GOING HOME

One family's diary, journeys and thoughts

Friday, March 28, 2008

The truth in art

Hakop Hakopyan is a very interesting and prominent Armenian painter, and one of my favorite ones at that. While I love his still life pieces a lot, I always thought his landscapes were a but exaggerated in terms of monochromity and asterity. (You may see some of his works here: http://www.yerevan.ru/gallery/gallery.php?id=9) I thought so until the last hike, which was different both in destination and in season from any other I have ever gone to. There I finally saw the landscapes Hacobyan loved to paint. Turns out, he was depicting them most accurately! See for yourself - the first two pictures below are paintings, the third one is a photograph...







Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hi-def repost by demand


Monday, March 24, 2008

Funny

How many horsepowers does it take to jump this fence?




HAPPY EASTER!


Look and envy me

What beautiful places Roxy and I have visited during the last few weekends! The hiking season has officially started (not that it ever ends for me, but I didn't have a camera for a while, so...) and there are so many charming corners in Armenia yet to be seen! What makes it even more interesting is the history hiding under every rock and stone. It's amazing to stand somewhere on a cliff in a half-ruined fortress or amidst the ruins of an ancient city and realize that a thousand years ago, or fifteen hundred years ago, or two thousand years ago people stood here and looked down, and to imagine what they might have been seeing and thinking and dreaming, and know that some of them might be your direct ancestors! I find it most exciting.

This here is the freshwater Azat Reservoir, where we went with a hiking group. You can fish in this lake, but not swim.








The friendly inhabitants of the nearby village...




This is Dvin (or what's left of it) - one of the 12 ancient capitals of Armenia. The settlement existed since III century, and was a capital from VII century. The place was excavated back in the Soviet times and there is a museum on the premises, displaying what wasn't moved to bigger and more important museums in Yerevan. Still, Roxy and I found a lot of pottery shards in the ruins - exciting, if you think about it!






Views in the vicinity of the archeological site.







And here is the village of Bjni, where the famous mineral water comes from. Beside the water, the village boasts a VII century quaint little church, perched on a top of a rock, a X century fortress (mostly ruins) and a large imposing church in the middle of the village with a very pretty bell tower.










Serious things

If those reading my blog get an impression that nothing serious is happening in Armenia, let me assure you - life is happening here, like nowhere else. The reasons I don't report the political and social happenings here, is a) this is a family blog and b) there are other, better informed people doing it already - so, being generally removed from the events, I would be just copying stuff from them.

In brief, the State of Emergency, declared by the president after March 1 clashes between the demonstrators and the police/army, was lifted on March 20. While it was in effect, a law passed that made it more difficult to get a permission to hold a protest/demonstration/etc. So, on the very first day after the State of Emergency and the army was supposed to be withdrawn, the opposition tried to hold a "silent protest" and ended up getting into skirmishes with the police (or was it army again?)

In case you really want to know more of what's going on, please refer to http://hnazarian.blogspot.com/, http://www.armenianow.com/ and other websites dedicated to reporting the events and commenting on them.

Kitty


Just in case you were wondering how our kitty is doing - she is fine. She is still with me, Vicky refuses to take her to her rental apartment. She brings a lot of joy to our existence for sure - but I didn't want a cat! I want a dog!!!


Anybody want a silly scaredy kitty? Delivery is free...

Monday, March 10, 2008

How do you know it's spring?


Because the storks are here!!!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Riots in Armenia

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/03/02/troops_patrol_tense_armenian_capital/

http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKL0152804020080302

http://www.silobreaker.com/DocumentReader.aspx?Item=5_830439428