Mhar Monastery was founded in 1619. We arrived on a crisp, sunny Saturday morning. The church was built in the 1680s, funded by two Cossack leaders, hetmans, one of whom is our old friend Mazeppa.
The monks’ tranquil and holy lives ceased when the Bolsheviks threw them out and used the buildings to house an “institution”. It was only in the 1990s that it was restored and re-opened as a monastery.
On Saturday morning monks were chanting and bees were buzzing – the monks have beehives.
They also keep birds in a small aviary. There were fluffy white hens, an owl, ravens, peacocks (inc a white one), a magnificent eagle and more.
Well, no big deal snapping captive birds but hold your horses. Our Election Observation Mission turned into a safari, as L, my partner said. As we drove round our rural AoO (you must know what that stands for by now) we saw kites, a hare, a fox – cue for pic.
Strange to see a fox near a road, in the middle of the day, that didn’t run away. Local naturalist, aka language assistant, opined that it was rabid. Then there were storks, usually nesting, but once wading on the edge of a large pond – in search of frogs, L thought.
A highlight was spotting a hoopoe. I was asked in a polling station what I liked about the region and said the wildlife. Then I got a supplementary question and, as the interpreter was unfamiliar with hoopoes, had to play charades. A Precinct Election Commission member mercifully cracked it rather quickly. Was that the polling station where the entire staff came out onto the steps to wave us off?
Lest you think it’s all play and no work, on Saturday and Sunday L and I visited twenty-six polling stations in a rural area. Our polling stations were widely spread. The roads were not always perfect and once we took to the water.
