Akhtamar

(click image to enlarge)

Beside the laughing lake of Van  
A little hamlet lies;  
Each night into the waves a man  
Leaps under darkened skies.  

He cleaves the waves with mightly arm,  
Needing no raft or boat,  
And swims, disdaining risk and harm,  
Towards the isle remote.  

On the dark island burns so bright  
A piercing, luring ray:  
There's lit a beacon every night  
To guide him on his way.  

Upon the island is that fire  
Lit by Tamar the fair;  
Who waits, all burning with desire,  
Beneath the shelter there.  

The lover's heart-how doth it beat!  
How beat the roaring waves!  
But, bold and scorning to retreat,  
The elements he braves.  

And now Tamar the fair doth hear,  
With trembling heart aflame,  
The water splashing-oh, so near,  
And fire consumes her frame.  

All quiet is on the shore around,  
And, black,there looms a shade:  
The darkness utters not a sound,  
The swimmer finds the maid.  

The tide-waves ripple, lisp and splash  
And murmur, soft and low;  
They urge each other, mingle, clash,  
As, ebbing out, they go.  

Flutter and rustle the dark waves.  
And with them every star  
Whispers how sinfully behaves  
The shameless maid Tamar;  

Their whisper shakes her throbbing her  
This time, as was before!  
The youth into the waves doth dart,  
The maiden prays on shore.  

But certain villains, full of spite,  
Against them did conspire,  
And on a hellish, mirky night  
Put out the guiding fire.  

The luckless lover lost his way,  
And only from afar  
The wind is carrying in his sway  
The moans of:"Ah, Tamar!"  

And through the night his voice is heard  
Upon the craggy shores,  
And, though it's muffled and blurred  
By the waves' rapid roars,  

The words fly forward-faint they are-  
"Ah, Tamar!"  
And in the morn the splashing tide  
The hapless yough cast out,  

Who,battling with the waters, died  
In an unequal bout;  
Cold lips are clenched, two words they bar:  
"Ah, Tamar!"  
And ever since, both near and far,  
They call the island Akhtamar

Hovhannes Toumanian

1869-1923

Here's a link to a film with some beautiful shots of the church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar. Armenia is the world's oldest Christian culture and the church architecture is sublime. The Europeans saw these buildings during the Crusades and it had an important influence on the development of gothic cathedrals. 

It was constructed by King Gagik as his palatine church in 921 AD.  The iconographical program on the sculpted exterior incorporates writhing beasties influenced by Sassanian (Persian) princely hunting motifs but a lot of the images show the influence of the medieval bestiary -- an amazing source of animal stories used as allegories for teaching the gospel to the illiterate Joe Sixpack Medieval guy. The film has some lovely shots of the vine scrolls which depict the labors of the months. The larger relief sculptures show Jonah and the whale and David and Goliath. You can also make out the Adam and Eve and the Naming of the Animals.

Here's a link to a beautiful slideshow that shows the lovely color of the stone. The is on my list of places I hope to visit before I die -- I figure I've got another 60 years. That and the 7-Eleven in Providence, RI. Oh, and I also want to attend the same party as Roberto Benigni and travel to India to get my hands hennaed. Am I asking too much?

Blicky Discovers Homemade Yogurt

Well, Blicky's paws are covered with yogurt, so I'll have to manage this post on my own. Thank you Melanie for your instructions about making homemade yogurt on the wonderful Bean Sprouts blog. I can't believe how simple it is! I was spending way too much money on Fage and it didn't feel good amassing all of those hard-to-recycle containers. I still need to play around a bit and I might need a better pot for heating milk because I always seem to overheat it a little and it leaves a burned aftertaste. When I get it right it's heavenly.

I don't know if it's my Anatolian ancestral lineage calling or simply my eccentric Armenian taxidriver uncle who sat with homeless people on park benches and lectured them about Queen Victoria, why the colonies should have remained loyal to England, or how yogurt and prunes can make you live 100 years. He's the one on the right. You could see him walking all over town well into his 90's anyway. My great-grandmother (seated) used to make it herself and I think some cousins had kept the same culture going until fairly recently. 

I'm happy enough with my Fage starter. Here's a really yummy, healthy breakfast recipe: 1 cup homemade (Greek-style) yogurt. 1/2 cup fresh or frozen red rasberries with about 4 or 5 crunched-up pecans on whole grain waffles. I'm so besotted with my yummy breakfast that I really need to start making homemade waffles and freezing them. Past generations were so much more adept and resourceful with the daily requirements of life. These simple things ought to be even easier for us with all our new gizmos. Below are some Armenian ancestors from Husenig in Kharpert (Harput). This was taken before the Armenian genocide.

Sadly, even though the process should be dummy-proof I goof a lot. Last week a batch came out burned and yucky so I used it to make saag paneer tonight. With this recipe I substitute tofu for paneer and I use a bit more yogurt and whole milk instead of the buttermilk and half and half. It comes out really yummy and healthy. You can mix up your own garam masala too with 2tb. each of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper. It's probably not authentic Indian, but I like where the flavors sit in my mouth when I do it that way.