I haven’t been able to blog for a long time due to my travels, first to Los Angeles, then Turkey, followed by the Netherlands. I must have been away so long that on my return I discovered our property was taken over by an iguana colony, with their leader happily tanning on our patio, and all my flowers eaten by these creatures!

I go to Turkey twice each year, to help my parents who are both 87, and whose health is deteriorating rapidly. Their apartment is right across from a park in the Nisantasi area of Istanbul. On every national holiday, or for special events, ceremonies are held in front of the Ataturk statue in this park. 10th of November is the day when Ataturk passed away in 1938. Ever since, each year at exactly 9:05am, sirens and car horns are heard all over the country and life comes to a stand still to pay homage. In my youth, 10th of November was a mourning day. All entertainment establishments were closed, no alcohol was served. This changed some years back, and now it’s a normal day except for the ceremonies which are still held at 9:05am to commemorate Ataturk.

This year I happened to be in Istanbul on that day, and right after the ceremony which included laying of wreaths, homage and singing of the national anthem, people had just left that I noticed a woman dressed in full black “carsaf (chador)” looking at the statue of Ataturk. I barely managed to grab my camera to capture this moment. Before I could zoom she moved away, but at least I managed to take one shot.

After Istanbul, I flew to the Netherlands to spend 3 days, during which time I managed to meet the owner of this blog, Michael. Michael lives way up north of the Netherlands. On our way, we passed over the longest dike in the world called Afsluitdijk. According to Wikipedia:

The Afsluitdijk (English: Closure Dike) is a major dike in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich (mun. Wûnseradiel) in Friesland province, over a length of 32 km (20 miles) and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.

It was very interesting to see, however, the weather was a wee bit too cold for a Florida girl like me. When we arrived at Michael’s home he greeted us so warm and friendly, that I even forgot about the cold! In that short time after we called him to say we were on our way, he managed to go out and buy not only half the supermarket to prepare lunch for us, but also got gifts for me!

During the short time we were there, we talked about many things, including the upcoming trial of Desi Bouterse, the former dictator of Suriname (former Dutch colony), because I know someone who happens to be one of the very few survivors of the so called “December killings“, which was ordered by Bouterse. He had managed to escape the very night, upon being alarmed by a friend.

If we didn’t have to continue on our trip, we could have stayed much longer and talked for hours. Michael is a very intelligent and handsome young man. I had seen a picture of him earlier, but somehow didn’t realize he could be so tall, even though I know the Dutch are the tallest people on earth!

I hope that next time we meet, be it in the Netherlands, Turkey or USA, we’ll have much more time to share our thoughts, ideas and experiences.

I hope that we, all co-bloggers, get to meet one day as well.

Thank you Michael.