A baketful of kittens

We've been planning this for a long time. Since Kira, the Master of the house, whom I've known since elementary school, died peacefully at the venerable age of eighteen, there hasn't been another pet in Mom's house. We are all cat-lovers, and the place felt rather empty with only humans living in it. 

(The Master)

So this Easter we decided to make a breakthrough. 

The recipe of utter happiness has proved dead simple: take two kittens, place in a basket, pass around until hearts melt and start to simmer. 

These two are brothers, and they come from Narva, which is the other end of the country (our country being in fact a tiny one, it's not as impressive as it sounds)))))

The big cats were appalled, and hissed, and hid themselves until these menacing strangers had been removed from the premises. 

We now have five cats in two families. The impact of cuteness is almost unbearable! :)

Amber Falls

Easter Sunday was sunny, warm and busy, tinged with blue, gold and white. 

First, we went to the cemetery to put the candles and plant fresh flowers. Ironically, the graves looked bright and festive: flowers, eggs, candy and pieces of Easter cake were laid out on most of them, and people were working all around, cleaning, planting, sometimes even drinking wine, the living and the deceased celebrating together. 

And after that we went to see the waterfalls, now fully awaken from their winter slumber. The water, having broken through the icy barricades, is roaring madly, leaping over the rocks, twirling and splashing, with rainbows rising above the haze. 

We even climbed down the slopes to the very brink above the water, Maestro hunting for a better angle. It proved ruinous for the shoes, but a lot of fun!

I could not get enough of the view. After the black-and-white winter, the colours are so breathtakingly vivid: the deep velvet blues of the river, the blazing white flakes of foam, the delicious golden flow of honey and amber, rich and thick, and radiant.

And then we went home and got some cats :)

Tousled Tulips

This morning, when drinking coffee, I left the window open just to listen to the birds. The wind is still chilly, but they're warbling cheerfully, in a sweet spring polyphony. 

These are some shaggy-haired tulips from my table. When I was byuing them, I said: "They're strange!", and the saleswoman exclaimed: "No, they're not! They're wondrous!"

And here's a piece of breakfast: lemon tart by Joanne Harris' recipe, rich, and sunnt, and bitter-sweet. 

It's going to be a sunny day. 

The Strange Folk

I didn't know at all what I wanted to see on this drawing, so I just let it shape itself. I guess, it decided to remind me of the approaching Easter: the Strange Folk carrying Easter eggs.

Details:

I think I'll do some more in the same style. Wonder what they'll look like :)

A bowl of sweets

Last weekend I took my sketchbook with me and, while everyone else was busy snapping the shutters of their photo cameras (I love the sound) I did some sketches of the places of our rest. This one is from Josephine.

A porcelain bowl of truffles in blue and red foil, and waffles wrapped in cellophane. 

Visual scraps

These several weeks (God, how the time flies!) were not filled only with dread and anticipation. We also went out with the camera, and I got to see the places I have never been to in our town, and see the familiar parts from a different perspective.

Here, I'll just post a coulpe of photos taken by Maestro.

This one was taken during his night watch, and he's really proud of it. No Photoshop :)

Swans in the bay. Already it is hard to believe there was ever snow on the ground.

The church of St. Nicholas seen from behind the sity wall.

The church of St. Olaf of Norway.

The Holy Ghost Street.

The roofs and towers seen from the gallery on top of the city wall.

Coffee in "The Comet".

A building in the modern part pf the city, beautiful in its ugliness. I love these old shabby wretches that look like they're part of the landscape, and not something man-made.

Interior of our favorite Josephine Cafe.

Me :)

Vita brevis... Brevis indeed! :)

It seems I haven't posted for ages, being totally absorbed with the offline life. I wish I could say the time since the last post has been spent wisely on creative projects, but the sad fact is that it was wasted on fidgeting and being nervous, and nagging my nails, and then sleeping for total 16 hours because the body just couldn't cope anymore.

Anyway, now I can finally relax a bit and admire the results of all the hectic activity. Which are: Maestro and I have changed our jobs, and both on the same day! I really can't relate how relieved I will be when the new contracts are finally signed.

Changing one's job might not be a big deal for a lot of you people out there, but in a tiny country with 20% unemployment rate and some unpleasant nationalistic issues it just might become a problem. To begin with, we were both lucky just to have a job, even if it wasn't a job of our dreams: me working at a trade school, and him being a security guard (instead of an IT engineer, which is actually his profession). I've been sending tons of CVs in three languages during the last two years, and the seeds have finally started to sprout.

If all goes well, he'll be back in the IT business next month, and I'm going to move to a high school in September.

I did have my scruples, though. In the moments of weakness it seemed dishonourable to flee my present field of battle and leave the future welders and automotive technicians in favor of the future managers and business owners. On the other hand, I am rather tired of attempting to put the fear of God into the drug addicts and adolescent alcoholics. Not all the boys are that bad, naturally, but the general atmosphere in the place is that of hormones and abuse, and since I started working here Maestro has suggested more than once to come and break a couple of juvenile jaws because of the things I had to hear.

These lost souls ought to be saved from the total wreckage of their life. However, it will not be done by me.

Right then, enough whining for one entry :)