Thank you, Pete! Valya

Thanks for your kind words; much appreciated.  Happy New Year, Oleg

Thanks for the praise. Fotki contests are quite unpredictable, so I'm glad it got that high. Valya

Thanks! This town is a paradise for photographers - combines old architecture with lovely flowers. Glad you liked it. Valya

I was trying Oleg's macro lens for the first time ;-) Valya

Thanks! I'm still amazed how well it did in the competition as I was thinking that it's too dark. Valya

Thanks!  It's so nice to see comments that tell me why you liked the picture.  Takes an effort to put it in words that few people invest in (not to mention that so many people cannot put their impressions into words at all).  O

Thanks!  That was certainly a memorable visit, and we were lucky with the weather.  O

Thanks, beautiful places are easy to photograph :)  O

You cannot have everything at once ;-) The rainbow was on another shot, but the light there was different ;-) V

Thanks, that was a magical evening! V

Thanks. I still cannot decide whether I like or dislike this shot ;-) It's overblown in several places and though I tried to fix it I'm still not happy with the results. But I like the composition and the idea.
As for the contests we now have much better understanding of what is needed for Fotki contest and it's not always what we think is a great photography ;-) We haven't participated for quite some time and then I decided to enter some and recently won the Weekly contest. What a surprise!
V

Спасибо! Мне тут недавно высказали "фе" по поводу всех этих белых отражений (глаз первым делом замечает самый светлый объект фотографии). Теперь вот думаю, соглашаться ли с этим. Или просто оставить фотографию в покое ;-) Валя

Спасибо!  Вы очень тонко чувствуете фотографии.  О

Спасибо за поэтический комментарий. Описалочку "состряпал" Олег - только он способен на такое ;-) В