We walked to the community centre and were greeted by the mayor and a huge choir which sang as we approached. I felt a little uneasy because I hadn’t expected that we would get such warm welcome. The mayor and deputy mayor said a couple of words and we listened to Ukrainian folk music interpreted by the choir. I held the bread and salt which was to be served later this night with coffee.

I was really touched by the welcome and we had a chance to meet the oldest member of the choir who was 82 years old and looked frail but sang like a bird on a warm summer morning. in the distance I caught the shadow of a priest who overlooked our ceremony and rang the church bells with his hand high up in the bell tower. a tied to get a picture but there was too much going on and I didn’t want to change the mood.

After we hopped the bus to go the museum.

On the way we saw the railway monument which was dedicated to the people who first built the railway and set the mood for the museum. The museum was filled with artefacts and history that had been collected for years from the area. There was only two rooms but filled with stuff. One room was the history of the town and another dedicated to the writer poet who wrote the book how the railway was tempered.

After the museum we had lunch with the mayor and the deputy mayor which filled in the blanks about the infrastructure of the town ant their new initiative to clean up the streets. Our translator took the opportunity to ask about the street in front of her house and some childcare issues. I drifted off and something interesting caught my eye.

I had folded my legs right on top o left and written on the leather of my shoe was the words "he lies" underlined two times. I often cross my legs while I eat but for some reason I had written a message to myself that should have brought back a memory. This did not. I could see that I had written it without looking because there was a large space between the letters and the underlines were not really under the words. Who was lying I thought and what was going through my mind? I checked my writ which serves as a notepad when I need to remember something but there was only the message about the time to leave in the morning. This all led me to believe that someone had lied to me and gotten away with it. Our translator had moved on to her garbage problem but I listened in asking the occasional question. Wondering about the message on my shoe.

We went back to the centre where Emma gave an art therapy workshop for some kids and the staff. I was not invited so I walked through town looking for something to see. up over the train tracks in search of the local population, I have always liked to just wander and watch people who do people things.

I walked back to the centre where they had dinner prepared for us and a journalist and an artist were grouped around the table. The artist showed us and explained her work which was all made from leather and things found in nature. The pictures were 3d sculptures which protruded out of the canvas and the detail was amazing. Emma fell in love with a leather necklace which was intricately cut and formed into a piece of art. Both the artist and the journalist sang with us as we listened.

As a custom we planed a tree outside of the centre which was a symbol of our passing and which would welcome us every time we cam in constant reminder to our trip to the centre. I was touched even though the tree was placed a little close to the centre and within 60 years would push through the basement supports of the centre surrounding structure. Our tree. I can’t help now wondering every time I walk by a gelder rose tree what story it had attached to it.

After the party died down we were walked home by Oxana and Ugine who was a paediatric surgeon in the hospital next door. They were newlyweds of just under a month and we asked to see their wedding pictures because their house was on the way home. They mad a beautiful couple and the wedding was filled with happiness and beautiful moments. They offered to meet us in Kiev for coffee in a couple of days and we thought that it would be nice to see them again.

They were nice enough to walk us all the way home which seemed a little out of their way but it was a great end to a great day to be among friends.