Lawn Mowing with a Trimmer

20 October, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

Right, this post is like and extended version for my previous post in home remodeling series on lawn mowing with a scythe. After a tough fight with grass using old school tools like scythe it was enough for me. And I mean it - no more scythe for me.

Having a house in rural Latvia teaches a very important lesson, you have to own a trimmer, or it will be a very costly for you to fight the grass. Since some serious trimmers cost a lot and we hadn't actually planed to spend a money on it, we found an owner who could rent us out his trimmer for a six pack of beer.

Author of this blog captured in action fighting grass with a trimmer

Gosh, what an experience - during my first trimmering  I learnt I know nothing about trimmering grass - first of all - I was very afraid of this machine, second I had no idea how it is actually working - well I learnt that latter (I have a whole grass fighting story during our first year of home remodeling) 

Our fish pond completely overgrown in grass

I actually did something wrong with this trimmer, so I had to buy new details for it. So…

10 Popular Sony Vaio Laptop / Notebook Models To Choose From

19 October, 2015 | Laptop Reviews | 350 seen

I wouldn't call myself the biggest evangelist of Sony laptops, as I believe more popular are ASUS, DELL, HP and other brands, but that doesn't mean Sony doesn't have some powerful laptops to deliver for basically all consumer needs. 

VAIO was originally a brand of Sony Corporation, aka Sony VAIO . A couple of years Sony sold its PC business to the investment firm Japan Industrial as part of a restructuring effort to focus on mobile devices. Sony maintains a minority stake in the new, independent company, which currently sells computers in the United States, Japan, and Brazil as well as an exclusive marketing agreement. Sony still holds the copyright trademarks for the VAIO brand and logo.

In this article, you will find some of the latest and popular VAIO laptop models, alternatively see: Top 5 VAIO Laptops 2020

A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for laptops listed on this page are retrieved using…

Borjomi Mineral Water Park in Georgia

18 October, 2015 | Tourism objects | 189 seen

Borjomi mineral park which is located in town on Borjomi, some 120 km from nations capital Tbilisi, is a lovely place to enjoy a lazy day, preferable for slow walking and enjoying beautiful aroma coming from pine cons.

This park (and Borjomi town) has been on my most favorite destination list in Georgia for many years already (well, I first visited this place in 2011). This park was in our Borjomi hiking route, during our recent hiking tour organized by Georgia Expat Photographer Club. If you are a solo traveler or group of indies - here is a tip how to get to Borjomi for cheap - Tbilisi - Borjomi Transfer by Marshrutka (Minibus)

As a rule of thumb there is some small entrance fee for entering Borjomi Mineral Water park (some 0.5 GEL or 1.00 GEL), but during our hiking trip we enter this park from the other side and save up that money. So the pictures I will post bellow are from the other side of park.

Borjomula river in park

Waterfall and a monument in Borjomi Mineral Water Park

The is another interesting angle you can see this waterfall from above, but then you should take Borjomi…

Lawn Mowing with a Scythe

17 October, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 25 seen

Welcome to the second post in home remodeling series, today I will write about thing called - lawn mowing (I prefer using word grass) with a tool called scythe. It has been a while before my first post about our new property - a house, a really bad managed house we inherited. The thing why it took us so long is - it took us some 2 months to decide - will we seriously do anything with this house or probably let's just leave as it is and come back to Georgia or any other destination in the World?

After 2 months of intensive thinking, arriving on site (our house) everyday, drinking coffee on it's so called porch - we finally get a grip and decided - yes, let's do this, let's build our dream house. Although our minds were busy figuring out how to change a roof for this place, there was another obstacle - the grass.

Home front overgrown with grass

Ahh, those 2 months of us trying to figure out what should we do next were excellent time for grass to grow and overgrown.

A scythe

All we had at that time was pretty old but in working condition…

How To Make Nadugi - Traditional Georgian Snack (Fresh Cheese With Mint)

16 October, 2015 | Food blogger | 477 seen

When I first arrived to Georgia back in 2011, I was immediately taken to one of the lovely Tbilisi restaurants. Since I had no clue what so ever special of Georgian Cuisine I asked my friend could he suggest me some common and typical Georgian food? We ordered Ojakhuri and Nadugi. 

When I first seen Nadugi I thought its form looks like cone of ice cream, and then my associative thinking turned on and I thought - strange they eat potatoes / meat stew together with ice cream? Then I tried that little snack and in next second I just felt in love with that small Georgian snack Nadugi. 

Now I know - Nadugi is nothing related to ice cream - it's actually some kind of fresh cheese blended with mint and wrapped in thin Sulguni cheese plates

Nadugi is a snack in the shape of sacks, made of thin sulguni cheese flat cakes with the filling of nadugi, light milk product with a delicate taste of cream, and mint.

It was my blog's second anniversary when I was offered to prepare some special dish to celebrate this major milestone and choice was made in favor for nadugi. All ingredients were bought on local Tbilisi…

Deer Park "Rudiņi" in Latvia

15 October, 2015 | Farms | 62 seen

Lovely things happened on June's late evening, we most probably traveled back from Riga to our wolf's lair and noticed a strange construction - The Bridge to nowhere, after I took few photos back there, we continued our drive and suddenly second surprise - deers, a lot of deers.

Now being back to Tbilisi I feel a bit awkward for two reasons - first I'm not 100% that this place actually is called Rudiņi deer park (In Latvian - Rudiņu briežu parks), second - I didn't had that telephoto lens I do have now.

Deer park in Latvia

A runaway deer

Now  - a telephoto zoom would probably done amazing close shots of wildlife in this situation, but unfortunately i didn't have such back then

P 121 asphalt road connecting Tukums - Kuldīga

Bridge To Nowhere (Latvia)

14 October, 2015 | Tourism objects | 22 seen

It was a late June evening and we most probably returned from Riga to our wolf's lair when suddenly we noticed very interesting object - The Bridge To Nowhere.

The bridge reminds of the intended construction of Tukums-Kuldīga railroad, which was started already during the first independence of the Republic of Latvia in 1930-ties. However, in the minds of the people, it is instilled as a German wartime commemorative site, because the German rule during the 1940-ties tried to continue and complete it, but they did not succeed. The bridge has remained intact in the middle of a meadow up until the modern day. Read more: Bridge to Nowhere

Bridge to nowhere

P 121 asphalt road connecting Tukums - Kuldīga

Open Air Sulphur Water Swimming Pools in Borjomi

13 October, 2015 | Health & Wellness | 76 seen

Georgia will never end surprise you (at least me), so did happened during our recent hiking/trekking tour in lovely parts of Borjomi - Kharaguli National park. After a visit of Saint George Church in Daba we headed back to Borjomi Mineral Water park (You can find a Borjomi Cable car here) and we decided to take some shortcut. Huge was my surprise when I noticed following scenery:

Open air swimming pools in Borjomi

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it looked like some oasis in the middle of dessert - completely new (Ok, as I learnt latter it's actually renovated old) clean and super exciting place located just on Borjomi hiking trails.

Borjomula river

It's just amazing what a humans hand can actually do (build)

Open air swimming pools in Borjomi

Tsar's Sulphur Baths

According to written on this banner  -

The source of water possessed such magical and useful features, that the Romanovs in the 19th century ordered to arrange a pool in dense forest. The track leading to she spot was paved. The Borjomula river was spanned by bridges, each of them was of…

Skrunda Open-Air Stage and Park

11 October, 2015 | Entertainment | 11 seen

I just love Skrunda, like I have dedicated a lot of posts to this lovely small Latvian town in Western Latvia. So today is no exception - meet another tourist attraction in this marvelous town - Open air stage and park. You will just love this place.

Skrunda park with an open-air stage and the viewing platform. The park is developed on top of the Skrunda castle mound and features four public art objects made by wood carver Ģirts Burvis – seats of the first Couronian kings Ērmanis Pilāts, Jākobs Sigitars, Veisens and Santiķis. The sculptures were dedicated to the 750th anniversary of Skrunda being mentioned in historical sources. A scenic view over the River Venta opens from the viewing platform located in the park.

Skrunda Open air stage

Skrunda Open air stage

Park in Skrunda near Open Air Stage

Embankment of Venta in Skrunda

It's just wonderful how they have built everything here in Skrunda. Go discover Skrunda now! (Better in Summer time)

Two Year Blog Anniversary

10 October, 2015 | Blogging | 7 seen

It was just yet another Autumn evening, when back in the October 10, 2013 I registered my domain name www.ReinisFischer.com, but in fact I started my blog some 7 days earlier on October 3rd, 2013. I had my blog been setup and it already was filled with a few articles, before it was actually launched. Yes, such strange behavior probably can be explained that geeks do geek things, though I don't see a geek in me.

I started this blog thing with a goal - To blog 365 consecutive days and when I launched I was looking to reach about 6,000 monthly users by the end of my first blogging year. The fact is, after 365 days of consecutive blogging I reached just 3,364 monthly users (September 2014), what was about just above of half of my goal.

6,000 users, buddy? It's nothing! I hear you, you are right, 6,000 are not much, but it was worth of it to reach and crack that milestone in November 2014 (9,096 users).

As you can see - I did have my goals defined even before I launched, and that's what I can recommend to any one looking to dig in into this amazing thing called blogging - set your goals and work out hard to reach them.

Saint George Church and Monastery (Borjomi/Georgia)

10 October, 2015 | Churches and Monasteries | 24 seen

I was not familiar with the name of this place, until during a recent hiking trip in Georgia and latter at home using Google Maps I learned this place is known as Saint George Church.

The name I used to knew it - was something like this - there is that lovely women monastery up there in Borjomi. And I'm still preferring this name of describing this place instead of Saint George Church. 

The Sadgeri St. George Church is the XV century monument. It is located in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, in the village of Sadgeri in Borjomi municipality, on the high bank of the river.

Tourist sign indication direction to this monastery complex

I still haven't learned Georgian script, but I believe it says - it's 50 meters and there will be Saint George church

Monks house

The Mother Monastery currently operates in the temple area. The church territory is surrounded by a curtain wall.

St. George's Church

The church is a hall type and it has no apse. It is covered with a cylindrical vault of uneven outline. The temple is built of grey …

Bakuriani Hotels - Enjoy Your Winter Holidays in Georgian Ski Resort

9 October, 2015 | Hotel reviews | 34 seen

There are a few simple reasons I enjoy Bakuriani as my winter holiday destination in Georgia (I have spent two Christmas here) - the scenery mountainous views, holiday feeling and during Western Christmas time (December 24-26) there are not too many folks (Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7). 

Read more about how I have celebrated Christmas in Bakuriani, or learn the way I believe that Bakuriani is among Top 16 places to visit in Georgia

There are a few hotels I really like in Bakuriani, and among my favorite, I can call the Hotel Trialeti Palace. 

So if you feel confident enough about Bakuriani as your next winter holiday destination, take a look at these lovely hotels and apartments in this fabulous Georgian ski resort. 

Alternatively, see: 

• 6 Best Value Hotels in Borjomi, Georgia
• Ultimate List With Top 10 Gudauri Hotels (Georgian Ski Resort)

A quick note: All hotels listed in this article contains affiliate links to Booking.com, and if you will click on them and make an actual booking I will earn an affiliate income from that at no cost to…

September 2015 Traffic and Income Report (36,670 Users/ $254.01)

8 October, 2015 | Blogging | 44 seen

Welcome to the 21th traffic and income report of this blog. In this post I will cover some details about income and expenses I have made in month of September as well I will share some insights about traffic numbers.

In case you are wondering why should someone publish online his/her earnings - the answer is pretty simple - I like transparency and these reports help me to observe my progress or bounces. Hopefully my reports can give some inspiration to you as well. Read:  How to start a blog and make it successful

A quick note: Some of the links below are affiliate links.By clicking on them I might end up earning some income from that.

Income

• Google AdSense - $45.89
• Amazon Associates* - $886.94
• Sovrn - $5.18
• Booking - $13.40
• Bluehost - $0

*Amazon Associates includes Amazon CPM

Total Income: $951.41

Expenses

• Linode - $22.50
• Facebook Ads - $7.90
• New Laptop - $377.00
• New Tripod - $…

One Day Trip To Armenia (Lori Province)

8 October, 2015 | Travel guides | 17 seen

Just shortly after our return to Georgia, in the first weekend we just couldn't sit back home and do nothing, we were eager for some travels. So we found this lovely offer on Facebook - short one day trip to Armenia for 40 GEL (it's about $17.00) and here we were heading to Armenia. Since this was not our first trip to neighboring republic we already felt pretty confident about all the border crossings, money exchanges e.t.c.

I must admit I had no clue where we are actually heading to, and that's actually the way I prefer to travel, not much planning, just basic information. I call it a true travel spirit. As it later turned out our tour guide was prepared better, and we were on our way to the barbecue festival in Armenia.

Below you will find both maps with all the places (they are just 3) and descriptions for each of the places. If you are up for a short trip travels to Armenia, I can highly recommend you this route and discover the beauty of Armenia.

So here you go - a short trip to Armenia from Georgia.

Lori  is a …

Skrunda Manor and Hotel

7 October, 2015 | Tourism objects | 13 seen

Skrunda Manor is an attractive final destination in the culturally historical region of Kurzeme (Courland) in Latvia. What's use to been a manor house now is turned into a boutique hotel in Western Latvia. I know for sure they have restaurant on site and after midnight you can get a take away coffee at reception (well, don't forget about tips to the receptionist).

I visited this place at the start of June 2015, since I was a little bit in rush, I didn't photographed lovely interior they have on site, and I feel some regrets about it now.

Playground at Skrunda manor

Skrunda manor

Skrunda Manor built in classicism style with design similarities with Mežotne Palace was reconstructed in 2012 according to Eleja Castle design created by the world-famous architect Giaccomo Quarenghi. Today the building serves as home for a hotel, restaurant and conference rooms.

According to the studies of the Latvian writer and historian Arturs Heniņš, Skrunda Manor can be considered as miniature copy of Mežotne Palace and, most credibly, the design of Mežotne Palace of Johann Georg Adam Berlitz was used for its construction. Johann Georg Adam…