable and alive. And all the creatures are of course immensely cute! The White Queen is so helpless and silly, and the Black Queen is condensed fury and determination. My favourite one, however, is Alice in the boat, floating among flowers and lights. It is pure magic and I love it.

Yes, some people still need and want paper books. Just look at this magic of lines and shades. And imagine a child reading this, and his or her imagination working, transforming this into a different reality, playing with the words and images - instead of just watching a bright movie, as simple as fast food.

These are the illustrations which are clickable - enjoy! I have not scanned them, but found them here.