Life continues to be interesting in Istanbul! A couple of days ago they decided to close Taksim Square…one of the busiest traffic areas in the city, to almost all traffic. They are tearing the place up to re-route traffic UNDER the square, but for the next year the place is going to be a WRECK! In addition, the small residential street where I live is getting new sewer pipes. I have large backhoe/tractors running up and down what is normally a quiet street. They don’t work at night, so it isn’t too much of an inconvenience for me.
A female tiger cat has taken up residence in the window case of my apartment. She lives in the space between the window and the metal security grill that is standard fare on the ground floor of most buildings. At first I was just sharing my breakfast with her, but that didn’t last long. Now she gets dry cat food and water and has a towel to keep her warm and dry. I would worry about her welfare when I leave, but I know that there is a feeding station for strays just down the street from us. She will just have to walk a little further when I am gone. We have become quite good friends. Okay… I know that for her it is really all about the food and a dry place to live, but I like to pretend she even knows there is a human attached to the food bowl! She has learned to stay outside, even when I open the window and I am hoping she will stop any scorpions from moving inside for me.
Yes… I DID have a scorpion in my kitchen early on! Like most European countries I have encountered, there are no window screens on any of the windows here. I don’t really understand that! They are much more inclined to leave their windows open than we Americans are.
(My power has gone out in the apartment… one of those big backhoes seem to have struck something it shouldn’t have!)
St. Anthony’s, Taksim
My friend Ann came to visit last week. She signed up for an Outdoor Adventure Travel (OAT) tour of Turkey and spent a week or so with me before she joined her group. I think she was quite surprised that I kind of pushed her out on her own after a couple of days of instructions on how to get around Istanbul. I much prefer to travel by myself… and this is MY vacation! It actually seemed to work out for both of us. We came together each night for dinner and shared our days, which was nice, and I think Ann learned she was capable of more independence than she had thought.
Peppered in amongst my exploring, I have been having “work” done. I’m in the process of having four dental crowns replaced… Zirconia crowns for less than half what they cost in the states and a couple of fillings redone. I also had a laser skin resurfacing of my face, forearms and hands. My skin is so fair that it gets damaged easily and I have not always been good about wearing sunscreen… even after it was invented and I knew better. I have had a couple of pre-cancerous spots removed in the past. This treatment will have removed a layer of damaged skin, lightened up some “age spots”… and possibly improved my wrinkles slightly. I told the dermatologist not to work too hard on removing my wrinkles… I kind of like them! I have to laugh… after my skin had healed for about a week, I went back for a check-up. All was fine and healing properly. At the end of the visit, the young, pretty dermatologist looked at me earnestly and said, “You know, you can wear makeup.” I like to think she was just letting me know, rather than strongly suggesting… which is really how it sounded! Lol!
Next week I am spending a few days in a sea side town near the ancient Greek city ofEphesus. And then the week after that I will be heading home… my time is short! I will get home the day before Thanksgiving… and have 10-12 people coming over for dinner on Thanksgiving Day! I figure every one will just have to have a sense of humor. If something is forgotten or neglected… or the hostess falls asleep in the appetizer… oh, well! That’s life! Actually… I’m really just going to be cooking the bird and stuffing… maybe some baked potatoes and pies. It is mostly going to be a “pot luck” dinner. I will have lots of help putting things on the table.
Here’s a link to my latest photos: http://summerthor.phanfare.com/5735584
Hey! Life’s a trip!
Claudia