A Dacha On Boardwalk

Year Five, Day 1: It'll cost you 500 Rubles to stay in my dacha on Boardw...I mean, on the old Arbat. You'll get off much cheaper if you land on Mitnaya where a night in a sleazy hotel will only run 250 Rubles. Yes, this is an authentic Parker Brothers Monopoly board, a limited edition purchased about forty years ago when I was struggling to get a handle on the Russian language. With only records, tapes and books to guide me, I did very poorly with the spoken word, but eventually learned enough to be able to read children's stories at the elementary-school level. The few times I tried to hold up my end of a basic "hi, how are you" conversation were miserable failures. That said, as a good capitalist, I bought two of the game boards (a monopoly on Monopolies, if you will) so that I could preserve one still in the mailer as a collectible. What made the Russian version even more special was a one-time-only issue of a new metal character piece, a bear. A later Russian-language edition was released minus the iconic ursine.

So...welcome to Year Five of 365 Caws. When I started this project, I only expected it to run for a year, but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue it for a second...and a third and fourth. I find that writing a daily essay helps me keep my creative edge, although rounding up photo material is sometimes very difficult, especially during the winter months. Nevertheless, I know that many of my readers are "visual" folk, so rest assured I have no intention of eliminating the daily photo. Some of you have been with me all the way, and I appreciate your patience with me on those days when I haven't been quite up to par. Thank you so much for your loyalty! I hope I can continue to entertain you.