Birds in 'Bul

A picture is worth a thousand words...

The Steps

On our daily commute to and from our apartment to the tramvey we had to navigate this crazy set of stairs - usually with stroller in tow. They were steep and crooked and interesting. Sometimes E and I would walk ahead at our normal pace and remember for a split second what life was like before O. During this specific set of pictures - I was listening to grandma and grandpa count out the steps with Orion as they made their was down them. It was step 13 that proved to be the downfall.

Happy Birthday MB!

We love you and wish you another great year filled with peace, love, good margaritas, interesting conversations and outrageous travel to come and visit. xoxoxo S E O

Time for a haircut

I have a shaggy son. It seems like he is always in need of a haircut. I trim it now and than but let's be honest I am not very good at cutting hair. Our trip to Istanbul presented a perfect opportunity. Using sign language and paying 4 Lira - Orion got the best hair cut of his life. It took about 40 minutes and was the spectacle of the alley that we were in.

Look at all that hair!

He kept trying to watch himself in the mirror - it was really funny.

Don't know why I didn't take a picture of the finished product but let me tell you he's a keeper

Galata Tower

Our time in Istanbul was so relaxing. It was one of those times where the most important thing was just being together and reconnecting. We didn't make major plans, we didn't stick to some crazy schedule, we just went. We would get up in the morning and decide what we wanted to do for that day - in two weeks we managed to take in all the must see's and have an afternoon nap most days.

This was one of our first days together and we had decided to find the Galata Tower. Easier said than done - all the guide books in the apartment were rather vague about how to get there so with very little information off we went. After a few false starts we managed to find the tower and the requiste line down the steps, out the door and all the way around the square. I took one look at that line and knew there was no way in heck we would manage that with Bill, Eric and O boy. So the boys played in the square while MB and I took a walk around to see exactly how long the line was. After deciding it was waaaay toooo long we popped into a textile shop and each bought a peshemel to use on our visit to the hammam.

You know when you decide to do something (or not do something) while on holiday...I always wonder if I will look back and think "dang, we should have waited in line for 3 hours to climb to the top of Galata Tower". I doubt it but I always wonder. Do you have any regrets about things you did (or didn't do) on vacation?

I love nuts and Istanbul was full of them being sold on every street corner - this provided some much needed nourishment on our Galata Tower adventure.

Mom and Bill look amazingly happy after a crazy adventure to find the Galata Tower.

Silk worms cocoons in the store where we bought our wraps.

I love you Tallo!

My sweet green funk and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss in Istanbul. Cheers to the hardest thing I have ever done. xoxo

I can't get my Istanbul pictures to upload and it's killing me!

Processing

We made it back safe and sound from three glorious weeks in Istanbul. I have written a million postings in my head yet did not have one ounce of drive to work on a computer - so for two weeks and about three days I barely touched a computer and I didn't have a mobile phone with me. It was heavenly.

Until I get my head around our trip - here are some pictures that sum up our time away.

1. Gray and rainy weather makes old stuff look older.

2. The real reason for our trip.

3. mounds and mounds of delicious food.

2. Tulips...who knew?!

3. walking miles each day along with 1/2 of the population of Istanbul (it is one big city, that's for sure!

A Rose

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose...said my good friend Gertrude Stein.

From a friends garden...they were beautiful.

More Backyard Beauties

These grow on a really common tree around here. Its tall with wispy green leaves and bright yellow flowers that fall off all the time. It also has these fruit like things that I have been told you can't eat.

These are a new addition to our backyard garden. They are large clumps of these fine looking dark purple flowers. They feel like they are dried out flowers - you know what I mean?

Mystery fruit on mystery bush - we just noticed this about a month ago. We thought it was another version of a lime bush/tree and cut it open and its more orange inside. I squeezed it in my gin and tonic and have not passed out yet...so I am assuming its some strange version of a citrus fruit.

Holy smokes batman...this flower thing popped out a large green palm looking thing in our front yard. This is the first time we have had this palm bloom and this flower is amazing! Can you tell how it looks waxy and almost fake. It doesn't have a smell and it is really heavy.