Loading ...Winter Solstice!
Solstice Greetings!
It’s that funny day in the northern hemisphere, when the daylight hours stop getting shorter, yet on the same day winter begins. You figure it out 😉
This gallery is of my brief visit to Irkutsk, which sits beside the outflow of Lake Baikal:
https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Irkutsk
Stay warm and enjoy the winter!
GoldBalloon
Thanks, GB. I love seeing these places, and what they offer, through your eyes.
Glad to know you appreciate traveling with me, Strider. I’m fortunate to be the eyes and am happy to share.
Earlier this year, at a gallery in Moscow, some particular paintings by Nicholas Roerich made me think of you. I don’t know if I made it up, or you had commented on the art of another Russian painter whose work was in a gallery I shared. Regardless, Nicholas Roerich blew me away. Maybe you’ll enjoy some of his art, too. Here are some links I had saved with you in mind:
https://www.hilobrow.com/2012/10/09/nicholas-roerich/
https://www.roerich.org/roerich-writings-himalayas-abode-of-light.php
https://www.roerich.org/museum-paintings-slideshows.php
https://tinyurl.com/4shcy8fn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich
It baffles me that the beauty of Russian culture has not yet pierced the curtain deliberately set between us and them. It is so flimsy! Keep pushing, GB! I recall Putin saying that western sanctions will not deter Russians from reading Mark Twain. Unspoken was the notion that we ourselves were trying to bury the great man’s works! Guys like you GB, are a massive fuck you to those powerful creeps who spend their waking moments doing injustice to freedom! Long live GoldBalloon!
Thank you for your good words and wishes directed towards me, Strider. Just one note, though: I am not at all concerned with how long I live, only on how well I allow myself to be NOW.
As far as I can tell, there’s no worthwhile or lasting prize for simply keeping the heart beating for as long as possible; in fact, to me it looks like torture to keep someone alive who lives beyond their natural expiration date. I’ll be very happy to leave whenever it’s my time to, whether that happens to be today, or some distant point in the future.
Instead of wishing for longevity, my interest is only to be fully present NOW, in this moment, and to remember to be grateful for everything. As a result of doing this, as far as I can tell I’m literally in heaven on earth. The ‘powerful creeps’ you refer to are really not powerful at all, but simply part of the full spectrum landscape of this experience, not so different than a pile of dog shit with a powerful stink, to be aware of but mostly ignored so as to be able to allow the focus to be on the unlimited golden gifts we’re immersed in with this human experience. I’ll go for the real gold all day every day! (No, not for the fool’s gold, which ultimately includes PMs… )
Yes, it’s all about freedom, based on our individual freedom to choose, as perfectly expressed in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography ‘Long Walk To Freedom’. Like Mandela, we are all free to choose to be happy and then move forward, whether physically imprisoned or not. So, here’s to FREEDOM ?
What is it about those metal sculptures for me?
They aren’t like original art and the inventiveness that takes.
But they seem more personified to me.
Do they all come to life after the doors close and we’re not watching?
Nah, they don’t wait ’til you leave. They come to life while you’re there 😉
Great Thread Guys
Here’s my Favorite Russian ….as of yesterday when I found this piece
https://www.rbth.com/history/334967-who-was-grigory-rasputin