According to the original Life Magazine article published in 1952 these photos were taken in the Cathedral of Holy Virgin Protection in New York. In Russian Easter is called “Pascha“; after the all-night vigil the believers declare “Christ is Risen!” and everyone responds “Indeed, He is risen!”.

The rest of the photos.

Russian icon depicting the resurrection. (source)

Sergei Rachmaninov: Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHmSzN84p6w

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When the Garmin-Chipotle bicycling team was being formed I was not invited. Maybe it was my penchant to ride wearing Hawaiian shirts, or my refusal to purchase a helmet, or maybe it was the fact that I weigh as much as Lance Armstrong together with his bike, something must have prevented them from accepting me into their team. I wasn’t surprised, Garmin ignores two or three of my job applications every year.

I was not discouraged by the lack of sponsorship (sponsors are welcome to contact me with proposals) and participated in my own Tour De La Crique Indienne or as you Americans would call it – Tour of the Indian Creek Trail. I discussed the pleasures of recreational biking before so I will not repeat myself. Today the weather was nice and I rode about 37 kilometers (23 miles) round-trip from my house to 103rd st. and Metcalf. I wasn’t in a hurry and had plenty of time to stop and take some photos. So there, I can ride a bike and photograph.Take that, Garmin!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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January 27th is an anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad – one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of the World War II. 900 days of bombing and starvation claimed over 600,000 lives.

Someone overlayed old photos of the blockade with the photos of St. Petersburg today to create haunting images at the same time signifying that life goes on even after a horrible tragedy like the one that happened 70 years ago.
(Click for more)

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It’s no surprise that I find a lot in common with people 30 year older than me – we share similar memories. But since I am physically not old enough to retire to a front porch where I’d whittle and chase kids off my lawn, occasionally telling educational “in my day…” stories to anyone who would listen, I have to resort to occasionally posting these stories on this here blog. Just like it says in these unfunny pictures old(er) women share on Facebook: “age is nothing but a number”, and my number is 67. I wish the Social Security would agree.

In my day we didn’t go to physicals, the physicals came to us…

…and while the entire class and Lenin himself were watching, the annual health inspection would commence.

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February 23rd has a special meaning for people who grew up in the Soviet Union. Originally started in 1918 as the Red Army Day, then renamed “The Soviet Army and Navy Day” and now “Defender of the Motherland Day” this holiday became a de facto Men’s Day when all men were celebrated even if they never served in the military. Starting at the young age it was a day of anticipation for boys, when girls would bring them small presents and souvenirs to school just so the boys could brag, compare and play with them for the rest of the day (the favor was returned on March the 8th). For those who served it was a highly anticipated day off, with delicacies such as two boiled eggs and buckwheat for breakfast and maybe a rare day on the town (if you happened to serve near one). For the rest of the people it was another reason to have a drink.

Over the years my opinion about my military service has changed from a wasted years of my life, two years of missed opportunity and needless sacrifice, to a fun and careless time when all I had to worry about was escaping any semblance of work and exercise at all costs. Although I was one of the most worthless soldiers the Soviet Army had ever seen, they got exactly what they paid for with their 7 rubles a month, which was just enough for a lunch and a few packs of cheap cigarettes. I made sure of that.

Even though the Soviet Army is long gone, I still get a few messages from friends and relatives on this day. Mostly it’s a connection to the innocent days of our childhood when a simple souvenir and a card made us feel like men (slide show of old holiday cards below).

Much has changed since the days of my military service. In the video below the Choir Of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs performs with the duo Ottawan, something that couldn’t have happened 25 years ago, when people from the same ministry were busy banning Western music.

httpvh://youtu.be/XkoHoAPTzdM

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