Visit to Russian, and Armenian Gardens

There is a new, and currently, unmarked pillar in the Armenian  Garden. During the winter, the top was covered with a black, plastic, garbage bag. It is a lovely terra cotta of the heads of a woman and man.

Alexander Sergejevič Pushkin's 222nd birthday was celebrated in the Russian Garden on 6 June.

Lukomorje was mentioned in the mediæval Russian Chronicles. It was by the Sea of Azov, in the land of the Polovetsians. Now in Russian culture it is identified with the Pushkin poem, Ruslan and Ljudmila. The poem begins:

У лукоморья дуб зеленый,
Златая цепь на дубе том:
И днем и ночью кот ученый
Всё ходит по цепи кругом;
Идет направо – песнь заводит,
Налево – сказку говорит.   

U lukomor'ya dub zelenyy,
Zlataya tsep' na dube tom:
I dnem i noch'yu kot uchenyy
Vso khodit po tsepi krugom;
Idet napravo – pesn' zavodit,
Nalevo – skazku govorit.

By the side of the sea, a green oak,
A golden chain on an oaken tome:
And day and night the cat scholar
Continuously walks on the chain;
Goes to the right - a song starts
To the left - he speaks a fairy tale.

Shasta Daisies in front of Juri Aleksejevič Gagarin