Pre-autumn Moscow

While summer enjoys its last day, Moscow is getting ready for coming autumn. You can smell it in stillness of chilly air, see it in restless water of Moscow-river, hear it in gusts of keen wind. I'm sorry to admit it but the summer is over...

Sokol village, house

Today I present you one more spicemen of houses in Sokol Village. Like others, this house is supposed to be a typical one for one of Russian regions, though I don't know which exactly.

P.S. The gallery of Sokol houses on my extension site.

Last chance of summer

So I'm back from my Cyprus vacation. It was a wonderful trip, no doubts! I brought back with me about 1.5 GB of photos so I'm thinking of creating another blog for my travel pictures.

As for Moscow, the heat has left it and now it's rather chilly and extremely windy over here. Looks like autumn is closer than ever now...

Autumn flowers

My dreams are coming true: tomorrow I'm leaving for vacation. I will be out of city for 10 days. Sorry, but there will be no posts for a while.

Have a nice weekend, everyone, and see you in a couple weeks!

The bridge

One more photo from Sokol village. If I'm lucky enought I would get a picture of the same bridge when trees turn golden, but for now enjoy this summer view.

Autumn breath

Although sun is still hot and the city suffers of 'too summer-like' weather, the breath of autumn can be heard everywhere: in sort of flowers blooming, in longer nights, in yellows leaves in the grass.

Spotted pavement

One more photo from Cokol village. This street is rather typical for small Russian towns.

Summer cafe

Thanks God, it's summer here again! I use every opportunity to be out and enjoy sun, even though someone would think it hot. There is an open-air cafe not far from my office, I stopped there the other day to have a cup of Coffee Glace which is a perfect refreshment on such a weather. So I was sitting in the cane-chair, sipping my coffee, watching people passing by - and suddenly it felt like Paris. You know, this subtle atmosphere of enjoying life as it is? I miss it sometimes...

A few words about 'Dacha'

Yesterday Fabrizio asked me if houses in Sokol village were still used as Dacia (or Dacha in English transcription), but the thing is that those houses never were used as Dacha. So I decided to tell you a little bit about Dacha in general.
Since the end of XIX century (I believe) people went out of city for summer time to stay in country house, of their own or rented. The rest of the year houses stood empty, awaiting for summer residents. So these houses were what we call Dacha.
In Soviet Union idea of Dacha became more and more popular; nearly every townman wanted to have his own house with a garden in the sountryside to spend there his leisure time. There were privileged categories of citizen, such as military officers, scientists, writers and poets, who had a right for a house in special Dacha villages, owned by govement, where house were large and comfortable. Other people were less lucky and had to jostle in tiny huts, often built by owners themselves.
During hard times, Dacha was a source of vegetables and friuts, and many people lived on it. Nowadays, those simple country houses are used for rest from city noise on summer weekends and some spend there vacation.
The photo, though, was taken in Sokol village; this house was never used as Dacha but people live there all year through.

Sokol village

There is a piece of rural life in the north-west part of Moscow called Sokol village. It's also known as Artists' village amonst residents, although few artists lived here. But for some reason all the streets in this block are named after famous Russian artists, that is why the village is Artists'.
It was build in 1923-1931, during NEP (New Economical Policy) time, beyond the city line, and provided home for scientists, teachers, doctors and so on. The village consists of 114 houses, and every one of them is unique. Moreover, every street is planted with peculiar kind of trees - one with lindens, another with ash and so on.
I used to come here often while being a student; these quiet streets are perfect place for secluded meditation.

P.S. Another version on my extension site.

Suddenly August gave us one more really summer day, sunny and hot. I couldn't miss this chance and went out for a photo walk. Here is one picture out of impressive set.

Here is another version of after-rain drops on the leaves. Hope you'll like it.

Rain on tiles

While many of you suffer of severe draught, we still have a lot of rains over here. And I can't say I enjoy it any more, so I would rather share this water with someone who needs it. Hey, does anybody care for some rain? Come over and help yourself! As for me, I'm developing a plan of escape from this flooding land.

P.S. Another version on my extension site.

A promise turned to harvest

Remember I posted a photo of apple blossom in spring? Well, now it's time to post a photo of what it came to - a harvest. Of course, this is a wild tree and apples a small and sour, but aren't they beautiful?

P.S. Another version on my extension site.

Rainy

Well, the weekend is over but the rain is still here. And there. And everywhere!

P.S. More photos on my extension site.

Rain

Since weather continues being angry with us and keeps watering our city, my pictures are going to be about the same topic for a while - the rain. There was a great thunderstorm on Friday night, and a number of showers yesterday, and a lot of water falling down today - well, I'm surprised Moscow doesn't suffer of flood yet.

How was your weekend?

P.S. More photos on my extension site.

Here is an example of mosaic picture assembled on the selling of Mayakovskaya station. There is about a dozen of them, and some are really interesting. At least, I liked watching them as a child.

Moscow Metro: Mayakovskaya station

Mayakovskaya station is one of the oldest. Open in 1938, it's famous for its mosaic sellings, I will post an example tomorrow.

Dreaming of vacation

Theme Day - Typical breakfast

So today is the Theme Day, and participants are to present their typical breakfast. Here is mine: cereals & hot milk, a cup of strong coffee and some sweets. I'm not sure whether it's typical for all russian or moscovian, but still.

Check out other cities participation: Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA