magic gift

= Day 7 =

I stopped at a guesthouse in Adler for three days. The hosts are a young couple, Natasha and Lyosha — I liked them right away, and the house too. Good, kind people, their home has a human warmth and coziness — just what I’d been missing these seven days. I finally did laundry, washed up, ate hot, properly cooked food, rested on a soft bed, and toward evening, after a nap, I stepped out into the yard. There was a bench with a backrest, very comfortable — I went out just as the sun was setting. A wondrous sight — the hot weather, small light structures with low trees on the horizon, and thick sunbeams giving off their last drops of warmth before the descent of their red-orange father. The artificiality of civilization hasn’t yet managed to seep into these parts, to touch this simple, unpretentious house with its bench, and nothing complicated the natural beauty of the visible horizons. The journey takes on new shades. I’d call today a magical gift…