Cat in a bag. Always a mystery.Сегодня последний день первого месяца лета. Как уже писал Даня, июнь в этом году выдался на диво дождливым, и сегодня не было исключением. Как-то незаметно пролетели дни — я до сих пор не успела осознать, что весна закончилась.

Shublik. Ball. Very sad.На прошлой неделе кастрировали Шублика. Стоило это “удовольствие” $261 (включая прививку от бешенства, анализы и таблетки). Данька очень переживал за кошака - думаю, больше чем я (тот факт, что Шубля относится к сильному полу на это мог повлиять). Жалко, конечно, было лишать животное яиц, но и оставлять его “целым” было нереально — страдал бы в результате и он, и мы. Пока что никаких изменений в характере не наблюдается — он такой же игривый и ласковый живчик, как и раньше.

Shublya vs. New York Times.По совету ветеринара мы временно заменили песок в его горшке на рваные газеты. Бубля теперь самый продвинутый котёнок в округе, ибо писает он не на что-либо, а на Wall Street Journal и New York Times (которые мне любезно подарил владелец маленького магазинчика волзе метро, когда я обьяснила зачем мне нужны “the cheapest newspapers you’ve got”). )

В субботу я снова покрасила волосы. Так как блондинкой быть мне что-то поднадоело, New hair color. Again...я выбрала светло-каштановый цвет. К сожалению, из-за того что мои волосы были выбелены-перевыбелены, краска с них смывается очень быстро. Парикмахер сказала, что для того чтобы цвет стал более менее постоянным, надо будет 3-4 раза их покрасить. Ну ничего — будем над этим работать! ) По-моему, новый цвет мне идёт.

В середине июня у Маруков родилась доченька, которую они назвали Эмануэль или просто Эмма. Два дня назад мы заходили к ним в гости посмотреть на это крохотное чудо. ) От всей души желаю ей рaсти здоровой, счаствливой и любимой!

Недавно дочитала на своём iPhone книгу “Little Women” написанную во второй половине 19 века американской писательницей Louisa May Alcott. Alena & Shublya.Когда-то я смотрела одноименный фильм, поставленный по роману, и впечатления у меня остались хорошими. Это и послужило основной причиной выбора данной книги для убиения времени в метро из бесплатного, но к сожалению очень ограниченного виртуального каталога.

Признаться честно, сперва книга совсем не пошла — казалась слишком наивной и нравоучительной. Но я быстренько втянулась в историю жизней четырёх сестер March, и получила удовольствие и от сюжета, и от языка.

Сегодня начала читать “Jane Eyre” (написанную конечно же Charlotte Brontë). Роман этот я неоднократно читала в более нежном возрасте, но, естественно, в переводе на русский язык. Чтение оригинала мне пока нравится — книга, конечно, идёт медленее, но и воспринимается как-то немного по-другому.
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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Shublya TV

Shublya TV presents. ) We have an hour worth of video of all kinds of tricks that Shublik does, but these short clips are probably the best.

The first one is Shublik trying to get to a piece of pineapple that is inside a clear box.

And this one is my favorite of the two. Towel stealing skills at work. He’s much better at this now and usually does this to every t-shirt he gets his eyes on.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009

Rain, Rain, Rain

Rain, rain, rain.The start of this summer has been “amazing”. It’s been raining for weeks now and it just keeps going. Next week weather forecast looks even worse. This is really strange and really atypical for New York.
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Saturday, June 6, 2009

Shublik and T-Shirts

Shublik stealing Alena's tank.Shublya really likes carrying our t-shirts around the apartment in his mouth and playing with them.

Shublik on the move with stolen property.Just yesterday after work I wasn’t able to find my pink VS tank which I was wearing in the morning. Shublik stole it from the chair where it was left hanging, and hid it someplace (I still have no idea where).

Playing and jumping around.Later that evening the shirt reappeared in the middle of the living room and happy Shublik was playing with it for a while.

More jumping. He keeps throwing it around.He also like to hide under the old puffy jacket of mine. Danya says that he can put Shublya under it with a toy — and the little creature can entertain himself for almost an hour. Funny! )

Sitting under a jacket. He climbed into it himself.
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Monday, June 1, 2009

Shublya’s New Toys

New toy and a new feather.Today we stopped by a local Petco to buy Shublya some food and have gotten some toys for him.

Checking out the new thing.His favorite is still the feather on a string. We got this thing for him on his first day and by now there was barely anything left of it. So we got a new feather and he’s been running all over the apartment today with the feather in his mouth.

Send the top ball flying.And then we also got him a new toy. There are 2 balls inside and a mouse on a spring.

And send the bottom one spinning.So far he seems to like it. He keeps sticking his paws in the holes and spinning the balls inside. Both must be moving at all times. Such a funny creature.
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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Shublik & iPhone, Part 2

iPhone after an unfortunate encounter with Shublik, The iPhone Destroyer.For those of you who were not convinced by Part 1 of our testing for Shublik & iPhone compatibility we present you conclusive evidence from Part 2 testing. Need more? I hope not!
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Friday, May 29, 2009

Svekolnik

Svekolnik. Alex missed it!Alex, you missed the first svekolnik of the season. Are you not ashamed of yourself? Are you? Was London really worth it? razz mrgreen
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Дама с Собачкой

Shublya with his favorite set of feathers.А я люблю прогуляться по квартире со своей собачкой. Такой маленькой, ушастой, зубастой, рыжей и пушистой собачкой.

Shublya walking around the apartment with Alena.Кто кого выгуливает — это, конечно, вопрос спорный…

Shublya with his feathers.
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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Manti

Making manti. Made all 70 of them, but 1.Yesterday mama agreed to make manti again. Usually Linka helps her out with making them, but she was gone this weekend. So in order to make this happen Alena and I helped. Mama was making the dough, Alena was loading it with meat and I am proud to say that I made all of them, but 1 — around 70 pieces.

My favorite meal of all time — manti (манты).Because I took such an important part in the process they came out especially good yesterday. Manti probably still is my favorite meal.

Shublik meets Rysya. Major hissing ensues.Also we took Shublik with us yesterday again. They got really close to each other with Rysya at one point and then had a starring and hissing competition for quite a while. It seems that Shublik has won since Rysya left first. Doesn’t seem like they want to be friends.
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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Star Trek

Movie tickets for screening of Star Trek.Last night we went to see Star Trek, which premiered in the theaters the day before (May 7th). We picked a small movie theater on Staten Island in hopes that it will be less crowded than the one close to our house. After a light dinner in Chinese buffet, we entered a theater 1 hour before the show. Theater personnel looked funnily at us and suggested to come 35 minutes later, reassuring us that we will be able to pick any seat in the house. And right they were. We were the first people who showed up for the screening. To our relief around 30 more people showed up later on. I really hope that this movie will do great and collect lots and lots of money, because this would stimulate the production of new Star Treks!

I REALLY enjoyed the movie. I think it is very well done, and both trekkies and people not familiar with the whole Star Trek Universe would like it. I think that the cast was excellent, the plot was interesting, and there was a lot of humor involved.

This Star Trek is the second star trek movie produced since Danya and I met each other. I remember that on our 7th date we went to watch Star Trek: Nemesis in some Manhattan movie theater. To be honest, I was not particularly impressed with the movie, since the ingredient of familiarity was missing. Little did I know that star trek will become part of my life! Danya and I watched all the TV shows that were produced, excluding thought the original series (we tried watching those, but could not endure more than a couple of episodes). It would be so awesome if this Star Trek movie grows into a TV show!
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Nasal Irrigation

My neti pot.A little less than a month ago I read an article in NY Times on the topic of so called nasal irrigation. The article stated the following:
Studies suggest that nasal irrigation can reduce sinus and allergy symptoms.
Oh, really?

Since I’ve been suffering from running/stuffed nose for over 4 weeks by that time and already had a nice Neti Pot presented to me by Maruks a number of years ago (which I never used before to be honest) — I had really nothing to lose, but everything to gain from testing out nasal irrigation.

I washed my nose with the saline solution twice a day for about 10 days. After just 2 days I felt a definite improvement, and in about a week I was as good as new. Here is a pretty good demonstration video of this procedure.

So… Yeah, really!
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Monday, May 4, 2009

Выходные

Sleepy Shublya greets us every time we get home.Выходные у нас прошло очень хорошо, по-семейному. В субботу Данины родители пригласили в гости знакомых (две пары), с которыми когда-то познакомились во время тура по Латинской Америке, а в воскресенье в гости приходил Арсен с подругой, мамой и сыном. Посидели хорошо и в субботу, и в воскресенье.

Знакомые Даниных родителей оказались очень приятными людьми со здоровым чувством юмора — мне было интерсно в их компании. Арсена я видела уже не первый раз, и пообщаться было тоже интерестно. Мы взяли с собой в гости Шублика — жалко было оставлять малявку одну дома — и, к нашему удивлению, мы увидели как наш кот шипит. Сначала он с интересом зашёл в квартиру и начал всё обнюхивать. Потом, когда он увидел Рысю, ситуация резко изменилась — шерсть на Шублике встала дыбом, он изогнулся, наклонился к полу под странным углом, и начал шипеть и рычать. Рыся тоже на него зашипела. Вобщем, Рысю он пока боиться, и старается держаться от неё подальше. В субботу он побыл в гостях всего час.

В воскресенье он побыл в гостях часов 6, и за это время успел нашипеть на всех гостей и членов семьи (за исключением нас, конечно). Думаю, стресс и страх послужили причиной такому поведению. Большую часть трапезы Шублик пролежал в столе; часть времени он провёл у меня на коленях. Мы угостили Шублика тушёным мясом, которое он заглотил с завидной скоростью (так же в ход пошла картошка).

Вообще мне всегда очень нравится общаться с Даниными родителями. Семья — это семья! Эх, жалко что Люда и мама так далеко…
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Friday, April 24, 2009

Shublik The Model

I really like the amber color of the eye. Although his eyes are not nearly as amber as his father's.I managed to take a few photos of Shublik’s eyes today. Normally it’s a hard task since he just does NOT sit still for a second, and today wasn’t any different.

This one is funny. He was playing with his "mouse", lost it, and switched to his paw.My trick was to use a lens with a focal length of 105mm at f/2.8 and a flash. This way I could stand far away and the amount of light allowed me to freeze his movement — very short exposures. The macro lens has performed well, I think.

"Mouse" hunt.I still had to discard most of the photos, but these 3 are the best of the series. Hope you like them too, as I’ve become very biased with things related to this little monster. teeth
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Some More About Shublik

Shublik getting ready to get fed.Our Shublik is getting bigger and heavier, but people — he is still tiny! For some reason on many pictures he appears bigger than he really is…

This creature loves to eat. We try to keep him on cat’s food, but let him experience other tastes from time to time. We gave him a little bit of meat the other day (fried on a pan with a bit of water and no spices) — within seconds it was gone! He managed to almost steal Danya’s fried egg on Sunday, and snatched a piece of white bread from the table today. Luckily for me, he can’t get on the counter top in the kitchen yet, but I fear that day when he’ll be trying to help me cook is not too far away.

Shublik is hungry.He likes to drink from all the places other than his bowl - bath tab, toilet bowl, my glass…

He has a peculiar urge to use his letterbox right after I start cleaning it (which is totally cool with me - I just have to wait a couple of minutes).

I really like it when he purrs, although I wish he would stop doing that at night! Tonight Danya was my guarding angel and was taking Shublik off the bed every time he was starting to purr, so I was finally able to get a good night’s sleep and felt especially energized at work today.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Шубля-Бубля

Getting ready to sleep right in the sink.I took these pictures this morning and I think it’s just too funny. Too bad I had to use an iPhone, so the quality of the shots are far from good. That doesn’t make them any less funny thought. )

Sleeping in the bathroom sink.
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