New--everything

Hello, faithful readers who are still checking, despite receiving no updates for weeks on end...

We've spent weeks in transition, and are finally settled in our new apartment in Besitas. It's in a great location, near Dolmabahce Palace, the waterfront, bus lines, cheap restaurants, stores, and -best of all- NO HILLS! no more carrying groceries and backpacks up and down hills that were never meant to be walked on by anything less limber than a mountain goat...

The new place was filthy when we moved in, and I have spent many, many hours trying to sort through the stuff that was left here and clean under it. The lady that used to live here was American, and loved clothes. There were four huge garbage bags of nearly-new clothing, most in perfect condition. It took me four hours to try on everything, and now there are three and a half huge garbage bags of clothing for me to donate on National Donate to the Poor People Bazaar Day, and I have enough nice-looking clothing to supplement the three outfits I brought to Turkey for as long as I stay, and longer. Actually, if I were in the States, I would consider I had done my clothes shopping for the next six months...So I guess that offsets the annoyance of having to clean.

Maria and Carmalitta are settling in nicely, too. Maria has been enjoying coloring her new 'Doggy Fashion' coloring book, where dogs wear cute and outrageous little outfits while looking stylishly unconcerned about any discomfort. We also hooked up the TV yesterday, so she'll be able to watch all her favorite cartoons in Turkish again. She's also being helpful with the cleaning, and has organized her room without being told at least once a day since we moved in.

Carmalitta (the cat) has worn out all her energy tearing around the whole house, investigating everything from the drippy hot water heater to the dust bunnies behind the fridge and the built-in cabinets all over the house. She has also decided it is her duty to chew off each individual leaf of the mini-palm tree, one each day--ridding the world of nasty plants, one leaf at a time!

A couple nights ago we went out for a little walk in the neighborhood. The chestnut salesman charges half again what the stands in Taksim charge, but the nuts are fresher and less wormy, so possibly worth the extra. Maria doesn't like the fish market, but we both got a kick out of the sock stand, which is located in the wall of another store. All the socks are hanging in a one-foot deep recess along the length of another store. Turks are so resourceful and interesting.

Today I'm going to try to finish cleaning today so Maria and I can enjoy the rest of our week. Maria wants to go to the islands again this Friday. I'm thinking we might be able to see the other island that we missed last time, which is less populated and touristic. We'll see.

Pictures to come, sometime, maybe, I hope...

Thanks again for reading!

This is me, signing off...