These two paintings are from Olechko, a cool blog I just came across through Global Voices Online – which I also highly recommend for anyone wondering about what the world outside the U.S. is blogging about.
Anyhow, this is pretty hardcore. Seriously, it’s got to be freezing in the Ukraine around this time of year. But that isn’t stopping some enterprising people from bringing what their garden produces into the city for some extra income. Looks like a pretty decent haul for the dead of winter – leeks, daikon and some root vegetables.
That said, I still feel very lucky to be living in San Francisco, the land of inexhaustible food and dining options.
[...] The view was spectacular, particularly at dusk. Kei at Stop Eating Crap! got a kick out of my fruit and vegetable street [...]
Hi! I came here from Olechko’s blog. Interesting blog you got here – it’s good to see a fellow crap food hater.
It’s just “Ukraine” not “the Ukraine.” It’s an independent country, not a region of a imperial hegemon. Thanks.
I stand corrected! Out of curiosity, I tried googling around for an explanation of this “the Ukraine” vs “Ukraine” phenomenon, and the only pertinent hit was this:
http://volokh.com/posts/1164907576.shtml.
So I turned to a former Russian professor, who confirmed that it is indeed politically incorrect to say “the” Ukraine. Her explanation was that the “the” implies that Ukraine is “u kraine” (i.e. in the outlying area) of Russia. This apparently also extends to how this country is referred to in Russian – now you are “v ukraine”, not “na ukraine”, as I learned it several years back.
Thanks for pointing that out, though you could be a little less huffy.