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The hillsides begin to thaw in Sirbi

March 1-15, 2000:

Things are thawing out. People are finishing up their indoor tasks and thinking about the spring, just one month away.

The roads are clear of snow except for a few lingering storms that last only a day or two.

The weaving looms will soon lie idle, so the tasks are taken to with a deadline in mind.

Here Maria with her friend has made three pillowcases at once. They'll cut the material into six parts, and split it between themselves for their future homes.

The sounds of lambs bleating for their morning and afternoon access to mom now wake us up and send us to our naps. Everywhere the springtime miracle of birthing is happening.

All those mothers are now ready to give milk the rest of the year.

The relatively good road conditions let us get out and explore.

Here's a Tirg in Bogdan Voda, 40km from our village. They're building a huge white church in the background that dwarfs the small wooden steeple next to it.

   Pig ready to be sold.

Here's a wedding couple the afternoon after their all night reception - still happening.

Maria lives in an isolated part of Budesti. She is 90 years old, and Kathleen was the first American she had ever met. It made her cry.

We found out there are old Jewish cemeteries in many of the villages. There used to be huge numbers of Jews before the holocaust.

Israel paid for the fences to be put up five years ago. They're locked by a simple twist of wire.

The thing that mystified Christian Orthodox Petru was that they were buried with no crucifixes on their markers.

On the way back from the cemetery, Petru saw the first buds of spring. He explained to us how the bird brought back a budding sprig from this plant to Noah's ark to show the lord was going to deliver Noah to dry land.

We'd always heard it was an olive branch.

After the outing, it's time for a nap.

Replenishing the wood supply.

   Village Life March 16-31, 2000

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