Dacha weekend part 2

For those who have just logged on, go below to find out about Saturday's trip to real Russian dacha.

Sunday saw the church heading off to the American embassy dacha on the outskirts of Moscow, across the river but inside the MKAD ring road. Before we set off we said good bye to Esther (she with the messy hands in yesterday's blog). Whenever anyone leaves Fr Simon gives them a travelling icon with a  promise they will be back.

A couple of minibuses had been hired together with a number of private cars so around fifty of us  went. Richard and Jeff, church wardens were in charge of cooking.

Richard (the tall one) and Jeff wreathed in smoke

The day was spent talking and eating good food. I got to talk to people I often miss as I sit with the choir. In addition to Jennifer I caught up with Liz (alto) who works at one of the language schools. She has been very busy examining so has not been around much recently.

Liz

I also sat with Gail who is Jeff's wife and also in charge of the Sunday School.

I finally got a photo of Fr. Simon so you know who I am talking about.

I made a chocolate roulade which went down well and found myself talking cooking to several people. I'm hoping to spend some time cooking with some of them in September. Peter is hoping to come with me in September but will have Scouts on Saturdays so it will be a good time to get out and see some more people and places.

I also snapped Misha and Ivan whom I talked Harry Potter with last weekend and failed to get a photo of, so here they are.

Misha

Ivan, complete with Union flag tie - he is very fond of England!!

Two very different dacha, but two super days with really good company. School has been hard work recently with contracts to be sorted out and people coming and going. Choir and church keep me sane. They are lovely people who love Moscow and that is infectious.

Today is mid summer so it downhill all the way to winter. What a thought! Despite going to bed at well gone ten last night the sky was still very light. It has now turned very hot with the temperature hitting 28 today and due to keep going up. We have sports day and school fete on Wednesday, so that will be interesting. Fortunately we have lots of trees so should have enough shade.

Less than two weeks till the end of term and the first part of this blog. What a thought!