Another toomah

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some pretty good balancing acts.


The valley seemed to go on and on.