A Little Bit of Georgia

Tbilisi was full of crumbling grandeur, sculptures and statues... an amazing city.



A Georgian orchid just inside the Borjomi- Kharagauli (sp?) National Park. We'll be going back... you're welcome to join us!


A WILD peony growing in the forest.



Our old friend (Broomrape) in a new frock. On a river walk, near Borjomi springs.



Basma with Ramaz and Giorgi, our new friends from Slow Food Georgia .. at a khinkali restaurant (that's a delicious, juicy meat dumpling).







An old church on the Metekhi (sp?) river in downtown Tbilisi









Keith checking out some figs ... they were everywhere, but unfortunately unripe. Every spare corner, and every wall had a grapevine...









Basma in the botanic gardens.









A fairytale waterfall just a few minutes from downtown. Canadian urban planners, do you see this?









The view back towards the city from the gardens.

Socotra

A chameleon in Wadi Ayift, with the Dixsam range behind.




A view up the Wadi.




Another view, including Emta, an arboreal euphorb.




It was a picturesque Wadi.




A stalked puffball! Also known as "bird kohl" ... only, not in english. That is, eye makeup delivered by birds.




Treemo flowers.




Treemo pods.



Treemo (arboreal Apocynum)




View from Dixsam plateau.




The new road going in on the eastern stretch of the island.




The beach at Qalansiya. Full of crazy burrowing, pyramid building crabs.




Another view of the beautiful beach and rocks at Qalansiya.





Keith and Ahmed Doane, our friend and guide.




The view down into Wadi Ayrud... where we swam later.




A wild eggplant.



The infamous Dragon's Blood tree. People collect the resin, and have done so for a long, long, time. The resin is used in paints, varnish, makeup, all kinds of stuff. We heard that some trees were thousands of years old.




One of the many goats we met for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They tried to grab our food, chewed our shirts, and danced on the tables. They were good dancers, with stylin' hairdo's, but bad guests. Nothing a punch in the nose couldn't fix! MY BREAD! MINE!




On the roadside, near Hadibo. The amazing plants were everywhere.

Garrafa

One sunny afternoon we walked past 'Estiqlal for Chicken Sell Independance Store'...we were surprised to see all the chickens packed into the front window.

After we ogled the birds for a couple minutes, the mustachioed proprietor appeared brandishing a knife...within seconds, he was millimeters away from decapitating a chicken for us...then when it appeared that we didn't understand, he volunteered his own neck...for illustrative purposes!

Plants

The frangipani, which has been blooming since we arrived in early August, seems to be almost finished. A new night bloomer, which we haven't identified, but is a jasmine-smelling shrub, has just started.

Neighbourhood

Another view of the old wall. Behind those empty buildings are a whole bunch of geese and goats. Across the street, a stable full of camels. It is an odiferous junction.


A vacant lot nearby. These lots are full of interesting plants, but people use the lots as conveniently located garbage dumps... but also as areas for their goats to forage. This seems an unfortunate combination, but that's just my opinion. (This stew has a delicious soupcon of diapers and magazines!)




This little beauty was growing in another vacant lot. There were many similar plants nearby, but the others had had all their flowers chewed off by goats.

This is a piece of an old wall in our neighbourhood. I think Qatar consists almost entirely of limestone. These rocks are full of fossils.

Sunset Over Construction

The sun setting over the construction zone across the street from our compound. We are surrounded by construction.

Doha Doors

Doha has some amazing, opulent doors. This is not one of them! This decrepit beauty is in our neighbourhood. I will add some more door images soon.