It was recently revealed that Russian spies posing as “ordinary” Americans were arrested. They lived in happy surburban homes. They sent messages to their handlers using invisible ink. They posted images on the internet with secret, coded texts hidden in them. They had “American” children. One alleged spy, Anna Chapman, was a “demure, divorced 28-year-old who said she founded an online real estate company worth $2 million.” They were, in short, “normal” Americans, which is probably what gave them away.
Jessie Gugig, 15, said she could not believe the charges, especially against Mrs. Murphy. “They couldn’t have been spies,” she said jokingly. “Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
Quotation from In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents by Scott Shane and Charlie Savage (The New York Times)
“She said they were from Canada.”
Quotation from Lila Hexner, who lived next door to one of the spies.
she can come over here and work on my hydrangeas…..
You should be a spy ’cause you have this ‘in your face’ philosophy, and nobody would suspect, but if you get caught, I’ll swear your Canadian! Ok? K!
Demure? Then why are her boobs all over the interwebs?
Am I also to be judged by my hydrangeas? They’ve never been better…..
the whole saga is kinda funny and fascinating.
ahhaha
that russian girl is really unbelieveble!
Oh dear, you just reminded me of the Coneheads who told the neighbors they were from France
ps: I’ve never met a normal American
The whole thing is just so stupid. Russian spies? I’m sorry, did the Earth reverse its rotation and go back to 1963?
There’s more to this whole thing that no one is telling us.
I thought all people from Canada were spies. At least in Mad Magazine you could always tell which side the spies were on.
Surely if you live in the land of the free there are no secrets and therefore spies are redundant
The question in Russian doesn’t make any sense, Ms.Sera.
Though, it probably doesn’t matter for the point you try to make here (though, I’m having trouble with that too 
). If you straighten the broken Russian, the question would sound: “How many bakers in the bakery, a dozen?” 
Normal American… that would be more difficult to define. Are tea party folks normal Americans? Are folks who go to Sarah Palin rallies normal Americans? If you ask them, they sure say they are.
You crack me up !
Hilarious comic. But wait a minute, we got ripped off! We gave them 10 spies and they sent us back 4? They still owe us 6 spies! I did that in my head, you might want to check my math with Excel to be sure. Anyway, I could see that being a fair deal if they were like you can keep the hot one and her interb00bz, so we’re only going to give you back 4 spies.
What next – maybe the Microsoft indelible ink translator programs no longer works well for resident spies or for those overseas so they negotiated a deal between the respective redundant parties?
Best wishes
This whole spy exchange thing has been so interesting…hasn’t it?? Love your take on ‘normal’!!
I wish I could be a spy but I don’t have a photographic memory and can never spot people in a crowd. Plus, Chinese is not Russian, let’s face it.
I sure hope graduation is soon.
sigh…. when a spy wants to appear innocuous and boring, she poses as a Canadian. it’s so unfair. we’re not all boring, you know…. my last name, in Norwegian, means ‘trouble’.
we have boatloads of hydrangeas beside our house and we are definitely NOT normal
esp me, i’ve been up for two days now, changed my photoblog template again, don’t forget to tell me what you think 
Red gym shoes. Hahahha!!! I love it!!!!
)
You could be a spy. I find all kinds of things encoded in your blog. Usually smiles and thoughtful pauses…very seditious.