Україна

Ще не вмерла України ні слава, ні воля.

Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.

Згинуть наші вороженьки, як роса на сонці,

Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.

I must confess that I have been obsessing about Ukraine for awhile now. Not, surprisingly, because of Trump's attempt to strong-arm President Volodymyr Zelensky into doing his bidding...although of course I was incensed about that. It was partially because I've been peeping at New Eastern Europe magazine for the past couple of years (highly recommended, by the way)...since I picked up the November / December 2017 issue at Barnes & Noble (Issue 6 2017: Central Asia. The forgotten region?)*...and Ukraine comes up a bit therein. Partially (blush) because not one but two seriously attractive Ukrainian women have joined my Crazy Women Group in the past year, and (more blush) I find them both fascinating. 

But today when I saw this bit of loveliness

at Goodwill...for a mere $1.05 (tax included)...well, I just had to go for that. In fact, I'm thinking of making it my next Daily Devotional Reading work. (Briefly: for the past 2 1/4 years, I've spent about 20 minutes each day reading a book which would have kicked my ass if I'd tried to just sit down and plow through it. I've read 11,000 pages to date.) 

And by the way...did you know (I didn't) that Ukraine is the third largest (talking area here) European nation (at 605,628 sq km)? I learned that from Fernand Braudel...whose Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century is my current Daily Devotional Reading.

News as it happens.

* Which you can (and should) check out here: https://neweasterneurope.eu . Lots of free reading. Also, you can (and should) listen to their podcast for free here: https://neweasterneurope.eu/category/blogs-and-podcasts/ . It's some fascinating stuff.