Wooden car

Greetings, afitzgerald :)

Your caption: “People in the Ukraine must be bored out of their mind now that the Orange Revolution is over” caught my eye. To reflect a more accurate statement (from the vantage point of syntax), one word must be deleted--the word “the” in your phrase “the Ukraine.” The name of the country should read as only one word “Ukraine.” Since this is a public platform (with its vast audience), it is ideal for the edification of people, which is why I point it out here.

An explanation appeared in Arnold Berke’s article “Ukrainian Dawn,” Historic Preservation, March/April, 1993, pp. 31-32, which offers some insight into Ukraine and how she is often erroneously perceived:

“Ukraine is a new country but an old nation—a fact often lost on foreigners, who remain largely ignorant of this land of fifty-two million people, Europe’s second largest in area after Russia. Ukraine to them has always been “the” Ukraine—no more than a region of its powerful northern neighbor, Russia—and Ukrainian culture a mere variation on the Russian national theme. Russians used to call Ukraine “Little Russia,” a sobriquet that Tchaikovsky‘s Second Symphony earned for its use of Ukrainian folk themes. Even the Ukrainian language was downgraded as a dialect of Russian, although Ukrainian differs from Russian as much as does Polish.”

Doubt very much that Ukrainian people are bored now that the Orange Revolution is over. :) A case in point is the wonderful wooden car to which you appended your caption! Ukrainian people with centuries-old traditions, arts, crafts and folklore, not to mention their imaginations, surely could hardly succumb to the boredom you mention. Beauty, culture, and numerous other intangible and tangible avenues abound throughout Ukraine, which may capture one’s fancy rather than wandering down the boulevards of boredom.

I do hope that someday you get a chance to visit Ukraine—Ukrayina is surely the world’s best-kept secret—and, her charms and magic are experienced best by the lucky traveler who gets to personally visit her! Next time wanderlust tugs at your sleeve, or you have a bit of stardust still remaining in your eyes, remember that Ukraine waits to bewitch you. However, it might be wise to travel the world first, for when you visit Ukraine, you’ll forever yearn to return and reexperience her magic. And, who knows, you may even be tempted to build your own wooden car….
:-)