One of my inspirations in writing here is the amazing Carpetblog. The Carpetblogger’s caustic, funny, intelligent style made Carpetblog a joy to read, even if you had no interest in the topics she covered.
But moving to a place as Mxyzptlk weird as Tajikistan has made me appreciate her observations, and snide asides, about life in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Turkey — her expat homes — even more. Only after the fullness of a Dushanbe summer could I understand why musing about the proper accessories for devushka boots was so hilarious, although this photo shamelessly purloined from her post on the subject might help you understand:
Sadly, this Ukrainian devushka has more style than her Tajik sistras
Unfortunately for us, Carpetblogger has had a rough go of it personally and is not really inspired by Istanbul to blog as it is a manifestly less odd place than, say, Baku. So, her blog is going on a permanent hiatus, although she holds out the hope to her readers that someday a “Carpetblog II” will be launched. Therefore, I’m keeping Carpetblog in my links (see to the right) and keeping my fingers crossed that the Carpetblogger starts blogging again real soon.
Best wishes Carpetblogger and good luck with whatever you do.
Sweet post! Thanks!
We have some excellent Baku friends in the Dush (the charming Hamlin family –maybe you know them?) and would like to come visit them sometime. Tajikistan is the only FSU country that we haven’t been to that we would like to electively visit.
Good luck!
Josh-
I’m a total fan (and friend!) of the Carpetblogger, and I too, hung my head in sadness at the news. We will all have a hole in our blog list from here on out.
See you around soon!
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