The light had already been fading for a while that afternoon as we flung ourselves over snow drifts and up tall mountains of shoveled snow and along the garage rooftops which we could reach because the snow was so high. What had begun as a straightforward afternoon of play in the weak light after school … Continue reading Sergei Avdeev, Evening Outdoors, 2014
My parents' country house was built nearly a century ago, and though it's a country house, it has many of the trappings of an upscale city dwelling. There are formal spaces with slick, polished wood floors, large glass windows with delicate carving around the moldings, and rich fabrics with tulips and rosettes adorning the floors … Continue reading Pyotr Konchalovsky, First Snow. Blue Dacha, 1938
I'm not sure how long the house has been abandoned, but since childhood it has felt like the old home had been given over to the forest eons ago. My friends and I would meet there after school. We would pretend it was a palace, a dungeon, a pirate ship, and sometimes—when my little sister … Continue reading Isaak Brodsky, Fallen Leaves, 1929
And now for the first of my “musings.” This week has been cold and snowy (by mid-Atlantic standards), which I love. I love it even though it screws up traffic and makes me late. Even though it’s a hassle to bundle up my toddler for daycare, and even though my hands freeze when I need … Continue reading A Winter Evening
Ellen A. Hurst 