Details Of Canberra

Suburban cities can look a little like David Lynch's film, Blue Velvet. Bucolic beauty with an undercurrent of menace. How menacing is Canberra?

Skate park and dam, divergent uses of concrete in similar forms.

Dumped KFC meal. Highway underpass, dark.

Lost shopping cart.

Discarded sunglasses. Hard trim.

Lawn girl.

Around Canberra

Green, low rise cities are naturally lovely. What about the details?

Sun shining where the manmade meets the controlled nature.

Lots of meandering, bucolic paths for walking, biking. And a manhole cover. Canberra is in a dry zone and signs of old bush fires can be found. Charred tree trunk.

Being dry, forget the lawn, lay some gravel and plant a flowering tree. Your place will look like a giant bonsai setting.

Metal ornaments. Stadium lighting stanchion and power line supports.

Spring!

Seeing President Emomali Rahmon Everywhere In Dushanbe

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, are 1,000 pictures worth one word? Yes: Rahmon!

Tajikistan's president, Emomali Rahmon, is all over the place. At least his image is ubiquitous. Living large on a modern building.

On a magic carpet. On a university building, waving hello to all of the fantastic students. When you've led your country since Soviet independence for 30+ years, who else is going to go up on billboard-size banners?

A painting at the National Museum. Dams project power, right? Still waving to unknown persons, stage left. "If they would just wave back, I could finally put my arm down. Being friendly is exhausting."

More magic carpeting, this time on one made of subservient flowers. Meeting Mr Putin. Always make sure you look bigger than the person whose hand you're shaking. Done!

Another painting at the National Museum. "Water is also powerful, right? Dam it!"

Alas, the painting is currently roped off. Is the table set up for memorabilia signings every Thursday between two and five o'clock? So many photographs to autograph....

Getting Amused At The Dushanbe Zoo

Seeing animals, ho hum. At the Dushanbe Zoo, there are plenty of rides and amusements when the fauna start to bore. Dare to ride?

Also, a bit sad. Pool tables to the left, slide in the middle, and flying chairs to the right. Unoccupied.

Water ride. Never get out of the blind duck that has flames coming out of its butt. Goalie, already committed.

Shooting gallery. "My gun can blow apart a brick wall!"

Measuring your strength. Do you have a mean right hook or a massive left calf? More blindness, this time on the trippy mushroom train.

Nobody into the pool. Ever.

A Visit To The Dushanbe Zoo

Sometimes old zoos have cute scale and charm. And sometimes they're just old. Which has its own charm, just probably not for the animals.

Alligator pen, funky mix of brick, rock, astro-turf and patio tile meant to look like pebbles. The gator doesn't seem to care.

Goats, gazing. "Where is the Amazon truck?" Bright colors. No animals.

Coyotes, making the most of their back alley-looking enclosure.

Boar, rooting. Probably not finding any truffles. Is that green liquid spent nuclear fuel? Snake cage. Wait, that's a pipe.

Ode to Garry Winogrand. Make your own entertainment.

Displaying A Great Life In Dushanbe

Technology enabling fantasy. Dushanbe has embraced the advances in hack photoshop work and the ability to print large images on vinyl. Many construction sites around town proudly display the future in all its over-saturated, Tik Tok looking, eternal youth beauty.

Sometimes it's hard to tell where the fantasy ends (A parking garage!, Young love!) and the dusty reality of a construction site begins.

Our Random Image Of Awe Inspiring Natural Beauty Here. Future, garish cupcake in the place of old, iconic, Soviet architecture. Threatening.

What's the connection? What this plot looked like 2,000 years ago? Two years ago?

Your life, projected. You like skateboarding, yoga, making deals and your boyfriend, right? Or maybe you're a pool, Heated Rivalry TV show guy?

Back to a construction fence, Wizard of Oz miles of flowers to cheer up the glum of building.

Doing The Shop At Big Mehrgon Market In Dushanbe

Dushanbe recently moved its central market to a new, grand space and the place is impressive. Anything and everything one needs under one, fancy roof. Grab your shopping bags and head in.

Exterior, a bit of a palace.

Found in every market in Central Asia, lots of dried fruits, nuts, and spices.

The new digs are big, looking a little like a movie set version of ancient Rome with the giant columns.

Men are standing by with their blue carts, ready to haul your weekly shop, including someone's big leg of something. Piles and varieties of non bread are plentiful. Grab a disc.

Down home butcher. Organ on cardboard, such a delicacy.

Planting Flowers For May Day In Dushanbe

May Day (May 1), now Labor Day, is one of the biggest public holidays in Tajikistan and a key component of the celebration is beautiful beds of blooming flowers in every public space. The holiday is a holdover from Soviet times and the theme of recognizing workers, socialist solidarity, and a brutalist system meant to crush the everyman. OK, maybe that last part was more of a private celebration.

May Day is still celebrated in Tajikistan and they go all in on the flower part. Time to get planting.

"Let's go babushkas, these flowers don't plant themselves." The old women labor seems also to be a Soviet holdover.

Planting is for women, delivering is for the men. Multitasking. Plant a flower, make a Facetime call.

The end product is lovely. Spicing up the monument of Ismail Samani.

It's an impressive task, many boxes, many beds to fill. The planting areas are everywhere. More to do in Victory Park.

Another flower victory, around the Independence monument.