- Nabokov fondly remembers Vyra's summer dusks, or soomerki in Russian, its slow moving darkness and beauty.
- At Vyra, Vladimir's mother reads to him in English. She acted out voices and heightened the drama by deepening and slowing her voice.
- As she reads, she swipes her hands in the air, wearing a diamond-and-ruby ring that will one day pay for the family's period as émigrés.
- His mother reads him books about knights and maidens, and picture books about misbehaving children.
- Nabokov remembers particularly from the books an airship made of yellow silk, on which a poor and lonely character floats into the air, alone.