escenas de verano en nueva york

in what my parents call their 'icelandic garden...'




in the evenings, we drink (wine, water, coffee) and play scrabble. in the foreground, my not-so-winning hand of letters...

Yelena

Yelena is Russian, teaches Russian, speaks impeccable English, and is working on Spanish because she's leaving Moscow to get married and move to Spain! She has lived in Moscow for ten years (having grown up near Vladimir, several hundred kilometers to the east of Moscow) and has seen it change a great deal. "You feel more wealth here now ... before, it was horrible, it was disgusting, the poverty, the shabby buildings... although there are still now people--especially people from the Asian republics--who come to work here and live in horrible conditions." She says, like most people, that the advantage of living in Moscow is the cultural life, the fact that everything is so accessible, the cinema, theater, ballet, the parks and cafes. But what is beautiful about Russia that people might not realize? "The people themselves are beautiful. On the outside, they look very reserved and unfriendly, but when you get to know them better they are very warm, very hospitable, very generous." So true. Gracias, Yelena, y que te vaya bien -

fin de semana 13-14 junio

a morning out photographing: a bridge where newlyweds follow a tradition of putting locks on metal trees (and where it is evident that kids the world over feel the same about getting group pictures taken at tourist spots), also a church that was empty, quiet, and cool.