Cukurbagli's Blog   My life in Turkey

My new dog, Whisky, is now settling in to a nice life with me, she is still quite nervous and panics at the drop of a hat, or anything else, but now at least will come and have a fussing session with me. She jumps up on the dogs’ settee to put her paws on my chest when I go out to them in the mornings for a fuss so I’m happy about that. I made a three berth kennel for the three girls.

So the old double one will go up to the sanctuary in the next day or two. I’ll have to cover the top of it with polythene first so that rain won’t get in but that’s not very likely to happen until October at the earliest.

In Kaş the Belediye (Municipal Council) suddenly decided to rip out the temporary road surface that they had put down in March,

and are now laying a new block surface as originally intended.

Of course this has had the place in an uproar because of all the dust and damage, since we are now well into the tourist season it has affected the number of Turkish tourists coming here too. The Turkish media have been full of it so everyone in the country who might come has been aware. Actually I think the new blocks look quite good and fairly in keeping with Kaş,

they look a lot better than the old interlocking blocks. The problem that a lot of people have noticed is that a lot of trees that lined the boulevard have gone and the green central median with it’s hedges and trees has likewise disappeared. Well we won’t have long to wait to find out what the final appearance will be.

At the same time as all this is going on down in Kaş we are having the road from Ağullu to Çukurbağ resurfaced, not with those blocks unfortunately,just a spray of tar then a covering of chippings, not necessarily on the same day either, just to make sure that everyone gets a souvenir coating of tar on the sides of the cars. Today they spread the chippings but I didn’t have my camera so no photo.

I have been thinking about having a few chickens to supply me with fresh eggs. They will be able to eat a lot of my vegetable food waste and will also be helpful in keeping down the scorpions, not that I see that many these days but I know there are still plenty that I don’t see. To make a nice space for a chicken run I’ve been trying to cut down a lot of the maquis bushes but I had to call a halt because now that we are in the warmer part of year I can’t have a bonfire to get rid of the cuttings. Then I thought about a wood chipper so had a look online and sure enough Hepsiburada.com have just what I need so I ordered one, here’s a picture from their website.

Should be here next Monday or Tuesday, can’t wait to try it out. A bonus is that I won’t have to have a plume of smoke rising from my garden so I’ll be able to use it while my neighbours are here and I can use the chippings as a mulch to help deter weeds.

Well I suppose I shouldn’t have done it but a new dog took my heart so I’ll now have to make another kennel.

Her name is now Whisky and I’ve started a blog for her here https://whiskys.blog

What a lovely couple of days we’ve just had, beautiful blue sky, warm sunshine, couldn’t ask for nicer.

Way back before Christmas I visited the Sofa bistro in Kaş where a small fund raising even was held in support of the Kaş Animal Friends charity. I decided to take Wolfie for an outing and to see his old stamping ground in the middle of Kaş. We had a nice little walk around and he sniffed all his old haunts then we headed over to Sofa. A few other dogs were there and we got our picture taken, a very nice one of him too.

Since then I have visited Sofa a few times to have lunch, it’s nice and quiet there which contrasts starkly with the goings on in the middle of town where all the roads have been dug up causing lots of noise and dust. Sofa is an intimate little place with a nice menu, good food and is not expensive. Here’s a picture of it.

At home I have been trying make more improvements, this time to the garden. Spring sprang and I started getting flowers to put into a job lot of large second hand pots that I bought for the patios, I also bought nine new almond trees that have gone into the garden. On the subject of new plants I stumbled upon a picture of a plant that I have a few examples of in the garden.

It’s called a Mandrake. I’m not really too happy about discovering its name because that led me to do a search for information on it and then I discovered that it can be fatally poisonous to anything that eats it, human or animal. It makes a round red fruit that looks for all the world like a tomato albeit slightly more orange coloured than what we are used to seeing. All of the parts are poisonous so it’s definitely worth avoiding. I’ll have to make sure that my neighbour doesn’t bring her goats into the garden any more.

Last week I had a walk, with some friends, up to the ancient Lycian city of Phellos on the top of the ridge opposite my house. Very enjoyable morning and got our pulses beating a little quicker. Took the dogs too of course, five of them altogether and they slept all afternoon, more than one of the humans had a nap too!

I’ve got some more photos of the flowers to post but I’m getting some more flowers soon so I’ll wait until I’ve potted them up and then have a flower festival post. Bye for now.

Edit: My apologies, I forgot to add the frankenpot item that I alluded to in the title of this blog, why didn’t one of you say something? Sometime during the winter one of my flower pots got cracked, the fact that it grimly held itself together until the winter finished inspired me to try and perform some surgery to save it. Here it is

I had some aluminium wire, off-cuts from the new power cable that was strung up along my road, when I picked them up I knew they would come in handy and so it proved. The idea came from a couple of pots I already had which are painted to resemble leather pieces sewn together. It took me about an hour to do it and I think it looks rather fun, I call it Frankenpot.

Trying to find your way around Kaş in a car has been a bit of a trial recently and the trial is not over yet by a long chalk. Being situated in a small half bowl surrounded by the foothills of the Taurus mountains, when the rain comes it has nowhere to go but downhill into the town. I suppose in earlier times there was sufficient open ground for a lot of it to soak into the soil but since the expansion of the town the water has to go somewhere else, concrete and asphalt don’t soak up much. So in an effort to make the town less prone to flooding during the heavy winter rains an upgrade of the drainage systems began a couple of months ago. Various other building works have taken the opportunity afforded by the road closures and driving around Kaş has been a game of “U” turns and an opportunity to practice your reversing skills.

Here are some pictures of the upheaval.

Hopefully it will all be finished and looking beautiful for the beginning of the tourist season.

For most British people the mere mention of the month of November brings forth visions of cold grey days, a “nothing” sky stubbornly white and only the prospect of even shorter days on the run up to the only highlight of the winter, that annual festival of good cheer brightened by the consumption of biblical quantities of left over food and drink. I refer of course to the feast of Stephen, the saint upon whose day King Wenceslas, (actually Vaclav the Good, Duke of Bohemia) looked out and celebrated on the day after Christmas in Britain. And well he should have looked out because some dastardly soul assassinated him in the year 935 after which, because of his reputation for being a very very good duke, he became one of the very few people in the world to be crowned King posthumously. Some feat eh?

Anyway that’s enough pointless rambling for now.

About three years ago I bought two thermostatically controlled shower mixer taps because the temperature of the hot water fluctuated wildly due to the variation of pressure provided by the water pump that supplies the my house with water from my underground depot. Jumping in and out of the shower stream was never a thing that I enjoyed and I had determined to do something about it. Well the mixer in the small bathroom was easily changed over in about ten minutes, it being simply a swap of the old mixer for the new. The arrangement in the larger bathroom attached to my bedroom was a lot more difficult as will be explained, if you care to wade through my tedious explanation, even I am finding it boring and I haven’t got there yet!

Predictably, having one shower that performed well I took to using the small bathroom, I am just as susceptible to taking the easy way out as anyone else sometimes and the other mixer lay in the bottom of a drawer, unused and uncared for apart from my occasional caress of its beautifully formed, chrome plated brass body when opening the drawer looking for something else.

Well finally I fitted it and I kick myself for not being able to see how simple the setup could have been. Actually having got this far into the story I have decided not to explain the whole situation, I even took photographs of each and every step but I’m not going to go into all that detail now, it is just too boring for any but the keenest amateur plumber and I doubt there are many of those out there. I will just say that it is in, it is operational, including a new sixty five litre water heater to supply it, and I am thoroughly enjoying the use of it. Here is a photograph of the business end of it.

As you can see from the lower part of the picture it is a spa type bath with water jets and a shower included and it was that installation that made it difficult for me. I finally saw how easy it would be to install a completely separate and independent system with water being supplied by a different pipe. Okay, that’s it, onwards and upwards.

Or rather downwards, into the soil. November here in my part of the world is not so cold or grey and sometimes plants surprise me with their offerings. I have been enjoying the fruits of my strawberry plant since late August and it is still giving, two very enjoyable strawberries that I ate today with cream left over from another dish.

As you can see there is yet another one on the way, I am blessed.

This time of year causes the sun to make wonderful sunsets and to bathe the early evening in a wonderful golden light. It starts around the end of August or beginning of September and continues because what cloud we get tends to be broken thus allowing the rays to break through. Here is a sunset from a few days ago. I have not adjusted the colour, this is exactly as I, and the camera saw it.

That’s all for now, time for a glass of wine.

Well here I am playing catch-up again. Sometimes I read through what I’ve written a few months ago and it seems like it’s the same old stuff over and over again. Sometimes I think your lives must be much more interesting than mine, but then I’m the one living mine and it all seems so familiar that I wonder why anybody looks at my blog at all. A couple of the blogs that I follow seem to be written by action heroes, there is so much going on in their lives. Ah well, at least it’s peaceful in my corner of paradise.

You’ll no doubt be aware that I have a new dog to look after now. Wolfie is a big softy, he smells of urine most of the time and occasionally has a crap on my little patio by the porch but his most endearing habit so far is barking like a madman sometime between the hours of 01.30 and 03.30. It’s a strange thing but this barking always interrupts or initiates a dream, I never really remember what the dreams are about, they vary but it usually seems like twenty or thirty minutes has elapsed since his barking starts until I realise that the dream is not real and I should get out of bed and go to quieten him. In reality it is probably only a few seconds but it seems longer. I bought one of those electronic training aids to clip around his neck like a second collar, it has various settings and can deliver an electric shock, a buzzing vibration and a beep that sounds like a little motorbike. He ignores the beep, the electric shock doesn’t appear to have any effect on him whatsoever but the vibration works quite well so now I can just roll over in bed, reach out to the bedside table and press the button to give him a little vibrating surprise which seems to quieten him, at least for a while. Of course there is no point in just doing that without any associated training so we have little sessions during the the day so that he know who is doing it, why and what he should do to avoid getting another dose. I think I must be getting softer as I age because even though I have to go to these lengths to try to keep him quiet all the other dogs in the village are all barking like madmen too. I made him a kennel a few weeks ago, just a rough old thing, wouldn’t want to spoil him too much now would I? Here he is trying it out, I did actually catch him sleeping in it one day too…

… but most of the time he commandeers the settee…

The cats have had a fun time for the last couple of weeks too, they often bring small creatures they have killed, or are in the process of killing, usually they bring them first thing in the morning while I am still in bed. I don’t mind too much when a dead mouse is dropped on my bed but it does get annoying when it is still alive, shrieking fit to wake the dead and running around looking to hide under my pillow. Funny but they soon get bored with that game, the cats that is, and it is up to me to dispose of the poor little creature. However they never tire of playing with a cardboard box. I am not privy to the rules of the games, there seem to be three distinct games but they all involve one cat being in the box and the other one trying to usurp the position. One game uses subterfuge to entice the sitting tenant to vacate the box, the second uses surprise and shock to frighten the sitting tenant out and the third is just a violent frontal attack. The winner is the last one in the box when the other cat stalks off in a huff. Funnily thing though, I have three cats but they never gang up two against the sitting tenant, the third one always sits and watches and occasionally takes over the role of attacker.

The boxes that Hepsiburada.com deliver shoes in are just right for this game because if you duck down under the top flaps you can repel an attacker by jumping up at just the right moment.

I had yet another trip to Meis a few weeks ago so here are a few more photos.

The east bay from the top of the castle.

The courtyard of the museum

The courtyard again

A picture in the museum showing how built up the area around the harbour was before the Second World War.

And finally the harbour from the top of the castle.

Baby tortoises! The cats usually like to bring everything they’ve caught into the house. The two females, Defne and Katie, bring mice, voles, small snakes, locusts and crickets and birds but big Deniz isn’t too bothered about catching fast things, he’s happier sauntering up to a baby tortoise and bringing that into the house. Three in the last week, or it could be the same one three times, I’m not sure because how do you tell them apart, can he? They all look the same to me. I know one was different because the shell was still soft from being in the egg but that might have been the first one.

They look so bright and new that you could mistake them for a brand new plastic model. I’ve tried giving them various bits of vegetables and water but they just walk off so I put them back in the garden and hope for the best. Perhaps I’d better create a tortoise nursery where I can put some of the fruit and vegetable peelings and trimmings, I know someone who has one and it seems to work remarkably well.

Temperatures are easing off a bit now, still in the low thirties during the afternoon but down to the low twenties at night so sleeping is easier.

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention that the biopsy thing turned out to be benign so yippee for that.

Heading into August now and still in the “very warm” phase of the summer with a lot of days reaching 40C. Of course it’s not as hot as some places and any thoughts of moaning about the heat are far from my mind.

The heat does have an effect though, I’m very disappointed that my piano playing gets cut short because the sweat makes the keys very sticky. Also, bedclothes have to washed every couple of days because of the sweat as do clothes that I wear, particularly if I go down to Kaş. Walking the dogs has to be done before the sun gets over the ridge behind my house in the morning and after it has gone down over the Phellos ridge on the other side of the valley because the surface of the road that I walk up is too hot for the dogs paws. This means starting between five thirty and six in the morning and after seven thirty in the evening. I brought the TV into the bedroom and dogs, cats and I stay in the air conditioned cool and watch a couple of films on the hottest or most humid afternoons.

Talking of dogs one of Kaş’s most well known street dogs Wolfie (or Wolverine as some people called him) got himself banned from the Republic Square where he used to sleep in the shade cast by the statue of Ataturk. Nobody seems to know quite what he did to deserve the ban or who complained about him but after having lived in the square for many years he was unceremoniously shipped off the to the animal shelter. A petition to the mayor to return him failed so I decided he would come and live at my place. He’s been here about five weeks now and is well settled in, he barks quite a bit though. I was worried that he might upset my neighbours but luckily it’s only a soft kind of bark and when I’ve been down at the road by my gate I have barely heard him. There are plenty of other village dogs that bark nearly all night so I doubt anyone will single him out for complaint. He used to look quite old, slow and overweight but since he’s been getting decent food and excercise with me he has lost most of the excess weight and has become quite energetic. He’s still a big dog though, probably over thirty kilos  and I’m looking forward to cooler temperatures when I can see how much he likes to run around down at Demre beach.

Had another trip over to Meis (Kastellorizo) in early July and walked over to the east bay again to see the progress of the renovations and show a friend around. Then we had a bite to eat and a nice cooling beer at the little restaurant next to the Church of St George. We had a very nice Moussaka with salad, very cheap too!

Just across the road from the restaurant is a statue to the Lady of Ro, Despina Achladioti who lived alone on the tiny island of Ro very close to Kaş. Here is a link to her story on Wikipedia.

Whilst walking around we came across this old BMW motorcycle with a sidecar attached. Looks ripe for restoration and I feel quite interested but the paperwork to get it to Kaş would probably be horrendous.

It doesn’t look as though it would need that much restoration work to get it to original condition, it seems pretty complete and it’s a shame that it has been allowed to deteriorate.

A friend of mine bought a “house” on Meis a little while ago and has been jumping through some of the hoops to get permission to rebuild it. There is quite a lot of work to do but I’m sure it will look nice when it’s finished.

Power to you elbow Stephanie, I think you’re gong to need it.

Ramazan (it has a “z” in Turkish) finished here followed by the Şeker Bayram in early July and I took a couple of photos of the new moon from my house, here’s one of them

And last but not least my little cat Katie caught a small snake last week and I managed to get a few shots of her with it.

It’s actually not a snake at all but a baby Slow Worm, the mother was in the garden a month or so ago and she was about a metre and a half long and much more impressive. They don’t bite and have no defences against their predators so tend to stay out of sight most of the time. Like I do with most things the cats catch I took the baby off Katie before she could do any damage and let it go in another part of the garden so hopefully it will survive and be a bit wiser about cats from now on. Unfortunately there are many little creatures that the cats catch that I don’t have chance to take off them.

Summer is blazing now, regularly 40C+ and curtailing most activities apart from visits to the beach. The cats and dogs are just lying around so as not to get too hot and I have put the television outside on the porch to watch in comfort, I only have air conditioning in the bedroom.

I had a trip over to Adrasan recently to see an old friend. Been past the turning off the main Antalya road lots of times and always wondered what it was like but always had a different agenda before, this time I had all day. I was very surprised at how nice it was, quiet, small buildings, nothing too fancy and a nice beach. there were a few summer season preparations going on but for a relaxing holiday I would say it is nearly perfect.

The flowers in my garden attract some nice butterflies, don’t know the names of these, or the flowers but I thought they were nice so here is a picture.

The cats were all gathered under one of the oleanders the other day and I had a suspicion that there might be a reason so I picked up my camera and toddled off to have a look. The tortoiseshell one, Defne, had caught a large mouse. At first I thought it was a small rat but I think mouse is more likely, although I have seen one or two rats in the years I’ve been here. The third cat is in deep shadow behind Deniz, the black and white one, you might just be able to see her eyes. (Edit: Actually I seem to have made a mistake, not unkown in my posts, it’s actually a small Bay tree not an Oleander as anyone with any horticultural knowledge has probably already shouted at their screen.)

I made Shakshuka for breakfast a few days ago, typically Mediterranean and very nice, I’ll do it again next week I think. I enhanced it a bit with some chopped fried bacon but couldn’t really tell if it made any difference. Very nice though.

Oh, my biopsy results eventually came through and reported that the thyroid “nodule” was benign. Apparently just a goitre, and not a very large one at that. I can’t really feel it although the consultant said he could. I’ll get it checked for size in about a year but it doesn’t seem as though it will be a problem.

I like the occasional few Pringles, cheese and onion for preference, but I’m getting sick and tired of opening a tube of them to find that they are all broken into small pieces. I wish the manufacturers would get a grip of the shops and delivery people, I would buy them more often if I could be assured that they were whole.

Well today is British EU Referendum day. I will be very interested to hear the results tomorrow. I hope the result is to leave the EU, for me it is all about sovereignty, we have slowly but surely lost most of it to the un-elected EU gravy train and I would like to see power to make decisions on laws, tax and other regulations that we have lost returned to the British government so that we have control of our country. Not that I think the British government is good by any means but if they make bad decisions at least the British people will be responsible for who they elect.