Mravaldzali, Racha, Georgia

Lali and her relative at the village's 11th century church, being rebuilt for the 2nd time, with some of its magnificent carved stones in their original positions and a graveyard full of her ancestors

Detail from the church bell, dated 1901

On the way to the church

Mravaldzali, Racha, Georgia

KO, I won't bore you with any more cracked paint photos - at the moment.

These are from Mravaldzali, claiming to be Europe's 2nd highest village at over 1600 m above sea level - but surely K'ala, near Ushguli, is higher than this? I don't know. Anyway, it's the place from which Lali's family originates, and sure enough, the very first people we met there were relatives of hers. Here she is washing dishes against the village's spectacular Caucasus backdrop, with a couple of other nearby scenes thrown in, the bottom one being of a scarecrow and clay kvevri (wine container).

Nr Mravaldzali, Racha, Georgia

"... Here he goes again with the cracked paint, must be cracked himself..."

It happened on the 10-km walk UP (no downhills at all, just UP) from the Oni road to Mravaldzali: Halfway up, in a nearly abandoned village, I came across this fence made of large metal panels. All painted some years ago, and all with perfect cracks covering them. I told Lali that if I had the money and space I'd buy the lot and put them on permanent display somewhere as a monument, the best examples of cracked paint I've seen in my life. I took quite a few shots, and even played with symmetries on all of the results. Here are a few, if you'll indulge me, with the symmetrical version in both cases preceeding the original.

Oni & nearby, Racha, Georgia

Daisies on the walk up from Oni towards Mravaldzali

Paint...

Warning in Russian at an electrical site - "Don't go over [the fence], it'll kill you"

Museum, Oni, Racha, Georgia

More of the museum's 11th century stone fragment collection. Middle is St George; bottom is sinners at the Last Judgement

Museum, Oni, Racha, Georgia

We were given a guided tour of this extensive place for only 3 lari each - great deal. I hadn't taken my camera, being sure that photography would not be allowed, but ran back home to get it when I understood this was not the case. Quick, before they change their minds...

These are examples of carving - the top one wood, the other 2 stone - all fragments of 11th century churches, in the wonderfully naive and weird Racha style.

Oni, Racha, Georgia

Spring through a fence

Oni's Synagogue, now unused but still kept in good condition, survivor of a lost world

Nodar's Aunt Wins Again

This time, at the recommendation (and with the very kind help) of NWB, I sent that photo of Lyuba to the annual AOP Open Awards in London. And she'll be on display there soon, and in the catalogue as well, one of 90 winners. Cool! To see the 90 online, and vote for your favourite, please visit

http://www.the-awards.com/OPEN_Judge

She's on Page 8, top right corner, if you decide to vote for her. Many thanks!

Regular posts will return after a few days.

Ps Do you like the new, tweaked blog letterhead? I decided that the land was way too dark in contrast with the sky (it's mostly snow, after all) and lightened it up considerably, changing the motto colour in the process. One day I'll print this thing huge as it's meant to be: it could go billboard-size with no trouble, being a 14-image composite of 10-megapixel shots...

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

Unusual group portrait at the resort

Old sawmill, bulldozer-powered

Example of perhaps Georgia's greatest wealth: mineral water springs, nearly 2000 of them in the country, each with its own properties

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

With the director of a resort in Shovi (l) and a member of Elkana, the Biological Farming Association of Georgia (http://www.elkana.org.ge/index.php?lang=en) (centre), all holding drinking horns in their rough state

The sometime fate of local bears

Layer upon layer of old paint on a park bench

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

Goats go on alert

Tony takes aim

Stalin watches ominously

Paint cracks

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

Enjoying some mtsvadi (shish kabob, shashlik) at a mineral water spring

Cracked paint, of which I never tire

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

A young bear at the resort in Shovi - I don't know what its ultimate fate will be, but for now it's a captive

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

NB The last wedding photos, the ones which were missing because I deleted them from the Draft version of the post some days ago by accident, are now back in place in that post.

Here:

Stream

Rusty fence panel - a world all its own

Mountainscape

The fence

Shovi, Racha, Georgia

Water and reflections, favourite themes

Oni, Racha, Georgia

Hey, if the posts seem a little less regular than usual, just remember:  We're still on honeymoon!

In the yard of a new church built in Oni, Racha, in 1996.  Delighted to find columbines planted here, as in the top photo.

Racha, Georgia

Welcome to Trinidad & Tobago, visitor country number 106!

... So I realised that the photo in the last post had already appeared in the wedding photos from some days ago, and deleted that last post, replacing it with this one.

In short, I had earlier deleted a Draft version of the 7th wedding photos post, and in doing so inadvertently also deleted the photos from the non-Draft version.  Which is why they don't show up in the post.  Sorry.  And now I'm on moneyhoon with my love, away from the desktop computer which has the rest of the wedding photos, so you'll have to wait a while before I can replace those missing photos.

In the meantime, here are some new shots (cellphone) from Racha, where we were for a few days recently.  First in Oni, the region's capital town, then we walked 10 km or so up to Mravaldzali, which calls itself Europe's second highest village after Ushguli.  Not sure if that's true, but the views of the Caucasus from it are stunning.  And it's where Lali's family comes from, so she was welcomed with open arms.  More to follow.

Wedding photos, 7 (last)

The restaurant we chose for the reception was by the wholehearted recommendation of our friend whose son and daughter had both married there last year.  Great food in abundance for 200 guests, great service, reasonable prices, great programme organised by our friends, all had a wonderful time.

All pics by Nino Narozauli, see

www.udabno.blogspot.com (and don't worry if you can't read or display Georgian)

From the top:

Candles and Svan watchtower at our table

My parents, who had come from across the world with my sister Gill

A pair of dolls representing Lali and me, pinned to the backs of our chairs, nicely mimicking our feelings of delighted exhaustion by the time it was all over

Cutting the cake (decorated specially for us by Hannah Gintz:  yum!) just before our departure

The End for now, as the happy couple are Whereabouts Unknown on honeymoon... But more general photos from me to follow, of course!

Wedding photos, 6

All pics by Nino Narozauli, see

www.udabno.blogspot.com (and don't worry if you can't read or display Georgian)

From the top:

Katy, l, visiting from the UK with husband Paul, and Nino, our hard-working photographer in the single shot shich she didn't take of more than 500 (using my Canon EOS digital camera)

Little Mate (Georgian for Matthew, the "e" is pronounced)

Pyoung singing up a storm in traditional Korean dress

Mari, l, of the Sukhishvili Georgian National Dance Company and partner Beka dancing up a storm (I never tire of Georgian dance, spectacular stuff though hard to photograph; my favourite technique is to blur it to show the motion)

More pics to follow daily!

Wedding Photos, 5

All pics by Nino Narozauli, see

www.udabno.blogspot.com (and don't worry if you can't read or display Georgian)

From the top:

My favourite shot of the whole wedding, from the waltz - beautiful photo, Nino, I'll do a more edited version for you as well

Table and arch

Waltzing with my parents to the most romantic song of my life so far, to which I had seen them dancing as a child - Glen Miller's Moonlight Serenade

Sitting at our table

More pics to follow daily!