The Time has Come...

... to reveal my new blog:

www.geosynchronici-2.blogspot.com

As this old (geosynchronicity) blog is now full, I decided to start the new one rather than downsizing the huge number of photos on the old one. I'll be more careful with photo sizes, &c on the new blog, and we'll see how long it take to fill IT up. By then, I think, blogs will have been superseded by another form of internet communication altogether... if not the internet itself superseded.

Anyway, those of you who have been regulars here, including those who are its followers, please migrate to the new blog and follow it there. I'll make it as worth your while as I can.

If you're new to this blog... before you jump away from it, there are thousands of photos here, some, IMHO, worth looking at - that's why they're there. So please have a look, then go on to

www.geosynchronici-2.blogspot.com for the rest of the story.

Tony Hanmer

Mestia, Svaneti, Georgia

Written 20/9/2010

Kutaisi, Georgia, August 2010

Returning from the caves, our bus passed a group of Georgian soldiers training - I photographed them through the window

Nr. Kutaisi, Georgia, August 2010

Happy birthday for yesterday, Gill! Hope you had a great one!

Cave exploring - fascinating place

Gonio, Adjara, Georgia, August 2010

Don't be getting sick of these motion blur shots! I'm nearly finished with them for now!

This Blog...

... is getting FULL after more than 3 years of regular posting. At the start, my photos were both too large and too often - up to 10 per day - to sustain the 2GB memory limit for more than this amount of time. Even switching to a digital camera, and making the jpegs smaller, while it made some difference, was too little too late.

SO I'm starting a new blog, conveniently at the outset of Lali's & my time in Mestia, Svaneti! We're here as I begin a school year of English teaching in the town's School Number 1. More on this new job, and on life in Mestia, soon. Stay tuned right here for details of the new blog's opening, which will be in a few days...

Gonio, Adjara, Georgia, August 2010

Slow shutter speed and moving the camera in the direction of motion - that's what this is all about. Digital makes it so easy to see results instantly & make further adjustments

Tbilisi & Svaneti, Georgia, July-August 2010

Tony the amateur handyman wiring lights in his & Lali's new apartment! Didn't know I had it in me! But necessity is the mother of Give it a Go

Centre - a new icon for Kvirikoba

Bottom - Lali at Pari

Gonio, Adjara, Georgia, August 2010

Look at 'em go, they make it look so easy

Batumi & Svaneti, July-August 2010

The church bell from K'ala's St Kvirike Church

Adjaruli khachapuri (Adjaran cheese bread), before the fork is stuck in & everything gets mixed together - yum!

Gonio, Adjara, Georgia, August 2010

Gonio Fortress, site of the TLG welcome to Adjara, is near the Turkish border. Matthias, the Apostle chosen to replace Judas, is buried here, and kiwi fruit is grown. Amazing place. How they danced in the heat I don't know

Gonio, Adjara, Georgia, August 2010

By the way, the dancing was in honour of the TLG first team's arrival in Adjara province, where most of this team will be stationed for its teaching work. (3 lucky ones, myself included, get to be in Mestia, Svaneti.)

British Columbia, Canada, July *1989*

Just noticed that I hadn't posted anything for today, so I slipped this in now:

Blast from the past, 21 years ago, a mountain bike trip with a good friend from Jasper to Sidney, BC. Scans from b/w negatives - not perfect, but not too bad either. 3 weeks of sunshine interrupted by only 1 stretch of rain lasting about 2 hours

Waterfall, central Svaneti, late July 2010

A welcome stop on the way down - funny, all these 11 years driving by it, occasionally stopping, never knowing (middle picture) how great it was at the top...

Svaneti, Georgia, late July 2010

Glacially fed Enguri reservoir, which, dammed, gives all of Svaneti's Mestia Region free electricity

View towards Mt Tetnuldi, Mestia

Unfortunate unintended victim of a mousetrap - at least the end was instantaneous

Wondering what the new background is...?

R U S T

K'ala & Mulakhi, Svaneti, Georgia, late July 2010

Wouldn't YOU feel better in this remote mountain village, potentially cut off by winter avalanches or summer rockfalls, knowing this shiny new machine was around to help clear the roads? I would - I've been cut off from the rest of Georgia for a month due to avalanches in Ushguli before...

Bottom - view from the pass between Ipari & Mulakhi, roughly halfway between Mestia & Ushguli

K'ala, Svaneti, Georgia, late July 2010

This is a small 9th-century family church in K'ala, along with some of its interior - an angel fresco, middle, and icon, of the Virgin Mary and her Son, below

Kvirikoba, K'ala, Svaneti, Georgia, 29/7/2010

Okay... if you've forgiven me for the gore of the last post's images, a regular part of life in Svaneti, here are a few shots from the interior of the church where Kvirikoba happens

Kvirikoba, K'ala, Svaneti, Georgia, 29/7/2010

I TOLD you there'd be sacrifice! Did you think I was joking?

Kvirikoba, K'ala, Svaneti, Georgia, 29/7/2010

Top 2: candles on the outside of the church wall

Bottom: boy with goat, the latter soon to be sacrificed