Do animals really understand Ukrainian better?

Since I was a child, I have always spoken to animals in Ukrainian when I really wanted them to understand. For some odd reason, I always thought they could understand Ukrainian better than English.

Ukrainian Scouting in America

Vodnyj Tabir c1971 Stillwater Reservoir (I'm on the bottom right.)

In reading an interview with Sylvia Acevedo, the new CEO of Girl Scouts in America, I was reminded of the conundrum of growing up Ukrainian in America. We did not sell cookies. We had wilderness training.

Ukrainian Easter in Ireland

I've lived in Ireland since 2008, and I have not hosted a traditional Easter lunch until this year. I learned that the Catholic Church in Westport was going to do a blessing of the baskets at 2:30 pm on Easter Saturday and I thought this would be a good year to invite friends over to help us celebrate and to introduce them to the traditions I grew up with. I didn't know then how events would unfold.

Alex's paska ready for the oven.

Movie being made about Holodomor, and book wins prize

Photograph by Alexander Wienerberger, 1933

Starring British Actor James Norton, the movie titled 'Gareth Jones' will tell the story about a Welsh journalist who told the world about what was going on in Ukraine under Stalin.

Four years since Russians invaded Crimea

On the 22 February 2014, President Vladimir Putin convened a meeting with Russian security services to discuss extrication of deposed pro-Russian Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych from Ukraine. Putin reportedly remarked that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia."

Notes on immigration

A childhood friend has posted this on his Facebook page, which I am re-posting here. My mother wrote down her story and it sounds very similar. My family were in a DP camp in Italy and were almost prevented from coming to the States because the doctor thought my mother might have TB. She did not and my father "convinced" the doctor that she did not in a rather interesting way. They came over on the Queen Mary through Ellis Island like so many millions of others. My family name is etched on a plaque there. They were sponsored by my aunt and uncle in Philadelphia and in turn sponsored my aunt and uncle who were sent to Australia first instead. Those were dark times, filled with the light of hope.

These are dark times, but the light is burning out.

Veselka in NYC a popular night time hangout

It's a long time since I've written in this blog but I just had to share this. It seems everyone has discovered Veselka, the Ukrainian restaurant that's been the centre of Ukrainian life in the East Village of Manhattan for my lifetime. What a great thing to have gone to NYU and had both Veselka and Orchidea close by. The Ukrainian Church across from McSorley's on St. Mark's Place was en route. The Ukrainian butcher shop was down the street. And the Ukrainian Museum was next door. The food there was extraordinary in my youth. I would alternate between pyrohy, varenyky and plyatsky, always Uki style with plenty of sour cream, although they catered to all Eastern European tastes.