June 08, 2020

Dog Days


Dog Days
Sun's out, guns out, unless you have weather pains. Aleksei Nikolsky, Kremlin Pool Photo

If your old, dry bones are achy "cause of a gullywasher a-rollin" in over that thar field, this doctor has tips for you. Russian sources reported this week on a Russian medical professional's interview on how to combat weather pains. In Russian, the term is метеозависимость: "meteodependency," which is certainly one of the more delightful Russian compound words.

According to the article, older folks are more sensitive to weather pains. According to Dr. Larisa Alekseeva, children tend to be hardier when it comes to weather changes.

However, fighting aches and pains from changing temperature, pressure, and humidity is difficult: a variety of factors enter into the equation, including diet, age, and underlying conditions. Treatment purely impacts symptoms and usually involves traditional painkillers. Otherwise, those who are especially vulnerable should stay indoors and avoid stressful situations and news, which can negatively and unnecessarily impact the body.

Hopefully weather pains won't get in the way of any of your summer plans any more than coronavirus already has.

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Some of our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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