About Me

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Recent retiree--35 year's experience teaching reading, English, adult basic education and volunteer leadership skills. Started this blog to exchange ideas and commentary with friends and others having an interest in joining the discussions. Greatest life accomplishments include: 1.organized my 3rd grade class to check out library books for me to get around librarian's weekly limit--Amazon.com, the Mullins Elementary 3rd Grade Class of 1956 is still waiting for "thank you" notes; 2. volunteered in the Peace Corps, island of St. Kitts, West Indies; 3.taught adults to read, earn their GEDs., and speak English as a second language; 4. bought a border collie puppy for $6, got evicted rather than give him up, and began a life-long love affair with all things "Dog"; 5. joined a physical fitness boot camp in my mid-50s--don't mess with someone who's been doing regulation pushups in wet grass at 5:30 a.m.; 6. walked across Northern England with best friend Sally--over 80 miles from the Irish to North Seas; and 7. travelled to many foreign countries for pleasure and work.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Friday Fences - Last Call for Kizhi Island


At the first of the week mentioned that little Kizhi Island in northern Russia had something for all the weekly memes I participate in, including some wonderful old fences that would have been built in the 1700s with all the other wood construction on the island.  First this "long" view of a sturdy post and board fence that would have been used to protect grain crops from wandering cattle:

Here's closeups of this fence with the windmill and Winter Cathedral and bell tower (so called because it was heated in the winter as opposed to the more grand Transfiguration Cathedral that I've shown earlier which had no heat, so was used in the summer):



And here's another fence style where small poles are lashed together:


Now I'm not sure that there would have been scarecrows in gardens in the 1700s even though the island was used for pagan rituals back even earlier in the 11th century when Russian settlers established a parish here. Maybe by the 16th century a scarecrow and the cathedrals would have been enough to protect the settlers from underworld demons? :-)


The farm house/barn was also fenced to keep livestock from wandering into grain fields and destroying crops. And then there was this fencing along the lake's edge. Not sure it purpose, but a beautiful scene:


Finally, this more permanent stone and timber-capped wall enclosed the Transfiguration Cathedral and bell tower:


I hope you've enjoyed my "postcards from Russia" over the past couple of weeks.  I'm going to leave it for a bit now.  Like many of you, I've been looking for signs of fall so will be sharing those scenes in the coming weeks.  Warning:  expect more Russia though because haven't shown you any of the grandeur of the czars and St. Petersburg!

Now for more Friday Fences go to our host Janice's site at Life According to Jan and Jer .

13 comments:

Elizabeth Edwards said...

i'm going to come hang out with you for a while. you get to see some of the most beautiful views. awesome structures. wow!! (:

Jan n Jer said...

Your photos are just outstanding Faye...those fences are so unique. The setting is awesome...what a gorgeous place!

TexWisGirl said...

love those fences! the slanted ones are awesome!

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Wonderful fences!

Rose said...

That fencing it really different. I don't think I have ever seen that anywhere else.

Anonymous said...

These are just amazing! Have a good weekend.

NatureFootstep said...

great fences in Russia too. :) Thanks for sharing.

Re the color of my bridge. I´m not sure if that is Falu Red. But the color os much like it. I´ve never seen Falu Red painted on planks for walking.

Revrunner said...

How unusual!

My name is Riet said...

Those fences are really special. I like the sights.

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Fantastic pictures!

Judy said...

I wonder why those slanted fences never made it to Canada... I have only seen photos of them from Eastern Europe.
I love that shot of the cathedral!! Beautiful!!
And the wreath in the next post doesn't have any gourds - how can you say it is over the top?

A Colorful World said...

Amazing fences and windmills! Such a fascinating fence design! How often does one get to see photos of rural Russia? I love blogging! :-) Thanks so much, Faye!

Anonymous said...

The fences I adore so different what I have ever seen and the Windmill also nice.

Thanks for all your pictures.

Now I think it is lunch time here.