head spinning oy

Old Arbat graffiti today.

There was talk of the world ending this week-end but instead, Stefan went to a pizza-making class. Because of her Russian connections, our 16- year old niece Ana brings us closer to real Moscow culture. While they were throwing pizza dough with Ana's aunt and someone named Kirill, I walked down the Old Arbat and indulged my current Lomonsov obsession and looked at tea pots and sugarers. Then I saw a painting I wanted but only for 1000 rubles and the seller wouldn't come down, so I kept walking.

We are living in a soup of pre-packout haze: schools to register for (I haven't done that yet?!) plane tickets from Moscow to London, hotel in the UK, plane tickets from NY to California, why am I eating this candy? My dad's memorial in California, what shoes will we need this summer? When does Nina get here? Why haven't I ordered presents for my co-workers yet? When do our new passports arrive so I can register us on the ship? Who wrote in ball point pen all over Camille? How many TWIM topics do I have left? What else can I obsess over? 

Somehow using the thirty or so pieces of his artwork that we have with us, I managed to put together an exhibit of Gene Garson's paintings in the Hall of Ambassadors. Seeing the paintings being hung brought tears to my eyes. They look beautiful and people stop to look at them and want to talk about them and I hope Gene is watching. A website of his work starting with this latest show: another fixation.

Our last month in Moscow. The world didn't end. Party on.