Follow the weekly journal, the reasoning behind each decision, and the wider archive.
Greetings from Scotland! Over the past week, we've been making the most of the school break by travelling to this beautiful part of the world. We've explored Edinburgh…
As of October 16, 2026, our options-selling-powered dividend stock portfolio stood at $13,456, marking a weekly decline of 1.37% compared with the previous week.This…
As of October 9, 2026, our options-selling-powered dividend stock portfolio stood at $13,643, showing a decent weekly increase of +0.72% compared with the previous week.…
In today's restaurant reviews series I would like to mention some small but very stylish snack bar in Portofino, Italy - Tortuga Snack Bar
We made a stop in lovely Italian Riviera village of Portofino at the end of 2015, this place inspired me a lot and I made a few HDR photography here. Tortuga Snack bar we made a short stop to enjoy delicious Italian cappuccino, and with the permit from bar staff members I was allowed to make some interior photos as well.
Tortuga snack bar in Portofino, Italy
This place offers spectacular view to boat decks
Tortuga Snack bar
Lovely interior at Tortuga Snack bar
Outdoor tables at Tortuga snack bar
Tortuga snack bar in Portofino, Italy
Let me introduce you with a really interesting fungus (mushroom) you can find across deep forests in Europe and North America - Common Stinkhorn, also known by its Latin name - Phallus impudicus.
At the end of this post you will learn how you can prepare a medicine out of this fungus!
Phallus impudicus
Phallus impudicus, known colloquially as the common stinkhorn, is a widespread fungus recognizable for its foul odor and itsphallic shape when mature, the latter feature giving rise to several names in 17th-century England. It is a common mushroom in Europe and western North America, where it occurs in habitats rich in wood debris such as forests…
Ask me - what does Latvia associates to me - and I will answer - haystacks and mild Summer nights. Unfortunately last summer (2015) I didn't find any haystack in Latvia at all (instead they are using hay rolls), but I did enjoyed some wanderings in cornfields (and, yes, they are great for photography)
In today's Piece of Life photo project series - allow me to introduce you - Latvia in Summer.
Margret
Cornfield in Latvia
Ancient trees alley
Cornflower field in Latvia
Cornfield
Cornfield
P117 - Skrunda - Aizpute road
Hay roll
Freshly cut hay
Portofino is an Italian fishing village and vacation resort famous for its picturesque harbor and historical association with celebrity and artistic visitors. I paid a short, but very remarkable visit here at the end of 2015, during a short 7 day trip around Italy.
We arrived to Portofino from Genoa (Read my first impressions: A Little Bit From Italian Riviera (Somewhere Around Genoa)
Portofino - Italian fishing village
According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and named Portus Delphini, or Port of the Dolphin, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf.
Portofino bay in…
Welcome back to the home remodeling series, in today's article I'll show how I patched a holes in a hard wood floor using ... a plaster mixture.
But before that, please take a look on More Paint Job - Base layer for Kitchen's Floor and How to Patch and Plaster in your old Rural house
After I painted first base layer of paint I noticed that wooden floor is in really bad condition and it has a huge holes on it, since we were not into a complete renovation, rather into a quick paint job to look this place more livable, I decided to go with the same plaster mixture I applied on walls.
Fresh paint and huge holes in the floor
Plaster mixture applied
Another layer of paint applied…
Just shortly we landed at Milan/Malpensa airport and stayed at lovely Holiday Inn Express hotel, in the next morning we started to head to Genoa. Unfortunately I did not paid much attention to all the small town lets located next to the sea, and know by writting these lines I wonder what names does actually these lovely places bear.
The fun fact - we stopped in Genoa for just 5 minutes (and we even didn't know back then that we are actually in Genoa. But hey we got some amazing pictures here. All I can recall now , we did a driving from Milan to Lucca (we left Milan in the morning, and arrived to Lucca in the evening). I can draw parallels of this drive with our Roses to…
While there is a good reason to visit St Mark's square in Venice, Italy (that's exactly we did this New Year) - the chances to photograph New Year's fireworks turned much brighter from our Tbilisi's apartments balcony.
Shortly before clock turned twelve on night between January 13 to January 14, we made a moka coffee, I installed a tripod and enjoyed amazing Old New year's firework.. Piece of Life!
Fireworks in our Tbilisi apartments backyard
Old New Year's fireworks in Tbilisi, Georgia
Fireworks in Tbilisi, Georgia
About Old New Year
The Old New Year or the Orthodox New Year is an informal traditional holiday, celebrated as the start of the New…
We stayed overnight at Holiday Inn Express Milan-Malpensa Airport hotel just shortly we landed at the airport and took our rental car from FireFly.
It turned out that FireFly office was just some 200 meters from this hotel, so we didn't had much driving for the first day from during our seven day trip in Italy. OK, we drove to the nearby town of Ferno to have a Italian style supper at Osteria San Martino.
If you are traveling by car - I highly recommend to choose hotels near airports - you won't be in city center, but you will have much more benefits, rather than staying in center - free parking, cheaper price are just the two and main reasons I prefer hotels/motels outside…
This was the first time I ate at the real Italian restaurant, and my first experience was more than satisfactory.
Shortly after we landed at Milan/Malpensa airport, took our rental car, and checked in at nearby hotel, we started to explore TripAdvisor for some lovely place to have a Italian supper. Osteria San Martino popped up, so it was all about of entering right coordinates to TomTom device. This restaurant was located some 20 minute drive from our hotel in town called Ferno.
Osteria San Martino in Ferno, Italy
I was glad I decided to take a tripod for my Italy trip, so I had a chance to make lovely long exposures. Since it was night already we arrived here, without a tripod…
Skrunda is actually a very lovely small Latvian town, you can find here both Soviet military heritage (Read: Skrunda-1 Abandoned Soviet Military Ghost Town In Latvia) , delicious Latvian cuisine (Bistro 'Elvi' In Skrunda) or just enjoy a lovely walk near river Venta (Read: Skrunda Open-Air Stage and Park).
In today's Piece of Life project series I would love to show a beautiful place where poppy field meets railroad - a railway crossing point.
Railroad in Skrunda municipality
Railroad perspective
Poppy field near Skrunda Railway
There is something magical in Latvia - and both poppy fields and rails make this country look even better. Read more: Beautiful…
Milan - Malpensa is one of the major airports serving city of Milan in Italy. Just to mention, there is another airport serving city of Milano- Bergamo.
Milan–Malpensa Airport, formerly City of Busto Arsizio Airport, is the largest airport for the Milan metropolitan area in northern Italy. It serves 15 million inhabitants in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria. The airport is located 49 kilometres northwest of central Milan, next to the Ticino river, which is a border between Lombardy and Piedmont. The airport has two terminals and two runways.
It took me about twelve years to visit Italy again, last time I hitchhiked and…
David Gareja Monastery complex probably is among top tourist attractions in Republic of Georgia you should visit. Located in the desert, bordering with Azerbaijan this place provides very spectacular views. Best ways to get here is either by using your own vehicle or hiring a driver or booking a trip.The monastery complex includes hundreds of cells, churches, chapels, refectories and living quarters hollowed out of the rock face.David Gareja Monastery Complex in GeorgiaThe complex was founded in the 6th century by David (St. David Garejeli), one of the thirteen Assyrian monks who arrived in the country at the same time.Cells in David Gareja monastery complexA group of Latvian…
Udabno is a small village located in distance some 50 km from Tbilisi. The chances you will visit this place is huge if you are visiting one of the most famous Georgia' s landmarks - David Gareji monastery complex. The main road from Tbilisi will take you through Udabno village if you are visiting David Gareji.
When I first was at Udabno back in 2011 it seemed as completely abandoned place, but at the end of December, 2015 it looked that some people are actually living here, and even a Polish run hostel has been established here.
Udabno village located in the middle of Georgian desert
Udabno in Georgian means - Desert. The village was built in middle 80s during Soviet times, for…
Title for this article might be named also as - how to display block on taxonomy pages only. In fact that was the solution I was looking for about two years, and felt a bit awkward when figured out a very easy, not to say super simple solution.
The blog you are currently reading is Drupal powered, no WordPress, Joomla or some other content management system here, so I will speak Drupal language in this article.
Here is the super easy solution for those in hurry:
Create a new block, paste your Google AdSense (or whatever content you want, it's not only about Google AdSense after all), under block visibility settings choose only the listed pages and enter taxonomy/term/*
note that /*…
In this article you will learn how to make blocks on your Drupal site to float using a simple, and yet powerful module - Floating block.
Here are some other cool tutorials you might find interesting:
How To Display Social Share Buttons On Drupal Taxonomy Pages
Floating social share buttons (without using modules)
How to align Facebook like, Google + and Twitter buttons? (CSS tricks)
Facebook like button for Drupal site
Drupal Floating Block
From module creators: The Floating block module allows you to keep html blocks, selected using jquery selectors in a fixed position on the page as you scroll. It works in a similar way the table header fixer in Drupal Core. This…
Those of you following my blog have noticed I'm featuring home remodeling series here, it all started back in the Spring/Summer of 2015, when we inherited a lovely but very badly managed country house in rural Latvia. In today's photo series I will show you how using the most cheapest floor paint I gave a new life to a rundown wooden plank floor in our rural's house kitchen.
But before that, take a look how it all started in this kitchen:
Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works)
How to Patch and Plaster Walls in Your Old Rural House
Now let us begin with adding some floor paint in this lovely kitchen
Preparing floor for paint
If you are looking to paint your…
Wine Tunnel owned by a winery Khareba is located close to the town of Kvareli, in region of Kakheti, republic of Georgia. It features not only exotic manmade tunnel built in the rocks, but it also has a large territory offering interesting attractions related to Georgian heritage. Guests can book a wine tasting tour here and will be provided with best selection wines from winery Khareba.
I first visited this wine tunnel in the middle of October, 2015 together with my mom during a short one day trip around region of Kakheti,
Wine Tunnel at Winery Khareba near Kvareli town in Georgia
Winery Khareba is constructed of 15 tunnels. Two tunnels reaching 800 meters are parallel to each…
In today's photo article I will speak about another neighborhood in Tbilisi - Varketili. Varketili is most probably famous because of the Varketili metro line connecting this part of city with city cente.In today's article most of the pictures are focused around exactly at this metro station.
Varketili is probably not the most tourist visited place in Tbilisi, if you are hoping to find lovely wood carved balconies here or enjoy a swim in a sulfur bath you most probably wont find anything from that here. I haven' t double checked this, but apartment rent in Varketili are one of the cheapest options in Tbilisi. I know at least two expats living in this neighborhood.…
There is a biggest tree in Georgia located in the city center of Telavi (Region of Kakheti). It's not only giant, it is more than 900 years old as well.I discovered this tree back in October , 2015, during a day trip to region of Kakheti, we made a 5 minute stop here, I got an opportunity to photograph it with my mom posing next to it.The Giant Plane tree in Telavi, Republic of GeorgiaIt's width is about 12 meters and height 46 meters.The Giant Plane tree in Telavi, Republic of GeorgiaThe plane tree in Telavi is near the ‘Batonis Tsikhe’ (the Prince’s Castle), the Batonis Tsqharo’ (the Prince’s Spring) and the monument to the great Georgian King of the 18th century Heracles II. Source:…
I decided to great the New Year of 2016 with a 32-second video flashback I made at the end of 2015, filmed mostly in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.
The idea of creating one second a day video project arrived at me after I watched the movie Chef (2014). I was already doing my 365 days photo project and for the 32 days it was both fun and entertaining to both photograph and film, then post-process, e.t.c. It was a harsh experience as well. But it was worth every additional hour spent to produce a daily second video.
Places and Events from this video
Master class in Asian Cuisine
The Tiger Lillies Concert Review in Tbilisi
Wanderings In The Tbilisi Old Town (HDR Efex Pro)
Eating at…
Explore an options workflow, journal structure, or automation idea through a focused conversation.
Explore a consultation →Get the next portfolio update and the reasoning behind it.
Subscribe →No daily noise. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
Travel, life in Georgia, and building projects remain part of the archive. Start with a subject and keep exploring.
We use anonymous website analytics only if you allow it. Accept and Reject are equally available. You can change this choice at any time.