Mikhail Lennikov. Sanctuary Diaries

Wordweavings, Japanese origami cranes, VWMC...

2009-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Jeanette, Minister of Music at FLC once said, "Life is anything but boring at First Lutheran." Looking back at one month and a half since my last post, it's hard to agree more. From October 30 to November 22, the church displayed "Wordweavings"--ten-meter-long paper scrolls made by German Canadian artist Brigitte Potter-Mael. The programme of the exhibition included presentations and workshops.

Jerome, Zamyatin, Orwell, Bradbury

2009-10-26T13:03:00.001-07:00

I've got amazing powers of observationPink Floyd Nobody HomeI read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 when I was thirteen or fourteen years old--the book in Russian translation was in my parents' library. I liked it a lot, but to me the novel seemed too pessimistic; after all, like the majority of the Soviet Union's population, I was brought up to believe that the humanity was just one step away from

141 days.

2009-10-20T21:05:00.003-07:00

You wake up just shortly before seven. Morning routine, breakfast. No, I forgot--you don't make breakfasts any more, you just have milk shakes. Before you leave, you give our son instructions for the day mainly to make sure that he won't sleep in. Around eight you are at work. I won't call you before nine, because I know that you are normally very busy in the morning. When I finally hear your

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-10-14T22:57:00.001-07:00

One of the famous novels by Strugatsky brothers has a title "Monday Begins on Saturday." This year, my Thanksgiving (which falls on Monday) began on Saturday. Late afternoon, when I least of all expected it, I was visited by Gina and Suzanne. Gina brought her mother along to meet with me and show her the church. Irina came around six, and then, after work, Dmitri joined us for dinner. He didn't

The Little Hedgehog in the Fog

2009-10-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

One evening, when I stayed in the church's office longer than usual and it was quite a late hour to call my family, I decided to search YouTube for a couple of animated films produced in the USSR, Treasure Island and Adventures of Captain Vrungel, which were very popular in 1980s--I felt like watching them again. As it usually happens in the Internet universe, one search lead to another and I

Week Nineteen. Konnichi-wa

2009-10-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when a blog gets neglected; instead of short and nice posts--easy to write, easy to read--the account of even major things that happened over a week turns into a lengthy and heavy narration, but at least I can take this off my shoulders.It was expected that the week would be busy, and was it indeed. On Monday, after Jeanette finished her practice, I went to see her with my

Four months and a day

2009-10-03T19:38:00.001-07:00

The idea of showing the First Lutheran Church from different angles at different time of day, when it is empty and when filled with people, turned out to be quite a captivating project. Every day for the remainder of the week I had my camera with me looking for an opportunity to capture the parts and elements of the building under various light conditions. I was very pleased that the camera was

119 days.

2009-09-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 25, started with correcting a misprint in the bulletin for the Sunday service that was discovered during the choir practice the day before. That meant that the middle page and insert had to be removed from all 170 copies and the new one along with the insert put back in. I was ready to do that all by myself but to my rescue came Veronica, a second year Langara College student--

Three months & three weeks

2009-09-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, September 22, shortly after 10 a.m. there was a phone call to the First Lutheran from one of the major Vancouver radio stations. The caller said that they had just received the decision from the Federal Court to deny my application for Judicial Review and would like to talk to me. Five minutes later came in a request for an interview from another radio station. I immediately contacted

Three months and a half

2009-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

I have abandoned my blog for almost three weeks. Without trying to look for excuses, I should say that it's been quite a difficult time for me and my family. One reason--it was apparent that the last two weeks of summer Irina and Dmitri had been especially struggling to cope with the situation and it was very painful to watch that, not being able to offer any kind of light at the end of the

Cats in the sanctuary. Part Four.

2009-09-02T13:27:00.001-07:00