Kiev, Ukraine

At St. Volodymyr's with old friend from Catonsville.

In the doldrums of March, this mom needed a little time away. A trip to Kiev was just what the doctor ordered. Time with an old friend, time at the temple, time spent visiting new sacred sites, and lots of alone time completely rejuvenated my grey winter.

With pushy green animal.

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

Ascending Arselnalna, the world's deepest metro station.

Big 4

Four years old, and all four birthdays in Georgia.

Impromptu feast

Our friend N from church wanted to cook our family a traditional meal from his country, Iraq. We were on board before we knew what we had signed up for. Turns out we were preparing a feast to feed an army, so we called in a few friends for reinforcements.

N turned out to be quite the taskmaster. He required obedience at his beck and call at the stove, sink, cutting board, oven, or whatever else caught his fancy. He sent my husband back to the corner market three (3!) times.

Here, our friends demonstrate the oppression under which they are operating.

Clearly, less pressure was put on the outside barbecue crew.

When it was done, we had obscene amounts of food. This is about half.

But the salad,

hummous,

barbecued chicken,

roast chicken,

and chicken/pasta/potato/rice concoction were delicious.

Doggie bags for all! Good times.