Family

Posts about both sides of my family

A Rounded Education; languages, humanities and the universe

If I were ever granted three wishes, my first would be to understand every language in the world because I would then be able to comprehend all of the family history documents I have inherited. Not that I would need to know more than German, Russian, French and Latvian, but

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This is America – unfinished and unpublished

“In the dreadful condition the world finds itself in today, we in America are fortunate enough to be able to lead a normal life, to bring up our children in the principles and traditions handed down to us through many generations, and to watch them enjoy all the many advantages

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Not Just a Salad but a Dish to Celebrate the New Year

What do you get when you mix boiled potatoes with pickles and peas? Well if you add boiled eggs and mayonnaise – lots of mayonnaise – you have a basic Olivier Salad. I have been assured this is a salad which Russians serve on New Year’s eve and at any

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The Last Christmas of the Second World War

December 1944 was the last time my father would see his father, and it was also approximately four months before my father would be captured by the Americans. It is difficult to say whether he spent Christmas with his father, his diary notes just mention that from 20 – 26

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Snow in Summer: He was Extravagant and Eccentric

My first nine winters were spent in the depths of snow. I remember taking forever to put all of the required winter layers on before trudging through mounds of soft, white snow or navigating carefully along icy sidewalks. There were the times my father had to put chains on the

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