I didn't realize it had been so long since we last reported to you. I'd like to get the sad news out of the way first. I'm still getting over it, but we had to put darling Charlie, the best cat ever, to sleep last week. He was only three. If you've been following our progress, you know he had been in and out the vet for the last few months. The last time, he had just come back from some infection, but his health only held for a few days before he stopped eating and drinking so back he went over New Year's. The vet really couldn't find anything wrong, but he was losing weight at an alarming rate. Rose suggested a test for Feline AIDS and Leukemia. He tested positive for AIDS, so it was normally non-problematic bacteria and viruses causing him the problems. A little research led us to conclude that the cat that beat him up in Ashkelon must have transmitted it to him. Everyone, even non-cat people, loved Charlie, and those of you who met him know what I'm talking about. Rose and I both cried like babies, but it had to be done as he was suffering. A couple of pictures below in his honor. We really miss the big furball.
The other marina near town had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, so we dodged the bullet and didn’t have to cook. We went with our friends, Dave and Judy, from Freebird and sat with them as well as two Finnish couples, one of whom got progressively more drunk and rowdy as the evening wore on. Took a lot of pressure off me, as both Judy and Rose cautioned me ahead of time to be on my best behavior, fearing the worst. I was an angel by comparison. I also met a guy from Chicago who knew a bunch of the same business people I did. Had a nice chat with him and we had similar views of some of those slime bags. Dinner was quite good.
As Christmas approached, we spent our time on Turkish Lessons (Rose), bowling (Tim), and Monday quiz night as well as various other organized activities. We took an overnight road trip up to Izmir—a larger city—and shopped til we dropped. Some advance presents were given and received as the weather was starting to get chilly.
Up until the Charlie situation, we had one of the nicest holidays ever. There was Christmas caroling in the yard and a nice Christmas Eve dinner at the marina with live entertainment. Christmas day (we had special ordered a turkey earlier), we started out at ten with bloody’s and eggs benedict with Freebird. Tim had baked home made English muffins for the occasion. English muffins are a 19th century AMERICAN invention from trying to make English Crumpets. They went home, and we watched Love Actually and rested. About 6, they returned for Tim’s homemade egg nog —yes I was a cooking fool—and turkey. It was great.
Not much happening then until New Year’s Eve with another gala at the marina. Big turnout and lots of fun. Some of us—not me—were over-served, but all was well the next day for the boules (like bocce ball)tournament in the yard. Rose and I did not fare too well and found out that our balls—given to me by a charter guest—are oversized. Big kahones, so to speak.
I do need to report that bowling started again, and I placed second this week. I had been embarrassingly bad the first several times, failing to break 100, but rocked to 146 and a second place finish this time. Yesterday, we won the quiz night, so we have to prepare the questions for next week with another couple. Hey, we won 6 lira, too.
Rose is doing extremely well and has a planned check-up trip to the UK in Mid February as we’ll be in Istanbul for the boat show at that time, anyway. She’s off steroids altogether which had been the only thing that seemed to work. She’s up to the clinical dose on the other stuff which is supposed to cure or, at least, stem the disease. She is feeling great with little pain and has even started working out and doing pilates. Into previously too small jeans already and committed to “babe” up. The captain is an overweight couch potato and definitely with no plans to change.
This weekend we take an overnight trip up to Ephesus for a bunch of stuff with the main event being Camel Wrestling. Hey, anything to relieve the boredom and get out of the marina. So far, the weather hasn’t been too bad, but we did have some pretty cold 40’s a few weeks back and some torrential rain. However, it is now quite beautiful with 60’s daytime and 50’s at night with brilliant sunshine and clear skies. Unfortunately, for the next couple of months the usual pattern is for rainy cold weather. We’ll see. I’ve bought a new transformer as my central air is 110 volt. Been too chicken to try it in case the breakers continue to blow—one of those things I just don’t want to know-- but we have very nice free standing 220 volt electric heaters keeping us toasty. Unfortunately, we don’t trust leaving them on all night, so it’s a bit frigid in the AM. Fortunately, one of my gifts was a really nice velour robe, so we’re managing all right. Rose just bought some flannel sheets if that gives you some idea of our expectations!!
So, that’s the latest and greatest from Turkey. We always appreciate hearing from all of you to find out what’s up in the real world.
Cheers
Tim and Rose
