LOVE

Datça'dan sevgiler...

Dear friends, as we struggled with some health issues in 2011, I wish all of you a healthy 2012. If we have health, I believe we can create all the happiness and abundance we need..

Sevgili dostlar, 2011'de bir takım sağlık sorunları ile uğraştığımız için, 2012'de herkese çok sağlıklı bir yıl diliyorum. İnanıyorum ki,sağlığımız yerinde olursa, her türlü mutluluğu ve zenginliği yaratabiliriz.  

Winter Colors of Old Datca

Eski Datça'nın kış renkleri...

Super(man)

''Sometimes it takes all my energy and time to save the world. No time to play...'' Super(man)

''Bazen dünyayı kurtarmak bütün enerjimi ve zamanımı alıyor. Oyun oynamaya zaman yok''  Super(man)

Yesterday we celebrated the arrival of the new year with various festivities at Old Datca..While we were walking around I took this cute picture..

Dün Eski Datça'da yeniyıl şenlikleri vardı. Etrafta dolanırken kamerama takılan en hoş görüntü buydu..

Poinsettias

Please give it to my ignorance but I have always thought that poinsettias are rather delicate houseplants until couple days ago. But a winter spent at the Mediterranean coast thought me otherwise..

Lütfen cahilliğime verin ama bir kaç gün öncesine kadar Atatürk çiçeklerinin sadece evlerde yetişen nazlı çiçekler olduğunu zannederdim. Ama Akdeniz kıyısında geçirilen bir kış bana tam tersini öğretti.. 

Treasure Hunt

The best time for the treasure hunt at the beach are the early hours right after a big storm...
Sahilde hazine avı için en iyi zaman büyük bir fırtınadan sonraki ilk saatlerdir...

Here are some of our finds from today..
İşte bugün bulduklarımızdan bazıları..

Some seashells but this area is not good to find seashells, most of them reached the shore broke..
Bir kaç tane deniz kabuğu, ama bu bölge deniz kabukları açısından oldukça zayıf, genelde çoğu kırık olarak sahile vuruyor..

Old amphora pieces...Contrary to seashells, they are everywhere.. I think I can use this one as a candle holder..
Eski amfora parçaları.. Deniz kabuklarının aksine her yerdeler.. Sanırım bu bulduğumu mum koymak için kullanabilirim 

Of course the beautiful sea glasses, my favorites..
Ve tabiki en sevdiklerim, deniz camları...

Sea grasses and a piece of coral..
Yosunlar ve bir parça mercan..

But if you have a little assistant like mine you have no chance to locate the edible sea organism before her. I am sure that she finds it quiet a foolish thing to photograph them instead of eating..
Ancak sizinde benim gibi küçük bir yardımcınız varsa, yenebilecek şeyleri ondan önce bulma şansınız hiç yok. Onları yemektense, fotoğraflarını çekmeyi çok aptalca bulduğuna eminim.

Tree of Life (Shaman / Christmas Tree)

I love how certain beliefs affects one another throughout the history. You probably all heard about tree of life which is coming all the way from Sumerians..Then comes the Shamans of the Central Asia, and they started to believe that mother earth lives under this tree and the father sky above..They celebrated the winter solstice day as a rebirth festival as days started to beat the nights. During this festival they started to decorate a certain type of pine tree in order to honor their gods..Below is my little tree. I put some snow on my pic as I miss snowy days..

Tarih boyunca çeşitli inançların birbirini nasıl etkilediğini takip etmeyi çok ilginç buluyorum. Örneğin hepinizin duyduğu ve varlığı Sümerlere kadar uzanan hayat ağacı. Daha sonra Orta Asya'da Şamanlar bu ağacın altında yer ananın üstünde de gök babanın yaşadığına inanmaya başlamışlar. Gün'ün geceyi yenmeye başladığı kış gündönümü gününüde yeniden doğuş bayramı olarak kutlarlarmış.Bu bayram sırasında tanrıları onurlandırmak için akçam ağaçlarını süslemek ise adettenmiş. Aşağıda benim küçük ağacımı görüyorsunuz, karlı günleri çok özlediğim için rasme biraz kar yağdırdım..

During these festival they put small gifts under the trees as offerings to the gods and tie ribbons or pieces of fabrics to the branches of a pine tree to make wishes..Friends and family also got together for a special meal to celebrate where everybody put his best dresses on. During the time of the Christianity, its been known that Council of Nicaea banned these traditions as being pagan. However during the 16th century decorating a pine tree in honour of Christ again became a tradition again first in Germany and then spread to the rest of the Christian world.

Bu festival sırasında ağacların altına tanrılar için küçük hediyeler konur ve dallarına da adak dilemek için kurdeleler veya kumaş parçaları bağlanırmış. Ayrıca aileler ve arkadaşlar bir araya toplanır, en güzel giysilerini giyer, beraberce özel hazırlanmış yemekleri yerlermiş. Hristiyanlığın ilk zamanlarında, bu geleneklerin paganlara ait olduğu ileri sürülerek İznik Konsülü tarafından yasaklanmış. Ancak 16.yüzyılda İsa peygamberi onurlandırmak için ağaç süsleme geleneği ilk olarak Almanya'da yeniden ortaya çıkmış ve oradan da tüm hristiyan dünyasına yayılmış.

I took last two photos on my trip to Turkhmenistan. As you can see decorating tree branches is still a very common practice there as in most of the Central Asia. However, I have to admit that my Christian friends are doing a much better job in decorating a tree.

Son iki fotoğrafı Türkmenistan seyahatim sırasında çektim. Görebileceğiniz gibi ağaç dallarını dilek dilemek amacıyla bezemek, tüm Orta Asya'da olduğu gibi orada da halk arasında çok kabul gören bir gelenek. Ancak itiraf etmeliyim ki Hristiyan arkadaşlarım bu ağaç süsleme işinde kesinlikle çok daha başarılı..

I LOVE Salad

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Salad. The good thing is that I am able to find so many ingredients from the garden. Just put lots of greens and add whatever you want and a simple seasoning with virgin olive oil, salt and lemon juice are more than enough for a delicious feast..

Salataya tek kelime ile bayılıyorum.Şansıma şu sıralar pek çok malzemeyi bahçeden de bulabiliyorum. Bol bol yeşillik üzerine ne seviyorsanız ekleyin, üzerinede biraz zeytinyağ, limon suyu ve tuz.. İşte size enfes bir ziyafet..

For our little ones

I found the below piece from facebook. I believe it is by Wanda Jones and I am sure so many of you find so many things in common...

If I didnt have my dogs or cats,
I could walk around the yard barefoot in safety
My house could be carpeted instead of tiled and laminated
All flat surfaces, clothing,furniture and cars would be free of hair
When the doorbell rings, it wouldnt sound like a kennel
When the doorbell rings, I could get to the door without fading through fuzzy bodies who got there before me

I could sit on the couch and bed the way I wanted without taking into consideration how much space several fur bodies would need to get comfortable
I would have money and no guilt to go on a real vacation
I would not be on a first name basis with six veterinarians, as I put their yet unborn grandkids through collage
The most used words in my vocabulary would no be: out, sit down, come, no, stay and leave it ALONE
My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates or barriers
I would not talk 'baby talk', '' Eat your din din''  ''Yummy yummy for the tummy''
My house would not look like a day care center, toys everywhere
My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats and extra leash
I would no longer have to spell the words B-A-L-L, W-A-L-K, T-R-E-A-T, O-U-T, G-O, R-I-D-E, C-O-O-K-I-E

I would not have as many leaves INSIDE my house as outside
I would not look strangely at people who think having ONE dog/cat ties them down too much
I'd look forward to spring and rainy season instead of 'mud' season.
I would not have to answer the question 'Why do you have so many animals?' from people who will never have the joy in their lives of knowing they are loved unconditionally by someone as close to an ANGEL as they will ever get.
How EMPTY my life would be

Oranges and Turquoise

There is not a better way to start the day with a glass of fresh orange juice.. AND there is not a better way to start a new week with a colorful picture. Have a great week..

Yeni bir güne başlamak içim taze sıkılmış portakal suyundan iyisi yok...VE yeni bir haftaya başlamak için de renkli bir fotoğraftan daha iyisi...Herkese iyi haftalar.

Breakfast

Saturday mornings start with a breakfast at Melissa Cafe at the beach before going to farmers market for the weekly shopping. Menu is very simple : toast and tea, or you could bring your own food and order tea from the cafe.

But when you are eating your breakfast dont forget to pay your protection money to Çakır - one of the many stray animals surviving around the cafe. He only accepts food not cash.

But in return he could be a very good model for you..

Hera's Step Sister

Every summer, when crowds are here, so many people love to care and feed cats. Unfortunately when they are leaving at the end of summer, almost all the cats are left behind and most of them perish during the winter months. 

We found this little one 2 weeks ago, struggling to find food among bigger cats. She was quite skinny at that time 

So we decided to semi-adopt her. She is not allowed to come inside the house but always plenty of cat food available for her tummy. She is doing much better now.

Our Hera loves to chase cats if they run but if they dont, she just ignores them. As the little one learned not to run away from her, there is no problem except the feeding time. Hera hates that we are feeding somebody else other than her.So there is always a seperation between them. Look how unhappy she is..

Beach Walks..

Probably the best part of our day is our daily walks at the beach as a family. Recently Hera's best and only friend started to join us. Its so much fun to watch their endless play. They are constant reminder that we also should play more...

Also beach combing is an integral part of our walks. Yesterday was a good day as can be seen from the bag hubby is carrying..

But, Where is Winter????

We are living a gorgeous Mediterranean autumn in our small peninsula which includes lots of sunny days and occasional swim in the cool waters..

However recently I started to spot daisies which are the early signs of the spring. They are covering all the available places during the spring months..so I am wondering where is the winter this year??

In the meantime, our house is almost ready, I am just waiting couple pieces from the carpenter and my new pillows..Pics are coming soon..

Progress report..

Fresh roses on my coffee table could give you a misleading idea. You might think that we all comfortably settled to our new life in Datca. Unfortunately things are not like that. Right now two seperate groups of workers are working on different parts of the house. One group is making me a new sitting place in the verandah and some extra space in the kitchen. The second group is making me a new balcony and new stairs..And the electrician guy who is fixing our telephone lines as well as installing some new cables comes and goes. He is so difficult to locate so my husband constantly bribing him with cold beer. Its so difficult to find good workers in small places..

It looks like we will live in this nut house for another week..Send me lots of patience...

In the meantime sun is shining and I am planning to make the last swim of 2011 next week..

Ready to Go..

Last note from an empty house.. Everything is packed and picked up by the moving company, and tomorrow we will be on our way to Datca.  See you again as soon as I have a proper internet connection..

Photo:Love it but not one of mine and couldnt remember where I found it...

LOVE Fish..

I love my new life at the Mediterranean, but I certainly miss certain things about life in İstanbul. One of them is particularly the fishes of İstanbul, especially this season.
Of course we have plenty of fish at Datca but the taste of fish caught from Marmara Sea or Black Sea are far superior than the fish caught from Mediterranean. I think their eating habits as well as the temprature of the sea are some of the reasons for that.
So while in İstanbul I am stuffing my self with lots of fish. Nowadays, BBQed fish and some salad are the easiest and the healtiest fast food you can find in İstanbul..
Next week we are returning to Datca....Cant wait..

İstanbul

We have been in İstanbul for about a week. Our days are filled with packing, packing and more packing. In two weeks time we are moving most of our stuff to Datca. Soon the house in İstanbul will become our secondary one. Among all the packing frenzy, we found some time this weekend to relax at the Black Sea coast of İstanbul. It was a gray, cold and windy day. Then my mom called from Datca, she said she just came out of the sea and it was divine. Well, that's the difference between Mediterranean and Black Sea..I am glad that soon we will be on the warm side of the country..

Life on folded chairs

Due to a previous arrangement, most of the furniture at the beach house was belong to my mother. Now that she is moving to her new house, life pretty much goes on folded chairs in our house, very minimalist but I have to admit that rather very relaxing...

In couple days, we are going to İstanbul to move most of our stuff to this house. This is a new period in our lives, we even transfered our primary residence to Datca..Wish us luck in our Mediterranean days..

Hera welcomes Autumn

Well, she is actually stealing one of my dry leaves and trying to measure my reaction..Wish you a great day...

Mediterranean Autumn

This year we have enjoyed an extended summer but finally autumn came to our small peninsula with lots of rain and wind...There wasnt even time to move the beach chairs and umbrellas..

Ancient city of TLOS

During our short trip to Kalkan, we had the chance to visit the ancient city of Tlos, a very favorite but recently very much neglected hobby for hubby and me. We have covered most of the ancient cities on the Aegean coast of Turkey but the ones on the Mediterranean coast ( Lycian area in the past) are rather new to us.

Tlos has a historical past dating back to 2000 years BC. Once it was the home of Romans, Byzantians and as well as Ottomans. Rock tombs which are rather fine samples of the Lycian culture has a very dominating view over the city. And as always the tradition there is a very nice theatre.

As hubby is still recuperating from his illnes, I made all the climbing and he gave me the tactics from the base camp. It was a beautiful day..