Lycian Way Dreams

We are moving to our beach house in 10 days to spend the summer. Our number one item on our to do list for the summer, is to be on this exact location and to look at this beautiful scenery.

This photo taken on the Lycian Way, near Fethiye - Oludeniz, from a fantastic spot on the 509 km long trekking route on the southern coast of Turkey. The walk passes many remote historical sites but as you can imagine we are only planning to cover a very short distance of it.

Phote: from my friend Ozan Alperden

IF

If you can start the day without caffein or pep pills,

If you can be cheerful ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist your complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can understand that loved ones are too busy to give you time,

If you can overlook when people take things out on to you when thru no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then you are probably a DOG...

I heard this piece on a zen talk given by Tara Brach and love it.....

Tea for two

If you have nothing to do on a hot day in İstanbul, the best thing to do is to go to a small cafe at the Bosphorus ( İstanbul strait), wait patiently for an empty table right by the sea, drink lots of tea, watch the passing boats and dream lazily and that's exactly what we did yesterday.

Less is more ????

I like the idea of less is more and trying to adopt it to many areas of my life, but when it comes to books, paintings and beautiful pieces I want more and more...

The latest addition to my paintings was a gift from a dear friend in İran...Sara and I first met thru our blogs then I have the chance to meet with her on my trip to İran this past April. So Sara's Khatoon found its place among other paintings I collected from my trips to Cuba, Mexico,Bolivia, Mexico, Cambodia, Holland and Bolivia. This is the entrance of my house where I like to display colorful paintings for a colorful welcome..

You could visit Sara's blog at www.day2daypictures.blogspot.com

A Decluttering Miracle

Ara Güler is the first name that comes to almost everybody's mind when you think of the word photographer in Turkey. His documentation of İstanbul in the 50s are just magnificent. Even before I interested in photography, I bought some books of him just to enjoy his images, but never had the chance to acquire a photograph signed by him...

Well, guess what happened two weeks ago. I started a decluttering mission at home mainly targeting the boxes full of old documents. After half an hour, first I found my missing university diploma which was proudly received once upon a time and still a great mystery how it ended in a lousy box with paid bills from 20 years ago.

Then I found the great treasure. It was sleeping in a dusty file from my banking days. A signed photograph from Ara Güler taken in 1950. After the initial shock, I vaguely remember that it was a gift from a client. It was framed immediately and found its proud place among other black and white photes.

So all I can say decluttering is great. Who knows what you will find among your long forgotten stuff.

Today you could still see the great master and glance some of his photograps in his lovely cafe in the Beyoglu district of İstanbul.

Algeria Street

Yesterday we were at the European side of the city. Algeria street or otherwise known as French street is a very nice area where you could find nice shades, small restaurants and good food. When we stopped for lunch, there was also a fashion shoot. So here is the photo shoot of the photo shoot...

My little tomato farm...

So what if my piece of land is really really small and my rooster is fake...... I have big imagination... Have a nice day...