Month: May 2014

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary:  Hands (part XVI).  Надзвычайнае ў звычайным:  Рукі (частка XVI). Hard-working, protective, guiding.  Yet ever graceful and always in their proper place.  I think Belarusan hands reveal most eloquently Belarusans’ distinctive and instinctive traditions and attachment to place. Працавітыя, абараняльныя, ды навучальныя але абавязкова зграбныя, дбайныя, і, як заўсёды, складзеныя належным… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 11, 2014

Chestnut trees by the River S’vislach, Mjensk 2013.  Каштаны ля р. Сьвіслач, Менск 2013 год. Owing to the mild spring weather this year in Belarus, fruit trees blossomed ten days to two weeks earlier than normal.  This photo was taken May 18, 2013; in 2014 the chestnut candles were already out by May 4 throughout… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 10, 2014

Evening Prayers, Shrine of the Virgin Mary, Prudy 2013.  Вячэрнія малітвы каля прыдарожнай каплічкі Панны Марыі, Пруды 2013 год. May is Marian Month in the Roman Catholic Church.  In the traditionally strongly Catholic villages of the Nalibaki Wilderness west-southwest of Mjensk, parishioners pray the Rosary and sing hymns every May evening at a Marian shrine… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 9, 2014

Crosses of Belarus (part XVI):  “Jefim Jefimavich Pjetrovski, His Wife, and Their Four Children, Shot in 1942”, Pinsk-Bjares’tsje Highway 2013. Крыжы Беларусі (частка XVI):  “Петровский Ефим Ефимович, его жена, и их четверо детей, растреляны в 1942 г.“, ля М10 Пінск-Бярэсьце 2013 г. This lonely cross caught the corner of my eye a hundred yards off… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 8, 2014

Apple-blossom petals on cobblestones, Marozavichy (Stoubtsy District) 2013.  Яблычныя пялёсткі на брукаванцы, Марозавічы (Стаўбцоўскі раён) 2013 год. The petals form a negative of the image of gallettes (small-stone infill) in 19th-century Belarusian masonry, for instance in the walls of the Orthodox church in Myto (photo of the day for March 9, 2014). Пялёсткі на брукаванцы… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 7, 2014

The Bench (part XI):  Kromavichy in a shower of apple-blossom petals 2013.  Лаўка (частка ХІ):  Кромавічы пад пялёсткамі 2013 год. What can seem more prosaic than the plain wooden bench in front of almost every village house in Belarus?  And yet the bench is the pivot of social life, the gathering place of generations on… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 6, 2014

Spring Blossoms in Polesia, Khotamjel’ 2008.  Росквіт на Століншчыне, Хотамель 2008 год.

Churches of Belarus (part LXVII):  Orthodox Church of the Birth of the Holy Mother of God (1718-1720), Dubjanjets 2013.  Цэрквы Беларусі (частка LXVII):  царква Нараджэньня Маці Божай (1718-1720 гг.), Дубянец 2013 год. The Dubjanjets church is one of the most splendid examples of surviving 18th-century Polesian wooden churches.  Unfortunately the parish has substituted golden onion… Continue reading Photo of the Day for May 4, 2014

Storks of Polesia: hunting frogs in the waning days of the spring flood, Vuhaljets 2013.  Палескае паляваньне на жабак, Вугалец 2013 год.