Driving in Turkey is Adventurous

Sydney Turns 13

2008-06-08T10:41:00.003+04:30

Sydney did the unthinkable and turned 13 on April 28. We celebrated a week later with her friends, Chloe Youtsey...

...and Kerstin Wallace. Good times.

The Boob Tube

2008-05-07T14:57:00.002+04:30

It's been awhile since I blogged, so here I am. I hate to blog without pictures so I am adding these of Dinah that Sydney took. Isn't she just chuck full of kitteny cuteness? We are calling her "The Rogue Kitten" these days because every so often, at least once a day she walks around yodeling at the top of her lungs. I think she is calling for her sister. Sad, isn't it? We all miss little Abby.
On a happier (?) note...Sydney turned teenager 2 weeks ago. I am having a tough time thinking of my baby as 13. She had a slumber party and they played a version of American Idol in which everyone takes turns being either the contestant, Paula, Randy, or Simon. Ryan Seacrest, if you have enough people. They had a blast. Good times.

Since we have been here we have really come to appreciate TV on DVD. We rent from Netflix, check things out of the library, and make way too many purchases from Amazon. I love that my kids love shows like "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Welcome Back, Kotter". You should hear Meghann's impression of Arnold Horshack. Sydney does a great Vinnie Barbarino, too. We own such series as "Perfect Strangers", "Newhart", "The Simpsons", "Reba", "X-Files", and "King of the Hill." I miss regular TV, but I am totally hooked on TV on DVD, the lack of commercials is fabu.
We definitely have to look into TiVo when we get back.

Izmir, The Last One

2008-04-23T21:10:00.003+04:30

Our hotel was a few blocks from this bay or harbor or waterfront or what have you.

What we saw of Izmir the city, it was pretty similar to Adana. A little cleaner, and much bigger. But we are not city people, so lots of tall buildings and bad traffic doesn't really impress us.
In biblical times Izmir was called Smyrna, for all you historical types.
Alas, with all our walking around this big city, we ended up eating at the BK out of sheer frustration and extreme hunger. (We have a BK here on base, so it's no treat....AT ALL.)
The first night we had wandered into a really nice Chinese restaurant, but after spending WAY too much for dinner, we knew we had to look for fast food. Our last night we ate at a Turkish pizza place. Note to self- Turkish pepperoni is not the same as American.
These are the Burger King cats. They live outside the joint and live off of chicken fingers and whoppers.

All in all, our trip was great and much needed. We saw a lot of incredible sights. Watched BBC, played Uno and Ligretto. Best part- we were together!

Izmir Part 7

2008-04-23T15:35:00.003+04:30

Visiting the Sanctuary of Askeplios if you were sick went something like this:
On your way by, buy a symbol to sacrifice, such as, if your finger was broken, buy a finger made of clay to sacrifice.
Wash yourself in holy water. Take a relaxing mud bath. Then head to a sleep chamber. After a good snooze, wake up and have your dreams analyzed.

This tunnel led from the bath house to the examination rooms. The patients would walk through this tunnel lit by oil lamps and holes in the ceiling through which the doctors would speak words of encouragement to them.

An early symbol of medicine- two snakes drinking from the same dish of milk.

The spring that was considered holy, it is still alive today.
The Oracles of Askeplios.
OK, maybe not. Just two cute little puppies who guard the ruins.

Izmir Part 6

2008-04-23T15:19:00.003+04:30

This is where The Great Alter once stood. It was a huge marble alter built to the god Zeus. The alter itself is now in Berlin. Because it was used for hundreds of years as a place to make sacrifices to "heathen" gods, when Christianity came to Pergamum, they started calling it the "Seat of Satan."

Sydney and I find Zeus irresistible.

The road leading to the Sanctuary of Askeplios. It dates back to the 4th century B.C.

This road is known as the Sacred Way.

This was a major medical center, at the time medicine and religion were very much intertwined.

Izmir Part 5

2008-04-23T15:05:00.003+04:30

Sydney looking good with a series of beautiful arches. These went around the bottom of the temple. They could be sealed and filled with water in times of siege.

Doug and the girls hiked to the bottom of the theater. They had to be able to say they climbed possibly the steepest theater of the ancient world.
I stayed at the top to document their historical climb, well, someone had to.

When they got back to the top, Doug said he must have thought he was younger. The girls, who ARE young, looked like this.

Izmir Part 4

2008-04-23T14:42:00.003+04:30

The second day of our trip we drove the hilltop city of Pergamum.
This is the Temple of the Emperor Trajan. It is said that when asked if the people of Pergamum could a temple for him, Trajan answered only if it could be seen from everywhere in the city. He must have been very humble. Since the emperors were worshipped as gods, I guess humility was a non-issue.
This is the theater. It is known as one of the steepest theaters in the ancient world. It was probably built in 157 B.C. Wow.
The ruins of the Temple of Dionysus.
View of the Temple of Trajan and the theater from below. I would say that Trajan got his wish that the temple be vi sable from anywhere in the city.
View from the theater.

Izmir Part 3

2008-04-23T14:20:00.003+04:30

These are the "Latrina" or public toilets in the Skolastikia Bath. The bath was first built in the 1st century and then rebuilt in the year 400 A.D. by a woman named Skolastikia. There were many rooms. They would bathe and get massaged in the hot room and then go to the next room where it was less hot to (and I quote directly from my book on Ephesus) rest and have chat. Our tour guide told us that the room with the toilets was once filled with flowers to help with the smell and the leaves and petals could also double as toilet paper. Inventive, those Greeks.
This is one of two Agoras in Ephesus. Basically it is a large outdoor market.
This is The Great Theater. Built around 100 B.C. This is where the Apostle Paul preached to the Ephesians. The acoustics there were quite impressive. Even though it is so big, it would have been no problem to be heard from the bottom.
Meg and Doug climbed to the top. It was later used for gladiator games.

This is us with the theater in the back. It was so amazing to walk where Paul walked and experience what life might have been like so long ago.

Izmir Part 2

2008-04-23T13:57:00.002+04:30

I think this was one of my favorite things. It is the Library of Celsus. It was built in the 2nd century A.D. as a tomb for a Roman senator named T.Iulius Celsus Polemaenus. It was destroyed by earthquakes and fires in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 1970's.
The details on the ceiling were so beautiful, I could've easily stayed staring up at them for hours.
This is our family in front of the Hadrian temple, in an out-of sequence-photo.
This view of the library may give a better idea of it's scale. The day we were there was not terribly crowded. Just a group of Turkish teenagers, and another big group of Japanese tourists. Our group was just our family and a couple from Zurich, Switzerland who spoke German and English.
These are replicas of statues that represent the virtues of Celsus, this particular one represents "character."
One of the saddest things about touring all these incredible ruins in Turkey is that so many of them have been removed from the country and taken to other museums around the world. Most of the things missing are in Berlin. The originals of these statues are in Vienna.

Izmir Part 1

2008-04-23T13:40:00.003+04:30

Our trip began outside of Ephesus at what is believed to be the last place that the Virgin Mary lived. No one knows for sure, but it is certain that John lived here and he was watching over her. Here we are standing outside what is basically her house turned into a little chapel. It was very peaceful, way up on a mountainside. There is a spring where the water is considered holy and a wishing wall, where you can write what you wish for and tie it to the wall. It was a beautiful day.
This sign speaks for itself.
The place I have looked forward to seeing for a long time was well worth it. Ephesus was absolutely amazing. We took way more pictures than I could post so I will try to pick some of the highlights.
The details on the ruins were unbelievable.

We got a lesson in in columns. Our tour guide was a pretty, young Turkish woman named Suzan. She was excellent.

Meg at LinguaFest

2008-04-23T10:10:00.002+04:30

As promised, here are a few pictures from Meghann's trip to Germany. While we stayed home and worried about our little girl traveling the world alone, she was out having a great time. The way it should be. Cool Tudor house.

Just what Germany should look like, if you ask me.
A delicious pastry she loved enough to photograph.
Meghann played the part of the "Frog Prince" in the little play her German class did. Yes, she went as a Turkish language student, but she spent the week learning German. Wunderbar!
She got to tour around this castle, she had a good time. All in all, she met new people, learned a little German, and basically proved she is growing up into a responsible, pretty young woman who is AWESOME!!

Tagged

2008-04-10T11:54:00.003+04:30

I wish to thank Kacy for including me in her tag, I have never been tagged personally before and it is super exciting. I have just returned from a 3 day trip to Izmir and I am a little loopy. With any luck, that will be to my benefit. Here I go.....

10 years ago...
I was getting ready to move from Texas to Illinois. My kids were 5 and 3. We had just adopted our cats, Dinah and Abby. We owned a Ford Escort station Wagon as I had not yet been issued my official Mormon mama minivan license.

5 Things on my to do list...
Unpack.
Wash the unpacked stuff.
Return Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 to the library.
Find somewhere to live in San Antonio.

5 Snacks I enjoy...
Cool Ranch Doritos dipped in cottage cheese.
Popcorn.
Candy ( I eat it like a Spaniard.)
Cheese.
Whatever you're having.

5 Foods I love...
Salmon.
Steak.
Meat that isn't lamb.
American restaurants, all of them!!!
I am hungry right now, all I got on the plane was something called a "Pop Kek" which is like a stale Ding Dong with a hint of orange flavor. Pass.

What I would do right now if I suddenly became a billionaire...
AFTER I paid tithing (because THAT'S how I prioritize) I would buy a cabin somewhere in the Utah mountains, a house somewhere in Utah, a house in Maine, a new car, and put away for my kids' college. Then I would set up all my siblings and their families with whatever they wanted. Then I would travel in very expensive circles, eating meat that isn't lamb.

5 Places I have lived...
Florida.
Texas.
Illinois.
Utah.
Virginia.

Favorite Quote...
"We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always whirling, whirling, whirling towards freedom!" - The Simpsons
OR
"Sometimes you can't help these people until they hit rock bottom- and by then you've lost interest." -Seinfeld
OR
"Over the mysteries of female life there is drawn a veil best left undisturbed." - Little Women

There you have it, blogland, aren't you glad you tuned in?
Tune in next time for pictures from Meghann's trip to Germany and our travel report from Izmir.

We Love You, Abby

2008-04-05T11:33:00.003+04:30

Abby was born on September 21, 1997 on Laughlin AFB, Texas. When she came to live with us Meghann was four and Sydney was two. She and her sister, Dinah, each caught a bird before they turned one. We had to nip that in the bud.
Abby loved us all, but by degrees. She loved Meghann most of all, then Sydney, then me, and she would only give Doug the time of day if there was no one else home. Until a few years ago. Then she turned into a teddy cat and loved and cuddled and spooned with any of us.
She was what might be considered a "dumb blond." She was never as clever as Dinah but she had infinitely more patience. She could watch our fish or a bug crawling along the floor or the birds outside the window for hours.
Some of her favorite things were eating, asking to eat, spaghettios, and barfing for spite as she did the time I put her on diet cat food per the vet's instructions. She ate some, found it lacking, went into my room and hurled directly into my slippers. We went back to regular food after that, so I guess her methods were effective.
Abby loved being outside and that's how she spent her last day, outside in the sunshine. She loved playing with souvenir rabbits feet that we would bring back from vacations with us. No one knows how to kick back and relax or snuggle like Abby, she is the master of cozy.
We will miss more than words can tell and she will always be in our hearts.

"Life is made up of meetings and partings, that is the way of it. I am sure we will never forget Abby or this first parting that there was among us."

Goodbye, Abby

2008-04-05T11:25:00.002+04:30

We said a very sad goodbye on Wednesday, April 2nd to our furry baby, Abby. After giving us ten and a half years of love, she had to leave us.

Here are a few pictures of her through the years.

A Few Random Things

2008-03-26T12:44:00.003+04:30

Sydney has always loved the sky here. When we first got here it was the ONLY thing she liked. Since she got her own camera she spends a lot of time chasing sunsets.
Here is one of her better ones.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, late.
Meg.
I love this official notification.
Get out of his way.

Antioch the Last One

2008-03-26T12:37:00.002+04:30

Here is a castle that Doug captured from the tour bus. Like I said, these old things are everywhere.
I forgot to mention on the trip to Antioch we passed through a town on the Mediterranean Sea and the tour guide told us that this was where Jonah was spit up by the whale. I had no idea that Jonah was here, too. There is so much history here!!

Antioch Part 5

2008-03-26T12:27:00.002+04:30

Sydney took a lot of great pictures as we walked along the trail. How about this multi-colored duck?

Urns in a waterfall.
A curious montage of furniture in a waterfall. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be art or just a pile of junk.

This was by far my favorite. In the middle of all this natural beauty, we find this old sofa. But it is not just any old sofa, it looks like a valuable , hand-carved piece of furniture just set outside to rot. Or set there for special people to sit on while they are appreciating nature, perhaps?

Again, I report, you decide.

Antioch Part 4

2008-03-26T12:14:00.002+04:30

Just down the road from Antioch we stopped at was once the Greek city of Daphne. Legend has it that Apollo fell in love with Daphne and chased her around the city. She didn't feel the same so she begged Mother Earth to hide her. So she was turned into a laurel tree. Apollo took some of her branches and made himself a crown and started a fashion trend that lasted a couple thousand years. This city used to boast several Greek temples but they have all been lost to earthquakes, fires, and wars.
We walked around this little nature trail and enjoyed the waterfalls and nature. The tour guide called it a little piece of paradise.

The ducks were enjoying life.
A cool little colony of mushrooms.
I think Doug could have a future career as a nature photographer. Leapin' lizards!

We noticed all these little crabs tucked away in holes near the water.

Antioch Part 3

2008-03-26T12:07:00.002+04:30

The tour included lunch at this nice little place. We were serenaded most of the meal by happy frogs making lots of noise. Halfway through the meal a man drove a truckload of rocks up the dry bed of the canal and buried the frogs. Kind of a downer. The menu was set and we were served bread, unnameable greens, grilled chicken and this dessert.
It turned out to be fried cheese covered in honey and pistachios.
Dessert cheese, we dubbed it. We also didn't eat it.

Antioch Part 2

2008-03-26T11:52:00.002+04:30

The main attraction in Antioch is what is known as St. Peter's Grotto, it is basically just a cave in the mountain. But it is said that Peter headed up a congregation of followers of Christ there. This is the place where they were first called Christians. Unfortunately, the actual chapel was closed due to landslides so we couldn't go inside. Kind of disappointing.
Still, we were led up the mountainside by a man named Mehmet who showed us various caves carved into the mountain that were used as tombs or hiding places for the early Christians.

This a view of the city of Antioch. I especially loved this trip because of what I have been studying in Bible Study. We are learning about Antiochus and Ptolemy and the wars fought over Jerusalem. The king of the north referred to in the book of Daniel was from Antioch. Also, in addition to Peter, of course, the Apostle spent many years in Antioch. So did John and Luke. It is so cool to be able to walk where the apostles walked and try to imagine what it was like back then.

Mehmet told us that these large carvings are of Peter and Mary. But two books I bought on the trip each call something else. I guess it is open to interpretation.

History Rocks! Antioch Part 1

2008-03-26T10:57:00.003+04:30

For Easter this year we took a day trip to the ancient city of Antioch. It's now called Antakya, you can see on the map how close it is to the Syrian border.
It was a great trip full of amazing things to see. On the way we saw old Hittite ruins, thousands of years old. They are just part of the local landscape. It is one of the strange things about being here. You drive down the freeway and you see tall cement apartment buildings, mosques, Ford dealerships, and ruins of a Roman Colosseum.
Anyway, we stopped on the way at this old castle. All I know about it is that it was built in the B.C. It's just there and you can climb all over it. So we did.

The Beauty Shop

2008-03-24T12:58:00.002+04:30

OK, here's one. Getting your hair done in Turkey is somewhat of a challenge. There is one salon in the Alley owned and run by a Turk who was trained in the States and used to work in Texas. He is a great guy, speaks English perfectly, lots of fun to be with and good at the trim. But I color my hair and it is long and he charges the same price as they do in the States. Now where is the third world discount in that? But he has put the fear in me about getting my hair cut on base. He says they have no training there. Of course, they are his competition. So my solution has been to get my hair colored on base and stop cutting it. I figure I will donate it to Locks of Love when I get back home. In the meantime it is getting long.
So let me tell you about my trip to the beauty shop last week. It is quite fun most of the time, I get a manicure and a pedicure, my eyebrows plucked (more on this later), and my hair colored and styled for about $50 plus tips. Dude. It's all good except for the plucking. I keep meaning to bring a camera with me to capture this interesting process as it is hard to describe. The girl puts a long piece of string in her mouth and twists it up and uses it to pluck out your eyebrows. It makes waxing feel like a massage. I know it is hard to imagine, I will take pictures next time. So this last week the girl who plucked my eyebrows pretty much insisted that I dye them to match my hair. Now I can say I have had my eyebrows dyed. Can you? The real fun part of the experience was while I was getting my pedicure, the eyebrow plucker asked me if I had any Tylenol. I asked her to bring me my purse so I could check. Instead she got my purse and proceeded to rummage through it herself, helping herself to gum and sharing it freely with the other people there. Now that had never happened before. I should say that I go there at least once a month and they know me, better than I thought, apparently.
Always an adventure, driving or otherwise.
I didn't have any Tylenol.

2008-03-19T10:12:00.002+03:30

We had another Branch Conference this month and I thought I would post a picture of most of the members of our branch. What a good-looking group of people. The conference was held at the Adana Hilton. I played the keyboard for all 3 sessions I am sorry to say. I really need to practice more often. I am actually playing in Sacrament Meeting every Sunday now since the other pianist was released. It is always amusing slash mortifying to me to see how badly I can screw up each week. No matter how much I practice. This past week, for example, I picked a song I was not 100% familiar with but it went along with the theme. So all Sunday morning I listened to it on LDS.org so I could get it in my head. I am not so good with counting, it should be noted. Anyway, it was the opening song and I messed it up timing wise for the first three verses. I am sure the guy leading the music was cursing me under his breath. What a mess!
The third photo is one Sydney took in the car of the entrance to our little home away from home. The area just outside the base is called the "Alley" or "Incirlik Village." Don't you wish you were here?

San Antonio Here We Come!!

2008-03-19T09:55:00.002+03:30

So it's sort of official, we are headed to San Antonio, Texas this summer. We don't have orders yet so nothing is set in stone, but Doug's new boss in Texas called last week and it looks like we are headed back to Texas. The kids were not too happy at first but it's growing on them. We were stationed in Del Rio, Texas from 1995 to 1998. It is about 3 hours west of San Antonio. We escaped to S. A. on a regular basis so we know what a cool city it is.
The bad things about going back to Texas, in my opinion, are the heat, my gosh, the heat! And the fact that this is probably our last assignment and it would have been nice to go somewhere we have never been. But compared to Turkey, S. A. will be like a slice o' heaven. The restaurants alone will do wonders for us after two years of nothing but Taco Bell, Burger King and Turkish food.
Also, there is a temple there now which was not there 10 years ago. I have really missed going to the temple. I would say it will be nice to be in an English-speaking country again, but come on, it's Texas. Where yeeha meets ole! I'm not sure Meghann's two years of Turkish will come in all that handy. But, heck, I learned all the Spanish I need to get by from watching Sesame Street.
So we will see you all back in the States in August!!

What I Won't Miss

2008-02-27T10:58:00.003+03:30

There are lot of great things about living here and I will blog about those things one of these days. Lately I have been homesick and tired of being here so here is a vent blog about what I will not miss when we roll out of here this summer.....
1. Buying milk in half gallon boxes that only get delivered once a week and only last one week.
2. Only driving 25 miles an hour. Since I lack the fortitude of spirit to drive off base, I have personally not driven more than 25 miles an hour since 2006.
3. The way they drive off base, like they have a deathwish.
4. The smell of burning trash.
5. AFN- only 10 channels and AFN commercials that deal with OPSEC ( watch your back-the enemy is watching), depression and suicide, and Ruthie Alcaide talking about alcoholism.
6. The scheduled and unscheduled power and water outages.
7. Mandatory fun, i.e. Awards Banquets, Balls, Promotion Ceremonies, office farewells, etc.
8. The school.
9. Cement walls that require a hammer drill to hang a picture.
10. All the stray and abandoned cats.

OK, I feel better now, I guess.

I Got Me Some Religion

2008-02-27T10:41:00.002+03:30

Last September I started teaching seminary. For the three people who read my blog but are not Mormons, seminary is basically a scripture study class for high school age kids. This year one of MY kids is high school age, gasp! So I actually volunteered to teach seminary in order to make sure it was available to Meghann. This year we are studying the Old Testament. There are only 2 other kids in the class. We meet every Sunday morning for about an hour and I impress them with my vast knowledge of scripture (that was meant to be sarcastic.)
So I am studying a lot each week for that. So far, as usual, the teacher has probably learned much more than the students. It has been great, all the kids I teach participate and ask questions and we have a good time.
I am also still doing Bible Study with a group of women at the base chapel. Right now we are studying the book of Daniel. There is a lot more to that book than just a group of frustrated lions! We are starting the half of the book that deals with what Beth Moore calls "end-time events." Basically the LAST DAYS. Our first discussion was yesterday and because there are so many denominations in the study the conversation was very exciting. They all agreed to respectfully disagree to some extent. But really, what they all decided was that nobody really knows how the Second Coming is going to occur, so it's best to cover all your bases. I kind of keep quiet. I see the confusion and all the questions left unanswered in the minds of the other women and I am utterly amazed and thankful to know what I know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It gives me peace.

Abby Update

2008-02-27T10:29:00.002+03:30

Sadly, Abby isn't doing very well. Her tumor is growing bigger every day. You can see it sticking up in the picture with Meghann. She is still eating, but she is losing weight. It turns out she really is just fluffy, when you pet her now, you can feel her bones. She can't hop up on her cat scratch, or the recliner. She gets up on my bed by climbing on the chest at the foot first. It is so sad. She is still very sweet and cuddly, but it's easy to tell she just isn't her old self. I was telling Doug the other day, that she has always seemed like a two-year old-she just has that mentality. It's hard to keep in mind that really she more like an old lady. We are watching to make sure she isn't in any pain, I don't think she has much more time left. We are lucky to have had ten and a half great years with her and Dinah.

2008-02-27T10:13:00.002+03:30

Life still goes on even though I neglect my blog. Here are some of the latest bulletins:

Meghann is a rockstar. She is writing songs and practicing and is getting pretty dang good.

Sydney is blossoming into a lovely young lady (she would hate that I wrote that, ha ha, Syd.)

They were both on the latest honor roll. Our church just had what is called "New Beginnings", and both girls spoke about goals they have been working on-they did a great job. Doug and I are pretty proud of them, we might keep them around awhile longer.

In other news, we got a new "shaggy" rug. Dinah seems to like it.

Jen's Book Review

2008-01-02T17:18:00.000+03:30

So in 2005 I read that Stephen King reads around 80 books a year (some are books on tape) and I decided to start keeping track of how many books I read. In 2006 I read 67 books. In 2007 I beat my record and read 71. I love to read and I do it all the time. So I thought I would give all you interested parties my book review of '07. Although, last night Doug told me that although I am well-read, I am also quite boring. (He's always keepin' real like that, gatta love him!)
So out of the 71 titles I read I can only name my favorites according to catagory.
Humor:
1. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
2. Dave Barry's History of the Millenium (So Far)
Church:
1. Believing Christ by Stephen F. Robinson
2. Following Christ by Stephen F. Robinson
Historical :
1. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
2. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
3. Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and her Missing Crew by Brian Hicks
Biography:
1. Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks
2. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
3. Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Laden
Young Adult:
1. Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
Classic:
1. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
3. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Fiction: (This list will be long)
1.Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
4. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Longest:
1. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet with 973 pages that I got for Christmas and read by New Year's Eve. (DANG!!)
Best Title:
1. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren

In 2008 I am hoping to add the Old Testament to the list since I am teaching it for seminary.
If you read any of these books and like them then I am glad.
Happy Reading!

Abby the Flabby Tabby

2008-01-02T17:05:00.000+03:30

Abby is doing pretty good. Her tumor has already grown back and is as big as it was 4 months ago when it was removed. We are waiting for a consultation with the vet to get his opinion on what we should do next. To keep putting her through surgery every 4 or 5 months seems cruel. On the other hand, the lump is big and looks uncomfortable and we love her to pieces. We would like to leave here with everyone we came with. Poor, sweet baby.

Someone's in the Kitchen with DINAH

2008-01-02T16:51:00.000+03:30

Dinah continues to feel and look good whether she is lying on Doug, Doug's rug, Sydney's bum or peering over the stairs.

She even made a new friend- Tom, who came to our house after some Christmas caroling.

All My Cats...

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000+03:30

Are you all dying for an update on the many stray cats we name, feed and get attached to? You may recall past blogs about Penny and Milo-two strays that have gone the way of all the earth. Now we feed these two tabbies every day, I think they must be sisters because they rub foreheads and look cute about it. Also they share food. We call them Big Mac and Smallfries. They greet us every morning and are friendly. This orange cat sitting on the garbage can talks like a teenage girl on the phone. We can hear him through the front door. We also feed a few very timid cats we only see at night- Tituba, a black cat, Little Grey and Batman.

Of course all this feeding attracts other creatures like this cute, little hedgehog we saw one night. He crunched that catfood louder than any cat I've ever heard.

Officially, we are not supposed to be feeding this cats, but we have always had a softspot for strays and have usually fed one or two everywhere we've ever lived.

A Commander's Christmas

2008-01-02T11:45:00.000+03:30

Santa and his favorite "MSS Elf"

As a commander, Doug served Christmas dinner at the chow hall again this year. We joined him after his shift and we all ate dinner there. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only times that dependants are allowed to eat there. It was yummy! Afterwards we took a picture of Doug in front of the buiding he works in next to his official Squadron Commander sign. Isn't he special?

Merry Merry Christmas

2008-01-02T11:31:00.000+03:30

We had a fun and quiet Christmas. Doug took ten days of leave and we just hung out and watched a bazillion movies.

This year we each got Turkish bathrobes-they are so warm and heavy, they probably weigh 20 pounds each!

Abby enjoyed playing in the wrapping paper like the toddler she is. Meghann's big gift this year was an electric guitar. She is doing pretty great teaching herself to play.
We had Sydney's work of art framed.
Mostly we were just happy and thankful to be together at Christmastime.

Turkish Art

2008-01-02T11:13:00.000+03:30

We were lucky enough to come across this artist who set up for a few days in one of the stores in the alley. She is one of only 7 people in Turkey who know how do this type of art. It is painting on water. She trained under a master. We watched her do it and then for $20 bucks she showed Sydney how. Sydney said it was much harder than it looked. It was amazing to watch her slide it off the water and onto the paper. She also made silk scarves and ties. We could only afford a few bookmarks. A pretty unique experience.

Is It Edible?

2007-11-07T11:21:00.000+03:30

I just thought I would add this picture for the amusement of my family so they can know that my cake making skills have not improved. I don't know why, but I cannot make a layer that looks good to save my life. I have tried, believe me, I have tried. I made this cake from SCRATCH a couple months ago. From scratch is a big deal for me because I am lazy. I found a recipe in a cook book from my mom's ward and I thought I would give it a go. One major difference in the ingredients was the addition of a cup of boiling water. I should of known it would never work. About 25 minutes into baking it I smelled it burning. I opened the oven to see that it was dripping over the edges of the pans and burning on the floor of the oven. What to do? I wanted chocolate cake, dangit! I had already done all that measuring. I put a cookie sheet underneath to catch the drips and hoped for the best. I let it cool overnight to ensure it would come out of the pans OK. I made the delicious HOMEMADE chocolate frosting and attempted greatness. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. The cake was so moist (I assume from the boiling water) that it completely fell apart when I tried to frost it. So although it looks like a.) I dropped the cake, b.) a person wearing a straight jacket frosted it, in truth,it was just c.) the best I could do.

I would like to point out that it tasted really good. I am thinking of making another one.

Happy Halloween

2007-11-07T11:05:00.000+03:30

I am happy to report that Halloween went off this year as scheduled. We had lots of fun. Meghann got tons of compliments on her costume as Edward Scissorhands. Sydney looked mysterious as the Phantom of the Opera (her latest obsession.) I got a lot requests to get a pedicure. In this picture of my feet you can also see my good friend, Wendy, I mean Wendell and her son Jacob. Abby dressed up as the the Easter Beagle. We invested in a fog machine this year and it was well worth it. I am looking forward to next Halloween already, I wonder where we'll be.

Abby

2007-11-07T10:56:00.000+03:30

We got the results of Abby's surgery and they are not good. She has a kind of cancer that will just keep coming back. The vet can keep taking it out, but of course surgery gets riskier the older she gets. The kids took it much better than I had hoped. I guess 10 years is old for cats who have the added stress of moving every 3 years. Still, they are both still healthy and giving us lots of reasons to smile. We will keep you updated on their health.

Bored

2007-10-03T10:41:00.000+03:30

Not a lot going on here. Really. Doug is working hard and late as usual, getting ready for yet another inspection. He is fixin' to turn 41 tomorrow. Happy birthday, Dougie!
Meghann tried playing tennis and decided that "Emos don't play tennis" and gave it up. She is doing pretty good on highschool, even though the middle school drama is still there.
Sydney is doing good gradewise, too. She is trying to like it here.
I am doing good. I am volunteering at the Education Center twice a week. How lucky for the people at the Education Center (that was sarcastic.)
Abby is growing out her fur- no news on the tumor. Dinah is still healthy and strong.
The Turks are celebrating the month of Ramazan. They fast from sunup until sunset. It's hard to watch my maid do all that work, knowing she is fasting. It's pretty commendable. We decorated for Halloween yesterday and today when Sada came over she probably thought we were wicked. She saw a big fake spider and jumped a foot, it was funny. Luckily, she has a good sense of humor. The month ends with a big celebration called the Sugar Festival, the little kids knock on doors and ask for candy (kind of like trick-or-treating.) The big kids get money, a tradition I hope America doesn't pick up.
That's the news, folks. Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Sydney

2007-09-26T10:51:00.000+03:30

Sydney, too saved up and got a digital camera. Now she uses her creativity in her photography. Sydney is trying her best to survive the 7th grade. That's pretty much all we can ask for. Middle school is pretty harsh. But she is much more cheerful these days...usually. Good on ya, Syd!

Meghann

2007-09-26T10:39:00.000+03:30

Meghann got her own digital camera which she purchased with her own money and now I find all kinds of great pictures that she takes.
This ginormous grasshopper was fun to watch for awhile until we set him free.
Meghann and a banana tree leaf-peek-a-boo!
Meghann next to a picture of her when she was three years old. Where does the time go?
Meg is a freshman this year and is still adjusting to high school. She started seminary, too. I hear her teacher is outstanding:)
So proud of you, Meggie!

Air Force Turns 60

2007-09-26T10:16:00.000+03:30

To commerate the 60th anniversary of the Air Force, Incirlik had an Air Force Ball....in a hangar! I had been dreading it because it was bound to be so HOT. There is no air conditioning in a hangar. It was hot inside, but out on the flightline there was a beautiful breeze. We had a dinner, some entertainment and a speech from a 2 star general, followed by dancing.

I had to get a picture of Capt. Hawley and his lovely wife since they represented the Army in such style. (Do you recognize him without his surgical mask?)

Doug and his First Sergeant, Sgt. Mason looking mighty fine in their mess dress! We gave our friend, Chief Kuehnl a ride home and I felt it was neccessary to take a picture of her shirt after she took off her coat. It is a fun and cool tradition that a lot of people participate in to have a shirt made that is basically a "shirt mullet"- business in the front, party in the back.

Ten Years Old!!

2007-09-26T09:41:00.001+03:30

On September 21 our furry babies turned ten. This was cool for lots of reasons. Mostly because back in May of 2006 when we found out Dinah had cancer we would have never thought she would make it this long. She showed us! Now with all of Abby's surgeries, we are lucky to have her with us too. So we celebrated by letting them have one can of wet food each. They were enthralled, having never had it before. They celebrated by not puking it back up! (Which was really more of a gift for me.) These two sisters have been with us since November of 1997 when we were stationed at Laughlin AFB in Texas. Meghann was 4 and Sydney was 2 when we got them. They have since moved with us from Texas to Illinois to Utah to Virginia and across the world to Turkey. True Air Force cats! They are more than pets to us, they are my furry babies. They are Meg and Syd's furry sisters. They bring out a side of Doug that I had never seen before. True, they barf everywhere and we have a layer of fur on everything, but it all evens out when they sit on my lap and purr and look at me with so much love in their eyes. So Happy Birthday Dinah and Abby!

Another toomah

2007-09-26T09:23:00.000+03:30

Abby went and grew another lump right where the first one was. So we took her back in to have it removed by our illustrious vet, Army Capt. Hawley. That is a picture of him actually performing surgery on Abby- I guess there were photographers and a film crew there to catch him at work because the vet clinic here was just named the best in DOD. Pretty impressive. You can read about at Incirlik's home page and even see a video clip of him removing the mass if you so choose. So while her surgeon is great, the fact that she had another lump is not. He sent this one in to have it checked out. We are waiting for the results. Now Abby is back to her shaved look. She still knows how to kick back and relax though!

Cappadocia The Last One

2007-08-27T11:35:00.001+03:30

I watched this camel eat and drink and it was like a gross, slobbery comedy act. We also got a kick out of these birds' feet feathers. They sort of looked like they were wearing bellbottoms made of feathers.

Our hotel had a swimming pool, always a smash with the kiddies.

All in all we had a really fun trip. I saw lots of stuff I'll never forget- strange, mystical rock formations, beautiful ancient Christian paintings, underground cities, camels, people from all over the world, mountain ranges, and on the way home at a rest stop, a woman in tradional Turkish garb washing her feet in the sink in the restroom. Ya gotta love it, baby!

Cappadocia Trip Part 6

2007-08-27T11:24:00.001+03:30

We went to a carpet maker/dealer and got the lowdown on handmade carpets. This old woman is showing one of the tour members how to tie a Turkish double knot in a handmade carpet.

Ever wonder where all the silk comes from? They keep the silk worms until they form a cocoon and then they heat them until they "go to sleep." They put the cocoons in water and spin the silk.

They use lots of things from nature to dye the wool. Things found locally, which is one way to tell where a rug was made- based on colors in the rug. OK, OK, yes, we bought two kilims.

Cappadocia Trip Part 5

2007-08-27T11:13:00.001+03:30

One very interesting part of the trip was a tour of an underground city. It was a place where early Christians hid. It was at least one story underground. It was there I realized I would rather die for my Christianity than live underground. Just thinking about it now makes my heart palpitate. I kept praying the electricity wouldn't go as it so often does here.

Cappadocia Trip Part 4

2007-08-27T11:05:00.001+03:30

Inside these cave churches there are beautiful paintings done by early Christians. They are remarkably intact except for deliberate defacing of the faces. We didn't see the the no pictures sign until after we'd taken these pictures.

Cappadocia Trip Part 3

2007-08-27T10:54:00.001+03:30

Cappadocia: where evil eyes, pottery, and purses grow on trees! Meghann took this beautiful picture of grapes. Cappadocia is also famous for wine apparently.

Cappadocia Trip Part 2

2007-08-27T10:43:00.001+03:30

Some pretty good balancing acts.

The valley seemed to go on and on.

Trip to Cappadocia Part 1

2007-08-27T10:27:00.000+03:30

Cappadocia is a region in Turkey where the people have made the most out of a most amazing landscape. Before I got there, I assumed we would be seeing old homes carved into mountains where people USED to live. To my surprise, people still live in them. I am sure there are better words to describe the strange rock formations we saw, but to me, it was like entering another world. Some of the homes are open to tourists, the picture on the left is from inside one of those homes. I loved seeing the satellite dish coming out of a window carved in a rock. Talk about a mix of old with the new. Some people on the tour with us compared Cappadocia to Bedrock of Flintstone fame. It did look like something from a George Lucas movie.

Super Lucky Kids

2007-08-27T10:08:00.000+03:30

The last week in June Meghann and Sydney got to take a trip to Italy with the chapel. They met up with youth from all over Europe.
They stayed in tents on an Army base. They went to the beach almost every day. They got a taste of local culture and loved the food. Best of all, in my opinion, was a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa. Now their passports are stamped more than mine.

Still Here

2007-08-05T11:16:00.000+03:30

It's been more than a month since I last blogged. Whoops. We are still here and still alive. Summer is in full swing and that means it is hot, so hot that I have coined a new term for heat such as this : violently hot. I am SO thankful for air conditioning. I would be dead otherwise. It never gets below 80, even at night. It was 90 at 9 am the other day. I have seen the thermometer in our van read 1o8. I don't have a lot of time to download pics right now so I will just leave you with a few bullets of info on our fam and life in Incirlik.
* We have a fig tree loaded with figs in our backyard and you don't, so there
* Meghann and Sydney spent a week in Italy the last week of June and had a great time (I will post pics of their trip soon, I promise.)
* Our van has over 131,000 miles on it and is starting to fall apart. The brakes are shot and the driver's side window can't be opened, we are waiting for parts from the states.
* We have a new base wing commander who actually goes home around 6pm and on the weekends, it's like a party.
* Doug will amaze and stun us all by actually taking a week of leave during the month of August
* Our Internet service has been crappy lately and we all want to die if we can't get online
* We live in Turkey, you guys, and we are getting homesick so feel free to drop us a line and let us know you know we are here, still. Still here. In Turkey.

Stuff

2007-06-23T20:13:00.000+03:30

Little Milo. Meg and Syd after the last band concert of the year.

Dinah and Sydney, talk about MySpace. Dinah poses on the handmade carpet I got. Both are beautiful.

Re-purposed Cats

2007-06-23T19:41:00.000+03:30

Walking past the spare room one day I noticed the fouton looked lumpier than usual, upon closer inspection, it was just Abby doing this thing she does.

Later, walking into my bedroom, I couldn't resist taking a picture of my new throw pillows.

An interesting(?) side story...as I sit here typing, the cats are out in the backyard taking the air. The sun is setting and it is cooling down. They have a new friend, a little skinny kitten we call Milo. He comes over and they visit through the fence. Sometimes he comes in the yard, after watching him carefully, I don't think he and my cats feel anything towards each other but friendship. They all just lay around in the yard napping. Right now though there is a new twist. Milo came over to visit, hopped up on the fence and then jumped up on our shade canopy thing. He meowed loudly a few times and then lay down as if in a hammock. Dinah noticed that this was different and hopped up on the table to get a better look. Nothing good happened, so she lay down. This went on a few minutes then Milo hopped down into our yard. As I type this, all three have sniffed each other cutely on the nose, and are now laying around in various stages of relaxation. It is weird, it's kinda like Milo is just lonely and my cats don't know what to do with him so they just kind of let him do his thing. He is trying to play with Dinah's tail, but he doesn't quite dare. Now they sniffed noses again then Dinah got what we call the "puh" face and asked to come in. Kinda like she got a whiff a stinky little brother and got grossed out.

Life's A Garden, Dig It

2007-06-23T19:24:00.000+03:30

When your front yard looks like this it is necessary to take pictures of flowers. I give all the credit to Ekram.

Yet Another Fieldtrip

2007-06-23T18:59:00.000+03:30

This field trip we went to a different Turkish school and visited the students. They even put on a small play for us. It was in Turkish, of course, but their costumes, which consisted mostly of fake moles and fake uni brows, were very entertaining.

Walking around Adana is always an eyeful. This trip we found a hair salon that has the same name as Meghann...her Turkish class name anyway, we had to get a picture of Meryem in front of "Meryem's". We also got these pictures of the Burger King Delivery scooters, for when you need a Whopper, but just can't break away from Dawson's Creek reruns.

Doug's Memorable Memorial Day

2007-05-30T09:21:00.000+03:30

All I can say is it was good thing we didn't have plans. Doug started feeling sick late Sunday night. A Turkish Tease relapse of sorts. Let's just say he couldn't stray too far from the bathroom. He went into work Monday morning (he's that kind of dedicated or crazy) but came home after only an hour or so. He couldn't eat anything. He took Imodium. He took Pepto. He laid on the couch most of the afternoon while the kids went to the pool with their friends.
At around three 0' clock, he decided to sit outside on the patio and read. That lasted about 5 minutes. He said he felt sick so he came and was leaning over the table when I noticed him.
"Doug, are you OK?" I asked. He answered by sitting down on the floor and rolling his eyes back in his head. That's when he tipped over into the cat dish. I ran over to him and commenced freaking out. He was pouring sweat. He seemed to be awake again, so we sat him up against the back screen door. Mistake. As I ran to the kitchen to get a wet cloth for his sweaty brow, I watched him as if in slow motion, fall backwards into the door, which was slowly opening as Doug tipped backwards. By the time I got over to him, he was laying down with his bottom half inside and his top half outside. The cats were beginning to get curious. He was sweating so much and was so much half in and half out, that I yelled for Meghann to bring me the phone. For the first time in my life I dialed 911. After the phone call, he was coherent enough to get back inside and we laid him down on the dining room floor. Shortly thereafter, the ambulance arrived with 2 EMTs, they were followed by two cops and a nice nurse who just stopped by to see if she could help. I let them do their thing which included taking Doug's blood pressure and asking him who was president of the United States.
The kids were the next room crying. I heard Meghann tell Sydney it would be OK because she had already said 5 prayers.
It was decided to get Doug on the gurney and get him wheeled out to the ambulance. Outside on the street people were beginning to gather. His boss, for one. And a couple neighbors and a gardener or two. All were told he passed out and he had been sick. He loved sharing that with the neighbors. So Doug was loaded up into the ambulance and driven to the base clinic, a mile from our house. I followed in the van.
The clinic doesn't really have an emergency room, if it would've been something more serious he would've been taken to a big hospital in Adana. As it was, they called the on-call doc away from his burger burn to come and pronounce Doug had a sick stomach and he shouldn't have been sitting outside in the heat. They gave him an EKG and he was fine. He wasn't even severely dehydrated, no IV. His boss came to check on him and told him to stay home the next day. The First Sergeant came to check on him and promised not to make fun of him for landing in the cat dish until he was feeling much better.
After he felt well enough he walked out to the van (he wasn't wearing shoes) and we drove home. I called the kids who had been waiting at friends' and Sydney came running home and took good care of him the rest of the night. Meghann sauntered home a while later and didn't appear too ruffled. Doug started taking his medicine to help his tummy and I got him plenty of Gatorade. We watched a movie and then he tried to go the bathroom and almost passed out again.
This time I called a couple members of our church and they came over and said a special prayer and Doug spent a pretty peaceful night after that. He stayed home most of the day on Tuesday. He went in around 2:30 and stayed until 7:30 when I called him and told to get home!
He is at work now and says he is feeling fine.
The moral of the story- if you're going to faint, wear shoes? I don't have a moral. Doug is doing fine and I thank him for giving me such great blogging material.

Mosque Part 3

2007-05-02T11:54:00.000+03:30

The inside is just a big empty space, I have heard that almost 2 thousand people can worship there. The domes in the ceiling are amazing, I don't think these pictures do them justice.

Mosque Part 2

2007-05-02T11:39:00.000+03:30

I visited the mosque with some friends and their Turkish nanny. This building is beautiful and enormous. You take off your shoes before you go inside. I brought my own scarf to cover my head, but they have scarves there you can use. I am standing next a staircase that represents the journey to heaven. Only the Hodja (priest) can go on the stairs and even he can only go part of the way up.

These tiles on the wall look so much like a Turkish rug.

Sabanci Mosque

2007-05-02T11:26:00.000+03:30

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from my visit to the big mosque in Adana.

The blogsite won't let me do more than two pictures at a time. Sorry for the annoyance.

Doug's Promotion Part 3

2007-05-02T11:04:00.000+03:30

After Doug's speech we formed kind of a receiving line for everyone to say congrats. People kept telling the girls, "Now you'll get a bigger allowance." Doug says it all depends on their "sass factor".

Now that Doug is a Lt. Col. he has to look the part so I got him a handmade rug from Nuri for his office. How masculine!

Doug's Promotion Part 2

2007-05-02T10:51:00.000+03:30

After the oath, Doug got to speechify. He started by thanking his family and giving each of us beautiful bouquets of flowers. This time there was no glitter.
His speech was short and to the point since everyone had to go back to work. But he is a very good public speaker.

Doug's Promotion

2007-05-02T10:33:00.000+03:30

On Monday, April 30th, 2007, Doug was promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel. After a few words from his boss, Col. Jeffery Hanson, the girls got to pin on his new rank. Then he repeated the oath of an officer.
The cermony was at 2:30 on the first day of a huge inspection. Bad timing, but it couldn't be helped. Still, there was standing room only. I was so proud of Doug and all the hard work he has done to get where he is.

Test

2007-04-27T14:34:00.000+03:30

Alright, I was trying again to upload pics and this time it worked. Maybe it has to do with how many I am trying to do. This is the first picture I took with my new camera- you remember that Doug sat on my old one.

Picture Problems

2007-04-27T14:07:00.000+03:30

OK, the last two times I have tried to upload pictures to my blog it hasn't worked. So I will just entertain you with the inner workings of my mind.
I have been meaning to walk around and take pictures of some of the interesting and different things here in Turkey but the Turkish military is VERY sensitive about what can be photographed so I will attempt to describe some of these things. I think my sister Dianne will especially enjoy this.
Instead of "children at play" signs, they have signs with pictures. The one coming in to my neighborhood is of two kids on a teeter-totter. Which makes me think in America it would say, "Caution, children teetering."
Also around any construction sites you can see a variety of signs my two favorites are: CAUTION: MAN WORKING and FIRST SAFETY. The crosswalk sign is a silhouette of a man who appears to be wearing a suit complete with a fedora.
In other news- spring is here- the flowers in my yard are amazing. Sydney is turning 12 tomorrow and I can't believe it. Last week at Spring Fling she won us a free night at a hotel on the Med. Finally, she's earning her keep!
Doug is being promoted on Monday to Lt. Colonel- yeah!! That was always the goal and he has worked his buttocks off to reach it, I am very proud of him. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of the ceremony.
Meghann, the cats and myself are all doing fine, hope you are too!

Still Here

2007-04-11T10:54:00.000+03:30

In case anyone out there is wondering where in the wide, wide world of sports I have been, I will tell you. I am sick. I am sick of being sick. But apparently not sick enough to go to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. I just have a cold, I can tough it out, right? Just because my throat hurts so bad I can't sleep is no reason to go begging some doc for some antibiotics. Please agree with me. Doug is also sick, he sounds like a guy who smokes 10 packs a day and he is coughing up stuff I don't want to know about. (Yet he always tells me.) But he went to the doctor and got lots of drugs. He says he feels better but he sounds like an 85-year-old sailor.
On another note, hope you all had a Happy Easter. Ours was smashing. We had friends over for a feast of ham, funeral potatoes and green beans. I hope I didn't pass on my germs. This year since we felt yucky we slept in. I was still sleeping when Doug came in and said, "We have an issue." We sorta forgot to do the whole Easter Bunny/basket thing. Oops. We had plenty of candy, but we didn't do dresses for the girls this year- they are too old to let me pick out anything for them to wear. And we didn't get them a DVD or anything really, besides lots of candy. I know, we suck. Doug did get their baskets together for them and I came down and took a picture.(Which I am too tired to post at this juncture.) Anyway, I think they forgave as they ate chocolate bunnies for breakfast.
On yet another note, today is our 15th wedding anniversary. Do we win an award or something? Did I mention my husband has unhealthy amounts of phlegm?

I Only Believe In Science

2007-03-22T11:15:00.000+03:30

Meghann and her friend have a science project going. They have made a nice little terrarium. Complete with snails.
One snail had other ideas and staged a great escape. We woke up one morning to see a lovely, slimy snail trail all over our dining room wall. Meg just pulled him off and put him back in the plastic container.
Isn't science interesting?
If we ever had any questions why the windshield of our car is covered with little cat-sized prints, now we know for sure.
Penny- caught in the act!

On the other paw-
Spoiled Dinah sleeps peacefully in Sydney's blue pillow. Too cute.

So This Is What They Mean By The Rainy Season

2007-03-22T10:57:00.000+03:30

On Monday, March 19, we had a bit of a rain.
I had been out driving Doug back from lunch when the van died. We pulled over in the pouring rain and Doug discovered that a belt had fallen off. So we pulled into a parking lot and Doug ran back to his office. I called a taxi. I arrived home to find that the cab couldn't even make it down our street.
I got home just as the kids were getting off the bus. We all ran inside and found out we had no electricity.
It eventually stopped raining and all the kids in the neighborhood began building boats. Amazingly, all this water was all gone within an hour of the storm ending.
PS. Doug tried for two hours later that night to get the belt back on, but we left the van book in storage. But thanks to the nice men at the Auto Hobby Shop, the van is now running fine.

More Flood Pics

2007-03-22T10:40:00.000+03:30

Notice the stop sign? Dur?!
The yard between my house and the neighbors.

The guy with the umbrella is our gardener, Ekram. He said he'd never seen it quite like this.

Where's a canoe when you need one?

Snake Castle: Part 4

2007-03-14T19:06:00.000+03:30

This has got to be one of the best pictures Doug took. You could almost be in Germany. (I think, I've never been there.)

Lots of amazing architecture here. The sad end of our trip was when Doug put the camera in his back pocket and then slid down some rocks. Crunch!
But he sure made good use of it before it broke! Wish you were here!

Snake Castle: Part 3

2007-03-14T18:55:00.000+03:30

You can't get much higher than this.
Wow!

I am so glad we got to do this and the girls will always have the memory of climbing around on this incredible castle.

Snake Castle: Part 2

2007-03-14T18:41:00.000+03:30

One of the women on the tour showed Sydney how to look for pottery shards. You can see her looking around here, she ended up with quite a few. Some still even have paint on them.

When I saw some of the places my kids had climbed, I was glad I wasn't there to see it. You can't have a fear of heights on this tour.

The sheer size of the castle is impressive. Doug said most of was impossible to get to at all.

Snake Castle

2007-03-14T18:27:00.000+03:30

The last stop on the trip was here at the Snake Castle. There was no descriptive yellow sign unfortunately to give us any info.
I only climbed to about where you see the telephone wire going into the rocks. I got to see a secret room, complete with a chimney. But I had had it, so I climbed back down, which is an adventure in itself.

I would truly love to go back in time and see how on earth they built that castle up on that mountain.

Worth the view!

Karatepe: Part 2

2007-03-14T18:03:00.000+03:30

A pretty scary something. It looks like a big cat to me, but according to the pamphlet we got, it is a bull.
We report, you decide.
This is the statue of the God of the Tempest. Does he look like he's been playing too much PlayStation?
Head of a man, body of ???
This is an interesting shot of the language they used.
We are getting tired and hungry at this point.
While we had been exploring in the open-air museum, our bus driver was preparing lunch for us. He said he was going to barbecue, so I was ready for something yummy from his hibachi. We got back and were greeted with hot dogs. I can't eat hot dogs what with the beef lips and meat byproducts. Everyone else enjoyed them, though. For those of you who are keeping track, you know we have been avoiding the Turkish toilets. Well, we have now officially used the "squatty potty" . I packed tp and lots of hand sanitizer and we lived to blog about it!

Karatepe

2007-03-14T17:44:00.000+03:30

The next stop on the tour was the Karatepe Aslantas Open-Air Museum.
This is the Aslantas Dam, it was very beautiful.
The museum, which cost a couple lira each, consisted of lots of Hittite ruins.
These ruins are from the 8th century.

Kastabala: Part 6

2007-03-14T17:27:00.000+03:30

You can see the basilica down at the bottom. While I was waiting for them down there, I could see them walking around at the top. They looked like ants.
Is it just me, or can you see the curve of the planet? Hee hee.

Old rooms of the castle.
You can just make out a tall snow-capped peak in the distance. It was huge, we drove quite close by it.

The view is so picturesque, as quiet as it was at the bottom, I bet at the top you could almost believe you had gone back in time.

Kastabala: Part 5

2007-03-14T17:12:00.000+03:30

I climbed part of the way up the mountain and then gave up. All I can say is that those Crusaders were hardcore!
How do you think they built that sucker?
They got the location right, though. I bet you could see for miles from up there.

Kastabala: Part 4

2007-03-14T16:54:00.000+03:30

This coliseum was so cool. It was just like a modern stadium in that there were rows of seats and every so so often, a stairway.

These seats have these neat curved backs. Were they where the VIPs sat?
I liked the face carved into the stone laying at the bottom of the coliseum.
There were two openings on either side of the seats. Maybe they once led to dressing rooms.

Kastabala: Part 3

2007-03-14T16:39:00.000+03:30

The old basilica.
Inside it was cool and shady. While Doug and the kids hiked to the top of the castle, I sat inside and tried to imagine the hands that built it.

A field of yellow wildflowers.

Another useful sign full of info. Click it and see.

Kastabala: Part 2

2007-03-14T16:20:00.000+03:30

There are really no words to describe being able to put your hands on something that someone created over two thousand years ago.
It's also really cool to be able to share an experience like this with two great kids. They really got into it and had fun.
All along the Roman road were pieces of the columns just lying in the dirt. Unbelievable, no?
I think this is my favorite picture. Feel free to click on it so you can see the detail of the ruins. The wildflowers were just perfect.
I wonder how many more years this will continue to balance. The careful details that can be seen close up are incredible.

Kastabala

2007-03-14T15:55:00.000+03:30

Our second stop on the tour was to the Roman ruins of Hierapolis and the Castle Kastabala. For a brief and confusing history of the area please click on the picture of the yellow sign.
From what I understand from the sign the Romans built the columned road and the coliseum. Then the Christians came and built the basilica and a few other things that are still standing. Then the Crusaders came and built the castle.
The Roman ruins were by far my favorite part of the trip. They are so beautiful and in such good condition considering their age and the fact that you can walk right up and touch them.
We also picked the perfect time of year for this trip- all the wildflowers only added to the magic of the place.
The details on these columns is so fabulous. There were big black lizards climbing all over the place, too.

Black Castle: Part 4

2007-03-14T15:41:00.000+03:30

"Who goes there?"
The old Turkish man told us that windows like these around the castle were used as toilets. How does he know this you ask? Because the rocks below the window are yellow.
Nice.

This is a great picture of a stone staircase. It is up in the ceiling, not accessible anymore.

Black Castle: Part 3

2007-03-14T15:24:00.000+03:30

None of us could believe the view from the castle windows. Not only was it far-reaching, but the green color was just beautiful. Where we live it isn't nearly so green.
This is the top of castle, I guess it was once the top floor.

A nice view of turret with the Turkish flag.

Black Castle: Part 2

2007-03-14T15:02:00.000+03:30

I am having blog trouble or brain trouble or both. So if any of this stuff is repeated it is because I am computer illiterate. Here is the yellow sign I mentioned in the last entry.
This wall is full of archer windows. You get up to that level by climbing up the rocks where those dudes are standing.
A close up of an archer window. Can you just imagine a soldier sitting here shooting arrows through that small space?
This picture is worth clicking on to get a close up of the stonework right above my head. You can begin to imagine how nice it must have been once.
Walking along the edge of this collapsed room was nerve-wracking. That man in the distance is an old Turkish fellow who speaks good English. He walks around like a tour guide and gives his opinion of what is what. He told me he has walked to the castle every day for 27 years. He doesn't get paid, but he has a collection of old coins he'd be happy to sell you for $5 a piece. (OK, we bought 4.) He showed us a bunch of neat stuff we wouldn't have noticed otherwise. He would say, "Can you look at the window, please?" Or whatever it was he wanted us to look at. Kinda part of the Black Castle experience, I guess.

Black Castle

2007-03-14T14:24:00.000+03:30

On March 10 we took a tour through Outdoor Rec to see some Eastern castles. It was great. Our first stop was about an hour east of the base. This is a view of the castle from the bus. If you can't read the description on the yellow sign just click on it. It gives the background on what is called the Black Castle. It is also full of fun Turkish translations.

A great view of the castle from the bottom of the hill. Of all the castles we went this one had the easiest climb. It was the only one I made it to the top of.

Church Is Neat

2007-03-07T20:31:00.000+03:30

Some of the members of the Adana Military Branch.
A great view of the old roman bridge.

2007-03-07T20:17:00.000+03:30

Here we stand in front of the Adana mosque. I am not actually sure of it's official name, I'll get back to you on that. It is enormous, said to be able to sit 22,000 people. Or kneel them, if you will. It is an extremely beautiful building. I am hoping to go there soon. Anyone is welcome inside.

(Remember our friend, Wade from the guts blog?) Don't he and the Dougster clean up good?

All Is Well

2007-03-07T19:49:00.000+03:30

This past weekend we had was is known in the LDS vernacular as Branch Conference. This basically means that any and all Mormons in Turkey were invited to meet at the Adana Hilton on Saturday night for an adults only session and on Sunday morning with the whole fam. There were actually three Turkish Mormons who came. Also the Presiding Elder in Turkey and his wife came down from Istanbul. Also the 2nd counselor in the East Europe Mission and his wife came from Moscow. Everyone else who was there were the branch regulars.
The Hilton Hotel was very nice, my only complaint was the smoking in the lobby. Here in Turkey it is like living in the 1940's or something when it comes to smoking. EVERYBODY here smokes. They smoke inside and it is very stinky. It was definitely the first time we have ever come home from church smelling like cigarette smoke.( Mormons aren't allowed to smoke, FYI.)
The meetings were very good and I am glad we got to go. One of the highlights for me was listening to a member of the Quorum of the Seventy speaking about praying quietly in our hearts while right outside you could the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. It was very surreal.
This is the Hilton.

Here we standing in front of a great view of the old Roman Road. It is said to be the oldest bridge in the world still in use. Pretty gnarly.

Pick Your Knobs

2007-03-07T19:36:00.000+03:30

OK, so we finally did it, we ordered furniture to be made in the alley. We got these two desks, one for each kid. Doug drew a picture and gave them the dimensions and in a couple weeks they were done. The girls each picked out the color they wanted and the knobs. We were very happy with the result. We went back and picked the cabinet from off the showroom floor. We made a few modifications and they stained it for us and now our computer area is slightly less messy.

We are pretty happy with our stuff.

Life on a Base

2007-02-27T15:21:00.000+03:30

I need to try and blog more often even if I have no fun pictures to share. I thought I would try and paint a picture for you of life on an Air Force Base. Or at least life for us on an Air Base owned by the Turkish Air Force. Things here have weird names and I am not really sure why. For example, the post office is called "The Official Documents Center" and the dry cleaners is called "The Fabric Care Facility." When you leave or enter the base there is a sign that says you must be prepared to show your ID without being warned.
Going to a movie here is patriotic (it is at every base) because after the preview of coming attractions they play the national anthem and everyone stands up.
Because of Doug's job as a squadron commander, we go to a LOT of functions at the Club. Usually at least one a week, sometimes two or three. We see all the same people at these functions, but we have to be sure to wear different outfits! Last Saturday we attended the Black History Month Extravaganza. It was very nice. You walk in to the dining room and hit the bar for "cocktail hour". Always fun when you don't drink. So Doug and I stand around with our ginger ales looking suave. He finds another commander to talk shop with and I hang out with the commander's spouses. We talk about deep things, like where you got that purse or those really cute shoes. Sometimes we tackle hard subjects, like the weather or whether or not we should go somewhere for spring break.
It's tough, but I'll sacrifice for my country. After thirty minutes or so of this we are asked to take our seats ( big faux pax to sit before that.) Then we are asked to stand again for the playing of the national anthems. Yes, you read right, anthems. We first listen to the Turkish national anthem which is a tad on the long side. Then we listen to the American national anthem. I am not ashamed to admit I get a bit teary-eyed each time I hear it, I always did, but somehow it means more to me now that I am away from the States. Now if the function we are attending is of a more military nature, the anthems will be proceeded by the posting of the colors. I love watching the posting of the colors. The slow march, the way they carefully inspect each flag after it is posted. Sometimes we get to sing the Air Force song, that is always fun. For a Mormon who tries never to cuss it is like getting a free cuss pass..."off with one helluva roar.."
Anyway, what else, what else? Oh, the Giant Voice...there are a lot of exercises here, like for the military folks to practice having a war (it's what they do) and they use the Giant Voice to tell people what they should be doing. It can be heard all over the base. I don't know the guy who actually does the Giant voice, but he sounds like a hip dude. He has to begin and end his transmissions by saying "Exercise, exercise, exercise." He says it real laid back-like, he reminds me of the Ladies Man from SNL. Kind of like, "exacise, exacise, exacise." Meghann does a really good impression of him.
Speaking of Meghann, she just won two awards. The first was the Citizenship award for the 2nd quarter. ( She and Sydney both made the Honor Roll.) She also won the essay contest during Black History Month. She won first place in all the Middle School and got a nice plaque. She also gets the chance to go to Germany for a week because she won for a leadership thingie. Good on her! While I am kid bragging, I will also say that Sydney is the Talented and Gifted Program here and has been moved up into 7th grade social studies and art. My kids rock!

Do Not Alarm

2007-02-21T11:59:00.000+03:30

One of the very best things about living here in Turkey is the way the translate various things. Like the directions to this elevator in Doug's building. Because the picture is quite blurry, I will retype the directions for your reading pleasure.

To summon the elevator, press the button indicating the direction you wish to go.

After entering the cabin, it is sufficient to press only once the button of the floor you wish to go to.

If the elevator has taken you to another floor do not alarm, just wait. After the elevator fulfills the command before yours, it will take you to the floor that you wish to go?

If the elevator stops between floors or the doors do not open please press the emergency button with short intervals.

When the overload buzzing sound is heard, please decrease the load inside the cabin until this sound stops.

I think I'll take the stairs.

Tour: Part Five

2007-02-21T11:33:00.000+03:30

This is the three story "Kitty Townhouse", we got just before we left Virginia. Yes, our cats are spoiled, but we had just found out about Dinah being sick and suddenly it seemed like a good investment. Here Abby demonstrates what kind of fun can be had on the kitty townhouse. Dinah likes it, too. She can jump to the top from the floor in one big leap. Abby wanted me to plug her new website; www.barf.com. She updates it every day. (Not an actual site.) Although she updated it twice on the dining room floor whilst I typed this. (I love the word whilst.)
Dinah has had enough of the home tour and heads out the door.
Earlier I mentioned our housekeeper, Cigdem. I must now sing her praises. She is my favorite person in the whole world. She cleans my house like an angel straight from heaven. What did I ever do without her? (Oh yeah, I had a dirty house.) The one funny thing she does is this. Hang the laundry from heck to breakfast outside in the backyard. This was the first time I had seen use a tree so I had to capture the moment. Why, you must wonder, do I not invest in a wire clothes dryer? Well, the BX is currently out of them. When the BX is out of something all you can do is wait.
Dinah and the airing of the dirty laundry.

PS. My clothes dryer does work so I am not sure why she does this. But I don't ask, I am just too happy someone else is doing the laundry!

Tour: Part Four

2007-02-21T11:19:00.000+03:30

We are lucky to have a four bedroom house so we have this extra room for all my crafty stuff and an extra tv. We can't get cable upstairs but we can still watch DVDs.
Here is the fouton you could be sleeping on if you visit your friends in Turkey!

The lovely master suite. Please to note my beautiful old handmade rug. Doug does not like it but he got it for me anyway. Thank you.

Tour: Part Three

2007-02-21T10:55:00.000+03:30

Welcome to Sydney's room. She collects stuff. Some of her collections include but are not limited to- horses, cats, tea sets, rocks, dolls, clothes, beads, and things of a Japanese nature.
This is a good shot of Sydney's "Freedom Chain". She can pull off a link at the end of every month. When we started it, it touched the floor. Only 20 months to go!!!
Oh yeah, she also collects stuffed animals (or stuffed up animals as Cousin Fee once said.)
Now enter the forbidden and dank realms of a teenager's room. Meghann's main interests are music and books. She writes both and she's gooood.

If you are wondering about the seeming cleanliness of the girls' rooms, I must admit I can't get them to do this. No, these pictures are made possible by the dedicated hard work of our housekeeper, Cigdem (pronounced Cheedum.) I took these pictures moments after Cigdem left. Moments later, the rooms looked like major weapons testing occurred in them. Why, why don't kids like living in a clean room??!! I wish I knew.

Tour: Part Two

2007-02-21T10:38:00.000+03:30

Our front porch on a rainy day. It rained for about a week during February. Not much of a rainy season if you ask me. They say there is a drought. I love it when it rains. Look how green everything is even in February.
Doug did some impressive work with the hammer drill here. We chose these three paintings because they have a Turkish rug theme. Then Doug also hung some "evil eyes"- a symbol used here to ward off evil spirits. You see them everywhere.
View from the landing between the flights of stairs.

The area at the top of the stairs can only be described as wasted space. It's almost big enough to be a room. Here Dinah poses prettily.

A Little Tour

2007-02-21T10:20:00.000+03:30

I thought you might enjoy a tour of the Wall family digs. Here we see the unbelievably small kitchen and the dining room.

Here is our living and/or family room. Please to note the drum sitting to the right of the loveseat. Doug needed something to pound to release his frustrations.

Another view of the living room. Our piano is horribly out of tune, but according to my sources the Turkish piano tuner who comes to base occasionally may or may not be dead.

Thoughts

2007-01-31T16:08:00.000+03:30

There are many thoughts (OK, maybe just one or two) dancing through my mind today as I turn the ripe old age of 37. I'll see if I can remember any of them.
Why am I getting so accident prone? Three weeks ago I slipped in the parking lot after church and totally turfed it. I landed on my butt, but I scraped up my knee. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Then last week I fell UP the stairs and got a huge, gross lump on the same leg . The cool thing about that was that I was carrying a piece of pie upstairs for Doug because he is so high- ranking, and when I fell the pie went flying up in the air and then landed right back on the plate like a magic trick. Then today as I was doing my 'do I accidentally flung the brush across the room, then dropped the curling iron, then I fell out of my slippers. I didn't know you could fall out of slippers.
My other thought is about religion. We are lucky here in Incirlik to be able to meet in the base chapel. Usually, as Mormons we have a building somewhere off base. But here we meet each Sunday from 2-4PM and we get to see people in other congregations as we arrive and as we leave. I love that. I also love that they get to see us. Last Friday was the Air Force Prayer dinner. After we ate, we met in the chapel and there were prayers offered by each faith . We heard from Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews and Mormons. Then the Air Force Chief of Chaplains spoke. It was a great meeting. For those of you who have never been to an LDS service, it can best be described as very reverent. We are quiet, we sing quiet hymns, we only all speak at the same time when we say "Amen" after a prayer. I have been LDS my whole life and so have never been to a service where people in the congregation say out loud what they feel inside during a talk or prayer. It was very fun. I felt the Spirit there, but when I feel the Spirit I may get teary-eyed, whereas the other people say, "Yes, Jesus." Or "Thank you, Lord." It is different from what I am used to, but a good different and something that I am very thankful that I get to experience. I have to add that during his closing remarks, the Base Wing Commander led the whole congregation in the wave. I can honestly say I have never done the wave in church before and it is unlikely that I ever will again. I can't wait until next year's Prayer Dinner.
I'll try not trip as I ponder these thoughts.

LIfe of Pi

2007-01-30T15:55:00.000+03:30

Here is a book review for you. My book club read a fabulous book called "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. I loved it. It's about a 14 year old boy from India who is a practicing Muslim, Hindu, and Christian. He finds himself lost at sea with....Richard Parker. His experiences make for a great read with lots of deep thinking up for grabs if you want. I have never finished reading a book and wanted to start reading it again right away until I read this book. Our book club decided to eat at a seaside restaurant in honor of Pi and his journey.

This is the restaurant, it doesn't look like much, but we sat out on the water and the food was delicious.
It is in the city of Karates. We were joking that the mountains in the distance were in Syria. They aren't. This was my first visit to the Mediterranean Sea and it was only an hour away. The sea was choppy and beautiful.
So read "Life of Pi" and give me your opinion. Meese, if you are reading this,drop me a line, I remember you reading this book a few years ago. What did you think?

BamBam

2007-01-30T15:45:00.000+03:30

What fun it was to see our old friend Bob Bamrick who was here for two weeks with the Arizona Air National Guard. We were stationed with his family in delightful Del Rio almost 10 years ago. We had fun catching up and being astonished at how big the kids have grown.
Without Bob's help we might have never finished this puzzle. You can see how much fun Sydney is having just watching. Hi Bamrick Family, if you are reading this!!
PS. Bob, the housekeeper found all but one of the missing pieces in the vacuum bag.