News from near and far

Chris and Rich on the Camino

I snagged this picture off Chris' Facebook page, of the two of them walking the Camino in Spain.(They are two of the Senior Trailblazers.)  I just saw that they have arrived in Santiago de Compostela, after walking 500 miles in 34 days. Now that's an accomplishment! I am sure I will hear plenty of their adventures when they get back to Bellingham. I have to say I really love being able to keep in touch with my friends and family on Facebook as they go on their journeys.

Beginning broccoli and salad greens

That was the news from far away, and here's the news from right here in my backyard. The broccoli is already on its way to my kitchen a few weeks from now, and those huge broccoli leaves are also very tasty when steamed. I could pick them now, but instead I'll harvest those pretty (and spicy) salad fixings.

I realize that the garden is not all that exciting when compared to Chris and Rich's adventure, but to me it's rather amazing that I've become a gardener at all!
:-)

A day in Antalya

Françoise, Evelyn, Karen

Today, my usual Senior Trailblazer hiking day, was spent hiking around the town of Antalya. Since the meeting is being held in a hotel far from the town (a half an hour) and on the Mediterranean away from everything, I had not seen any of the local environs, but today I was joined by three others to have an excursion in town. Evelyn's husband, Claudio, who is with the WMO who sponsored the conference, found a car and driver and gave us a chance to have a wonderful day, getting to know each other as well as the town. Mickey said go ahead and go, so I didn't ask twice. Karen (Mickey's wife) and I have known each other for ages, but the other two are now fast friends as well.

A street in Old Town

We have the most incredible weather today, after two days of rain and wind, reminding me of home! But today dawned clear and cold, and the weather just got warmer and warmer all day long. Just perfect with a light jacket. The streets were pretty clear early on, but as it grew later, we saw more and more people. The shop owners were mostly friendly and not too pushy since it's the off season and we were obviously out to shop. There were a couple annoying ones, but otherwise we made new friends!

One of our new friends

We promised this gentleman with a silver shop that we would stop by before returning to the hotel, and we did, but when this picture was taken it was still early in the day. We wandered in and out of many of the shops in Old Town, visited an ancient mosque that was originally built in the 2nd century. It is now just a pile of old stones that I had to peer at through a fence. As we got hungry, we looked for a place that had been recommended, the Castle Hotel and Restaurant on the water.

Our table, with Karen sending a picture to Mickey

It was everything we had hoped for. We sat in the sun, feeling a nice gentle breeze off the water and enjoyed the view. We also learned that there are many feral cats in Old Town, and they obviously knew their way around. In fact, the owners of the hotel have created some nice little catwalks for them.

Cat snoozing over the water

Being fond of cats, this didn't bother me at all, as they rubbed against my legs as we ate a fantastic lunch. Karen ordered some kind of fish, but Françoise and I ordered grilled vegetables that were wonderful. Thinking of my blogging friends who asked for food pictures, I took a picture, trying to show the amazing view as well.

My grilled vegetables in a fantastic setting

After lunch, we wandered more around town, knowing we only had a couple of hours, and went into a tea shop. They have all these piles of different teas, and as soon as we walked in, the proprietor made us up some samples, knowing that we wouldn't be able to resist.

I ended up getting a Sultan and eucalyptus tea blend

When he held up the fresh tea under my nose, it immediately gave me a rush. I found out that it is because it had a great deal of eucalyptus in it. Oh my! I couldn't help from buying it. I will be drinking it for a long time to come. And then, before I knew it, we had to make our way back to the spot where we would be picked up by our driver. We went back to the silver shop, meeting our new friend Aytekin, while making promises to see each other again. I took this selfie of myself so I could be included in the day's pictures.

In the mirror, my selfie

There was only one thing I didn't buy that I wished I had: an Eye of Fatima charm. I intend to get one tomorrow, and the story of the Eye is that when you wear it, you are protected from harm. I figured it's not a bad thing to have.

The Eye of Fatima earrings

Everywhere you look in the shops, you see these things: key chains, bracelets, necklaces, you name it. I remember seeing them in Macedonia years ago, but I think this time I'm going to indulge in a few of them. They would make great gifts, don't you think?
:-)

Looking more like Christmas

Holly Street, early this morning

Bare branches on the trees, lighted snowflakes on the street lights, and being all bundled up against the cold, it's beginning to look a lot like... winter. And Christmas cheer, too! The downtown parking meters are all covered with plastic bags that say, "Happy Holidays," and until Christmas we don't have to feed them! Yesterday the bitter chill of the past two weeks let go a little, and the temperature actually rose above freezing, but not by much. Right now it's 33F, and it's 1:00pm -- not likely to get much warmer, but the nighttime temperature won't fall far, either. It should be raining by Thursday.

I will be going out to rescue my car today, once I get a call from the mechanic. It didn't break down or anything, but it was past due time to replace the timing belt on my Honda Civic. A friend of mine didn't replace his, and it broke. If that happens on a Honda, it means a new engine. So I decided to be proactive and spend the big bucks. I'm a little apprehensive about the cost, but it's definitely not something to let slide. Cars usually repay you by being reliable if you provide the upkeep.

In February, I will be visiting my sister in Florida. I figure by the time February rolls around, I'll really be wanting to see some Florida sunshine and bask in warmer weather. Plus it's always nice to spend time together. She will be taking me swimming with her every morning and I'll be jogging alongside her as she walks at her blistering pace of more than 4.5mph. Maybe she'll take pity on me now and then and slow down to my pace, 4mph. She sent me this picture, with the caption. That's her smiling son Peter, taken in their Florida back yard.

Season's greetings

I am beginning to get in the Christmas spirit and will start shopping for others soon. But in the meantime, I bought myself a Kindle Fire HDX, which should arrive tomorrow. One more gadget to add to the rest! I've never had a Kindle before, so I'm excited.
:-)

Tulip Festival 2012

Today was a day for tulips, lots and lots of them! My friend Judy and I headed down to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on a day that had the lowest chance of rain for the week. Last year we went on April 12 and were a little early for the best display. Today we saw at least 70% of the tulips in bloom, and I think our favorite must be the huge pink and red tulips above. I took lots of pictures of this pretty pink thing (below) that has so many petals it almost doesn't even look like a tulip, but it is.

The RoozenGaarde family has created gardens that take your breath away. I learned last year that every single bulb is planted fresh each year, and the gardens are meticulously designed to give every visitor maximum satisfaction. There were plenty of people there, even on a cool and cloudy weekday, visitors from all over the country. The cost is $5 per person, worth every dime.

It's almost impossible to give a true idea of the beauty in all the different arrangements and beds composed of myriad varieties. There are three main flowers: daffodils, tulips (of course), and grape hyacinth. This year I saw three different kinds of hyacinth: the regular blue, some with a pretty white top, and a completely white variety.

The tulips on the right are just now beginning to bloom, while the ones on the left are in full flower. The grape hyacinth are arranged in many of the beds to look like a waterfall (to my eye anyway). We wandered around the beds and exclaimed over the different tulips until we had almost reached saturation. We could hardly take it all in, but then we went to check out the big fields of tulips behind the gorgeous manicured gardens.

The mountains were obscured by clouds and mist, but it didn't take away from the magnificent riot of color to which we were treated. We asked a passerby to take a picture of the two of us for posterity. She happily obliged.

She even took two so I could choose. Somehow the only pictures in the entire batch that didn't need to be straightened were hers. I don't know how I always manage to get my pictures sloping down to the right; it seems inevitable unless I try to compensate, and then they skew uphill. Fortunately for me, iPhoto's "straighten" tool works just fine. Afterward, we headed to LaConner for lunch and to warm up. It was pretty darn cool today, but I didn't see a raindrop until we were on the highway heading home. It's my lucky jacket, don't you think?
:-)

Leavenworth

 Early yesterday morning, my friend Judy and I climbed aboard a Hesselgrave tour bus for an all-day trip to Leavenworth, a pretend Bavarian village in the Cascades. The 49-passenger bus was almost full, and I had been warned that Leavenworth is pretty much of a tourist trap. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it was a good thing to do once and experience... once.

We climbed through small towns with picturesque names like Grotto, Gold Bar, and Skykomish on our way over Stevens pass. This pass through the mountains is at just over 4,000 feet and had a ski lodge at the top, and lots of snow. When we arrived in Leavenworth and were shunted into a secondary parking lot for buses, I looked out and saw quaint Bavarian style houses and... people. Wall to wall people. Apparently they were all there for the final Saturday's lighting of the Christmas lights. Here's a picture of me after we arrived. The crowds grew from this point.

We had been given a tip to find a place for lunch off the main street, which would allow us not to fight the shoulder to shoulder crowds. We found a lovely little place called The Alley Cafe, and sat down to a beer (for Judy) and a glass of wine (for me) and a very good lunch. When we left our little cafe, we found that even MORE people had arrived, and there was little to do but follow from one shop to another, fighting to make your way through the crowds. It's worth enlarging the following picture just to capture the day's feeling.

We did find a bookstore, but even that was impossible to navigate. We thought we could just park ourselves at a bookstore and browse, but there were too many people everywhere to do that. So, after a few hours of difficult crowds, we made our way back to the Alley Cafe and parked ourselves there for a small snack. Once it got dark, we went outside to see the lighting of the town's buildings, listened to Christmas carols and made our way along with the rest of the cattle to our bus.

I left the house yesterday morning at 7:30 am and returned home at 9:30 pm, glad to finally be back home. I got another taste of how different the world is today than it was when I was young, just in sheer population numbers. I thought of an old science fiction movie called "Soylent Green" that showed people shuffling joylessly along from place to place, following the herds of people.

I did have the chance to spend the day with Judy and we talked and reminisced about the old days. All in all, I'm glad I went but I'm also glad I don't have to do that again.
:-)