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We're sort of winding down: no more excursions, just enjoying Kaunas. So I can be out a bit longer in the morning again today. In a heavy foggy mist, I run to the Town Hall, past the Maironis statue and down to the path along the Nemunas, and into the parkland. It's a little eerie, and I see a few men walking dogs in the distance and one apparently homeless man. But he walks away into the trees. I run all the way to the point, where the Neris joins the Nemunas, and knees down with one hand in each river. Then I run back along the center of that point, back to Rotuses square through a group of middle school children who giggle (politely) at this old lady running, and back to Monela.
I have boiled eggs again, and think of Tete, who taught me to love them. Mom has the dill omelet. We watch the people pass our window table. Children heading to school, students heading to the technical institute, people heading to offices and shops, mothers with toddlers, and grandparents with baby carriages. I realize that Mari is our Lithuanian child; she is built Lithuanian. When she was young, she was so slim that slacks fell off her. Now that she is maturing, she has a more womanly build. Not fat, but definitely rounded. And that's how Lithuanians develop. Vikki & I have seemed to maintain the same basic proportions all along. We also thought she spoke Lithuanian until she was 2 years old. She chattered away, but we couldn't understand her. And her sounds were like Mama & Tete's. Who knows?
We again call a cab, this time to visit Elyte and Vytas again. And we, fortunately, get the same woman driver.
Wow, Vytas has done a fantastic job co-originating all the family information and creating family trees for both sides of the family. I will have to figure out how to put this all online, so the rest of the family can learn what we have learned - and maybe give me information to add and expand it all. Eventually. And they give Mom a copy of her grandfather's passport (I think Lithuanians use these within the country, for identification, not just crossing borders - like we use drivers' licenses)
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Over wine, cherry tart, Antupiai farm cheese with cranberry jam, and tea, Mom & Elyte go through family photos while Vytas shows me lots of antiques and treasures. (He and Alan would get along great; they both collect the neatest stuff!) A copper coffee pot that sits in a bowl of sand for totally even heating, a shell that looks like a mushroom, Russian tea boxes, Mama's mother's eyeglasses, and a paperweight made by the husband of Mama's sister Ona (Antanas Kazlauskas). It's a beautiful millefiore glass ball. I tried to get a photo but either focussed badly or moved. Darn. |
| And then Elyte brought out a bolt of coarse linen that Mama's mother grew, spun, and wove. I was touching something intimately connected to my great-grandmother. And then Elyte and Vytas cut us a piece! It is so tightly woven that it does not fray. But we did overcast the edge, to be sure. |  |
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This shows how beautiful this linen looks on my dining room table. (The white in the lower right is a runner that Mama made as a large dish towel for her trousseau - it is now a carefully tended runner, of course.) Because Mom & I both keep our tables at their smallest most of the time, we cut the linen and made two square table toppers. |
After one last play with Filas and Rudis, we get a cab back to the hotel because other relatives are coming to see us there. It is a lovely warm day. I open our windows and doors. I'd put on my shorts, except they are too casual for Laisves. We would call this Indian Summer; here it is Old Woman Summer. I can't resist taking a little walk while Mom naps a bit.
Ona has called to say that Kestutis can drive us to see more of Vilnius tomorrow. But we are not quite up to that. Were it Chuck & I, it would be different. But Mom is almost 87, and does get tired. And the trip back will be anything but restful! So we have to pass on that offer.
Valentina, Ruta, and Arvidas arrive. Arvidas is off to Germany on a business trip tomorrow -and Ruta gets to go along. So we say our good-byes now. He and I discuss my impressions of Lithuania and compare it to Western nations. I'm really impressed with how far Lithuania has gone in just under 11 years of (declared) freedom. And I really like the way they have maintained a truly human scale in buildings - unlike the shells of Russian projects that remain. I do not think that our huge megaliths do anything but celebrate our presumed defeat of nature and humanity. They, and the attitudes they celebrate, separate us from the world in which we live and to which we must accommodate ourselves. I feel as though we westerners are like technological dinosaurs who cannot imagine that we are not the be all and end all of nature's plan. End of sermon.
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Anyhow, Mom and Valentina look at photos and exchange addresses and other info. As they all get ready to leave, Valentina admits (because I have been crocheting my Oxfam sweaters) that Ruta designed and knitted the sweater that she is wearing. Ha! My idea of designs is to use variegated yarn or make vertical rows. Guess I'd best stick to technical writing! And Ruta also made Valentina's coat. OK, it is good to realize that I come from a family that considers this normal. In the U.S., people think I am odd because I like to make curtains, bedspreads, and clothes - knit, crocheted, sewn, and crewel worked. |
After they leave, I go for another short walk. To me, strolling the mall is the most relaxing thing to do. The air is so soft and warm. And the people are so pleasant. I am really going to miss living here on Laisves al. and having such a life walk by. I do love my home, and my privacy. But Kaunas is such a livable city that I must bring Chuck here someday.
We decide to have dinner at Monela again, but his time at a normal hour. But there is still no menu. Our original waitress is back; she used her vacation to prepare her parents' garden for the winter. Now, she brings the cook out, who confers with Mom about something to do with chicken. This place has no menus; the cook and you discuss what you'd like (unless you're Lithuanian and can send in an understandable request). Then she cooks it, from scratch! We get the ultimate comfort food: a delicious chicken chowder. No, I've never had any such thing before, but that's what it is and it's really good.
In our room again, we watch the Olympics on TV. Wow! The women's cycling road race! What a treat. My sport! The NED winner is really impressive; she led into and out of the finish sprint - quite unusual. And a Lithuanian woman took bronze! Curious though, why don't they all seem happy? I eventually learn why no one seemed thrilled: they expected at least gold!
We also see a great election ad. A couple goes mushrooming and the guy falls into sort of quicksand. All the other mushroomers remove their slacks, tie the legs together, and use it as a rope to pull him out. The point is that citizens must work together (vote) to succeed. And we will be lucky if 50% of the registered voters (which is far less than those who could be eligible to vote if they'd only register) show up for our presidential election. Maybe we are too used to being able to vote for whomever we want. Maybe we need to know how precious that right is.
It's going to be a big adjustment getting back to where people expect me to understand what they say. I'm even enjoying these TV programs from whatever country with one or two voice-overs in Lithuanian. Can't understand anything - and don't have to!
But I have just been wondering how I will tell the cab driver at Gatwick about the B&B we want to go to. Thinking of showing the advertising card. Then I realized that they do speak English in England! Then again, at dinner, I almost put my plate on the floor for Fergie. I think it's time to think about heading home.
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