There wasn't much happening here this week, so we thought we'd start with a bit of news from home:
Sue was contacted by Brigham Young University a few months ago. They said they wanted to do an interview with her for a short blurb in the BYU Alumni magazine. She was in the first class of Computer Science graduates, and one of only two women in that class, so holds a small unique spot in the history of the school. The article came out this week, based on the school motto, "Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve." There was a short piece on one alum from each of the 50 states as an example of service. Sue was the choice for California. Quite a surprise! You can read her piece here:
BYU Alums in 50 states Once you get to the article, just click on California. We found a longer blurb published in September called "Starting from Scratch" about her work with Ravenswood Schools, and here is a fun speech she gave at a BYU Computer Science Alumni Dinner back in 2013 that might have prompted all this interest from the BYU Alumni Association. (You may need to copy and paste this link to get it to work.)
On Ken's side, why would we care about articles in the Deseret News and KSL.com (the major newspaper and TV station in Salt Lake City) about a nursery/garden store closing in Bountiful, Utah? Because the 'J' and 'L' of J & L Garden Center are John and Lloyd Smith--two brothers who happen to be Ken's uncles. They started the Garden Center in 1958, and they have now passed away. Two of his other uncles, Albert and Bob Smith also worked there for a time, as did Ken's younger brother Scott--when he was about 11 years old. John's children took over and have been running it for years, but they are now in their 60's and 70's so want to retire. The grandchildren have chosen other careers. But their landscaping business will continue. Closing of J & L Garden Center The KSL-TV News Report
Fall has run its course. Two weeks ago this was the view of our neighborhood park.
But this is how it looked on Wednesday, the first sunny day in over a week. Notice the angle of the shadow. The sun is at "high noon!"
The second activity was to turn left at the top of the stairs and look at the doorway into one of the large public rooms. Which side of the door is open to let people through? See above. Now walk through the open door, turn around, and look back at the doorway from the large room into the stairwell hall. See the photo to the right. There is a disconnect here. If the door on the right is open in the stairwell, then the door on the left should be open looking back the other way. But in each room only one door opens and the other is a fake. This is because the centers of the rooms are offset from each other. Either one room or the other would have the doors in the 'wrong' place if both doors opened in both rooms. We have been through those doors at least a dozen times and had never noticed!
The other activities mostly involved specific works of art and 'mistakes.' Eyeglasses in a painting from the time of Christ. Something defying the laws of gravity. Cupid with arrows, but no bow. Tulips and grapes in the same still-life. A portrait where the man had two right gloves. It was a fun exercise.
The Hermitage became a military hospital starting in 1914 for the wounded of WWI. This ballroom now has one end covered with a photo of that very room when the hospital was first set up. It's a little eerie to stand in the room and look back at its full length in a former time.
The Hermitage Museum was just one building started in 1764 by Catherine the Great as a private royal museum of great art of the world. It has been open to the public since 1852. We have come to consider as real heroes those Hermitage staff members in 1917 who stayed there day and night to protect the museum. There was some looting of the palace, but most of the original art and furnishings were protected and preserved. After the Revolution, the Winter Palace--former home of the royal family--was added into the Hermitage Museum, and all became one large museum, along with other buildings around Palace Square. Now there are six connected buildings along the river, and the General Staff Building across the square. (It's the curved building with the horses and chariot on top. See below.)
The video projected on the General Staff Building described the ten months of the turmoil of the Revolution in 1917.
Sue was contacted by Brigham Young University a few months ago. They said they wanted to do an interview with her for a short blurb in the BYU Alumni magazine. She was in the first class of Computer Science graduates, and one of only two women in that class, so holds a small unique spot in the history of the school. The article came out this week, based on the school motto, "Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve." There was a short piece on one alum from each of the 50 states as an example of service. Sue was the choice for California. Quite a surprise! You can read her piece here:
BYU Alums in 50 states Once you get to the article, just click on California. We found a longer blurb published in September called "Starting from Scratch" about her work with Ravenswood Schools, and here is a fun speech she gave at a BYU Computer Science Alumni Dinner back in 2013 that might have prompted all this interest from the BYU Alumni Association. (You may need to copy and paste this link to get it to work.)
On Ken's side, why would we care about articles in the Deseret News and KSL.com (the major newspaper and TV station in Salt Lake City) about a nursery/garden store closing in Bountiful, Utah? Because the 'J' and 'L' of J & L Garden Center are John and Lloyd Smith--two brothers who happen to be Ken's uncles. They started the Garden Center in 1958, and they have now passed away. Two of his other uncles, Albert and Bob Smith also worked there for a time, as did Ken's younger brother Scott--when he was about 11 years old. John's children took over and have been running it for years, but they are now in their 60's and 70's so want to retire. The grandchildren have chosen other careers. But their landscaping business will continue. Closing of J & L Garden Center The KSL-TV News Report
Fall has run its course. Two weeks ago this was the view of our neighborhood park.
But this is how it looked on Wednesday, the first sunny day in over a week. Notice the angle of the shadow. The sun is at "high noon!"
Last week we posted a small photo of an edge of the entry hall at the Hermitage. Here is the whole long hall, decorated to honor the 100th Anniversary of the Russian Revolutions in 1917.
This week was also school holidays in Russia. Everyone gets a week off in October. The Hermitage was like July! There were no school groups, and few tourist groups, but there were lots and lots and lots of families, or Grandmas with the Grandkids. In honor of this week, all the museums in St. Petersburg have special activities for children. At each museum you can do their activity and get a sticker on your 'map' of all the participating museums. For her service on Wednesday afternoon, the Director of the Volunteers for the Hermitage, Mikhael, asked Sue to accompany one of the newest volunteers to the museum and do this activity--just to see how it worked. It was all in Russian, so Sue appreciated the help of her new friend, who speaks good English.
The first activity was to look at the big grand staircase and decide what the architect had done to make it look larger than it really is (mirrors on one end, windows on the other, lots of stairs--but each one isn't very tall, and there is a very high ceiling.)
The second activity was to turn left at the top of the stairs and look at the doorway into one of the large public rooms. Which side of the door is open to let people through? See above. Now walk through the open door, turn around, and look back at the doorway from the large room into the stairwell hall. See the photo to the right. There is a disconnect here. If the door on the right is open in the stairwell, then the door on the left should be open looking back the other way. But in each room only one door opens and the other is a fake. This is because the centers of the rooms are offset from each other. Either one room or the other would have the doors in the 'wrong' place if both doors opened in both rooms. We have been through those doors at least a dozen times and had never noticed! The other activities mostly involved specific works of art and 'mistakes.' Eyeglasses in a painting from the time of Christ. Something defying the laws of gravity. Cupid with arrows, but no bow. Tulips and grapes in the same still-life. A portrait where the man had two right gloves. It was a fun exercise.
The 1917 Russian Revolutions
There were really three Revolutions in 1917. The calendar has been changed in the last 100 years, so the dates slide by a couple of weeks. The February/March revolution involved the rebellion against the Russian involvment in the First World War, the abdication of Tsar Nicolas II, ending the 300-year-long reign of the Romanovs, and the establishment of a provisional government in St. Petersburg. This new government was intended to decide how Russia would be governed going forward. In July 1917 that group was deposed. In October/November the Bolsheviks forcibly took power, and the Soviet era began as the seat of Power was moved to Moscow. This last Revolution has traditionally been celebrated here on November 7.
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| Wall photo of this room in the Palace as a hospital. |
The Hermitage became a military hospital starting in 1914 for the wounded of WWI. This ballroom now has one end covered with a photo of that very room when the hospital was first set up. It's a little eerie to stand in the room and look back at its full length in a former time.
The Hermitage Museum was just one building started in 1764 by Catherine the Great as a private royal museum of great art of the world. It has been open to the public since 1852. We have come to consider as real heroes those Hermitage staff members in 1917 who stayed there day and night to protect the museum. There was some looting of the palace, but most of the original art and furnishings were protected and preserved. After the Revolution, the Winter Palace--former home of the royal family--was added into the Hermitage Museum, and all became one large museum, along with other buildings around Palace Square. Now there are six connected buildings along the river, and the General Staff Building across the square. (It's the curved building with the horses and chariot on top. See below.)
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| Tsar Nicholas II 1896 |
In 1896 this portrait of Tsar Nicholas II was painted by a student in the St. Petersburg art school. After the Revolution, portraits of the Tsar were, of course, no longer politically correct. Someone found this one, and thankfully, instead of destroying it, just turned it over and painted a portrait of Lenin on the back! Now they stand in the middle of the room, sharing a frame.
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| V.I. Lenin 1924 with Peter and Paul Fortress in the background--the founding spot of St. Petersburg |
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The General Staff Building.
The top floor on the left side houses the
collection of French Impressionist art.
We loved the almost-full moon
rising over the top.
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| From the same spot, turn around and see the Admiralty Building. This is the home of the Russian Navy. |
And then there were two...
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| Babskovi & Archibalds discuss a photo of the members of Kaliningrad Branch, w ith Kostya Serebrennikov as translator. |
The Babskovs have completed their remarkable mission as Member Leadership Support in the isolated enclave of Kaliningrad and will return to eastern Ukraine after six weeks with their daughter and her family here in St. Petersburg. The Archibalds have been transferred from Veliky Novgorod and are moving to Kaliningrad to replace them. We enjoyed a "farewell - welcome -transfer" dinner at the Mission Home with the Rawsons. Sister Rawson fed us Jambalaya from her home state of Louisiana. Now just the Archibalds and we remain as the only Senior Couples in our mission.
Sister Rawson is a great cook! And that's a good thing. She has to keep feeding a lot of visiting dignitaries, and arriving & departing volunteers. It seems as if every week there is a dinner party.
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| The "adults" of the St. Petersburg Mission Pres & Sister Rawson, Elder and Sister Babskov, Sister and Elder Archibald, & us. |
Festival of Lights--November 4 is Unity Day in Russia
Since the Russian Revolution is no longer to be celebrated, the country has a new holiday to replace November 7. Now November 4th is "The Day of National Unity" to celebrate the great country of Russia and all its people. But, like in the US, everyone wants a day off work for a holiday. November 4 is the holiday, but Monday, November 6th is the day off work this year. Three-day weekends are important everywhere!
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| Strolling down Nevsky Prospekt to Palace Square |
In honor of this day, there was a large "Light Festival" at Palace Square. We decided to go with the Archibalds. [We wanted to eat Mexican food at Tres Amigos first, but it was full! Next time we'll make a reservation. We had KFC instead.] Normally we stay away from large events for safety reasons, but this one was a little different. It was advertized as "family friendly," so we figured if we went early it would not be full of drunk hooligans. Also, the show was 35 minutes long, repeated over and over from 7 pm to 11 pm. So you could come anytime, watch once through, and leave anytime. That was a great system for crowd control, and were there crowds! Nevsky Prospect is the main street through Saint Petersburg--think Market Street in San Francisco. Six lanes wide, and traffic is almost always at a crawl. It ends at Palace Square, but the last two blocks were closed to all traffic. We got off the bus before that and walked. We loved walking down the middle of Nevsky!
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| The Winter Palace of the Hermitage illuminated by a 3D light show and concert |
There were six different "shows" by six different teams of artists. Each was multi-media, but instead of a white screen, the first five were each about five minutes long and used the facade of the Winter Palace as the screen, and the sixth used the General Staff Building and was about ten minutes. Sometimes they projected other images on the building--fall leaves--or other people. But often the building itself was incorporated into the image. For instance, each column and window lit, and then the whole thing "pulled" to the left as if it were painted on a curtain. It is all too hard to explain! But it was truly beautiful.
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| The General Staff Building illuminated by a 3D light show of the history of the Revolutions |
The video projected on the General Staff Building described the ten months of the turmoil of the Revolution in 1917.
The series of video clips might give you a better idea of how spectacular this all was. You can also see the official website for the show at www.lfspb.ru
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| Say Good Night! |
After the show, we learned that the closest Metro station was closed for security reasons. Everyone had to walk back down Nevsky Prospect to the Gostiny Dvor station--so more big crowds all moving in the same direction. But, on the way we passed by the Kazan Cathedral, patterned after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. And we were wearing our knit hats and the coats with fur-trimmed hoods. But the temperature was above 40F, so it was a lovely evening! No snow yet for us here.
You are both so accomplished!! Loved seeing the light show on the side of the buildings. They do this here when we have an event called, "Lights of Jerusalem." When we were here before Damascus Gate was illuminated and went through a series of historical changes. We'll try and film it for you next time it happens.
ReplyDeleteI grew up going to J&L nursery with my mom! I learned a lot there about gardening!
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