My name is mud...May showers bring sweet Moldovan wine & full bellies...

Not too many years ago, i would have been arrested for crossing the "Iron Curtain" to take this picture.

I am VERY lucky that d's one cousin knew enough english to tell me to stay in the car... otherwise I would have been pushing us through the mud also!

Our tracks.

Please note d hanging onto the back of the car for traction...

Woodstock... Moldovan style.

...And then it was Andre's turn to get unstuck from the mud!

Thank goodness for old soviet cars with bald tires!

Tanya's parents and brother greeted us with their homeade wine after we got out of the mud. They were wonderful people. They offered up numerous toasts to us for bringing the rain. They said they desperately need the rain because they had very little snow last winter. Like I said, this was a wonderful family.

Here we are participating in the old one cup, large group circle toast. This was probably the BEST wine I have tasted yet. It was the first homeade white we had.

When you cant actually communicate easily with anyone, it leaves a lot of time to commune with nature. I sure will have a great collection of pictures to put up on my walls at work now!