Riga Song Festival

Cēsu kauju 89.gadadienas atceres pasākums... A remembrance day

Today was the 89th anniversary of the battle of Cesis in 1919 where the Latvians and Estonians defeated the remaining German armies trying to occupy them after the end of WWI.

Zenu Koru Salidojums (Boys Choir Gathering) in Cesis Last Saturday

Vienna

Venice

Rome

Hi Wayne, I know you've been waiting for something here, so I'll get up off my lazy behind and finally put some photos up. Thanks for the motivation!

Walking around town

Trying something different

It's been so gray and gloomy here for so long that I gave up taking photos for awhile. But then it occured to me to try a black and white or desaturated approach and see what came out. Here are a few.

What is that in there?

Is that really an eye-ball looking out at us? Hard to believe. What could it be? Whatever it is, it looks like its glasses have slipped down around its nose!

More fun with....

What the...?

A Beautiful Resting Place

Recently, I took a walk through the Cesis kapi (cemetary). It's a lovely, peaceful, park-like setting for contemplation. How fragile we are...

A Piper Seeks the Ghost of Ivan the Terrible

As I walked towards town at midday, I wandered through Castle Park and heard the plaintive notes of a solitary bagpiper. His tune drew my thoughts back to sadder times when these grounds suffered at the hands of Ivan and his murderous minions.

A Cloudy Day in Cesis

A lovely old kindergarten.

A Russian Orthodox Church.

The old Cesis brewery, until this year the oldest continuously operating in the Baltics. Now it will be renovated to be an arts and cultural center. When it's finished, it will be a wonderful addition to our community.

Just walkin' around town

A short walk out the door...floralingus

Jammin' With The PMS Band...(Pete, Mike, Scott)

Last summer in Seattle every Friday night was "jam" night with my brother on guitar and Pete on bass. Usually other musicians would show up for a little fun and quite a party would develop. These fotos have been given the "blasted" treatment in post processing (possibly reflecting the condition of the players by the end of the night?)

Vertical Things

In the town of Matisi.

The Cesis water tower.

The Riga Freedom Monument.

The Riga train station clock tower.

The Cesis water tower from the living room window.

Autumn is on the way...

Up, up and away...

Fooling around with color

Nature's Beauty

These were taken out the kitchen window using the Fuji F30. The first one is at about 3X zoom and the second one is two fotos made into a panorama using the free program photostitch.

Rezekne At Night

These were taken from an upper floor of the Hotel Latgale. 

Faces of Summer

Parnu, Estonia

We just returned from a little side-trip to Parnu, Estonia, about 3 hours by car from Cesis. It's a little like Jurmala in Latvia. They both began as Czarist-era bathing resorts and are now just nice places to visit. Parnu has noticeably improved since our last visit two years ago. Everything just looks brighter and more cheerful. The beach is still fabulous fine sand and now there are more modern amenitities for travelers, many nice guest houses, and hotels in period architecture. If you're ever in the Baltics, it's definitely worth a vist.

What the...?

An interesting look to Doma Laukums - Dome Square - by using artwork on the otherwise blank side of an adjacent building. Nice work.

Back to Riga

This view is from Kipsala island in the Daugava River across from the Old Town of Riga. It's not really an island but a long, narrow peninsula that paralles the south bank of the river. It's getting some much-needed development upgrades as housing, condos, restaurants and a boat haven have all sprung up in the past five years. Now it's a nice place to walk and admire the scenery.

Return From Seattle

Seattle is a beautiful city with many hills which provide great views. Also, it has an extensive ferry system giving you even more views. The last two photos are of the Experience Music Project designed by Frank Gehry with the Monorail running through it, and the University of Washington Library where my wife worked last summer.

Welcome...

If you've come from the DPReview Panasonic talk forum, here are some fotos from the TZ3 I got to replace my lost FZ5. It needs some PP tweaking, but I really like it so far. The first one is just outside our door looking at the sky between two apartment buildings. Next is the view from the living room window. I really enjoy the 16:9 aspect.

Today and Yesterday...Still

Hmm.... More than two months since.... At any rate, a trio of fotos from Riga last week. I like them because they remind me of how "Sovietized" parts of the city still are while the modern state develops in its midst. The top one is the Lido restaurant upstairs in the Spice (spee-tsa) mall near the Imanta neighborhood, with its endless rows of gray flats across the street from their residents' former workplace, the now derilict Radioteknika, shown below. It's easy to pretend that time has stood still, except all around outside of the fotos life briskly continues in the new Latvia.

View From The Living Room Window At 4:00

A Sunday Stroll

Now that Winter has finally arrived and the gray, drizzle has gone back Seattle where it belongs (sorry Mike and Pete), we now have a proper January day. It's nice, -5 (23F), calm and clear. The pine forest begins about a 10-minute walk from home and it's soothing to the soul in any season. This monument, about 6 meters tall, is in the WWII cemetary here in Cesis. There are more than 300 names engraved in granite. This from a town of less than 10,000 people at that time. It is a place to ruminate and remember.

The Tagger Needs A Spell Checkeker...

I saw this today walking down an alley in the center of town. The guy on the right is Einars Repse, former Prime Minister and now a guy who ran over and killed a drunk on the highway. Oh, he also used to be the head of the Latvian Central Bank.