Greek Monastery

 A Monastery in Greece, oil on panel.

So you're in a monastery in Greece and the first thing you notice upon entering is every female visitor requires a shawl to cover up any unprotected back, shoulder, or a suggestive dress. Of course, everyone goes with the rules of decorum, and then we notice a deep open well filled with coins. You make a wish, they fund their enterprise.
You have always had a propensity to explore the cordoned off areas of any institution, so you wander and then lean over a plastered sill and wonder what really constitutes a monastic... (doesn't matter whether man or woman) - to shut oneself off from the secular world of temptation and so forth runs through your thoughts. You like the aesthetics of the green door and then it opens. A millisecond lapses and this individual does sense your presence and looks up briefly - then away. You are now the observer observed. - Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS



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