Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. October 25 - November 3, 2022.

October 25 - November 1, 2022. Days 244 - 251 of war.
During these days my parents moved from a temporary place to a little more permanent place. Mom is collecting leaves, pine cones, and sticks and taking photos. She finds lots of interesting plants on her walks and tells me about them. Dad bravely started to swim. And he is working with the photo archives to support Mom's memoir-writing. 
Their days start and end with getting in touch with relatives and friends, with everyone who is in Ukraine at the moment. I think this is true for all Ukrainians around the globe these days. They are still checking air raid warnings but not as often. The most important topics are how to get backup plans for power and heating. Also - how people are supporting each other and the country. But we are also receiving some amazing photos of a beautiful fall - in Kharkiv in particular.

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. October 24, 2022.

October 18, 2022. Day 243 of war.
It's been over 240 days since my parents heard the first russian artillery firing at their home city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. With the winter knocking on the door and russian terrorism ruining civilian infrastructure and leaving people in Ukraine without power and heating, the list of choices for my parents got shorter and shorter. 

They left the country a couple of days ago and are now refugees in Europe. Many things are up in the air but at the moment they are safe and have a place to stay, electricity, water, and internet. A new cat is trying to befriend them :) I will post some updates once in a while but for now, I am happy to report that they are working on not being afraid of airplanes and mastering a “thank you” in a new language.

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. October 18, 2022

October 18, 2022. Day 237 of war.
On this day my parents went for a walk as the weather was very nice. There is one leaf left on the catalpa tree - last time there were three. The mulberry tree lost all the leaves in the middle. A rocket flew above their heads. Mom did not notice it, and we are glad. Her hearing aid lives on the table - she says it is a marvelous invention and leaves it there. She is planning the next chapter of her memoirs, and Dad is reading some poetry. Power was on only for a few hours in the evening. 

I am drawing some sunflowers, making prints trying to make sure that people remember that the war continues. 

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. October 10-15, 2022

October 10, 2022. Day 229 of war.
It was a hard day. russia launched a massive wave of strikes targeting cities across Ukraine. A lot of civil infrastructures were damaged and many people were left without power, water, and connection. Many killed. As soon as some ways of communication started working we exchanged news of family and friends, and then miracle city workers restored power and I was able to talk to my parents on video. Today I heard stories of grown-up people, kids, cats, and dogs being very scared. But I heard even more stories of people helping each other to get to the shelter, supporting each other with hugs and food, and songs and stories. Of people giving money to support those who need it most and to support resistance to this evil. Stories of kindness, generosity, and action on those feelings. And that is why we will prevail.

October 12, 2022. Day 231 of war.
Power is still not available during large parts of the day and phone connection is spotty. But we had enough bandwidth to have a video call. We talk about some books in Ukrainian and Dad is singing me songs. But recent attacks visible from the window shook everyone.

October 15, 2022. Day 234 of war.
Despite power still being available only during parts of the day, the overall mood is better. Mom is back to writing memoirs and making soup. Dad is back to trying to talk to cats as he used to talk to dogs. We talk about interesting Ukrainian last names, go over friends and family, and remember some people from their past.

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. October 5-9, 2022

October 5, 2022. Day 224 of war.
A conversation filled with laughter - good weather, no bad news on that day. Mom tells me about her daily routine: up at 7, brush her teeth, monitor blood pressure for them both, and take pills. Then breakfast and feeding cats. Then phone calls to all the friends and relatives. Then turning on the TV to listen to the news. Working on memoirs, checking on all the plants, and making lunch. More memoirs, more phone calls, emails, reading, dinner, video calls with me, or more tv and conversations with people. Reading before going to bed. Her kindle is acting up and she is using Dad's which is acting up too. They miss their home and bookcases - they have a large library on various topics. 

October 7, 2022. Day 226 of war.
Dad is telling me about his exercise regime. Mom is telling me about the newspaper that she was publishing with two of her childhood friends when she was in elementary school. We laugh at a new meme - it is a Ukrainian language pun. It brings us to talking about some Ukrainian songs (with singing and chitchat about recipes mentioned in that song). There was a big commotion: a stray male cat wanted to enter the territory and two cats who now think that my parents are their humans loudly protested. The intruder is gone. We go over the list of friends and relatives, and some of the conversations turn serious. I ended up drawing parents rather sad.

October 9, 2022. Day 228 of war.
Parents are reporting that the weather has changed to fall completely. This is a conversation filled with memories. Mom remembers times when she did not have lipstick but wanted to use something and used blush on her lips - the result was a disastrous peeling. They talk about how there were no or almost no clothes for babies when my brothers were little but I got some "real ones". Still - lots were made by hand for me as sizes were non-existent. They remembered a song that they liked and sang parts of it to me. We had a good time walking down the memory lane: dogs, kids, and parents were remembered fondly. We did not talk about the war at all.  

Drawn reports in the form of the portraits - war in Ukraine. September 27-October 1, 2022

September 27, 2022. Day 215 of war.
We talk about how some language nuances and expressions are lost now due to the changes in technology and how we use it. Mom brings us some examples with the phones and computers and some mishaps that happen to her. She says: "it is not bad or good. It just is." And in the simplicity of that expression, there is so much about her that am starting to laugh without apparent reason. Dad reports that Mom's cat doesn't purr for him - only for Mom. We go over news from all the friends and relatives and note that this year many important dates were missed or greetings were sent late. Such a hard year. 

September 29, 2022. Day 217 of war.
My parents are reporting that the weather is good and will be even better - old wives' summer is in Ukraine. We do not discuss the idiocy of phony referendums but are going over the list of the friends and family members. Conversation turns to the old Singer sewing machine that belonged to my great-grandma. We laugh when we get confused by who calls what century previous. Dad tells me that he removed all his attempts to make it electric and brought back to the "original state" and that I can "finally" have it. He is trying to convince himself that tea will help him as much as painkillers and tells stories about all kinds of Nobel laureates to stop me from expressing my opinion on the subject. As it is a custom for us - I show them what I drew, and they give me their opinions. This time Dad says that he looks like "grandpa Borya" in my drawing, and this sends us into a conversation about another relative who is unknown to me.

October 1, 2022. Day 220 of war.
A conversation about bicycles with Dad and fat cells with Mom. Somehow fat cells lead us to Archimed and Anacondas - I lost the transition but it had something to do with the concept of dieting and the fact that fat cells cannot disappear. In our conversations Mom sometimes adds some things to the memoirs that she is writing. On this day she told me about an old biology station on the river near Kharkiv and how she saw the whole life cycle of the polyphemus moth there during one summer holiday. How beautiful all the stages were and how some moths were considered abnormal. They were the prettiest. We talk about our summer vacation on river Vorskla many many years ago and how we were picking raspberries.