808 day of war

Hello, friends!

This week, Sonya has fully recovered and is feeling much better. We're still keeping track of how much she eats each day, but there are no more reasons to worry. I feel much calmer now and have been able to return to work and my usual activities.

This Sunday, we celebrated Easter. Our churches are transitioning to new calendars very slowly, so this year Easter was celebrated later than in Europe. The city was adorned with painted eggs and baskets. Among them, I liked the installation near the monument to the writer Ivan Franko most.

This week, we had to walk a lot on the streets. We picked up humanitarian aid, strolled around, and finally found time to ride bikes together. This year, I plan to visit new villages around the city where I haven't been yet, and I really want to go there not alone. Nastya doesn't enjoy cycling as much and finds it difficult to ride long distances, so I decided to start training her a bit and gradually increase the distance for each subsequent outing so that by the end of the summer, we could go somewhere far together and enjoy the beautiful wilderness around. Similar training worked last year, and by the end of the season, we rode 50 km to the neighboring city and back. It was quite challenging for both of us, but we have many fond memories of that day. We saw a large forest, a pond where a swan swam up to us, and after it started hissing at us, we realized it was a mute swan. We also saw a large old castle with a museum inside, which we couldn't visit because there was a film shooting going on at that time, with many actors, cameras, and interesting decorations around. I hope we can do something similar this year too.

The country is currently more peaceful; it seems that the air defense systems have arrived in sufficient quantities, and the sky is better protected. The enemy is now focusing more on Kharkiv, which was simply paralyzed yesterday. The air raid alarm lasted for 13 hours! This is a record time. The Russians launched an attack on the city, but it was repelled, although most likely this is not their last attempt. There is an impression that the country is turning into a fortress; many fortifications have been built in the past 2 years, including large trenches, tank barriers, and minefields.
Somehow, I feel they won't be able to capture more new major cities like at the beginning of the war. It's been 2 years, and the authorities have definitely drawn conclusions regarding security. In any case, I believe we can cope with all the challenges and withstand them.

I'm trying to watch the news less and work more because during my week off with the cat, a lot of work has really piled up. But I'm happy when there's work; it's crucial right now.
Thank you all for your support! Every day, I told Sonya how many people are worried about her and that she has no option but to recover. Perhaps that helped too. Also, thank you for the support on BuyMeACoffee; it's very helpful. Thank you all!