Here They Are

Our friendship began in November of 2006. It's not normal for me to remember such a specific date, but because of this blog, it's recorded. Last year, because of visas and jobs, our Russian friends moved back to Russia. I honestly thought that we would never see them again on God's green earth. But, as small as the world continually seems to be, and thanks to the brilliancy of instant communication on social networking sites such as facebook, here they are. And here we all are.



This little family is extremely talented.

Alexey is an artist.

Masha (Maria Markina) is an opera singer.



And this cutie pie is already learning to speak and read three languages, Russian, English, and German. She loved the tree house. Over and over she said, "It's beautiful. It's beautiful up here."



Alexey and Masha were interested in the grand tour of the Hazel House of Art. After looking at the garden, patio, pond, mural, and paintings, the only thing left was to play the ukulele for them.

They had never seen an ukulele before. Naturally, I encouraged Reese to join me on guitar for an impromptu performance of That's Amore, our signature crowd pleasing performance piece, at the end of which, the internationally acclaimed opera singer sitting in our living room said, "You are so talented." HA! Flattered, but incredulous, I said, "YOU are an internationally renowned opera singer! You've got to be kidding!" She said, "Yes, but that's my work, my job. You are creative and talented and live that way." Thank you...from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

(What really happened was that she has was "Hazeled," a lingering phenomenon that occurs when people are temporarily confused, overwhelmed, and generally delighted by our extremely normal, yet slightly eccentric excessiveness. Others who have been "Hazeled" coined the phrase on our behalf.)

Until we meet again, Счастливого пути.