Izmir

We landed in Izmir, Turkey's 3rd largest city with 3 million people. The noise was constant and there was very little wind even though it is a port city. We spent about 2 weeks there over 3 different visits. Mick's grandmother and aunt had lived there and we stayed with family friends who had looked after the grandmother in her later years.







Atatürk. There were images of him everywhere but this was by far the most impressive. In the early 20th century he transformed Turkey into a more westernized culture. He secularized the government, changed the writing from Arabic alphabet to Latin and he is most revered for throwing the Greeks out of Turkey in 1922.





Aunt Nezi and I with the family friends...Oyna, oyna...dance dance.

The mosque near their home



Nephew

All the ladies

Us with the nephews







Old synagogue



Political message spray painted on the concrete.

Face pimped. The families 23-year-old daughter attacked me with make-up. It was the 9th of September the first day of a 3 day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan and also a special day for Izmir celebrating their independence from Greece.

Holiday shopping.

Alisha is 30!

I used my vacation time wisely I think.

Font Fail

Not that I'm an expert, but this is just bad. It has at least three different fonts. The font at the top is a particular favorite in Germany....it's everywhere.

Another Drive Through the Odenwald

Socks!

I made these a while ago, but haven't posted them....I actually have made quite a few things...so I'll hopefully get them photographed soon.

Mannheim

The river I cross every day.

Guerrilla Knitting!

I love guerrilla knitting/knitted graffiti. We happened upon this while walking through the trendy Lower East Side neighborhood in New York. I started leaping around with glee, shouting excited gibberish, which kind of confused Mick. I thought I was seeing my first work from the Knitta, Please people, but it was some other awesome knitting artists.

Love it!

Around the House.

The fruits of my summer....

I'm excited about the seeds that Aunt Nezi dried from this plant! There will be so many tomatoes next summer.

Trumpet tree.



Herbs!

Oven baked cream cheese wontons.

Fresh salsa....yum!
I'm afraid that I won't much time left to cook when my theater job starts.