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| For the first two months of the school year, we gathered every Saturday morning with our Bulgarian, American, Taiwanese, Korean and Kyrgyz friends to play family style baseball. It was strangely sunny, even when it was cold. Ella was even convinced to play by the last few weeks. |
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| On days without sports after school, we always walk a block to Shkiperskiy Park, where we meet our friends for some playground and social time. Here, Ella and Tima with a fourth-grade friend. |
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| Our courtyard this week. Ella is perched on the lovely fenced-in basketball/soccer court, where we love to play. We live in the red-faced building... if you could see to the sixth floor, the boys' window overlooks this wooded courtyard. |
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| We walk over this bridge each day to get to the metro stop. It's delightful to live so close, so we don't have to take a bus to get there. Our apartment overlooks this river (in this photo, our building is tucked between the last two buildings on the left). We love watching the water in both the Finnish Gulf and this river. |
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| Reflections have become one of my main themes. The reflection in a puddle -- a glimpse of beauty in what is ugly or uncomfortable ... |
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| I thought I would miss our wooded park a lot. But the largest green spot of our island is less than 10 minutes walk away--an old cemetery. I love both the abundant nature and the old gravestones. |
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| In the old cemetery, there are countless scenes like these. Here, the red (plastic) flowers aer in an old grave. And the tree roots have grown up around it, pushing it over...before the tree was cut. |
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| tree rising out of grave. |
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| more beautiful details of the old city |
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| From the east side of our island, the iconic Peter and Paul Fortress is visible. I like to tramp the back alleys and watch the sun come up. |
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| I, like my dad, am enamored with brick patterns on the old streets. We are only two metro stops from Nevskiy Prospect, and there are many bricked-alleys on our island as well. |
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| Many of the old churches are renovated as tourist attractions or acting houses of worship. This one is tucked in an industrial zone near the kids' school. It is in severe disrepair, but beautiful in a unique way. |
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| back-alley tramping. |
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| Crossing the bridge onto our island--probably after a long drive home from baseball practice--we were awed by this sunset over the Neva. |
