What I See From my Window Today

Written on Dec. 28, 2008

Have you ever seen it snowing when there's a bright blue sky?? Today, and for the last several days, it has been a sparkly, winter wonderland. Very pretty! The air is so cold these days that the moisture is condensing right out of the air! Little sparkly crystals are floating through and dancing through the air, landing on the trees (what few there are) making them sparkly too. By the way, it's -20 C today.

From my couch, I see coal smoke puffing out of the neighbors chimney pipe making a foul odor for all to enjoy. But hey, at least they are warm :) Directly across, I see a huge new home our neighbors are building, but it's only half finished. It got too cold for the migrant workers to continue, so they will resume next spring. I fear they are now in debt up to their eyeballs, and hard times may come for them. 

I see lots of folks out on foot all bundled up with fur (YES! we actually DO wear real fur here). Fur is very warm and practical, and no one seems to have a problem with it here. Sorry for all you animal lovers. They are probably going to work, which is still very odd to us, being Christmas Eve. 

Let's see, I also see that the road is finally repaired correctly. For years the water dept. tried to fix the pipe that seeped water with a whittled stick!! (gasp) stuck into the hole. It was constantly a mud hole that resembled something on the African savannah for zebras and such. Last week, after the ice finally got so bad our street became a one-lane nightmare, they brought out a welder, and fixed it right. We'll see how long the repair job holds...

I see the cars racing by, nice shiny new ones (well it's all relative) instead of the old Soviet makes such as Volga, Niva, and Zhigoly. Now we are seeing Toyota Landcruisers, Mercedes, Audis, etc... We once asked someone by which route they were coming. Some come from Germany by truck, others are coming from Dubai, via the Caspian and Iran. I also see trucks of coal, bricks and other forms of cargo going by. 

Well, there you have it, and glimpse from my window.

Merry Christmas, Everyone,

Your SteppeSister