Rain throughout the weekend and so a lot of snow meltage. Spent a while on Friday ahead of the rain carving little canals through the packed snow to a drain near my deck and one out on the street, so that when the snow became liquid, it would go down those drains.
After the rain, mud for a little while but soon hardened ground. I prefer that to a slushy ground and especially icy patches.
Balkan Insight tells us today that “Moldovan President Igor Dodon has declared 2019 the ‘year of the Stephen the Great,’ recalling a famous ruler of Moldova in the 15th and 16th century [sic] – in what many see as a campaign to boost support for Moldovan independence and counter pro-Romanian forces ahead of next year’s elections….
“Stephen the Great was Prince of Moldova from 1457 to 1504. He is famous for having kept the land free from Ottoman influence, but also free from Polish and Hungarian domination.”
I have no particular connection to Moldova, but I do have a Moldovan 1 leu note, whose official exchange rate these days will get you about 6 U.S. cents.
Of course that’s Stephen the Great on the obverse. He’s on all of the Moldovan banknotes, which seems a little excessive, like putting Washington on all U.S. currency would be. Apparently just this year, 1 leu coins were introduced, but the banknotes aren’t being retired yet.
On the reverse is a grainy image of the Căpriana Monastery.
Wiki has a slender entry on the place, and this is about half of it: “Căpriana Monastery (Romanian: Mănăstirea Căpriana) is one of the oldest monasteries of Moldova, located in Căpriana, 40 km north-west of Chișinău.
“The first significant reference dates from a document issued in 1429 that gave Căpriana the status of royal monastery on behalf of Alexander the Good. In this deed the holy abode was referred to as ‘mănăstirea de la Vâșnovăț unde este egumen Chiprian’ (the monastery of Vâșnovăț where the hegumen is Chiprian) and was given in the possession of Alexander’s wife — princess Marena.”
Which makes me wonder, why doesn’t Alexander get his picture on a Moldovan note? Sure, he was only good, not great, but isn’t that enough?