After a long hiatus - written in Bucharest

Picture one is a chicken breat sauteed with herbs with a rich herb pesto, a side of rice with vegetables
Picture two is chicken meatballs in a savory tomato-onion sauce with a side of steamed buckwheat
Picture three is a bottle of Morshynska sparkling water
Picture four is orange wedges sort of arranged as a spider

I haven't written for a couple of weeks.  I quite frankly have felt lousy with significant fatigue and light-headedness.  I finally suspected that it was medication induced.  The cardiologist supposed to be working on my blood pressure switched three meds just before I left the country.  One of them was a potentially potassium depleting diuretic.  I stayed on my two original meds and discontinued two.  I started eating bananas daily and within a few days noticed improvement.  Today so far I've had no episodes and my blood pressure is under pretty good control.

After the distressingly violent attempts to hold Pride in Kiev and the discussions in Parliament about "gay  propaganda" laws which would make it illegal to even say the word "gay" or any related word, most of my time was spent with friends trying to encourage and support.  I became closer to Jenia and Kate and had some wonderful meals with friends.


We had two three day weekends in a row.  First for Kiev Days celebrating 1530 years of existence.  I spent two wonderful days of wandering  with Sergei and then we had the Feast of the Holy Trinity which is a national holiday.  One of the customs is to bring arms full of greens (especially a kind of rushes that when walked on give a pleasant aroma).  When friends arrived for liturgy on Sunday, they strewed greens all over the floor of every room. Untypically I sat for worship because I felt terrible.  After my friends left, i rested for a while and made my slow way to Glossary for a meal.  I decided to break my routine.  When I told Jenia that I would not have cabbage salad, he shouted to the chef - "He's not having cabbage salad!!!!"  Everyone laughed.  I asked Jenia to make me a fresh fruit smoothie with bananas and then had a poached salmon dish.  Within an hour I noticed that I felt better than I had.  When I walked home, i had little weakness and walked pretty fast.  That's when I stopped taking the potassium-depleting diuretic.

On Tuesday morning, Jenia and Kate picked me up after they stopped at Glossary to pick up breakfast-to-go for me.  They took me to the airport.  I got there at 11 for a 1 o'clock flight which was listed "on-time".  I got to the gate and found that it was going to be delayed so I broke out my "breakfast".  It was cabbage salad, savory chicken meatballs, and steamed buckwheat.   I was, in the end, glad for it because the flight never left until 4:45 arriving in Bucharest at 6:30.  Poor Florin had been waiting since 3.  We checked me into my hotel and went out to a rather fancy restaurant for dinner.  We had a private dining room (private in the sense that we were the only ones in that particular room).  We had a cream of potato soup, vine leaves stuffed with strong male sheep with mamaliga (polenta) and a profiterole for dessert, topped off with cappuccino.  That was it for me.  I slept like a rock.   I'll pick up Thursday later. The pics at the top are of Glossary favorites.

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