Peterhof

One of the ideas behind Summer Literary Seminars is taking people out of their comfort zones and tossing them into complete unfamiliarity. This is supposed to do a number of things. First, people turn to something familiar and not only take comfort in it but also immerse themselves in it fully. (This was writing and/or drinking in St. Petersburg.) Second, the experience is fodder for later productivity, be it writing again or merely inspiration to live a little differently. Now the third thing that the Summer Literary Seminars program does is make participants long for home. Russia is an amazing place, but so is home. We learn not to take home for granted quite as much. We learn to see beauty at home.

Until our pictures return from the developers, and we think to ourselves, "I could never have taken that picture at home." Which is always true. The picture above is a building at Peterhof, City (Palace) of Fountains. Peterhof is in Russia, so of course I couldn't take this picture at home. But it reminds me that I could take decent pictures at home, if only I would look more carefully. Or if only I played around with the photos in Photoshop.