Texts from Bets Vol. 7

Last week, Sophie started to act really weird. And by really weird I mean she didn't eat. And when Sophie doesn't eat we pretty much sound all alarms, call 911 and scream at the top of our lungs hoping someone hears us. "OUR DOG IS NOT EATING!! OUR DOG MUST BE DYING!! HELP US!!" Combine that with the um poop-in-the-house situation... well, you get the idea...she gave us quite the scare. It turns out it was the best case scenario- all she had was a little bit of GI inflammation probably based on something poisonous she ate (not surprising at all) and after a day of antibiotics the princess was as good as new.

So obviously, my mom sent me a video to illustrate how the favorite Wilinsky child is feeling. Please excuse her baby talk voice, she speaks to me like that too. ("Ooo you're a good girl Lara, you're a good girl" while gently rubbing under my chin)

And while we're on the topic of getting well- my Grammy reads this blog and has been feeling more than yucky recently and it wouldn't be fair to mention Sophie's dumb stomach bug without acknowledging my Grammy's not dumb health issues. I wish you could be better after one day of antibiotics too :( I'm writing you a whole long post that will make you smile and feel better. I love you and I miss you!

For Grammy

Grammy, for some reason I thought of you when I saw this. I think you'll like it a lot.

Here is a description that was sent to me along with the video:

This video shows the winner of 2009’s " Ukraine ’s Got Talent," Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $75,000.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated. It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears. She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier. This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house. In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying good-bye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.

Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."