Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. July 24-29, 2023.

July 24-29 2023. Days 517-523 of war.

I had a wonderful week with my parents - watching sunrises every day was a highlight of my trip - and I will make a separate post about it when I get to scan all the iterations. But for now I continue my travels.

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. July 17-23, 2023.

July 17-22 2023. Days 510-516 of war.

This week is special: our conversations started on video and continued in person! I’m visiting my parents in Croatia: meeting all the cats, identifying flowers together, catching cicadas and lizards before it gets too hot, and talking, talking, talking. I’m using this opportunity to draw my parents in profile and get more practice in Ukrainian. We walk, watch the news, call friends and family, and cook together. Trying to hold on to good things and not fall apart from the hard ones. 

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. July 10-16, 2023.

July 10-16, 2023. Days 503-509 of war.

This week my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary!

They made some special food, got calls and texts from kids and grandkids from all over the world to celebrate and we toasted their marriage via video call! I drew them extra large on the occasion :) 

In their news: another one of the neighborhood cats got a proper name. It is a large and happy cat that lives near the cafe and now that my parents are talking to it daily, people who work at the cafe are talking to my parents daily also. 

Mom remembered another large cat that they knew in Kharkiv - it belonged to their friends who once decided to rescue a little fox cub. The cat and fox lived together for some time and then one day the fox pushed the cat out of the 4th floor balcony. Cat came home as if nothing happened! I tried to ask my parents what were their friends thinking about bringing home a fox. But they explained to me that it was little and needed care and then then they reminded me about stray dogs that I was trying to rescue as a kid and I stopped questioning an idea behind bringing a fox in the house :)

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. July 2 - 9, 2023.

July 2-9, 2023. Days 495-502 of war.

This week we crossed 500 days of war, and it seems unreal. 

My parents made a fruit punch with rose petals from the neighbor's rose bush and told me about two new cats one of which decided that the best place to sleep is behind my Mom's legs. We talked about all the family members and friends and volunteers around the globe who help Ukraine in many different ways.

Mom continues to work on her memoirs and this week Dad was adding things - his contributions were about one of the old family dogs (a Scottish collie called Gemma), Edvard Grieg (Norwegian composer), and about dear friend Osya Klugman who was always ready to have some tea and tell you about a new poet or author. Once Osya mentioned Lina Kostenko in a conversation with me (I was probably 12) and when I asked him who it was he spent my Dad's whole birthday party in the kitchen - reading (by heart) Lina Kostenko poems to me to quickly remedy this hole in my education. 

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. June 26-July 1, 2023.

June 26 - July 1, 2023. Days 486-494 of war.
This week's conversations were circling some domestic issues - what to cook when the weather is so hot and how to fix some things - like my painting pants, my backpack's pockets, or Mom's new accessory - a cane that was gifted to her by a new friend - another refugee from Ukraine who befriended my parents on the street. 

Both my parents got new glasses (we are very grateful to the people who assisted in the process!) I drew them with the new eyewear on the first day of July:)

My parents told me about a poem by one of the russian-American poet - Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky. I am more familiar with his works in russian than in English, and this poem was written in russian. I never heard or read it and, apparently, it never was published - however, there are video recordings of Brodsky reading it. And here is an article about it in The New Yorker. It is written on the Independence of Ukraine and is filled with anger, accusations, and an ugly-phrased statement that in the end Ukraine "will return". It brought many layers of feelings and thinking and we spoke about it for some time - until it became obvious that it is too painful for all. There is no simple way to convey all the layers - so I will not. 

Mom says: "I miss my library. But this missing is not helpful. Let me tell you about new blue flowers that just started blooming next door".