Tatyana from Kostroma

Went to Whole Foods and met dear friend Tatyana Seamon. Next time you are in Whole Foods, please stop by Cheese Dept and greet Tatyana (say Pree-Vet!). She will tell you all about the new line of cheeses and give samples of cheese, wine and chocolate. What I admire about Tatyana - she loves her job!

America through the Eyes of a Russian Woman

Two of my friends are expecting their Russian-speaking fiancees to arrive to USA this summer. Both men asked for an advice. Here is a good website that I can recommend - read America through the Eyes of a (newly arrived to USA) Russian Woman.

Hafiz in the greenhouse

Very interesting event - we went to Virginia to a... concert in the greenhouse. One of Nadia's students - David Oliver - presented Three Songs of Hafiz. He put the poems to music. Cliff Dumais was playing his wonderful guitar. David was singing for a small group of his friends. It was his first official concert.

An exclusive and very appreciative group of people was there to listen to music at the sunset. A child and two dogs were there too. The concert 'At the Fields of Michael and Gabriel' took place in a greenhouse that was temporarily converted into a concert hall. David also grows grapes and makes wine. He served his wine to the guests. His winery has a very interesting name - The Fields of Michael and Gabriel. The winery has no website.

Tall large windows above the solar panels - is the greenhouse where the concert took place

In these Fields David build a church in Russian style of architecture. He traveled to Russia many times, and was fascinated by Russian architecture. He lived in the church for 35 years. The heating system was simple and very 'Russian' - wood and fire. The winds in the Virginia mountains can reach arctic temperatures. It was cold, especially in winter month. Then David moved to a greenhouse, that eventually grew into a larger house, part of which now is the winery. The house now has electricity but also uses solar energy for heating. The church is still up on the hill...

The event brought a surprise. I met a very interesting person - the daughter of the youngest member of the Russian Provisional Government (so called Kerensky's Government). In the mountains of Virginia... Who would have thought! Her name is Anna. Her father was born in Kiev, and mother - in Odessa. She said that Kerensky himself was serving her vodka (when she was 5... not a great idea, but Anna remembers it very well!). Kerensky called it 'fire water'. Anna is a great storyteller. I enjoyed talking to her very much. She does a lot of needlework and drapery. She was teaching Russian Literature in college for a long time. Her favorite Russian writers are Tolstoy and Zamiatin. Anna can recite "The Tale of Tzar Saltan" in Russian by heart...

Amazing evening in Virginia mountains!

All pictures are mine, all clickable, just don't forget to come back :))

rocks in the garden

We started a Japanese garden on the weekend - bought plants and soil, leveled the big hole left from the removed tree. We are so thankful to Mitch Stover for throwing some rocks into our garden! It would not be a Japanese garden without rocks. Mitch brought some for us from the mountains. Not only rocks - he also brought apples - very tasty, very sweet. Thank you, Mitch! Mitch works in Robinhood Road Starbucks (3331 Robinhood Rd. 336-768-1221) - come and see see his photography and art works on display.

wireless in Shanevo

My friend, the artist Anatoly Kudravcev, in his boat, in the village of Shanevo in Russia (today! :) This is a very remote Russian village. People can get there only by the boat, but Anatoly can use his notebook with wireless card there. He send me this picture today via email!

To me this is mind blowing... when I left Russia, we didn't have computers there at all.

baking pirogi in Shanevo

This is my friend, Russian artist Sveta Krotova". She is in the village of Shanevo for the summer. "Time is flying faster than the wind is blowing. Mushrooms, berries, fish, housework and digging in the garden, the weather is not great, but may be summer will stay a little longer. The skies are clouded with the different shapes and colors - I am making a lot of pictures and experimenting with oils".



Here is Sveta with "pirogi" and "pechka" (picture made today in the remote Russian village of Shanevo). Look at the murals on the side of the "pechka"! :)

visiting Totally Responsible People

Irene Lobb (Winston-Salem) and Max Anikeev (Kitezh, Russia)
click to enlarge

We had a very nice tea time in the Center for Purposeful Living in Winston-Salem, NC. Irene who is originally from Kazakhstan and now lives in the community, invited me for a visit and baked a cake (thank you, Irene!). Lee White, who went to Russian community of Kitezh this summer, came to share her experiences and thoughts. She has not only endured two hour talk that was held solely in Russian but actively participated. Her level of Russian is great! The other person there was Max Anikeev, the school principal in Russian village of Kitezh. He is currently visiting the Center for Purposeful Living.

We spend two hours talking about everything - the community of Kitezh , methods of educating children and helping them to get ready to make the world better and better themselves for the world, the meaning of traveling (to get out of your energy pattern box), the island of Valaam (where I lived), and Nikolai Roerich.

Irene's three month old son was quietly sleeping on her shoulder the entire time... :)

I have recorded our talk and made pictures of my new friends.

Center for Purposeful Living

Yesterday we have visited the Center for Purposeful Living. It is located in Winston-Salem, Walkertown exit off Business 40. Fifty people live in the community. They call it 'Intentional Community'. Serving others is the purpose and the method of working with one's consiousness. The goal is to become a totally responsible person.

Their methods of inner work are based on the esotheric psychology of Alice Bailey (with greetings to Madam Blavatski naturally) and probably (my guess) to Live Ethics of Roerikhs. The community was build more than 20 years ago. It doesn't appear to be very active right now on the outside. They closed the facility for the terminally ill people whom they cared for years. The community was initially based on this idea of caring for terminally ill when it was founded in Boomer, NC. They also stopped operating California Buffet in Winston-Salem, and only do catering.

There is a shop on the grounds where the community members work with stones and crystals polishing them and making jewelry. We have met one young Russian woman named Irina in the shop. Irina gave us round glass balls with interesting design that she made. Irina has a baby that was born there three month ago.

Several of the people from the Center for Purposeful Living went this summer to the Russian community of Kitezh not far from Moscow. Russian orphans live in the extended families (large families!) in the village of Kitezh. The village was build for this purpose specifically. Kitezh now has a satellite village of Orion. The houses are round over there "so that kids would not hit the corners" builders say :) We have a book in the library about Kitezh written by one of the founders (in English) - Kitezh : a community approach to raising children in Russia. Check it out!

We were very happy to visit the Center of Purposeful Living and to share the meal with our new friends.

Gaurang Doshi

Gaurang and me in his studio
Click on the picture to enlarge
(photo by Nadia Bakireva)


We have visited Gaurang Doshi today in his home studio in Winston-Salem. Gaurang had a very nice concert in the library several weeks ago. I really got interested in his music. He plays sarod and sitar. Both instruments produce the sound that is very unique and out of this world.

Sarod has 25 strings, 15 of them are sympathetic strings for producing resonant sound. String resonate and sometimes even hit one another making that specific sounds that you won't find in any other instrument in the world. Not even human voice... Sounds awesome! Fingers go up and down the strings to produce the sounds (compare to a guitar where fingers go up, and the movement is wasted on the way down).

For plectrum Gaurang used a coconut shell :) He played for us sitting on the carpet in his living room turned into the studio. His instrument is very precious. The lower part of it is made out of goat skin. Main part is wooden, the space under the strings are metal, probably for resonance. Strings are so thin, so tender, almost like hairs. You can barely see them.

It was an honor that Gaurag brought the instrument out to show to us. Sarod is very sensitive to the temperature. Sometimes light on the stage during the performance, Gaurang said, can change the way the instrument sounds. He has to bring the instrument on the stage way before the performance so that the instrument can adjust to the temperature of the concert hall.

Gaurang was playing sarod, and time by time he was placing his fingers in the small round box to press on what appear to be a piece of cloth . I asked him what it was. He said that strings are harsh on fingers, and he uses oil to soften the skin.

And it was absolutely awesome that he has played for us! For the rhythm he used the electric tabla sound. It could go faster or slower; the entire thing has created the meditative experience. I loved it! Soon we'll have Gaurang's consert in Winston-Salem. "My father told me, - he says, - the best you can do for your teacher is start teaching". Gaurang revere his father who taught him how to play. Now his 11 years old daughter Anusha is playing sitar. He has students who come to his studio and use his instruments to learn how to play.



Gaurang's website - click here