Mobilya Dekorsyon

The street view

The side view

Cam picked me up at the house Saturday afternoon with the intention of checking a lease and then going into Gelibolu for groceries. We drove through the town of Bolayir as we have done many times, but we stopped long enough to snap a few photos of a local shop. Mobilya means furniture and Dekorasyon is of course decoration in English. We were actually inside this place in the spring.  It's as rundown inside as it is out, but it is a fully operational woodworking shop - open for business as the big sign indicates.

We are often surprised by local working conditions and workmanship. Supposedly experienced, trained workers must be closely supervised to complete jobs they are hired to do. Cam oversaw installation of some air conditioning units this fall. The electricians hired to do the work didn't understand the basics of installing these common place units. We hired a local woodworking shop to built us a bookcase.  We were pleased with the construction of the first one so went back and arranged to buy four more - these were very poorly constructed by comparison. We had plumbing work done in the house last spring.  When the plumbers/masons left they promised to return and complete the repairs.  We haven't seen them since and the owner of our house hasn't been around to ensure that the repairs he paid for were even completed!

Cam built a work bench, from found materials, at one of the locations this year. He had some projects to do and wouldn't work on the ground the way the employees of the Turkish subcontractor were doing. The workers loved the bench and immediately put it to use doing mechanical repairs and welding projects. It was a real improvement from working on the ground, but no one took the initiative to do it themselves.

Turkey is an amazing place in so many ways. However, we are continually reminded that we simply don't think the same way Turks do.

Sam Finds Baby Jesus

Every year, I take the little people and animals that make up our little nativity and hide them around the house.  Christmas Eve, after everything has been found, I hide baby Jesus. Before we open stockings or presents, Christmas morning, one of the kids must find baby Jesus.  This gives parents time to brew the coffee, steep the tea or wipe the sleep from their eyes.  This year with baby Jesus and Mary still missing we opened stockings and presents so Cam could head off to work. Baby Jesus finally made an appearance later in the day.  Sam found him.  Mary however stayed hidden until today.

Since Sam found baby Jesus, he gets to keep "Lambkins" for the year. 

Christmas 2012

Our celebration of Christmas was a bit different this year. For the first time in 26 years of marriage, Cam had to work the 24th, 25th & 26th. (We expect he'll continue to work every day until rain prevents it.)  This year, Cam set his alarm so we all got up between 6 and 6:30 a.m.  We opened stockings and presents before he left for work at 7:30 a.m. and then gathered to eat our Christmas meal (roast "Lego Lamb") at 6:30 p.m. when he got home.  

A table - full of presents (Christmas Eve)

The poking begins (Christmas Eve)

Socks in my stocking ... hmm

Ben 10

Socks in my stocking ...

Angry Bird feet

Sweater

The best book ever (it has a fancy latch)

The surfboard!

OK - not a surfboard but exactly what I wanted.

Puppets! (silicone oven mitts)

Dad's pile o' loot

Nicole has an idea er um a light bulb for her lamp.

Clock, Car, Cow. Christmas has been brought to you by the letter C!

lots o' loot

Well this will keep me busy!

Debris!

Happy 2016th Birthday Jesus

Turkey Video by Johanna

A video I made of Turkey photos to a song called 'Fire Nation' by Two Steps from Hell.

What Paradise looks like in December

It's difficult to convey with two photographs just how cold, rainy and windy it is today. Winter and the rainy season have certainly arrived; turning our beautiful blue Saros view to grey. We saw "lumpy" rainy on our way to Kesan today and on the way home the roads were icy.

 

Turkey is north of the equator.  When it's 25 degrees C in the house and 30 plus degrees outside, at the end of June, that's sometimes difficult to remember.

 

 

 

Friend, Partner, Defender, Dog

Jake

"Cam's Best Buddy Jake"

CKC Registered Yellow Labrador Retriever

March 13, 2000 to November 29, 2012

R.I.P.

 

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.

You are his life, his love, his leader.

He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.

You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

Unknown

 

I'm not sure we were ever worthy of his devotion. Jake made sure he was part of every activity and every project.  He supervised the children on land and in the water until his back injury in 2011 prevented it. He protected me against door to door salesman and the acreage against coyotes and foxes.We left him at home when we moved to Turkey. He was in good hands with our house sitter, my brother. He was lucky to have such a kind friend in his last year.
He will certainly be missed.

 

The blacksmith's dog.

In the newly built chicken coop.

Jake supervises the painting crew.

Gun dog.