where's latvia?

Marta and I were having breakfast, an I brought out the bag of sugar to add some to our porridge. The sugar bag reads:

CUKRUS

CUKURS

SUHKUR

CAXAP

Marta looks at it and asks:

Why is 'sugar' spelled with a 'c'?

I look at the bag.

Because it's written in Latvian, honey. See, 'Cukurs' is 'sugar' in Latvian, 'cukrus' is 'sugar' in Lithuanian, 'suhkur' is 'sugar' in Estonian, and ...

"Oh crap," I think. "How do I even pronounce the last one? 'Shagar'? 'Zaksar?' Is that how the Russians pronounce what they have rendered in cyrillic as CAXAP?"

And the last one is written in Russian.

What is Latvian?

It's the language of Latvia.

Where's Latvia?

It's the country south of here, honey.

How come the Russian one has an 'X'?

Because the 'X' makes a 'G' sound -- I lie -- and the 'P' makes an 'R' sound. They have a different alphabet.

Marta looks at the sugar bag, slightly confused.

Oh.

so hungry

Yesterday I took Marta to gymnastics. As we pulled out of the driveway, she noticed that it was sunny outside and there were birds chirping in the trees. Marta asks:

Why are there birds outside?

Because soon the snow is going to melt and it will be
spring.

Spring! Then I can go outside and run and hop and kill bugs.

Hop huh? Like a bunny rabbit?

Yeah, like a bunny rabbit. What do bunny rabbits eat?

They eat, I don't know, carrots and grass.

But not bugs?

Only if they are really hungry.

What about frogs?

Frogs eat bugs and hop.

Maybe I'll be a frog instead of a bunny rabbit. I like bugs, especially ladybugs.

Marta looks out the window and sighs.

Boy, am I hungry. I am so hungry I could eat a giraffe!

Giraffes are pretty big, honey. You could probably only eat half a giraffe.

Or a bird. I'm so hungry I could eat a whole bird.

I bet you could.

You know, I am so hungry that if I was, uh, the same size as a ladybug I could eat a frog. That's how hungry I am.

Don't worry, Marta, when we get home we'll have dinner.

questions

The other night Marta and I cuddled up to watch the Sound of Music again. I like this movie because one of the characters is named Marta -- she's the second youngest Von Trapp.

Our Marta really would like to go to Austria to the mountains where Maria goes when she needs to sing about things. She asked me:

Where is that?

It's Austria.

Where is ... Austria?

It's in between Italy and Germany.

What language do they speak there?

German.

But then how come everybody in the movie speaks English?

So that you can understand them, sweety.

Marta asked me another question recently. I was wearing my old Rolling Stones shirt. I bought it at a concert in 1997 during their Bridges to Babylon tour. I don't know who makes their shirts, but this one is sturdy: it has held up well. Marta asks:

What is that tongue on your shirt?

It's the symbol for the Rolling Stones.

Who are the Rolling Stones?

[I thought for a second, then switched into a British accent]

The Rolling Stones, love, are the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world.

Marta's eyes grew wide and she looked excited by this piece of information. She might not know what rock'n'roll is, but she likes it.

anna's world

ÕDE (sister)


EMME (mommy)


ADN (Justin)
ALO (phone)


BEBE (Baby)

AUTO (car)

OW OW (dog)

OW OW (giraffe)
OW OW (horse)



KSS (kitty)