On Glaciers15 февраля 2012

It’s appropriate that as I’m writing about glaciers and snow and looking out the window of our apartment - it’s snowing right now. The forecast is calling for snow until the weekend.


Intellectually I understand how glaciers are formed. I’ve even hiked up glaciers in Alaska, Montana and Canada. Now that I’ve been living through my first winter here in Mockva I’m experiencing glacier formation first hand, albeit until Spring arrives.


The concept is pretty simple: Snow falls and starts to pile up. Since the temperatures where glaciers are formed never rises about freezing the pressure from the snow eventually creates an ever-larger, growing snow pack. Over 100’s and 1000’s of years glaciers are formed.


Before we moved here I envisioned Mockva would be snow-covered all Winter, and it is, but it’s not quite the way I was expecting things to happen. I was imagining enormous show storms on a daily basis, the kind you’d see in the movie Dr. Zhivago. Now, it does snow here almost every day but usually in small amounts of 1-3 inches. Where I’m from in the US (northern New Jersey) you’d think “No big deal – in a few days the temperature will get above freezing and there would be a substantial melting and whatever had accumulated would be essentially gone.” Obviously the key concept is temperatures rising above freezing.


We haven’t experienced temperatures above freezing since late December. For the past week we’ve been in constant minus territory. The average temperature has been in the minus teens Celsius. To date the lowest the temperature as been is around -26⁰ C – that’s about -13⁰ F. A warm day has been 0⁰


So, even when it snow just a few inches, like it’s doing right now, it never melts. Snow gets shoveled and plowed into ever-growing piles that at this point are huge. We have piles pushed to the side of our apartment compound’s parking lot that are taller than I am. There are similar piles all over Mockva – Who would have thought given an average snow-fall of 1 to 2 inches each time it snows?

To see how much snow we’re experiencing check out the slide show entitled: “kolomenskya_park_jan_2012_v2.exe” on my site: Andrew McDonough Photography


So I’m experiencing glacier formation up front and personal right outside our apartment door. Temperatures are not expected to seriously moderate until early March so I’m thinking the piles, our emerging mini-glaciers, should be getting twice their current size - at least!


Of course temperatures will eventually rise consistently above the freezing point and our glaciers will melt and finally disappear unlike those of the Arctic and Antarctic. It’s hard to imagine it but in August when we arrived everyone was complaining about how hot and humid it was. I guess everyone naturally complains about the weather…too high…too low…never satisfied…


До следующего раза ...


Борис

On The Palace Theatre14 февраля 2012

We had an opportunity to see Cirque du Soleil at the Palace Theatre which sits inside the Kremlin walls. The top floor of this very impressive hall provides scenes of the Kremlin and Moscow from three of its four sides. The day happened to me cloudy and cold, about -24⁰ C (-11⁰ F) with a light slow falling. For photography the sky was a dismal linoleum grey which usually argues that you put your camera away. However, when you’re up there on the top floor and have floor-to-ceiling glass windows all around, it’s hard to resist.


On the other hand, shots with a blah grey sky lend themselves to experimenting with black and white and even line drawings including using some technique that give the images an old, antique or sepia finish. I’ve put together a slide shows with a mix of color, black and white images and line drawings.


If you’re interested check out the slide show on my Web site at: http://www.andrewmcdonoughphotoraphy.com/ , click on the “RUSSIA” link and download and view the file called palace_theatre.exe


For Mac users I’ve posted a .zip and .pdf file of the images used to make up the show.


Lastly, I’ve finally started figuring out how Facebook can work for me – posting slide shows formatted as videos. Starting with this post the show will also be available on my Facebook page.


До следующего раза ...


Борис

Weather Update in Mockva for Sunday12 февраля 2012

High: -18 degrees C (-1 degree F)

Low: -26 degrees C (-13 degrees F)


It’s starting to get seriously cold here.


До следующего раза ...


Борис

On a Previous Post About Snow and Temperature Here in Mockva1 февраля 2012

I was wrong about the snow - There's lots of it piled up everywhere.


Weather update as of 19:10:


It's snowing lightly now.


Snow forecast for tomorrow.


Temperture now: -23⁰C = -9⁰ with a slight breeze.


Any way you slice it, it's COLD!.


До следующего раза ...


Борис

On Kolomenskoe Park in Mockva1 февраля 2012

Kolomenskyoe Park (Kolomenskya – Коломенское парк) was originally a village along the Moscow River founded in the early 1200’s and later became the estate of the Tsars’ and was home to a young Peter the Great, Alexander I and Cathryn the Great.

In 1985 the village became a museum and park. Among the churches in the park are: Church of the Ascension of the Lord; Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan; and the strikingly named Church of the Beheading of St John the Baptist.

The park is a year-round destination for Muscovites. During the winter you’ll find people walking and hiking the slopes, skaters on the Moscow River, cross-country skiing and sleigh riding of all kinds (sleds, tubes, saucers, etc. Calling the park a winter wonderland is no exaggeration.

If you’re interested check out the slide show on my Web site at: www.andrewmcdonoughphotoraphy.com , click on the “RUSSIA” link and download and view the file called kolomenskya_park_jan_2012.exe

До следующего раза ...

Борис