Forces of nature, gets me thinking about the sea, unfortunately I don’t live by the coast, so I think about the elements and the spring growth of the grasses and wild flowers for this challenge.
nature in the city
wild flowers
For this challenge, rather than take fresh photos, I used two earlier intriguing photos of interesting shadows.
the shadow of a ballerina?
The young man wasn’t aware of me, I wonder if he was aware of his shadow. This was taken outside Tavisuplebis Metro in central Tbilisi. In front of him is the #14 bus adorned with some full bus advertisement.
The ominous shadow of Disney
This is my grand daughter, Elene, I was intrigued by the apparent shadow of Mickey Mouse behind her. The Disney Corporation is the background of many childhoods.
2014 is only the second year of my life, when I didn’t spend any time in England (the first was 1998, the worst year of my life, which I spent entirely in Wales).
We only left Georgia once in 2014, way back in January, to visit Ephesus. If you like ruined cities, Ephesus is a must. We spent a week in the area.
In 2014, I finished teaching at the French School and started working at Opiza school, time will tell if this was a wise decision. I also teach private individuals.
This is me teaching.
2014 wasn’t a particularly exceptional year. I turned 50 (as I grow older the years seem to pass more quickly). In the late Summer we visited Qobuleti on the Black Sea coast, for a beach holiday…if it rains in Qobuleti there isn’t much to do (luckily it only rained on one day of our stay).
When it rains in Kobuleti options are severly limited.
We have a new grandchild, Lazare, born on 1st August. Our oldest grandchild, Ana, started school in September, she still likes it (wonder how long that will last).
Ana ready for school
As the time I spent on the metro increased, so did my reading. 29 books read in 2013 and 47 books read in 2014. Highlights included “Cathedral of the Sea” by Ildefonso Falcones, Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk and “Dumb Witness” by Agatha Christie.
I took thousands of photos, sharing some on this blog and many more on Facebook.
I added around 240 model cars to my diecast collection and wrote about this in my diecast blog.
Three Corgi Cars from my collection.
My Georgian Language skills made some slow progress, but I really need to resolve once again to learn Georgian seriously and consistently.
I posted 266 posts to this blog in 2014, regularly rising to the Weekly Photo Challenge, reviewing the books I have read, sharing my thoughts on the life of a foreigner in Tbilisi and generally writing about what interested me and I hope may have interested you, too.
I wish you all a Happy New year 2015.
Santas cycling.
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Converge.”
metro escalator descending…lines converge
The metro is part of my daily routine, many converging lines, whether descending the escalators or walking along the platforms.
I used this image for an earlier challenge descent it would seem to fit both challenges perfectly.metro platform, converging lines
metro escalator
Tbilisi was the fourth city of the Soviet Union to get a metro system (after Moscow, Leningrad/St Petersburg and Kiev).
I have been blogging for one year !
7 November 2013 I posted my first blog post.
Then a lengthier post about Blogging
From those early beginnings I have made a further 268 posts on this primary blog and 168 posts on a second blog. The second blog is focused on my hobby of collecting diecast model cars (Matchbox, Hot Wheels etc) diecast blog
The viewing stats make for compulsive viewing, for the primary blog they peaked in March and then dropped to August and have since made a small revival.
monthly views (primary blog)
The diecast blog stats are different they keep going up and up.
diecast blog viewing stats
The two blogs are quite different the diecast blog has had 7721 views (6 Nov 2014) but it only has 27 followers. The primary blog has had far fewer views (3796) but has far more followers (134).
The diecast blog being more specialised gets a lot of hits from search engines, if someone were to type “Deagostini Supercars” or “Eaglemoss Ferrari” into Google my blog would be high up in the findings.
This primary blog has a wide range of topics. From the beginning it was intended as a showcase for my photos and I have been regularly posting images here. I also follow the “Weekly Photo Challenge” which appears each Friday with a new topic to depict. the most recent being “Descent”
“Descent”
I also use the blog to interpret my life in Tbilisi (Georgia) as a foreigner and particularly my struggles with the Georgian Language. I love reading and each book I read is reviewed as are the much rarer films I see at the cinema (the last film I saw was Guardians of the Galaxy ).
I find blogging quite compulsive, sharing my thoughts and images with the cyberworld, I’m not sure if blogging has changed me as a person, I hope it has made me a better writer and photographer, but it may be to early to judge.
I tend to use Twitter, Pinterest, Stumble Upon and Google+ merely for posing links to my blog posts. I spend a lot more time (probably too much) on Facebook. The first two windows I open on my computer when I turn it on are Facebook and WordPress.
I have learnt a lot reading other blogging posts, I will tend to follow those who follow me and also other WordPress sites I find on various Google searches I make. I first blogged a photo of a Matchbox Lamborghini Gallardo, now I have a second one.
Matchbox Lamborghini Gallardo Police
the bright sunlight of late June makes for interesting contrasts of light and dark
contrasts
the muse between the pillars like Samson in the temple
Between
Night Drawing
if you like this and want to see more, I have a whole album of “Night Drawings” on night drawings
For other interpretations of the challenge: Work of Art
2am border crossing Turkey-Georgia…sleepily walk through customs, get visa stamped at passport control then wait for the minibus on the other side….
jim holroyd 365 