September 2010 – Krutaja Babulka

In Defence of Marina Tsvetaeva, A Poetess and a Decent Human Being

{About the book “Marina Tsvetaeva” (The Woman, Her World, and Her Poetry) by Simon Karlinsky, Cambridge Studies in Russian Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2009}

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), Watch the video :Marina Tsvetaeva

Citing from the above mentioned book: ” On November 25, 1917, Tsvetaeva went to Moscow to get her children. By the time she arrived the civil war was on. The way back to the Crimea was cut off. Tsvetaeva was separated from her husband and her sister (who remained in the Crimea for the next 5 years). At the most difficult time imaginable, she was trapped in Moscow with two small children, with no income and entirely on her own for the first time in her life. She was twenty five years old, very near-sighted and utterly impractical. She was terrified of automobiles and elevators and she easily lost her way in the streets and even inside buildings. She survived the harrowing five years of cold, starvation and terror because of her tremendous human vitality and with the help of kindly friends and neighbors”. In the book describing that period, Marina Tsvetaeva was outlined in the excerpts with all her ineptitude, stamina, independence of spirit and occasional moments of reckless heroism. (p.72)

Harsh time can only create a harsh character. She was not the only one who survived. I am just wondering how she never lost her creativity. Never, ever… This is what for I admire this woman, a poet and a fighter.

Fighter, first, against every day spirituality routine : Watch video: Marina Tsvetaeva’s verses

Secondly, fighter for purity of love in the utmost highest sense of this word which is nowadays diminished. Watch video Monologue about Sonechka

I have special bonds with Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetry and her as a human being. Raised and grown up in Soviet Russia, educated at the time when nobody knew about Tsvetaeva and such, I opened up my heart to them later. And I adore the lyrical style and unusual images, comparisons in her dictation. Watch video: My Verses

And really I do not care about, what love affairs she had and with whom: women, men, or at one time, with both genders. It does not matter for me, indeed. She never hurt anybody, and her sexual orientation is and was of her own business. The important thing for me: Marina Tsvetaeva was a great poetess and a decent human being!

She was not a sinner as somebody wants to portray her. Watch video: Sinner (Marina Tsvetaeva)

Read my introductory poem “Sinning Genie” from the book “Sinning Genie” by Valentina Filina-Pattison, Canada, 2007:

“My Sinning Genie came with me to Canada,

Naive, unspoiled and self-disturbed,

Responding to beauty in Nature as a sonata,

Melodically sounded in a soul preserved”…

February 5, 2005.

Marina Tsvetaeva lived in the fantasy world, inspired by her poetic-and-non-poetic friends, her incomparable images were her realm. Listen again from :Verses by Marina Tsvetaeva

Russian literary authorities still keep a very tight rein on what can be written about Tsvetaeva and which of her writings may be published. This is understandable. With her explosive individuality and her refusal to be reduced to any literary, political or any other kind of common denominator, Tsvetaeva herself as well as her poetry are the very opposite of the slogans and stereotypes inherent in any compulsory ideology. In 1925, Tsvetaeva wrote that she would return to Russia “not as a permitted relic of the past, but as a desired, eagerly-awaited guest”. This has, to a large extent, come true. Video: II like it

To the right is my digital contribution to the image of Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetry, still lovely and desirable for all who loves poetry and beauty. At the top left is a portrait of Marina Tsvetaeva from the front cover of the book about her.

BADEK’S NEWS 33

First. The First All Provincial Get Together of the Russian Business and Cultural Centre of Alberta took place in Red Deer last Saturday. It gave a big impulse for the further development of the organization, as noted in his message Yulian Korataev.

Second. Air Canada introduces new Student passes available in packages of 6 one-way flight credits, starting as low as 876 dollars. On the top of that, the students will be able to book their travel online in advance at www.aircanada.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Third. The natural gas industry will never be the same and Sue Riddell Rose plans to lead the Perpetual Energy into the future. When Sue Riddell Rose stepped into the role of president and CEO of Paramount Resources Ltd.’s newly-established trust spinoff in February 2003, she brought a lot of clout.

Fourth. Moscow, Russia’s first city is the new international capital of decadence? is recommended for traveling by Guide Sharp Travel in September, 2010.

Fifth. In Calgary elections for Mayor are coming in Mid-October, do not forget to vote, please.

Malaga, the City and the Beach, We Recommend to Visit

Beautiful Mediterranean sunsets are unforgettable! It is a certain glow of it which makes remarkable, the pink-and-grey colors as if were dipping slowly into the aquamarine sea. The gigantic lush green palms, growing just close to the sandy shores, stand proudly for centuries there.

Thr noise of rolling waves brought up by the tides: we never forget Gleb diving into the waves as his mother took pictures of him. See the photos scattered at any point here.

A big variety of beach-side restaurants to satisfy any taste: from British, Irish, Chinese, German, East-Indian, Italian, Spanish to Russian, Ukrainian at the Tivoli Park. Prices are very reasonable, indeed. Extremely delicious, in our opinion, was the Spanish omelet made of potatoes and eggs.

Climate is so good and gentle that many seniors from the British Isles as well as the locals promenaded along the beach. Around 10 p.m. after the sun began to set the vendors were showing up their wares: purses, sun glasses, jewelery, all kind of tourist goods. Among them a guy selling the bird calls demonstrating the sounds by himself. The African people mainly sell those products, it is clearly seen Africa is not so far just through Gibraltar which by the way belongs to the Great Britain.

This is why this place is very attractive to the British people : a few hours direct flight to Malaga, cheap stay and board, clean, efficient and safe, good quality food, Spanish people by and large are friendly and hospitable.

Last year we were passing by these places having only brief stops; this year we actually spent some time in the South of Spain, in Andalusia, and we never regret not a single bit about it.

Alltogether We Create Something Good

Aljoz picked up the wonderful mushrooms growing near the house. Look at them, are they not beautiful?

Peter brought them home. Gennadiy and Janko helped me to make a nice mushroom cream soup. See the recipe #144 on page 61 of the book “A Firebird Cornucopia of Russian Delights (Russian Cookbook)” by Valentina Filina-Pattison.

All of a sudden everything was impregnated with vapors of wild forest. Windows were wide open on a hot summer day, so passers-by stopped adoring the heavenly tantalizing odors. The soup was absorbed by all of us at one sitting.

Good for us! Another word of praise to the family cooks: Jana, Katharina, Larisa. This is Katharina’s photo herself and to the left – a creation of her hands: a cake for her daughter Deniska’s Birthday when she was 6.

This year Denisa is 10, and her grandmother is 55. we celebrate their B-days together, here they are on the photos with the tarts.

As a matter of fact, I need to mention here that we keep on with Deniska an old tradition to make costumes for the dolls, it was last year when Deniska and me created something good in crafts, it is now also, we did it together and as for her, she is really enjoying it. Look at the slide show: “Deniska is enjoying the dolls”.

[Show picture list]

So, as you see to yourselves, if one wants to create something good, there is always a place, a time, a mood for this. We are all born as creators, just hurry up! As life is too short, Realize your own potentialities. This summer the families together created something good which is called “friendship”.

One can see on the photo expose below that you do not need to possess superpower or be extremely healthy. Sometimes, opposite we do not have much health and with the years strength is going but all of us have good hearts and good intentions to help each other, that is what it actually counts. I wish good luck and good health to all the creators of the Holla families, the Cervenka families, the Kostin family, the Filin family. Keep on living in full and enjoy life as we all do!

We would love to express our big gratitude for everything you have done this time and last year hosting us at your home, for hospitality of all the members of the families as well as the others: Teresia, Aljoz’s sister, and her two daughters Jana with husband William and their two sons, Marianna with her husband Dushan and their children, relatives from Tekla’s side: Jan, Jana, Simon, Tamara, Lubomir and little Sophia, from Maria Guthova’s side: Katharina Plankova’s family and her uncle Anton Guth and his wife Martha.

To all of you “THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

Watch a photo expose “Three Creators” :

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Talk With the Horse Nicknamed Sophia

First my verse and a photo show about horses:

horses

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“A Horse was born as an animal of Beauty,

Of brown brand with light colored mane,

With long, flowing tail. A trainer’s duty,

Is to cheer her up, challenging again and again”…

p.77 from “Sinning Genie” ( a Book of Poetry ) by Valentina Filina-Pattison.

To the right is the photo of the Horse nicknamed Sophia whom I am talking to, and Shania Twain is singing the beautiful song to:

“Forever and for Always”

1.Tell me, Sophia, how is your horse life?

2.Oh,well…Normal. For all my 9 years of age I was fed well and treated well. Actually, I cannot complain.

1.Do you see many changes in life?

2.In my personal life, not really: the same stable as my predecessors had had, the same grass and water from the pump, the same my favorite back yard where I used to walk grazing in the meadows…

1.But what is different, in your opinion, Sophia?

2.Different? Let me see… The dog-and-cat relationship. Before I’ve never seen in my life a cat being nursed by a dog as it is in this household. Lucie the dog behaves as if she were the cat’s true mother. All my life I witnessed the hateful relations between cats and dogs.

1.What a surprise?! It is so, watch the photos of Lucie the dog here and on a slide show.

Isn’t it an affectionate love between the two of them?

2. The other thing. Who is that tall man hovering around my host Aljoz?

1.Where?

Slide show “Lucie the dog”:

[Show picture list]

2.Just in front of the house, rescuing a little birdie fallen out of the nest?

1.It’s my brother Gennadiy.

2.What a noble man! In a while Aljoz and him were digging out a few worms for the baby meal, and sooner or later the baby bird will soar away. They put him on the wing.

1.Sure. What do you usually do, Sophia?

2.I take care of people helping them out here and there.

1.Like what?

2.Like working with the plough or harvesting at spring or fall time. Have you seen paradaikas in the hot house at the back yard? Look around, that is all my work.

1.Did you see anything else besides your village and work, Sophia?

2.What?! Ronie the dog is always here, a pig sty was there, where the swimming pool is now. What else? I don’t understand you.

1.Sophia, what I mean, have you ever been to the other places than Male Levare?

2.Oh, no. This my place where I belong to: born here and will die here.

1.As for me, Sophia, lately I saw Malaga, near the Gibraltar Strait, in the South of Spain. The animals are there loose and walk around the streets, parks and beaches. Watch the slide show: “Park Paloma, Malaga”.

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2.So, what is of it, “loose”? What’s the point of that?

1.Sophia, monkeys, roosters, rabbits, ostriches, goats, rams are being fed by people from their hands, and they are not afraid of people, their best human friends. Nature, Sophia, lives in harmony there. Animals do not need to beg for food and work hard for it.

2.Hold on, hold on for a sec. The animals do not need to work at all, do they?

1.No, they don’t.

2.What a bunch of lazy assholes they are! Just entertainment for their whole life? What a boring life it is there in Paloma, in Malaga!

1.No, it isn’t. Roosters are crying days and nights crossing the sidewalks, residential areas as at home.

Sea beaches are everywhere, swimming pools…

2.That “loose” Spanish life is not for me. I have another opinion about life: work and bring use to people. Let me drive you for a walk around the village. See the photo show: “Sophia’s Drive For Fun”:

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1.Thanks, Sophia. You are a real animal of beauty and wisdom!

An Old Good Water Pump Withstands Against All Odds For More than 100 Years!

Look at the photo of an old good water pump attracting attention of the whole Holla family. More than hundred years ago He was the only water supply source for the life. Janko is now pumping water for the household needs as it was done before by his great-and-grandparents and his own father Viktor. A little is left from the old house where one day lived a big family consisting of Joseph and Josephina (starichki), their three sons and three daughters: Viktor, Franticek, Jan, Tekla, Stephania, Marishka. In 1927 Viktor emigrated to Canada, a year later His brother Franticek did, all the rest never left the village. Maria got married to Viktor Guth, Stephania never got married and lived together with her sister Tekla and her son Jan with starichki. Jan’s son Alojz married to Jana in 1967 and has two children Katharina, 30 y.o. and Peter, 33 y.o., and they live here on the grounds of the old house having built a new house of their own.

On the photo to the right there is an old school where Janko’s father Viktor was going when he was a teenager. Now it is a residential area.

And while Janko is pumping here I am doing an excursion to the attic of the old house, frankly speaking, to the leftovers what was remained from it. To the right a stove of the old style where, perhaps, in the corner Tekla and her little son Jan and Stephanie dined. The old people, starichki, were sitting for meals in the other corner, far away from the youngsters. No sink, no dish washers is visible anywhere: the wonder pump was of big use in those times for preparing food, cleaning dishes, in the house, feeding the animals and many other things.

I am climbing the attic stairs leading to the top of the house where perhaps the grain was kept before. Peter is helping me to take photos everywhere which is put on our slide show “Old House”.

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Home made articles and things from the past are unique: worn out holenka boots, old mirror, the big milk container, harness and horse shoes…

Oh, sweet good old times! Where are you?

The same nostalgic feelings were to come out when traveling across the country to the East of Canada watching the old Grain Elevators which were slowly disappearing from the landscape to be replaced by more modern ones.Where are you going, guys, where?

Slavin Hill in Bratislava

In Russia there are so many Memorial Hills dedicated to the honored people who had died during WWII sacrificing their own lives for the sake of peace of the next generations. Such as Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd, Piskarevo Cemetery in Leningrad, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Moscow etc.

And now, in the centre of Europe, in the capital city of Slovakia, Bratislava, there stands proudly the Slavin Hill with the dedication to the memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers and officers during WWII. The photos to the right and to the left show the great mementos of our visit to this sacred place.

On one of them one can see a bucket of freshly cut flowers laid between the feet of a great statue of a Russian soldier, a true token of respect of Slovak people who are maintaining the Memorial with care and tidiness.

The Russian Orthodox cross was erected at the Slavin Hill, Cross which helped the Russians to conquer the enemy. Eternal memory to those 6826 brave people who had been buried there.

We are wandering about the quiet and peaceful graves taking pictures not to forget the special moments of memory about battles at Bratislava, Dukla pass…

Listen to : Partisan Songs in Slovakia

We stood still, motionless and in the awe to the past.

Here it is, our slide show about it.

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Overjoyed with the Festivities at the Village and Meeting the Author of the Book “Levarky” Anton Guth Who Inspired Us to Know More Deeply the History and Families of the Region

On the 15th of August, 2010 there were biennial festivities in the village of Male Levare celebrating the ancient anniversary of the foundation of the village. And as Professor Anton Guth put it in writing in his book “Levarky” on page 37: ” The first record of the existence of Male Levare was in May 15, 1377 stated that the King Ljudovik the Great had granted the lands around Male Levare and Gajary to the counts Thomash and Peter”.

The festive atmosphere started in the local Church and was made special by the national Slovak costumes worn by some family members from the parish and the service itself conducted by a Polish priest and by the Polish Bishop. Outside there played a brass band performing happy music calling for dance. Enjoy music, following this link:

“Muzicka and Draguni”

We took a few pictures and present them here in this post and in a photo expose. Hope you enjoy it.

Nevertheless, the most amazing impression of that day was a connection to the above mentioned book by Toni Guth and Helena Guthova which Janko Holly having received as a gift from his family read thoroughly with the help of the Great Slovak-English Dictionary, very-very far from this place in the Northern American continent, in Canada.

The events and people from the book came alive as if by a magic wand.

This fantastic book drove Janko to explore further in his familyhistory and overjoyed his heart with pride and dignity.

So, reading is a great tool of learning and life experiences.

It is a photo expose of these events:

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Month: September 2010

horses