The photos featured in this post were made by my compatriot, called, Igor. It is incredible to have this kind of weather for season’s holidays – a nice change after the years of rain and w...
Tony Richardson who for years has religiously been documenting the beauty of the Cumbrian Lakes supplied us with a few fascinating photos of the total lunar eclipse. The first photo was taken in Conis...
I have just risked my health by opening the kitchen window to take a few photos. We’re having a slow and silent snowfall in Moscow. It is by no means catastrophic, rather magical and serene. Wha...
In our family archive we have several newspapers that date back to the pre-Revolution times. One of them has just marked its 90th anniversary, and if you flick through the pages of the embedded docume...
I mentioned in a previous post that in the English-language literature the genre of villanelle has acquired the depth it didn’t use to have as a Mediterranean-born dance-song. You could see how ...
Previously on this blog you have found and read If I Could Tell You by W. H. Auden. It was a villanelle, a poetic form adopted by the English poetry in the 18th c. To England it came from Italy and Sp...
The magi, as you know, were wise men–wonderfully wise men–who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no d...
And It Came to Pass No Room at the Inn I came across the lovely creations by Tampa Textiles group. Each tapestry, or a wall hanging, has the size of 36″ by 26″, and is usually made ...
Titian, The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1533, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy A rather sombre interpretation of the subject of Adoration by Titian directs the viewer to the bottom right corner of t...
Adoration of the Magi, 3rd c. A.D., Vatican, Rome And we’re starting with the carved scene of the Adoration of the Magi (top). It can be found in Rome, in Vatican, so those of you who are Italia...