Quiet day

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Geo: 37.0391, 27.4302

We got up a little late yesterday after our late day/night on the boat trip. Grandpa wanted a quiet day, so we didn't stray too far from home. We had a morning trip to the pool then an excursion into Gundogan around lunch time to do errands. Nanny got a haircut; Kate went with her. Grandpa went to the internet café to do some business. Josh and Alex went with him and enjoyed playing around on one of the café computers. I went to the grocery store to provision the house. One of my stops was at a roadside fig stand where they sell figs in small and large baskets. When I was done, we all met back up at the café so I could post to the blog. Grandpa wasn't done, so I walked down to the beach with Nanny to the "fish kiosk" where the fishermen sell their catch and a couple guys clean the fish and sell them to customers. Nanny picked out some sea bass (levrek) and another mystery fish. After the obligatory stop at the bakery, we headed home. The kids watched the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve while I prepared some baked chicken, parmesan-rosemary toasts and baked potato wedges. Nanny made a salad with arugula, cucumber, tomato and cous cous and grilled the fish. Since we had so much fish, we brought the leftovers to an undisclosed location well away from the house for the dogs to find. The puppies now have their eyes open and are stepping out a bit.

There was another trip to the pool after dinner. The game of the day was a kind of musical chairs where we had 3 stones and 4 people and on the whistle everyone had to jump in and try to collect a rock before they were all gone. I swam some laps. After the kids went to bed, I mixed some of the many exotic juices that we have in the house with some Cuban rum for a nightcap. We considered what our Reeder counterparts were discussing on their porch, looking at the Ottawa this same night.

Odd thing that we've been noticing: the wasps here are very attracted to chicken.

A favorite BBC news story: We enjoyed the clip about a seagull in Scotland who runs in the door of a convenience store and steals small bags of Doritos to snack on. Some locals have taken to purchasing his snacks after he leaves. As we say in Turkey, "Parti nerede?" (Where's the party?)

Josh is reading Lirael by Garth Nix. He is enjoying it very much, he says.

Tomorrow: Ephesus!

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