Friends from Nizhny Novgorod

I received an e-mail from our friends from Nizhny. I enjoyed the e-mail very much because it had pictures of two to the things in my "List of things to do before you die": picking mushrooms and spending time at a Dacha (vacation home) in Russia. I heard so many good stories from my friends about growing up going to their dacha's, and later having parties as teenagers, and now that they are older actually working the dacha to produce vegetables to be pickled and fruits to be preserved as jams for the long winters.

Here is Masha, Seryozha and Lola, the dog with the results of their mushroom "hunting" as Masha calls it.

"Lola founds mushrooms" reads the caption

A couple we met while we were in NN, friends of Seryozha. She is a plastic surgeon and he owns a mechanic shop....I wanted to get my boobies done while I was there but Jeff didn't want me to have to explain that one to Kristina. LOL

Notice all the birch trees in the background, very typical of Russia. We have three on our front yard and my friends always comment on how it reminds them of home.

Masha and Seyozha's dacha. We visited the lot before the house was build. I will post picture of us there. Cute village about 20 minutes outside of NN. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first thing we did with Kristina after we went home to eat and rest,we went for a ride and visited Seryozha's mom dacha, the new house she was building and this lot which Seryozha was trying to purchase.