“We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.” ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I find your writings fascinating because you had such a unique life. Minds sounds like dullsville compared to yours! God works in mysterious ways indeed. Have a great week! 👍🏻🙏🏻
Love your stories about your adventures growing up. The photos of you and your family are great! Interesting how meaningful photographs were from that era, each one so precious. I still love holding old photographs in my hands way more than looking on my phone. Stay well Karen and thank you as always!
What a great post! I’ve lived many wonderous adventures growing up and traveling in third word countries but your tales always amaze me. Thanks for sharing them with us! (I especially love the pictures!)
My ex father-in-law visited Russia in the early 1970's with a group of medical doctors (mostly general practitioners). He said most of what he saw reminded him of pictures he had seen of early 20th century medicine. This comment applied to everything he saw on the trip: hospitals, doctor's offices & pharmacies. I assume the Russians showed the American doctors the best they had.
God is wonderfully using you, with all the incredible experiences He brought about in your life, as your dear parents followed His will for theirs. What a celebration there will be in Heaven, Karen! Thank you for being faithful in following His plan for your life, a plan that is reaching hundreds, if not thousands, with the Truth and Hope of Christ Jesus.
And yes, your personal stories draw us in and bring both hope and joy, even hearing of the tough times. You’ve been “refined by fire,” so to speak. God bless!🙏🙌
Karen, as always, thank you for sharing your life experiences. This one brought me back to my days of working in Jugoslavia while it was under Tito’s reign and the Yugoslavia airline JAT which more or less mirrored Aeroflot. You just didn’t get on those planes. Keep doing what you do and thank you again
There's got to be some interesting stories there! As I've written in some of my essays, I lived near Lake Bled when Tito was president, married to a Slovenian pop star. The marriage was hell but I loved living there.
Aeroflot - I've flown on their planes a few times and it always seemed novel - like the farmer who has an old tractor, that only he can keep running and has parts on it from his same era ice-box (read not refrigerator). I was like stepping back in time, even though this was a few decades after the break-up,in a former block country.
Of course all went well, probably because my dear grandmother had Saint Peter's ear and he knew what would happen if something happened to me.
Interesting! I think I would be curious enough to fly Aeroflot if the opportunity arose. Although, I just looked up its safety record, which I might add above:
Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, has had a high number of fatal crashes, particularly during the Soviet era. According to the Aircraft Crashes Record Office, 8,231 passengers have died in Aeroflot crashes, which is about five times more than any other airline. In the 1990s, 525 people died on board Aeroflot aircraft or on the ground. In 2013, AirlineRatings.com reported that five of the ten aircraft models involved in the highest number of fatal accidents were old Soviet models.
Ha…I looked up something similar after reading your post. I think you run into that when you have old equipment, a stressed or failing infrastructure (maintenance parts/cost) and a system where no one is really going to complain much, if you loose a plane full of people - at least prior to the fall.
I no longer fly, because of the ridiculous mandate insanity. Just like hollywierd they are dead to me, but also with the rise of woke spawn of equity and mediocrity being the pinnacle of our industrial standards, I’m less inclined to trust “the science or engineering” anymore.
And this coming from someone who spent a lot of time on airframes in the military.
Your story brought back fun memories. I need to go dig the CD out, that has some of my pics from that time.
I love the old photos. Fortunately, my mom kept amazing journals, and photo albums, which is why I can be so accurate with dates and memories.
Flying and travel in general has lost its luster for me, too. It just isn't the same since the Covid madness. Also, I am sure they want to discourage ordinary people from traveling and a few scares with planes is in their favor. They are putting all their energy into space flight now and satellites and surveillance.
Amazin' journeys ya took, love yer sharin' all the memories! -- but yup, for YEARS we Yankees were so lucky, aviation was purdy safe--an' no pat downs or xrays needed. I used ta fly free to Europe as a bonded courier--that was super fun, super cheap! (an' I stayed with friends when I got there -- that wuz the life -- you could do that stuff, nobuddy tracked her comin's / goin's neither) Those days are sadly gone -- could come back but given busted planes, broken pilots, invasive procedures (for "suck-curity")--mebbe not so fast.
As students a bunch of us went to Russia an' that plane was CRAZY--we called it flyin' on AerofloP! The thing took off vertically an' there was turbulence the entire time (or wuz it just bad flyin'?), there were no edibles on the flight (it left from France so not as long) except "wodka" an' none of us drank (oh an kvass--some kinda mineral water that tastes like a well)--the seats were hard, uncomfy, everythin' looked a mite dirty (like they didn't bother cleanin' the plane), an' even as a shortie, my legs were cramped--no leg room at'all!-- That wuz one sardine tin can in the air! Yer dad knew better! We kids did not!
Ha ha re the leeches--there was a hipster "leech clininc" in Brooklyn (Greenpoint)--it came back! (tho I never wuz clear which conditions they were usin' 'em for...) I knew a few leeches in my time too--but that kind were landlords! (they sucked a lotta rent money outta me!)
Thank you for this postcard of memory!
You're welcome!
I find your writings fascinating because you had such a unique life. Minds sounds like dullsville compared to yours! God works in mysterious ways indeed. Have a great week! 👍🏻🙏🏻
❤️
Love your stories about your adventures growing up. The photos of you and your family are great! Interesting how meaningful photographs were from that era, each one so precious. I still love holding old photographs in my hands way more than looking on my phone. Stay well Karen and thank you as always!
Thank you!
What a great post! I’ve lived many wonderous adventures growing up and traveling in third word countries but your tales always amaze me. Thanks for sharing them with us! (I especially love the pictures!)
My ex father-in-law visited Russia in the early 1970's with a group of medical doctors (mostly general practitioners). He said most of what he saw reminded him of pictures he had seen of early 20th century medicine. This comment applied to everything he saw on the trip: hospitals, doctor's offices & pharmacies. I assume the Russians showed the American doctors the best they had.
You've lead a wild life! That's amazing.
It's has been wild and wonderful.
God is wonderfully using you, with all the incredible experiences He brought about in your life, as your dear parents followed His will for theirs. What a celebration there will be in Heaven, Karen! Thank you for being faithful in following His plan for your life, a plan that is reaching hundreds, if not thousands, with the Truth and Hope of Christ Jesus.
And yes, your personal stories draw us in and bring both hope and joy, even hearing of the tough times. You’ve been “refined by fire,” so to speak. God bless!🙏🙌
Many blessings to you, too. 🙏❤️
Karen, as always, thank you for sharing your life experiences. This one brought me back to my days of working in Jugoslavia while it was under Tito’s reign and the Yugoslavia airline JAT which more or less mirrored Aeroflot. You just didn’t get on those planes. Keep doing what you do and thank you again
There's got to be some interesting stories there! As I've written in some of my essays, I lived near Lake Bled when Tito was president, married to a Slovenian pop star. The marriage was hell but I loved living there.
You bet, I lived in Samabor and worked at the Krsko nuclear plant. It is a beautiful country. One of my
Favorites was the island of Krk. I will add some pics later
Wow, interesting!
Oh, I love Krk. I have wonderful memories of visiting those islands. Pictures please!
Unusual parents, you think?🥂🐸
That's for sure!
Aeroflot - I've flown on their planes a few times and it always seemed novel - like the farmer who has an old tractor, that only he can keep running and has parts on it from his same era ice-box (read not refrigerator). I was like stepping back in time, even though this was a few decades after the break-up,in a former block country.
Of course all went well, probably because my dear grandmother had Saint Peter's ear and he knew what would happen if something happened to me.
Interesting! I think I would be curious enough to fly Aeroflot if the opportunity arose. Although, I just looked up its safety record, which I might add above:
Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, has had a high number of fatal crashes, particularly during the Soviet era. According to the Aircraft Crashes Record Office, 8,231 passengers have died in Aeroflot crashes, which is about five times more than any other airline. In the 1990s, 525 people died on board Aeroflot aircraft or on the ground. In 2013, AirlineRatings.com reported that five of the ten aircraft models involved in the highest number of fatal accidents were old Soviet models.
Ha…I looked up something similar after reading your post. I think you run into that when you have old equipment, a stressed or failing infrastructure (maintenance parts/cost) and a system where no one is really going to complain much, if you loose a plane full of people - at least prior to the fall.
I no longer fly, because of the ridiculous mandate insanity. Just like hollywierd they are dead to me, but also with the rise of woke spawn of equity and mediocrity being the pinnacle of our industrial standards, I’m less inclined to trust “the science or engineering” anymore.
And this coming from someone who spent a lot of time on airframes in the military.
Your story brought back fun memories. I need to go dig the CD out, that has some of my pics from that time.
Poka Devushka
I love the old photos. Fortunately, my mom kept amazing journals, and photo albums, which is why I can be so accurate with dates and memories.
Flying and travel in general has lost its luster for me, too. It just isn't the same since the Covid madness. Also, I am sure they want to discourage ordinary people from traveling and a few scares with planes is in their favor. They are putting all their energy into space flight now and satellites and surveillance.
Divine Providence, Divine Mercy,
Grace and Peace to you, sister! 🌐🕊️
☦️ ⛲ CHRIST IS ASCENDED,
From Earth to Heaven! 🔥 ✨
Thank you, and to you!
Amazin' journeys ya took, love yer sharin' all the memories! -- but yup, for YEARS we Yankees were so lucky, aviation was purdy safe--an' no pat downs or xrays needed. I used ta fly free to Europe as a bonded courier--that was super fun, super cheap! (an' I stayed with friends when I got there -- that wuz the life -- you could do that stuff, nobuddy tracked her comin's / goin's neither) Those days are sadly gone -- could come back but given busted planes, broken pilots, invasive procedures (for "suck-curity")--mebbe not so fast.
As students a bunch of us went to Russia an' that plane was CRAZY--we called it flyin' on AerofloP! The thing took off vertically an' there was turbulence the entire time (or wuz it just bad flyin'?), there were no edibles on the flight (it left from France so not as long) except "wodka" an' none of us drank (oh an kvass--some kinda mineral water that tastes like a well)--the seats were hard, uncomfy, everythin' looked a mite dirty (like they didn't bother cleanin' the plane), an' even as a shortie, my legs were cramped--no leg room at'all!-- That wuz one sardine tin can in the air! Yer dad knew better! We kids did not!
Ha ha re the leeches--there was a hipster "leech clininc" in Brooklyn (Greenpoint)--it came back! (tho I never wuz clear which conditions they were usin' 'em for...) I knew a few leeches in my time too--but that kind were landlords! (they sucked a lotta rent money outta me!)
Fun stories are just... fun stories!
https://i.postimg.cc/KYn4yRFH/russia-vs-usoft-air-stories.jpg