Show and Tell Friday

Kelli is hosting Show and Tell Friday. Go check out all the fun stuff and post one of your own!


The day slipped up on me and I wasn't prepared to show anything. But while working in my sewing room, my eyes fell on one of my most fun possessions and ta-dah! I had something to show.


This is a balalaika, a Russian stringed instrument used in folk songs. Do you remember Dr. Zhivago? When the military half-brother of Zhivago was interviewing a girl he believed to be the love child of Lara and Zhivago? At the end of the movie, he's watching her walk away with her boyfriend, and she has a balalaika slung over her shoulder. As his and Zhivago's mother was very talented on the instrument, it confirmed for him the girl's identity.



It has a triangular shape, with an almost boat-like back, and three strings.



I bought mine from an antique mall in Salida, CO on a visit to my best friend's home. We always head over there when I visit and spend a good hour just looking around. Sometimes we find something, sometimes not. This particular visit I fell in love with this, mostly because of the movie. I don't know if it was made here, or in Russia, but they told me it was hand-painted by a man in a wheelchair, and he would be delighted that it sold, because it had been there awhile. Guess it was just waiting for me to find it.



I used to play the ukelele a little, and the guitar a little, so maybe if I studied a little, I could tune this and learn to play it. Right now, though, it's a reminder of fun times with my friend, and a romantic movie from my youth.