dobry utro

the green stick
In this ravine on Tolstoy’s estate is a green stick - or so goes the story that Tolstoy’s brother used to tell him as a child. On this green stick is written the secret to making everyone happy. Tolstoy looked for this stick as a child, and in a sense he spent the rest of his life looking for it. This is where he wanted to be buried.




a holy place
This is Yasnaya Polyana, Lev Tolstoy’s estate. He tried to live simply there, yet thought it was not simple enough. He devoted his life to obeying Christ by making life better for the poor, but always felt he needed to do more. His home was always open to his very many children and grandchildren, although he had trouble feeling at ease there himself. He wrote brilliant books and profound stories that continue to bless and to challenge this world, but many think he was a bit “off” at the end when he could no longer bear the inconsistencies he perceived in his life. He simply walked away from it all, fell ill from the cold, and died at a train station.




Puschino-on-Oka
Puschino - just south of Moscow on the Oka River, where we spent three days and two nights last week. Deliberately constructed by the anti-religious soviet government in the 1960s as strictly and solely a center devoted to science, this city was the last place I would have expected to come across (quite by “chance”) a very special religious service. These people were commemorating their new church’s saint’s day. And how extraordinary that this saint would happen to be Saint Michael, with all the memories this brings back to me of my visits to Mont-Saint-Michel a few years ago. Michael slaying the dragon - God standing by our side against all that oppresses us. Worth celebrating.




Happy Birthday, Heather
As we wandered through art galleries on November 19th, I kept looking for something that I could post as a happy-birthday wish to you, Heather. Finally, leaving the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum at the end of the day, we crossed the street in the direction of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and came across a statue of some very-important-personage (I forget who) guarded by this magnificent beast. Thought he might do. Happy Birthday!




Heidi in a previous life
In the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, we came across this portrait of Heidi in a former life (Vanloo’s The Princess Golitzyna)! Wealth and elegance and aristocracy aside, it’s amazing how little has changed since 1759 (note the tongue). Speaking of former lives, Ron and I are missing Canada very much. We feel like we have entered into a strangely different life here. The striking contrasts in Russian history and society can be rather jarring to the senses, and we have felt it keenly: rich culture vs. dismal poverty; extraordinary self-sacrifice vs. ravenous self-interest; overflowing grace and hospitality vs. stone-faced scowls; centuries of enduring patience vs. the fend-for-yourself push and shove of every-day life on streets and walkways.