This weekend was all work and all fun!!!
My weekend started with putting in many, many hours at the stone factory to get some of the kinks out of the operation.
After work on Saturday, I drove to Garmir Shooga (Red Bazaar), where a group from the Diaspora-Armenian Connection are, working on a project to renovate some rooms in the school there and to also do a day-camp with the kids (50 to 70 of them).
After a nice drive, picking up a few familiar faces along the way, I pulled into Gramig Shooga and asked a couple of places as to where the Diaspora group is?
I went to the house they were staying and was told that they went to the Taskert River 5 minutes earlier.
I drove to the Taskert to find that they were not there. I then drove to another place a little further up from the Taskert and found the group driving up the road towards me, as they were returning to Garmik Shooga.
So we got back the house they are staying and to make a long story short, I spent the night with the group and agreed to take them to Amaras Monastery and then to Martuni and from there to Avo’s spring for a BBQ the next day.
The next morning, since I had to be at the stone factory early and it was still too early for their group to leave for Amaras, I left for Martuni and they said they would contact me when they finished with Amaras and were in Martuni so we could do shopping for the BBQ.
Though I was expecting them at 1 PM, I didn’t get a call until 3 PM. Their bus had broken down and they didn’t leave the village until 1 PM and came straight to Martuni, never stopping into see Amaras.
We went shopping and then drove to Avo’s spring, where the group didn’t seem to be having all that much fun, as the water level in the stream was very low and cows were drinking from where they were to swim, so it was not all that pleasant to swim there.
I suggested that we drive back towards Garmir Shooga, and on the way, to stop at my lake, where we could go swimming.
I left Avo’s spring before the bus and with a few people, so we could stop at my house and pick-up a couple of rafts that Mama Manoogian has sent me from the states last month.
We figured that the bus was ahead of us, so I drove a little bit fast to try to catch up with them so I could tell the people at the check-point to let the bus pass.
All the way, I was expecting to see the bus, but I never caught up to it and when I got to the check-point, they told me no bus had passed.
We drove to the lake and as we waited, we pumped up one of the rafts and once it was blown-up, we decided that the bus must had once again broken down and were sure they would soon arrive, so 3 of us got in the water to swim.
If this story bored you up until now, this is where it starts to get good.
So 2 people from the group who are French and not even Armenian get in the boat and I swim along side them.
Same experience I had last month at the little lake near Stepanagert, the water was warm on the surface and freezing cold if you dove under over a couple of meters. It was also as if without any effort, you float (I’m guessing from all the minerals being this lake is fed from mountain run-off).
So at some point one of the French kids (he was 17 years old), gets in the water and begins to swim.
As were swimming he starts to tell me how he was born in a small city in France and really likes it, but this place is something else. He added that he can now understand why I left that life in the West and came here to live.
So as were swimming on our backs, I start to notice the clouds starting to gather and were talking storm clouds. From above the sun is trying to break out into view and as it is doing this, you see black on the bottom of the clouds, and this illuminated snow-white on top and these very thick and wide sun-rays are projecting out from the clouds.
I tell the French kid if he ever wondered what heaven on earth would look like and told him to look up. I continued to say that it’s like what you would see in the movies and he said not just the movies, but I’ve seen it in paintings of heaven.
All I know is I felt so at peace swimming the lake, with this heavenly picture in the sky and then the suddenly Sparrows started to swoop down to the waters surface over our heads and also from time to time a fish would jump out of the water. There were also a couple of Falcons flying around the ridges that surround the lake.
After being in the water for what seemed to be forever, the bus showed up. They had a flat tire and no spare, so it took some time to get the tire repaired.
The group joined us in the water and for another hour we swam around. Everyone had a great time and as the sun started to come down, they got on their bus and headed for Garmir Shooga and I to Martuni.
I have to make more time for such trips to my lake, as right now I feel so relaxed and I know if I close my eyes right now, I’ll sleep like a baby until morning.
BTW, for those that want to see a picture of my lake, check the cilicia.com back logs and I think June 10th I posted a picture when Hagop Bedrosian visited me and the lake.
My weekend started with putting in many, many hours at the stone factory to get some of the kinks out of the operation.
After work on Saturday, I drove to Garmir Shooga (Red Bazaar), where a group from the Diaspora-Armenian Connection are, working on a project to renovate some rooms in the school there and to also do a day-camp with the kids (50 to 70 of them).
After a nice drive, picking up a few familiar faces along the way, I pulled into Gramig Shooga and asked a couple of places as to where the Diaspora group is?
I went to the house they were staying and was told that they went to the Taskert River 5 minutes earlier.
I drove to the Taskert to find that they were not there. I then drove to another place a little further up from the Taskert and found the group driving up the road towards me, as they were returning to Garmik Shooga.
So we got back the house they are staying and to make a long story short, I spent the night with the group and agreed to take them to Amaras Monastery and then to Martuni and from there to Avo’s spring for a BBQ the next day.
The next morning, since I had to be at the stone factory early and it was still too early for their group to leave for Amaras, I left for Martuni and they said they would contact me when they finished with Amaras and were in Martuni so we could do shopping for the BBQ.
Though I was expecting them at 1 PM, I didn’t get a call until 3 PM. Their bus had broken down and they didn’t leave the village until 1 PM and came straight to Martuni, never stopping into see Amaras.
We went shopping and then drove to Avo’s spring, where the group didn’t seem to be having all that much fun, as the water level in the stream was very low and cows were drinking from where they were to swim, so it was not all that pleasant to swim there.
I suggested that we drive back towards Garmir Shooga, and on the way, to stop at my lake, where we could go swimming.
I left Avo’s spring before the bus and with a few people, so we could stop at my house and pick-up a couple of rafts that Mama Manoogian has sent me from the states last month.
We figured that the bus was ahead of us, so I drove a little bit fast to try to catch up with them so I could tell the people at the check-point to let the bus pass.
All the way, I was expecting to see the bus, but I never caught up to it and when I got to the check-point, they told me no bus had passed.
We drove to the lake and as we waited, we pumped up one of the rafts and once it was blown-up, we decided that the bus must had once again broken down and were sure they would soon arrive, so 3 of us got in the water to swim.
If this story bored you up until now, this is where it starts to get good.
So 2 people from the group who are French and not even Armenian get in the boat and I swim along side them.
Same experience I had last month at the little lake near Stepanagert, the water was warm on the surface and freezing cold if you dove under over a couple of meters. It was also as if without any effort, you float (I’m guessing from all the minerals being this lake is fed from mountain run-off).
So at some point one of the French kids (he was 17 years old), gets in the water and begins to swim.
As were swimming he starts to tell me how he was born in a small city in France and really likes it, but this place is something else. He added that he can now understand why I left that life in the West and came here to live.
So as were swimming on our backs, I start to notice the clouds starting to gather and were talking storm clouds. From above the sun is trying to break out into view and as it is doing this, you see black on the bottom of the clouds, and this illuminated snow-white on top and these very thick and wide sun-rays are projecting out from the clouds.
I tell the French kid if he ever wondered what heaven on earth would look like and told him to look up. I continued to say that it’s like what you would see in the movies and he said not just the movies, but I’ve seen it in paintings of heaven.
All I know is I felt so at peace swimming the lake, with this heavenly picture in the sky and then the suddenly Sparrows started to swoop down to the waters surface over our heads and also from time to time a fish would jump out of the water. There were also a couple of Falcons flying around the ridges that surround the lake.
After being in the water for what seemed to be forever, the bus showed up. They had a flat tire and no spare, so it took some time to get the tire repaired.
The group joined us in the water and for another hour we swam around. Everyone had a great time and as the sun started to come down, they got on their bus and headed for Garmir Shooga and I to Martuni.
I have to make more time for such trips to my lake, as right now I feel so relaxed and I know if I close my eyes right now, I’ll sleep like a baby until morning.
BTW, for those that want to see a picture of my lake, check the cilicia.com back logs and I think June 10th I posted a picture when Hagop Bedrosian visited me and the lake.
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