Up and Down and All Around

This story is mainly for my kids--because I didn't get any pictures and they know what the pechka is. Maybe next time I'm there, at Osikova, I can.

In traditional, old Ukrainian cottages, heating was done with wood or coal. Often a special fireplace stands in the wall between two rooms. This is called a "grooba."
Another kind of fireplace was made more for cooking. The black witches' pots that you see in fairy tales are still used in this kind of fireplace. On top of the fireplace is a high, wide, plastered, brick platform. This fireplace is called a pechka. The elderly, the children and the sick would have the privilege of sleeping on a heated bed when they slept on the platform.

When we met our visitors last Monday, there was 1) a pastor from Iowa 2) a guitar player from Indiana, 3) a Ukrainian/American translator--in America for 10 1/2 yrs and 4) the pastor's 13-year-old grandson.

By the time we picked them up, got something to eat and visited Ramon, it was around 9 pm when we got to Osikova and on a chilly, damp evening. We drug out air mattresses. The Ukrainian asked me, "how do you work this thing"--referring to the grooba. We got the grooba going, heating the two rooms on either side of the wall. We gave the guests those two rooms. Dave and I chose to sleep on the pechka but we had no ladder or stool to use to climb up there. It's shoulder height and the air mattress stuck out over the end.

I climbed up on a chair. Dave made another step with his hands and I tried to pull myself/scramble up. It worked halfway!! The other half, Dave gave me a Winnie the Pooh type shove on over to the pechka and then mused . . . "now can I get up?" I'm sure a video clip of the shoving moment would have been pretty funny and embarrassing. Needless to say, we didn't make the effort for any more errands during the night.

After a semi-reasonable night's sleep, we got up to get breakfast for our guests the next morning. Then I discovered that I had left my glasses in a cubbyhole at the far end of the bed. Up went Dave a second time. He says I planned that, "special."

After delivering our visitors to the airport, we rushed home, making one stop in 300 miles. Wednesday we spent the day shopping in Nikolaev, doing this errand and that. Thursday we pushed our way through school and had a service in the village in the afternoon. Friday we had school and I tried to catch up on wash. By Saturday I was exhausted and that was the day we gave the kittens away. AND we ran out of water. AND it had been dreary and rainy all week. AND the kittens' mama has been wandering around the house crying plaintively day and night (from 2 am on). Needless to say, it wasn't a good time.

But now, it came to PASS and the water is on. The mama cat is still crying but not as much. School is going well today. It's cloudy but not raining. There's a beautiful picture I saw last night that I want to capture tonight. Maybe I'll work on finishing my quilt this evening.

PS. In the middle of youth camp Dave took off to help a fellow who had a van full of three boys, a load of produce and four baby pigs. The fellow and his wife just dropped in to get acquainted and to say thanks . . . with a bag of potatoes. Here are Sasha and Lena having tea. Sasha says he's read John Wesley's teachings and thinks they are very good.