On the floor

Created this tile pattern from a patch I saw in a magazine. 

Would love to have it made up for my bathroom.

I enjoy reading

I enjoy reading and seem to have consumed a few books lately.

Fresh fruit daily!

Wat's jou storie?

Think Afrikaans. There's a great competition online – http://www.ads24.co.za/thinkafrikaans – where you can write your own story on a DPS of an old fotoverhaal – it's such great fun! I added other elements that I grabbed off the internet. I wrote the most bizarre stories, a good laugh. You can enter as often as you like. Remember, you're story has to be in Afrikaans, duh!

Birthdays girls

In the meantime

In the meantime Trish and I made a Peter Pan for a baby. I saw a Peter Hall painting I liked but ZAR 45 000 is out of my range. I'm so happy to be home with my dear dogs again. My knob-thorn tree is in bloom. I have read a million books, well, in fact it's only been 9. I had broccoli soup for breakfast. Made a cheese and tomato jaffle on the coals. The tree is burdened with guavas and I was enjoying the afternoon sun. An ordinary life.

Jangwani Secondary School

Part of our work brief was to film at the school in Dar es Salaam. The girls were just amazing, wonderful energy and so enthusiastic. Thank you, great to meet you all.

All work and some play

We went to Dar es Salaam on a work project, so 5 days of work.We walked around the streets finding locations, which gave us some charming moments. Lots of glass buildings as you can see, also viewed the city from the revolving restaurant. Then to get images of the city at sundown we had to cross the bay in the ferry, and come back immediately before we lose the light. We had a video crew that was capturing the high quality images, and I just used my phone.
Ah, I love Afrika.
Got the idea for the frames and masking tape from something I saw on the -net, copied it - sorry!

On my way home

The end

All good things come to an end. Thank you, I had a wonderful time.

Long Service Award

In the streets of Istanbul are these sales people that deserve a Long Service Award. They are at work despite injury, bruising and missing limbs :-) without a word of complaint.

Turkish bath

Catch the tram to the Turkish bath, but get off at the wrong stop but find it despite getting lost, which has pretty much been the pattern throughout this trip.
The Turkish bath was fantastic – 10 minute in the sauna, then rough sea sponge massage. Short shower, just water poured over the body, first cold then hot, followed by a soap massage, a dip in the pool, back to the sauna, then lastly a shower. I'm so glad I had this experience.
Afterwards I was thirsty, hunger and tired all at once.

Walking to Fener

I walked to Fener in the morning along the streets, then down along the waterfront, then back up into the streets again.  I couldn't find any of the things that were marked on the map :-) but then a big section was boarded up for construction or renovation. Saw the Greek church in the distance and walked up the steep, steep, steep hill to see it and of course it's not open to the public. Then walked back towards Sirkeci.

Streets of Istanbul – 4

Back to the other side

Back along the walkway.

Met some students on the ferry, they had 'escaped from school'. We chatted, they practised their English and I answered their questions. Nice interaction, I enjoyed the moment with them.

Lunchtime Rendezvous - local love stories

Moda pier

I'm such a dork – I had this on my list of places to go to but completely forgot about it – only found it because I thought: Let's see want's around the corner. Had lunch here. Peaceful, and yay! no tourists.

Streets of Istanbul – 3

Decided not to visit any of the tourist stops and shops, so just walked around the back street and eventually came to the water's edge where there was a walkway kilometres long.

Eminönü to Kadikoy, or Europe to Asia

On the ferry past the Haydarpasa train station – beautiful old building.

Whirling Dervishes

On the way back from the pier, as I passed the station and they shoved a pamphlet in my hand - for the Whirling Dervishes. Yay! Performing that evening in the station.
I wanted to see them but not at one of the restaurants as a side show. It's a spiritual ritual, and this was the real deal. Wonderful!

Turkish coffee cups

Bought something at last!

It's a man's world

Capture these pictures sitting in one spot and snapping everyone that walked by.

Under the bridge

After a day of exhibitions I wanted some time outdoors, so spent the afternoon on the pier. Calm and peaceful. Had a fish burger at one of the restaurants under the bridge. 

Enjoying a dust bath

More exhibitions

Up the road from the Istanbul Modern was a wonderful old building, when I got there they had 2 exhibitions running - one was about rugs - Flemish/Danish/Scandinavian style. Oops, I have forgotten already and didn't write it down. Sorry. And the other was Piri Reis maps, from the 1500s - fantastic!

Haci Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (c. 1467 - 1553), more commonly known as Piri Reis for his legendary stature in the Ottoman Navy, was a famed admiral and cartographer.

He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation, as well as very accurate charts (for its time) describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence anywhere (the oldest known map of America that is still in existence is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500). Piri Reis’ map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer.

No photography

No photography allowed inside the Istanbul Modern. A wonderful gallery with awesome exhibits. I wrote down the names of some of the artists whose work I thought was great and now I'm having a hard time trying to read my own hand-writing :-)
If you google Istanbul Modern images you will get pictures of their hanging books corridor - lovely.
There was a photographic exhibition downstairs where a South African photographer had 2 pieces displayed - Guy Tillim.
The graffiti at the bottom of my range of images was taken nearby, not at the Istanbul Modern.