Octopuses! Buckets! Oh My!

       I have this… personality quirk that makes me dive headlong into things before I think about them.
       The latest of these episodes involved an octopus; Sam and I were outside, looking at the water when he spotted the beastie. As the creature was not far from shore, I immediately turned tail and ran for my fish net and rubber boots.  On my way back out the door I collected a four gallon bucket as well.
       I knew almost immediately upon entering the water that I was going to get my feet wet. The octopus was juuuust out of the range of my boots.  I rolled up my pant legs and continued my careful wading until I was close enough to try and scoop/herd the octopus into the bucket with my net.
The octopus, not pleased at being disturbed, let loose a cloud of ink and disappeared. It was a very exciting few seconds because he did two things, he splashed me with ink, & he quickly changed directions and came towards me.
        I might have yelled.
        A little bit.
     In my mind, there two categories of sea creatures: those who rely on speed to survive, and those that rely on camouflage. Octopuses rely on the latter, but it wasn’t long before I spotted him again, slowly squishing himself under a rock. Determined to catch him, I tried again and managed to scoop him into the bucket.
       This isn't the first time we've seen octopuses in the bay, Johanna and I first spotted one a few years ago when we were wading. Throughout the year we see divers with harpoons hunting them and other sea creatures. The other week Dad spotted some men who were fishing for pleasure and had caught an octopus. If I'd wanted to I could have taken my octopus to Gelibolu and sold him to one of the fish restaurants. 

         Throughout the time I had him in the bucket, my octopus tried to escape –  you’ll see that in the video that is coming soon.  And these things come bigger?! 

link to video

- Nicole

(Picture cred: Mom or Dad)

January 2015

Nothing says Happy New Year at the Tuesday market like a display of red undies!

One day early in the month some war ships gathered in the bay to practice shelling things.  

Johanna and I had a mother/daughter lunch at the mall in Tekirdag.  

We helped Sam celebrate his 13th birthday.

The municipality of Gelibolu  has been hard at work making beautiful new sidewalks this month.
Turkish drivers are obviously pleased.

Lost and Found

Yesterday, while Sam and Nicole were adventuring on the dock during the big surf; Sam lost his shoe.  It wasn't an expensive shoe or an important shoe, but I decided today we should go look for it since the tide and the wind had both gone down. I think both kids thought I was crazy, but if you don't look you never find.

A walk in the wild surf.

Where is Sam's shoe?  It looks like this trash has been here for a year . . . but maybe not!

  

Sam can see it, but he's not too sure he wants it back.  It's full of rocks and sea weeds.

Jellies

With all the wild waves in the last couple of days, when we went for a short walk today, we found two dead jelly fish in the surf. 

 

This jelly was about 30 cm across and flipped upside down.

This small blue jelly was about 20 cm across.

The Upside

 

If been doing more than my fair share of whining on the blog since we got home (aka back to Turkey)! So I thought I should share some photos from our last week or so.  We've been enjoying the water!  It's a refreshing change on a hot day. Yes it really is that blue and uncrowded.

 



There is a designated swimming area near our house.  It sits at the end of a long dock.  The dock is often filled with sun worshipers, but not on this day. Turks don't seem to have the same sick body consciousness that is prevalent in N.A.  On a hot day, women of all ages and sizes are in the water and lounging on the dock in bikinis and one piece suits. 

The water is over our heads in places, and shallow enough to touch the bottom in others.  It doesn't gradually slope, because the bottom is littered with what seems to be the foundations of old buildings; our very own lost city of Atlantis.

 

This truck rolled into the lane beside our house today selling farm fresh watermelon and tomatoes (the size of baseballs). I had just enough time to snap this photo, before he backed out and tried to drum up some business elsewhere.  I bought a small watermelon in the market for the grand price of 1.5 tl., unfortunately it wasn't even worth that small price, so I won't be buying another one soon.

Five reasons why yesterday was a great day

 

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1.  Watched an episode of Koyun Shaun aka Shaun the Sheep with Nicole and Sam.  It's laugh out loud funny!  Really if you're having a down day check out the Cartoon Network and those ridiculous sheep.

2.  Finally after months and months I finished For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.  It was a long read, but I finished it.  I enjoyed the action packed beginning and end, but the middle was difficult and boring.  It seemed pointless, but now I wonder if EH was actually making a point about war.

3.  I went for a walk and a swim.

4.  I had an unplanned nap on the hammock.

5.  I got to Skype Johanna and my Mom.  Being separated from my daughter gives me a better understanding of what my mom's been dealing with all these months.