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| With self-carved scary and soccer pumpkins. |
This post begins with the end: for Halloween, Nikita dressed as a gangster, while Ivan was a soccer player. Ivan's costume was super easy - it's how he dresses these days (when he's not dressed up for war or civilian life) - but putting together Nikita's costume required a lot of time scouring consignment shops. The boys enjoyed trick-or-treating around the school neighborhood with Nikita's BFF, who was also a gangster. Highlights included receiving unshelled peanuts (to which BFF is allergic) from the school principal's wife and candy from the
headless motorcyclist.
Halloween capped a busy month for the boys, particularly Nikita. His calendar was filled with cultural events, such as the Museum of Fine Arts with his Russian literature class and a Shakespeare Globe production of "King Lear" with me. He also enjoyed AMC's
Mountain Classroom with his class, and did well in a national-qualifying fencing tournament. His coming in at 8th place earned him a medal and points toward his national rating. Closer to home, Ivan participated in his first "tournament" at the fencing club. Both boys also became fans of the "Night at the Museum" and "Despicable Me" series.
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| Words to live by |
October brought some minor crises to our family. Galina spent a week in the hospital, and our street was plagued by cats. Instead of going apple picking, Igor and I spent Columbus Day getting a new water heater for the house and an exhaust pipe for one of our cars. With everything going on, I started making dinner before breakfast because I didn't have the energy to cook at the end of the day; I certainly didn't have time to buy unsalted
butter for my sleeping bag. It was helpful to keep Maya Angelou in mind (above) for particularly crazy mornings, like when I spilled boiling water on
the floor, broke Alfredo sauce, and messed up Nutella on bread.
At least work was going smoothly, thanks to MS Word Autosave, a working photocopier, and new exercises that I developed for my summer jobs; one day, I should turn this New Yorker
essay into an exercise. I also finally figured out regular times to swim and read research articles, but working at home is such a blessing - allowing me to do laundry and test recipes for Cook's Illustrated.
Somehow, I found time to relax. I tried out a fantastic recipe for
coconut-chocolate pound cake, but didn't get a chance to make my own
instant noodle cup (Bo Ssam leftovers instead went into posole and pancit). I enjoyed reading
Dataclysm and
The Teacher Wars, but not
Missing Person (Nobel prize notwithstanding); I should keep this
link in mind while traveling the country. Finally, I loved This American Life for featuring my high school friend's school in "
Is This Working? (Act 3)" and launching a fantastic spin-off,
Serial.
I leave you with the welcome return of Marcel the Shell:
