Apologies and etceteras

hey Family and Friends:

For those of you who might have been checking in frantically over the last week to see where the next four installments of the Khevsureti trip went, I apologize.

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Humble household-building matters intervened, along with work and other sundries. Plus, now, other events keep building up, and I don't know if I'll ever get to all of it.

That said, we went to Sighnaghi for a wine festival this weekend, and it was fantastic. Sighnaghians were out in full force displaying evidence of traditional culture, from wine to food, to dancing and grape stomping, and more. There was the playing of musical instruments. There was the dressing in traditional garb. There was the dead goat, splayed and hanging from a tree. There was the playing of traditional instruments, dressed in traditional garb, in front of the dead goat. And I got pictures. I'll share soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to call your attention to this strange fact of existence that currently has my attention: at this very moment, it is 11:40 in the a.m. on Halloween day, in Tbilisi, and all over Georgia. Due north, in Russia, it is 10:40 a.m. Due south, in Turkey, it is 9:40 a.m. Further south, in Iraq, it is 10:40 again, but in Iran, parts of which are also due south, it is 11:10. In fact, the only country which shares our time zone is Oman -- roughly five hundred miles to the south and east. This would be like, if Ohio was in a different time zones than Tennesse, Kentucky, West Virginia and Michigan. (Indiana, in this scenario, would be a big pool of water). Strange, neh? For a visual, go here scroll down and click on "western asia" -- you'll get a map which shows current time in each area.