A Beach Holiday in Ruins

In August we had a week's vacation, and went to the ancient town of Side.  Located south in Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, Side was for several thousand years, an important harbor and commercial town. Now it is a small seaside vacation spot with some wonderful ancient ruins to explore and an unhurried place to enjoy sun, good company, sea and history.  Stretching beyond the center of town, you can see resort hotels looming, but they are out of sight and out of mind among the narrow cobblestone streets and stony ruins smack in the center of the town - including an ancient theater and large Agora (market square), which 'protect' the harbor and main beach from further big-resort development.

Apollo Temple:

Triumphal Arch:

The main street in to the old part of town

Roman Amphi Theatre:

View from our hotel:

It is amusing being a foreigner!

There is a typical Norwegian fall dinner dish I always get a craving for when the outside temperature starts to drop and the mornings are growing darker.  It is a simple casserole made of cabbage and lamb called Fårikål, which literally means "sheep in cabbage", and the secret is to cook it long enough for the meat to fall apart and the cabbage to taste like lamb.

Today I decided to make Fårikål, and since Turkey has lots of delicious lamb, and cabbage season is here, I thought it would be an easy task.  I walked up the hill to the local butcher and thought I could point, smile and pay like I usually do - but today was different.  The butcher's glass counter didn't have any meat displayed that looked like what I was looking for, so I used my limited vocabulary and asked for lamb's meat.  At which, he opened his big refrigerator and took out a whole carcass of lamb.  When you buy meat for Fårikål in Norway, you just ask for 'Fårikål-meat', so when the butcher asked me what part of the lamb I wanted, I had no clue.  I tried to tell him to just give me the cheapest part, the leftover cuttings, it was after all going to be cooked for about two hours, so I didn't need the tender, gourmet cutlets.  No matter how many ways I tried to say my two Turkish words, kuzu (lamb) and ucuz (cheap), the friendly butcher just did not understand where Fårikål-meat is located on the Turkish lamb!  Finally he gave up and asked me to come with him next door to the liquor store.  He did not want to have a drink with me, he just introduced me to his friend, the wine seller, who happened to speak perfect English.  "Dinner is saved" I thought, while I listened to the wine seller tell the butcher what this crazy woman wanted.  I felt very ashamed when I told them how little meat I needed for a dinner for three, because the ordeal had been so complicated that I felt I should have bought the whole poor lamb.

It so happens that the local butcher also sells the best fruit and vegetables, so while the butcher was cutting a little sliver of Fårikål-meat for me, I walked  outside to the vegetable man and asked for cabbage.  I actually didn't know that cabbage is called "lahana" in Turkish, but the cabbage was easy to find because they were the biggest cabbages I have ever seen.  I asked the vegetable man if he had any smaller ones, but he just shook his head and said, "maybe tomorrow".  I thought I could get a smaller cabbage at the regular grocery store, so I said, "thank you" and went inside to pay for my meat.  I noticed  the butcher had spices for sale, and remembered I needed whole, black peppercorn for my Fårikål, and managed to ask if they had any.  The butcher looked, and looked, but could only find ground pepper on the shelf. He then took out a big package from under the counter, took out a styrofoam tray and asked how much I needed.  I smiled, showed him my thumb and index finger almost closed, and said, "çok az" (very little).  He knew by now that I was a cheap one, so he poured in two teaspoons, and I thanked him and paid.

Over at my regular grocery store I went straight for the vegetable section and looked in horror at the big cabbages, thinking, "who buys cabbages the size of a hot air ballon?"  I would have to go back and buy the whole lamb if I was going to cook Fårikål with a cabbage that big!  I had a dilemma, because I had the chunks of lamb and bone in my bag and had no idea what else to make from it but Fårikål (I am not an adventurous cook!)  There was one cabbage that looked pretty small compared to the other ones, so I asked for that and carried it over to the scale.  It weighed 3,5 kg (almost 8 lb.)

Good thing I was carrying a backpack today, and the cabbage barely fit!  Last time my backpack was this stuffed was a year ago on Thanksgiving Day when I carried home the smallest Turkey I could find.

Walking into my kitchen I realized that I probably didn't have a pot big enough for cooking Fårikål, but I managed to squeeze in 1/4 of the cabbage between the meat, and in the end my two boys are not very interested in eating the cabbage, but they loved the Fårikål.

The story of my eyes

Close to forty years ago I got my first pair of glasses.  I remember it being an amazing discovery to realize it was possible to see individual leaves on a tree.  I kept putting my new glasses on and taking them off just to understand how little I actually had seen before.

About thirty years ago I got my first set of contact lenses, and felt as though a new world had opened up.  I could walk in the rain and still see; I could come inside from a wintery night and still see; I could dive into the ocean and still see.  For twenty years I wore my contacts from when I got up in the morning until I went to bed at night, and I was happy.

About ten years ago my eyes started changing and wearing contacts wasn't so comfortable anymore.  My eyes felt red and dry, so I started blinking more, rolling my eyes and getting frequent headaches.  I spent more and more time at the optometrist trying to find contacts that both felt ok and improved my vision.

Five years ago I had to start wearing reading glasses on top of my contacts.  If I was wearing my regular glasses instead of contacts, I could slide them down to the tip of my nose to read, but eventually my nose started to become too short!  I really needed bifocal or progressive lenses in my glasses.  Since I am myopic (nearsighted not shortsighted!) I could - without contacts or glasses - see objects close to my face very well.   I was back to the game of putting my glasses on and off (or even sliding my contacts to the side) so I could, for instance, read the washing label when I was doing laundry.  I refused to wear my reading glasses on a chain around my neck!

Less than a week ago I had Laser surgery done to my eyes, and am patiently waiting for headaches to go away and to see the leaves on the trees again.

Before the surgery my vision was about -6.75 for distance and +1.50 for reading.  Since they are not able to correct the old age reading problem, I was apprehensive but ready to give up the ability to, ever again, read without glasses.  To my surprise the doctor had a solution to that problem!  He suggested leaving my non-dominant eye a little myopic, thereby making one eye for distance and one eye for reading.  I knew they did this for people wearing contacts, but did not think such an easy solution could apply to laser surgery as well.  The doctor had me try it with contacts first and I was amazed!  I could walk down the stairs, read the street signs, dial my phone and even see what time it was on my tiny wrist watch.  It might take the brain up to three months to fully adjust, but since it worked immediately with contacts I knew it was what I wanted to do.

If you want details of the surgery, you can find many web sites and blogs that describes the process.  I just want to tell you that I felt like I was in a science fiction movie.  I cannot imagine how brave the first person to put his eye under the laser needle must have been!  Now they have done laser surgery for so many years, and are so good at what they do, there is no need to worry.  The surgery itself was easier, quicker and much less painful than going to the dentist, but it was a totally weird experience.  When you go to the dentist you can't really see what the dentist is doing, but you have enough knowledge and previous experience to have a mental picture of what is going on.  I had no mental pictures of how laser surgery is done, and I had a lamp 10 inches above my face, so I had no idea what really went on.  But still, my eye was fixed in position and I could not look away.  I saw odd shapes and colors, black spots like when you stare at the sun, flickering dots and reflections of my retina, and whiffed the faint smell of smoke...

It is amazing to walk half-blind into a room, and 5 - 10 minutes later, walk back out again being able to see clearly.  My eyes felt pretty sore as the anesthesia wore off that first afternoon, but day by day they feel less and less grainy and my vision keeps improving.  I have to admit that I am a little impatient, because I can't see 20/20 yet.  But, I have to remind myself that it has only been a week, and compared to how I used to be able to see, it feels like a miracle.  It might take three months to know if my surgery was 100% successful, but since I've waited forty years, a few more months sounds like a bargain.

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I don't know what it is that makes tulips so enchanting to me, but I can never stop admiring them.  The flower itself is so simple and elegant, and the multitude of colors and shapes seems to be endless.  My favorite aspect is the way the tulips capture the sunlight and the transparency of the petals.  I had to go back to the park on a (somewhat) sunny day to take more pictures.  You can probably tell that the orange are my favorite, but the white ones are ethereal in the way they hold the sunlight. 

Yes, I agree; a little weird

Young artists