Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR & Classical Music

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The Reflecting Pool on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall began as a glorious mirror for the Washington Monument, stretching out from the foot of the Lincoln Memorial stairs. Visitors could see the reflection, the obelisk itself, and over its shoulder the huge dome of the Capitol, the site everyone who comes to Washington wants to see. But over the years, the pool grew increasingly dank and slimy looking, leaking, smelly. Finally, the Park Service closed it for a complete do-over. Two years later, it's almost ready.

On-air challenge: Every answer is a two-word phrase in which one of the words starts with W and the other word is the same with the W removed. For example, if you were given the clue "desires scurrying insects," the answer would be "wants ants."

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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALL GAME")

SISTER WINONA CARR: (Singing) Life is a ball game being played each day. Life is a ballgame...

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The Olympics are over and we're all readjusting our focus to sports closer to home. A jet-lagged Mike Pesca is doing the same and he joins us now.

Hi, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.

WERTHEIMER: So, there's really only one major league sport in full swing in the middle of August, and that is baseball. I hear the Red Sox manager is raising some eyebrows?

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Russia's neighbor, Ukraine, is experiencing a linguistic rift. Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych, has signed a law making Russian one of the country's official regional languages. Russian is spoken primarily in the country's east and south; Ukrainian is spoken in the west and center. And Ukrainian speakers fear that Russian could crowd out Ukrainian, as it did in Soviet times. David Stern reports from Kiev.

DAVID STERN, BYLINE: Ukraine is country that is sometimes united by its two main languages.

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "TARA'S THEME")

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Cooking on hot summer days tends to be something we either do outside, or try not to do at all. But at the same time, we are in the season of wonderful food. And if you're lucky enough to live near farm stands in the country or farmers markets in the city, real tomatoes, fresh corn and new potatoes are all around. For inspiration, I get out a worn, stained paperback book written by an Englishwoman, Elizabeth David, in the 1950s. It's called "Summer Cooking."