My Santiago

Kizhi

In winter we button our fur coats, In summer we unbutton them; That is the difference in the seasons at Kizhi. We have perhaps two months of a summer (of sorts) And then comes winter; From November - Where the lake freezes over – Till the thaw.

Here you see they are reconstituting a church Which was built in 1714 And it is simply amazing; Wood on stone on birch And Silver Aspen shingles covered roofs

Where rain rolls off Falling 37 Metres.

130 villages on this island And 2 people per square metre Russian and Finnish taught in schools Churches never stood in isolation One could hear the sound of an axe Two summer room upstairs Winter bottom floor m 40 degrees below zero Height of snow drifts us the height of a man Nov to June winter Older people and children slept on the stove No serfdom here Rye and wheat grown Poor lazy people could not survive here Chickens lived inside in winter Nothing is by chance all seating by design May and June white nights People fished for river pearls Pierced with a fish bone Bear, Elk, Fox, Wolves co habited the island Smashed flax to make line