As they say, Summer is a small life. And a vacation in the middle of summer is the apogee of that life. I sincerely apologize to my regular readers, and I dare to use this word- friends here, who, I hope, enjoyed some of my posts, for being gone for two weeks. I was on a wonderful vacation.
To be honest, for me Hive is a job, not the main one, but still. Certainly pleasant and enjoyable, but work. I think that if I treated it differently, the quality and regularity of publications would be much lower. A certain internal bar minimizes the degree of hack work that each of us strives for on a subconscious level. So on vacation, I took a break from any job, from any job at all, except for the work of filling these weeks with events.
We all know that the feeling of time is very subjective. Especially in its post perception, when we look back and are surprised that a week, a month or even years have passed unnoticed and rapidly. And the only way I know of to "stretch" time, at least in memories, is to fill life with events, and most importantly with a change of scenery. The more images and impressions you can fit into the memory of a certain period, the brighter and longer it will be in your memory, one day can gain the value of a whole year when you return to the past. So I tried to fill these two weeks to the brim, I think I did it.
This post will be a condensed anthology of all the key events and aspirations, not all of which will be reborn into separate detailed stories in future publications, but many. And so, what did I see and where was I…
My vacation started with my 34th birthday, which I met far out at sea, sailing to the primeval lands of Svalbard, and this time I managed not just to look at this land from the deck, but finally to go ashore and spend a few hours there. To sail in the middle of summer to the northernmost and coldest lands where people live ... it's normal, I'm still a Northerner.
Then have many boat trips along the native, not so distant sea coasts. These times I did not set myself the goal of looking for bird colonies, but simply enjoyed the summer sea wind and the view of stone giants rattling their bones in the sun. Sometimes you just have to do it, move without a goal.
Harmony within attracts harmony in the environment. So Mother Nature gave me a couple of gifts for my already past birthday, and organized a meeting with her wards in the wild. It is always unexpected, no matter how big some of the inhabitants of the depths are, it is perceived as a miracle to meet one of them on these infinitely vast expanses of the sea, which stretch not only to the horizon, but also down, deep down.
I couldn't resist taking a peek at the festival in the already familiar Teriberka. It is a very unusual experience to see such a crowd of people on these deserted shores most of the year. There is a reverse magic effect in this, when the boundless north may seem cramped to you.
Finally I got to Karelia, where my grandparents live. This country within the country has always amazed me with its lush nature and its own atmosphere, character and history. Wandering through the dense forests, you can easily understand how and why one of the most famous northern epics - Kalevala and Edda - originated here.
And of course, in my endless running on the roads, I couldn't help but look in on old friends, at least for a minute. Our dying village on the edge of the world in the sunset rays, mountain lakes and meadows.
A lot of good things have been preserved by the digital film of my faithful camera, as well as my mind and my heart, during these long and short two weeks. And not only the good, but also the bad happened. But it's a good thing that we don't have the habit of photographing ourselves in the dark moments of life, leaving at least bright memories on film.