Palais des Nations, Sunrise over Lac Leman and the Alps, and Blog Statistics Humour

Sunrises!

I've been an admirer of sunsets all my life, which comes from summers spent in Kusadasi and watching the sun set into the sea every night (my grandmother used to tell me and my sister that if you skipped a stone on the water and made a wish, then stayed silent on the walk home, your wish would come true. Now I wonder if she wasn't inventing the silence bit just to keep two young girls from chattering endlessly!). The sun rose over the mountains and its colours weren't easily visible from our house.

I've shared photos of the sunrise over our Swiss village before, and quite a few photos of the grounds of the Palais des Nations, Ariana Park, as well as of the entrance to the United Nations. Oddly, though, even though I've taken quite a few photos, I don't think I've ever posted photos of the sunrise over Lac Leman and the Alps before.

Before that, though, I thought I'd collate some random blog-related stuff.

First up, a new collection of funny blog spam. I last shared a few of these Funniest, Most Ridiculous Blog Spam Comments in 2012. Here're the latest:



I hardly ever check my blog statistics, I suppose because it's all I can do to keep up with posting and commenting; trying to curate my visitors and attract ever more comments is not in the plan right now.

Speaking of plans, I did notice that I omitted any mention of ROW80 last week. I'm alternately slacking on writing and embarking on a new reading goal. I've tried this before (180 books to read by 2015), but now that I'm more seriously looking into options for shipping our library out of storage and back into our home, I decided to tackle once again the matter of reading books I already own. Already since we've come to Switzerland I've attended four book fairs at the library and hauled home a bunch of paperbacks. What's the sense in doing that if the TBR pile topples over quicker than I can read any of the books in it? Best to keep adding to wishlists and not actually buying any more. Out of 60-80 books (it depends on the method of counting; sometimes I like to be factual and count every single book, other times I figure there's no sense including the books that I didn't choose myself and am not likely to read at all), I've already read five in the last two weeks. All that to say my goal for the next little while is to read up a storm. And then with a clear conscience get some of the books floating towards the top of the wishlist (the longer the list sits, the more the items in it move around, but certain authors always stay near the top), especially Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning, and the brand new Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time.

Back to the statistics. In the last five years or so, the main search terms that brought visitors to the blog were the following:

borek, and it's accurate spelling, börek

jamie fraser

palos de la frontera

natalie wood

akzhana abdalieva

severus snape

yertle the turtle

bonifaccio

cat with book

Some of these are only to be expected (cats, books, Jamie Fraser, and my recipe for börek). Palos de la Frontera is the port from which Christopher Columbus first sailed, and at which my character Rosa first learned the truth of her paternity.

Akzhana Abdalieva is an artist from Kazakhstan. There's precious little information about her online. Severus Snape must be because of my post entitled Severus Snape. That Is All.

Bonifacio must be due to the gorgeous photo of a ship in sail that I took in Corsica many years ago. Oddly enough, I can't find the post now. Comes from not ever having using tags in my posts. Sigh.

Natalie Wood I can't explain. The only time I've ever mentioned her is in reference to Rosa.

And Yertle the Turtle comes up in a series I was doing of famous authors and musicians and their favourite books; Dr Seuss was one of drummer and manager of Spirit of the West Vince Ditrich's picks.

Then there are the top ten posts, which are apparently the following (and oddly, peaked in 2012. I wonder if that's accurate?):














































Dec 16, 2012





































Now for the photos! Sunshine and sunrises across the Palais des Nations:



Also, sheep












Are you an admirer of sunsets or sunrises?
What interesting things have you discovered about your own blog?

Comments

Hi Denise - I haven't dug at all into my blog ... I'm just so surprised that people enjoy coming over to read and I find new friends along the journey.

I get some spam - but it gets relegated very quickly and I ignore.

Reading is something I must do .. with a few other things this year - get some definite routine into my life ...

Love the sound of your borek ... I make Spanokapita quite often .. spinach and feta mix with some cheddar cheese added ... your upbringing in Kusadisi must have been lovely ... sounds idyllic for a child.

Lots of posts for us to look at .. but I love the sunrises and sunsets ... probably for me the sunsets - as there seems to be more time at the end of a day ... but the one I probably remember most ... is the huge creamy moon over the English Channel as I came over the Downs into Eastbourne. (Chalk hills - 'down' is celtic for hill.)

It must be amazing to be able to live in Geneva and have the Alps in the background ... I know it's not Canadian mountains ... but Switzerland is special ...

Cheers Hilary
Last shot is fantastic.
Like the spam comment about bamboo. Boy, was that random.
Have you posted many cats with books?
S.P. Bowers said…
Love the coloring in that last photo! Hmm, I never even check my spam folder. Hope I haven't missed a lot of real comments.
Zan Marie said…
What ravishing pics! Deniz, your eye is perfect and your photos show it. Keep 'em coming.
Deniz Bevan said…
So glad you all enjoyed the photos!
I didn't think I had, Alex -- I know I've shared cat and book photos separately, but together, not so much!
Chrys Fey said…
I hate blog spam comments. Blogger usually catches it but some get published until I came back to reply to comnents. One once went on forever!

Those pictures are lovely. The sheep, the mountains, and that last sunset photo...wow.

It's been a long time since I last looked at my blog stats.
Chrys Fey said…
I hate blog spam comments. Blogger usually catches it but some get published until I came back to reply to comnents. One once went on forever!

Those pictures are lovely. The sheep, the mountains, and that last sunset photo...wow.

It's been a long time since I last looked at my blog stats.
Crystal Collier said…
I love the green and warm colors. They make me happy. =)

I got one spam comment once that was so epic my husband had to share it on Facebook. Can't remember what it said, but wow. Just wow.
vamp_writer said…
Lovely pictures! I love sunsets and tend to take lots of them when my hubby and I are camping.

Kate Larkindale said…
Beautiful photos! And yes, blog stats (and stats on everything) can leave you puzzled for weeks. Better to leave the analysis to the professionals and just enjoy what you're doing.
alberta ross said…
great photos - are you enjoying Switzerland? I did the short time I was there - I know what you mean about bringing back books to add to the toppling TBR pile - for goodness sake I muttered as I slunk out of the shop day before yesterday with some more!!! getting books out of storage is exciting I know I couldn't wait when mine came out after a year - all my old friends liberated at last :)

Keep smiling:)
Erika Beebe said…
I love sunset watching, sunrises, and anything where you find yourself studying nature. I am also trying to teach the art of peaceful nature watching too. The spam comments were pretty hilarious. I haven't thought about checking mine. Have a great rest of your week. Erika
Deniz Bevan said…
Ooh, I'd love to see that moon, Hilary.

Glad you all enjoyed the photos!