Sunshine On My Shoulders

So, as [not] promised, the sun came out yesterday!  Unable to stay inside and resist it's calling, I came up with an excellent excuse for going outside.  Picture taking and buying a measuring cup.  (Yes, that was the actual legitimate reason that dragged me away from lesson planning.  It is pretty spiffy too...not only can I measure liquids, but it also has markings in grams for rice, salt, sugar, and flour.  All in one!) Here are some of the fruits of the trip:

Sunny Pushchino.  The morning was horrible, wintery mixing all over the map.  At one point I looked out my window and everything was white!  Snow!  But no, on closer inspection, hail.  But then it rained.  But then it actually might have had snow mixed in.  But then there was sunshine!  Time elapsed?  Less than 1 minute.  

I was worried that the sun would be gone as quickly as it came, but though there was some sun-hail later in the afternoon, the weather cleared up almost immediately.  Look at those clouds racing away!

I took this as proof that it really did snow!  Supposedly we have more snow predicted for tonight, but we shall see.  Last night was beautifully clear and I got to do a bit of star gazing with a friend and his helpful Siri.  The sky is very dark here, though we were on Pushchino's "Arbat" (cute) which is a well lit pedestrian trail, so the street lights were getting in the way a bit.  But, I can now point out 3 constellations instead of just 2!  

Off they go to rain on somebody else's parade.  

Pushchino definitely has its charm.  With all of the pedestrian walks, the parks (which mostly are just a continuation of the surrounding forests, though preserved from the spread of agriculture) and people everywhere, parts of town are beginning to feel familiar, though I still discover new places every time I go exploring.

Poor guy was left outside while his people went grocery shopping.  If he had been a bit smaller, maybe he could have gone too.  I was not expecting the terrier on the leash as I rounded the corner to the frozen meats.  Toto, have at it because we're not in the US anymore. 

This fountain was built as an integral part of the town's main park (called Зеленая зона, or the Green Zone) but in living memory of most of the people I've talked to here, it has been turned on for exactly one afternoon.  And that one afternoon apparently made an impact since everyone remembers it.  

Crosswalks, puddles, and the local hotel.  Not really sure what the going rate is for a room, and I don't know how often it actually fills up.  Maybe once or twice a year for conferences.  

Most of the trees have lost their leaves, but this lone survivor is clinging to them.  Trees that keep their leaves once they dry up are called marcescent.  Apparently in this stand only one individual is displaying this trait.  There are some Scot's Pines outside my window, so I am looking forward to looking out on lots of still green needles all winter.  For those New Haven readers, an example of a Scot's pine can be found in Farnam Gardens near the entrance to the observatory.  They are not native to the US, and it was a bit of a novelty that we got to see one in my Taxonomy class.  The defining feature?  Orange!

Playground with very bright colors.  Every community here is based around a playground.  Even when I visited some people living in a very new development (as in, they and one other family were there only ones living there because all of the other houses were still under construction) the playground was quite possibly the first thing to be built and finished.  

Зеленая Зона!  Though now it is a bit less green, and will probably soon become a bit more white.  Trees are planted the whole way down in these rows, and are segregated into monolithic (one species) stands.  It is a bit funny to be walking down the path and have the surrounding trees change so abruptly.  

Things happen in Pushchino.  For a town of its size, there are a surprising number of concerts and talks.  The institutes draw culture to themselves, and the whole town sometimes feels like a massive collaborative town.  It is like college, only with people ages 0-100.  Some of whom work in completely non academic ways.  

Remember the pumpkin from my earlier post?  Well now it is all cooked and ready for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  Looking forward to finding time to bake!  One of my students is lending me a cookie sheet for the year which I am very thankful for because the only one I found in a store here was over $20.  I still haven't obtained a mixing bowl, but I might just make due with my soup pot.  Roasted pumpkin seeds inaugurated my *successful* use of the oven.  Further details withheld for the pride of the blogger.   

And finally, a new friend S------- and I went to Serpukhov today to go shoe shopping.  I was getting a little tired of comments about my "tiny shoes.  Would you like me to lend you some so your feet will be warm?" So I now own a pair of Russian boots.  Amazingly без каблуков, as the majority of the boots in the stores we visited had on average a 3 inch heel, some of which were narrower than my pen.  I have no desire to visit any Russian orthopedic surgeons while here so I was very happy to find these.  Let it snow tonight!  I am prepared.

Thanks for reading the whole way to the end!  Gold star for those of you who made it this far.