Vera Sytch

My Kodak Moment in Oaxaca

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:00:00 EDT

Every trip has its Kodak Moment - that instant in time that embodies the essence of the trip. Kodak Moments can exist as fond memories, but if you're lucky, you may capture some of your Kodak Moments in pictures. I had the ...

My garden, my refuge

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:00:00 EDT

The honking of Canada geese as they travel in skeins across the sky. Robins hopping on winter-deadened lawns. The chirping of chickadees in still-barren bushes. All these recent signs of imminent spring, signs that I've looked forward to during many an overcast winter day, have been uplifting. But no ...

Deja vu?

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:00:00 EST

"It felt like I've been here before," said my daughter Kalyna as we boarded our bus, which was parked on a muddy, unpaved road. "Then I suddenly realized that I haven't been to a shantytown before. This is my first time! All your pictures from your trips made it seem like I've been to one before."

Remembering Alex

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:00:00 EST

The call came at 3:30 AM.

"Vera, pray... Alex had a very bad accident. They have to do surgery on his head and he has only 50% chance of surviving..."

My brother Alex was on vacation in Kansas City at a motorcycle rally in September, but the accident wasn't a motorcycle crash; a golf cart ...

My turn to ask, "May I come with you?"

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:00:00 EDT

The rains had ruined our plans for the day, so the kids pulled out board games and the adults chatted. We were in Petryliv, a village in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine where my cousin Yuri* lived. It was August, and I had wanted to see the harvest being gathered. But the ...

May I come with you?

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:00:00 EDT

Sometimes what we consider burdens turn out to be blessings. Take the day I wanted to go for a bike ride alone in Kopychyntsi, my husband's hometown in Ukraine - and the town my father was born in. My daughter Kalyna begged to go with me, but I wanted to go by myself.

"I'll ...

The eye of the beholder

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:00:00 EDT

"Would you like to come to Khmelnytsky with us tomorrow?" my brother-in-law Andrij asked me during my stay in Ukraine.

Khmelnytsky, a city with the largest bazaar in western Ukraine, was a two-hour drive from my husband's hometown. ...

New Beginnings

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:00:00 EST

A new year. The birth of a baby. A new house. All these new beginnings are reasons for celebration. But disastrous events such as hurricanes and earthquakes also bring about new beginnings - beginnings of painful trials and heartache when homes are destroyed or lives are lost.

Imagine watching ...

Take my picture

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST

If it weren't for the camera around my neck, we never would have become friends. I was wandering around Kopychyntsi, my husband's hometown in Ukraine, photographing the local pond, the ducks, ...

Using a printer dock to make new friends

undisclosed@1000words.kodak.com (verasytch) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT

As I glanced to my left, I saw a bent woman in a purple dress standing outside her door. I slammed on my brakes. My bicycle brakes, that is, because when in Ukraine, a bicycle is my main means of ...