September 2025

This month was fun and very busy. We went to Oxford twice, for alumni events. We almost finished the porch, just needs the last few touches, like installing the house number, the mirror, and decide on the bench/shoe rack. This means we’ve started work on the conservatory, which was demolished and now we are digging trenches for the foundation. On top of that, my volunteering work expanded and now I am working with 2 organisations while I am in the UK, one in Leeds and the children project I talked before. I need to catch up with fellow bloggers, as I missed some posts in the last week.

On a very positive note: Moldova won against russia!! I’m delighted. I spent most of the night watching the results in real time. The pro-EU party won a good majority against the pro-russian bunch who paid so much money to interfere with the elections. russia spent the equivalent of over 1% of Moldova’s GDP in propaganda, vote buying, and intimidation (a few hundred thugs were trained on how to destabilize the country, with trainers from Serbia which were arrested before the elections took place). To put it into perspective, that is the equivalent to 10 times BBC’s funding.

Now, for the pics. I will start with the view from the room I had in the college on one of the trips. How gorgeous is the third quad at Oriel?

This is one of the official photos from the Women at Oriel event. It’s quite small for people not to be easily identified, so I think it’s ok to share it.

This was the alumni dinner, for which I went with my husband. We had a lovely time. It was good to be back at Oxford.

While we were demolishing the conservatory. Now it’s in a much better state, as in all that was cleared and the trench is getting along nicely.

I framed a picture I received as a gift for my work with the children, from one of the artists in Ukraine. It is a very special gift for me, so I placed it where I can see it daily.

A few pictures of Volya, first one with dad, pair programming. Her being cute in the second one, and playful in the third one.

My impression that she recognises the sound of Shahed drones was confirmed. She looked up, twice, when she heard a lawnmower. She ignores the power tools my husband used, including a cement breaker, but reacted to a lawnmower somewhere in the neighbourhood. I saw her reaction and understood a few seconds later. I also recognised the sounds of the Shaheds. My husband didn’t, he was lucky never to hear them while in Ukraine.

A random picture of a stir-fry I made. It was so yummy.

1. From the garden, a small harvest on the day. 2. I received this gorgeous painting as a thank you for my work with the children. It’s now framed and displayed in my kitchen, somewhere I can see it daily. 3. The porch is getting ready for decoration, both inside and out. 4. Remembering the 4 September attack. 5. Oxford trip means dinner at the Oxford Blue. 6. Women at Oriel event, celebrating the 40th anniversary of women being accepted into Oriel. 7. View from my room at Oxford. 8. Volya having fun. 9. Productive meeting at the Leeds Ukrainian Community Centre. 10. More fun with Volya 11. British Lawnmower Museum. 12. Lunch at Penelope. 13. Volya was curious about the changes in the living room [conservatory furniture was moved to the living room]. 14. First layer of colour in the porch. 15. English breakfast at home. 16. Blue Coat tour. 17. Conservatory, the before picture. 18. A difficult to take selfie with Volya on my lap, but I love the pic, despite its very poor quality. 19. Trip to Oxford for the Alumni Dinner. 20. Stayed overnight in Oxford, but no pics, so this is from the day before. 21. Tiles are installed in the porch. It’s almost done! 22. Buying more stuff for the renovations. 23. Volya being cute. 24. The conservatory gets a new makeup. 25. Pair programming with dad. 26. Sunflower Dreams Project at Williamson Art Gallery, Wirral. 27. I picked the wood for a very special frame, to display a camo net I was given, made by a 6-year-old. 28. The frame for the camo net is done. The net will be shown in Edinburgh from next week. 29. Moldovan elections. 30. Books in September

I changed the reading challenge again, to 70 books. I am too busy this year to get close to my initial goal of 89. This year was very busy and I only read for pleasure now, as I’m not studying anymore. This means reading is not as much as a priority as before.

Books in September:
Blood Formula by Illya Titko – 4 stars
Less Is More by Jason Hickel – 1 star
Lawnmowers by Brian Radam – 5 stars
Daughter by Tamara Duda – 5 stars
Sky Above Kharkiv by Serhiy Zhadan – 5 stars