Always on my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind!

Ok, this has nothing to do with Three Stone Steps, or silk scarves, or eco-chic, or Phnom Penh, or recycled anything. This is more along the lines with the protests, crackdown (cue: song from London Calling, Working for the Clamp Down) in Georgia. Georgia, and Tbilisi was a place I found lovely and lovable. Elegant and crumbling. Great, hospitable people who would do anything for you. Few, if any, other travelers. A wonderful city in a wonder country. So, it is with tears in my eyes, literally, that I’ve been scouring the web for stories coming out of that country about the protests and the ensuing crushing of the peaceful protests. I wrote a friend in Tbilisi this morning, and asked her how she was holding up. With typical Georgian elan, she was justsort of resigned to this sort of stuff happening, but what really bothered where was the press blackout. Here’s what she wrote:


what is really upseting me is that
they closed 2 telecompanies..
one of them was
really tough with government but people loved
that channel as they were most
objective! so the soldiers with guns
and masks on their faces entered that
telecompany and just ordered them to stop broadcasting
_ I was watching it while
that was going on! they put those
journalists on the floor (as they tell it
after) and took their mobile phones
and only after some time let them out from
the building.
and also, yesterday i had cnn and euronew
_ and today i had no this channels
anymore!
so we are in information vacuum!
and pardon me but that sucks!
right now i'm home _ schools are closed for minimum till monday.. and i'm really
gald i still have internet!

But, I'm trying to remember the Tbilisi and country that enchanted me when I was there a
little over a year ago. To that end, please enjoy the following photos, and if I can figure out what can
be done from the outside world, well, I'll post that, too.

[Ok. For some unknown reason, I can't figure out how to post more of my lovely photos from lovely Georgia, but
in the words of another Beatles song, we will work it out!]