Quarantine Bloglette: Spring n Moscow

I'm living through one of the upsides to spending this pandemic in Moscow, instead of our home in Vlaidvostok. I get to see spring emerge here. Well, I get to see spring emerge within the compound.

Friday, I delivered a May Basket with chocolate, flowers and hand cream to my neighbor.

Saturday, Douglas and I sat outside and drank Mint Juleps with our neighbor in honor of Derby Day.

I saw the first tulip in full bloom - salmon/orange with streaks of yellow. Lovely

Yesterday, we had the first spring thunderstorm, encouraging all the other bulbs to bloom.

I gave each of those their own paragraph not to make this post look longer, but to give them each their space. Each of those was such an event unto itself for me: the preparation of and anticipation of delivering the May basket; sitting outside having a rare conversation with more than one person while sipping a yummy drink with many fond memories attached; the tulip doesn't need me to make it look good any more than any of nature does.

I'll share the mint julep memories, then leave you with some artwork.

Mint julep memory #1: Douglas and I were in New Orleans. He attending a conference, and I was alternately reading Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice and wandering the city doing things like singing What a Wonderful World to Louis Armstrong's statue. He scheduled a couple extra days to sight-see and we toured a couple of plantations. As we walked to the entrance to Oak Alley Plantation (Oak Alley Plantation), we were met in the parking lot by another couple who gave us tickets to attend a concert that afternoon on the lawn. The New Orleans Symphony played in the shade of the oaks. They served mint juleps in very large stadium cups. What a joy.

The second happened at the Renaissance Festival in Minnesota. We had a themed potluck one Friday evening before the start of a big weekend. I don't remember the theme, but I brought mind juleps. I didn't exactly follow a recipe, I just mixed a bottle of bourbon with a bottle of creme de menthe, added ice, shook and sat it out for all to enjoy. One of the royal guards really enjoyed it that evening. He didn't enjoy it so much the next day. He kept saying, "Mint juleps are a sssssipping drink."

Here are a couple of paintings I saw displayed in a window on the compound. They were painted by one of the Embassy staff in honor of Easter. The reflection of the glass made it difficult to get a really good picture. (That and the fact that all I have to make photographs is my phone.) I did the best I could.