It’s another scorching week in Moscow! Natasha works overtime to water the plants, pets and her kids at the dacha, while Vasily makes an 8 hour road trip for no reason whatsoever. Meanwhile, in a world where more and more radio stations are going off the air, this program is back on shortwave.
Natalia: It’s like homecoming… calls for a celebration!
Vasily: Well, you’re dressed for the occasion - clad in something long, blue - looks nice!
Natalia: No, it’s just so hot outside. We’re in for a heat wave. It’s plus 33 C today and will be still hotter. D’you know if that shower cabin downstairs is still functioning?
Vasily: That’s the one they built during the scorching hot summer of 2010, when the smoke from the forest fires around Moscow reached the capital, and the city was filled with a Stephen Kingish like blanket of fog, smog and zero visibility. God forbid we have a repeat this summer. I’ve already heard warnings about the fires, just waiting to ignite. Meanwhile, Tass News agency reported: The area of forest fires in Russia has extended three times since the beginning of 2014 against the same period last year. Russia is currently suffering from 214 forest fires on over 92,000 hectares in Siberia regions mostly. The forests of Yakutsk region are also blazing.
Natalia: We haven’t had any rain for quite some time. I have to water the garden twice a day. The younger apple trees can’t stand the heat.
Vasily: How many apple trees do you have?
Natalia: Thirteen and they all have born fruit this year. I’ve got acid condition from overeating apples. The apple trees need a lot of water, and it’s so hot and dry!
Vasily: What about the three cats and the dumb dog? How can they stand the heat?
Natalia: They are fine, only there are 4 cats now.
Vasily: FOUR?
Natalia: Well, the fourth one, a fuzzy gray Tom called Johnny, asked for political asylum. He used to share his lodgings with seven dogs!
Vasily: SEVEN dogs?! Are his former masters in their right mind?
Natalia: They are our next door neighbors. They just love dogs and think – the more the merrier!
Vasily: Four cats, seven dogs, that’s a suburban menagerie!
Natalia: Looks like it. But we are not the only ones. Do you know that 60 per cent of Russians keep pets, and they prefer cats, plain alley cats? Russians believe that if you kill a cat, you’ll have seven years of bad luck. Moreover. If you kill a cat, next you are bound to kill a man.
Vasily: Natasha’s old Russian wives’ tales!
Natalia: People around the world understand what special animals cats are. Cats can predict weather. If your cat lies all curled up with her nose stuck in her tail, the weather will be cold and nasty. Georgians say that if your cat sleeps on her back, the weather is sure to be fine.
Vasily: Right.
Natalia: Cats are go-betweens between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They can see things we can’t. They can work magic. The Japanese believe that if your cat sneezes you must say Hello! or else you’ll get a tooth ache.
The Germans say that if at the wedding you see a cat sitting at the altar, your marriage is doomed!
Vasily: I’ll keep that in mind. I’m sure our American listeners are way above these prejudices.
Natalia: Not so sure. Folks living in the Ozark mountains believe that if a girl is in two minds about marrying someone, she must pull out three hairs from a black cat’s tail, wrap them into a piece of paper and put under the threshold for the night. If in the morning the hairs lie in the shape of letter Y, it means YES, she should marry the bloke, if they have formed letter N, she’d better say NO.
Vasily: Getting back to life at the dacha, what else is new?
Natalia: Cathy has moved out of the house into the garden. She set up a tent and sleeps there now.
Vasily: Poor girl. All alone in the night. Does she get scared?
Natalia: Her friends usually come for a sleep over and Bilbo the dog is always ready to keep them company. Some people have all the luck!
Vasily: Why don’t you join them?
Natalia: I don’t feel like it now, but at her age I would’ve given anything for a night in the tent with friends and a dog of my own. No one would let me do it when I was 13.
Vasily: See, I’m curious about your dacha life, cause I haven’t been at my country house for two weeks. Been spending the weekends here, in the city, where life is wonderful during the weekends, when the city is empty. For instance, my friend wanted to see Mosfilm Studios – Russia’s biggest producer of celluloid…It’s not exactly Universal Studios, but it is the oldest and most established film studio in Russia, world famous for such epics as Alexander Nevsky and War & Peace. Its construction began in 1927 on Mosfilmovskaya Street in Sparrow Hills of Moscow. During World War II the film studio personnel were evacuated to Alma-Ata (August 1941) and merged with other Soviet production units into the Central United Film Studio. The Mosfilm personnel returned to Moscow at the end of 1943. The highlight of the tour is the opportunity to stroll around some of the sets.
Natalia: Did you?
Vasily: Not really. We lost sight of our tour group.
Natalia: In other words you got lost!
Vasily: No, Natasha, we wandered around ourselves. Keep in mind I worked there for a little while right after high school in 1979-1980, right before I joined RMWS. Anyway, I knew my way around the place. I even showed my friend the photo studio I worked in 35 years ago. It was fun… I’ll put up some photos on our Facebook fan site. Also, on Sunday, we took a rather long road trip. About 4 hours drive South West of Moscow to a place called Nikola Lenivets. Or Nicholas the Lazy.
Nikola Lenivets is an art park and functioning organic farm, it regularly features architectural festivals, new media conferences, science events, electronic music parties, and ecological workshops. It’s open to the public and has cottages and a motel. It is situated on the territory of the National Ugra Park, and is especially loved among artists. People come here to escape from the bustling city, to communicate with the like-minded, get some fresh air and, of course, to view stunning art objects which appear out of nowhere in the midst of fields and forest hills. My friend really wanted to see Russia's largest land art festival, Archstoyanie. I have no idea what it is or was, I’m just thankful that she drove us there and back, along roads that ranged from ultra modern highways, to hole infested dirt paths that were never intended for cars. The vastness of the place shocked me. The classic Russian landscape of the park is full of creepy and wonderful wooden sculptures from past festivals and new ones set up for this year's event. One of them is the "Lazy Ziggurat" built from bark, beetle infected timber, apparently a message to dying forests. Whatever that means…
Personally, I’m immune to any emotions such things may want to materialize within me… I did feel a little nauseous after monitoring the public’s attire there. It was a Woodstock type of crowd… you get the message? Right. The whole place was like an escape from the Russian reality of Summer 2014. It looked to me like these folks were intent on staying in tents for as long as they could. We found there was hardly any cell phone signal, I wasn’t aware of any Wi-Fi and that’s what the bandana and bikini wearing public wanted! My friend felt a bit uncomfortable and so we found a picturesque spot on a hill, overlooking the Ugra River and spent the afternoon-early evening there, relaxing. She was reading a book and I was playing with my Short Wave radio, Mighty KBC and Emperor Rosko. A kind of a clashing of cultures – vast, ancient, Russian rivers and forests and Rock and Roll on SW radio. I recall a gentleman, wearing nothing but his old Soviet style bathing trunks stumbled by, glanced at the Sony ANLP active antenna I had rigged up on a tree branch, heard the music coming out of my PL880 and remarked “Hey, man, that’s a groovy looking speaker you have hanging from a tree there, maaaan!” “Old school, maaan!” The dude reminded me of Leo from That 70’s Show. On the whole, it was an interesting trip – 8 hours and about 500 kilometers in one day.
Natalia: I happen to know the story of Nikola Lenivets. Some 15 years ago it was a typical Russian village, where no one had any work to do, all men were drunkards, and which in fact was dying out. And then one fine day an artist from Moscow, Nikolai Polissky, who engages in land-art and makes artifacts from wood, some of them very big and bulky, (we have one at our country house), came to that lazy village and turned it into a giant workshop. Polissky had a house in the village and of course it didn’t happen overnight, but took some time. Anyway, at present the village is flourishing, it’s the venue of the Archstoyanie festival, Polyssky travels around the world accompanied by the village craftsmen. And they all live happily ever after. A story with a happy ending, showing how one man could change the life of a whole village.
Vasily: There’s a nice little video on our fan site.
Natalia: And a funny snapshot.
Our listener Regina Kleinzeller writes: "к черту with the show, all I want is Natalie's vegetable stew. Mmmm. Recipe please."
Vasily: And…. What stew? Natasha, I’m sorry, I don’t understand 90% of what Regina writes. Go for it, knock yourself out!
Natalia: OK, here we go. Every Georgian wife has her own recipe. Mine is very simple. All you need is fresh, seasonal vegetables – the more the better - young small egg plants, onions, tomatoes, garlic, sweet and chili peppers, green coriander and vegetable oil, whichever you prefer. These are the main ingredients. You may also add string beans and potatoes. First we take the aubergines, cut them in circles and put them in a bowl filled with salty water and leave them there for about thirty minutes. This will rid them of their bitter taste. Now take a big pot or saucepan, put it over a fire and when it gets hot pour in some oil. Meanwhile cut the onions in half rings and as the oil starts sizzling put the onions there as the first layer. Next cut the tomatoes also in half circles, and in the go –as the second layer. Then come the sweet peppers, cut in circles and last come the egg plants that we take out of the water and put into the pot. And finally we cut the chilly pepper, garlic and coriander very finely and add to the stew. And don’t forget the salt! Add a glass or two of hot water cover the pot with a lid and leave it to stew for about forty minutes. The fire shouldn’t be too strong. That’s it. Enjoy your adjapsandali! You can have it cold, too. I know lots of other ways of cooking egg -plants…
Vasily: I’m sure you do. Perhaps, next time?
Natalia: With pleasure.
Vasily: This is FMWL. Time to check your emails! Our show is still dealing with the hiccups of moving from the VOR web site to the RIA news agency site, and many of our listeners have encountered difficulties locating FMWL. Our good friend – William Kerr writes in part: Zdravstvuite, Diplo-Mates! Negotiating the new RIA Novosti website is a bit like Natasha's descriptions of the clutter and mess in Moscow streets.... you may know where you've been and where you want to go next, but getting there can be hell on earth! One hopes that the clutter will be diminished. How you manage to continue to live in this radio rapture and rupture is a true thing of beauty. The two of you plod along as if the walls around you are still standing. Hats off to you both. With comradely greetings from your faithful "old fart" listener, S uvazheniem, William.
Natalia: Gabriel Infante Carrillo in Mexico, attempts to clear up the situation by pointing everyone to the link he says works for him and should work for everyone else…
Vasily: It’s en.ria.ru and he writes: I also listen to you guys on Voice of Russia phone app or in TuneIn Radio website and phone app as well.
Natalia: Dale Dickerson says: The VoR web site states it is no longer being updated and refers us to RIA site. Am I to understand from your post the VoR site is still being updated?
Vasily: I don’t think so, Dale, although it appears the live audio feed is still working.
Natalia: Simply go to our fan site on facebook and get the proper link for our show - there!
Vasily: While there, enjoy all the photos, latest news and comments from listeners all over the world.
Natalia: You can always leave us a message, a suggestion or a question you would Vasily: Go to facebook.com/frommoscowwithlove
Natalia: And while there, do press “like” if you like!
Vasily: Just like Ron Trotto in Waggoner, Illinois did.
Natalia: Thank you, Ron!
Vasily: As well as Michael Pope and Carolyn Lysandrou.
Natalia: Wow, so many new listeners!
Vasily: Hang on, there’s more! John A. Figliozzi and Stephen Cooper also like the From Moscow with Love fan page on Facebook.
Natalia: Thank you very much, I’m glad you’re enjoying our fan site.
Vasily: A great big hello to Kent Murphy, who writes: “I was listening to your program, Moscow With Love, on Sunday, July 20, 2014, and at one point I heard somebody perhaps hint that Voice of Russia might start broadcasting in shortwave again. Is this true? Can you give me any information about this return to shortwave? All the best, Kent Murphy.
Yes, Kent. For all we know you might be listening to this on Short Wave via WRMI in Okeechobee, Florida. Again, very special thanks to Jeff White. We’re not sure how long we’ll stay on SW, but for the time being, it’s good to be back and also, may I say it’s excellent timing. Our buddy - Stephen Graves commented "FANTASTIC!!!! Dusting off the Grundig tube receiver for 30 minutes of wonderful entertainment ..."
Natalia: Thank you, Stephen. If you DO hear us on SW, do let us know where and when and how the reception was, ok?
Vasily: John A. Figliozzi wrote: "I can hear it here in upstate NY with a pretty decent signal out of Miami, but it is fighting a Cuban jammer that at times overwhelms the signal and mars the listening experience."
Meanwhile, Vincent Parker sent us this email: “Hello Vasily and Nataly! I'm a long time fan of Vasily's work on radio - used to listen to you on Radio Moscow and Radio 7 and wanted to ask if by chance you've got a tape with the recording of Mr. Weekend's last show over Radio Moscow lying somewhere in the attics? It was broadcast somewhere around Xmas 1990 or 1991 and I remember such holiday numbers as "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" being played. If you do have the record, oh could you please, please, please find a way to share it? It's a true pleasure to listen to you again on the VoR after all these years - keep up the great work, Vas and Natasha! From Austin with love, Vince.
Vince, I might have come across it, not sure… I’ll take a look and let you know, ok! Thanks for the kind words. You can’t even imagine how great it feels to meet old friends of the show again! Stay in touch, please!
Natalia: Over to Spain now, for our next listener, who writes: “Privét! Congratulations for the show! I´m Enrique, a listener from Spain. I´m an English teacher that's why I'm interested in listening to English language media. I really love classical music, including Russian like Tchaikovsky or Rimsky Korsakov or the Armenian Aram Khachaturian. Besides, Russian media provide news, American and other Western media outlets hide or manipulate. In the past I used to listen to 'Radio Moscow' on the radio. Recently I discovered again 'Voice of Russia' on the net. Now I switched to RIA Novosti. About the show, here in Spain we also have endless works in our streets to make them pedestrian, or for various reasons- to keep construction company busy. So funny the facebook video about the boat. DASVIDÁNIA! Enrique.
Vasily: Thank you, Enrique. Natasha is glad you enjoyed her story about street reconstruction and my little video. Dean Guss also commented on it. He wrote: "Beats a life jacket. Made me laugh."
Natalia: Once again, visit our Facebook Fan site - facebook.com/frommoscowwithlove
Vasily: Or if you would rather send us an email – our address is moscowwithlove@gmail.com
