Wednesday, December 29, 2010

WOYWW 82

Didnt that go quickly....there was even christmas inbetween!

What is on your workdesk today? If you want to join in the fun hop over to Julia's blog to see what all the fuss is about.





So this is my desk, I have still not organised my craft room  so things are very tidy on both desks at the moment.  I'm  sure it wont last but happy whilst it does!

I am  trying to get up to speed with my Journal Your Christmas album, hence all the date embellishments on my desk. Nothing much else going on at the moment, so off to have a nose at everyone's desk.

happy wednesday everyone, see you in 2011.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Not so christmassy but still a very nice day

Well we had dinner, then kerem  had some leftovers. The best part was lighting the fire for the first time and watching a movie.

here are a couple of christmas day photos

Saturday, December 25, 2010

merry christmas

Hope everyone has a merry christmas. We are opening our presents under the tree and have a fire started in our new fireplace to mark the occassion. Not sure that we need it for heat today, but couldnt let the opportunity pass us by.

Later today we are going out for christmas lunch at one of our local cafes. Looking forward to it, maybe that should be a new tradition?!

Hope everyone has a lovely day and enjoy wherever you are.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The fireplace

Well here it is in all its glory.



Just waiting on the plaster to dry so that we can paint the room and all will be right again. The mirror wont stay there after the paint job it will move back to its original place on the wall.

It does make the room a lot smaller losing that corner, but it will all be worth it on saturday when we can light it for the first time.

the rest of the room kinda looks like this



A little cramped for my taste, but slowly i will get it back into some semblance of order. We are just waiting for the doors to come, (now that all the coving has been hacked down) hopefully before christmas but if not we will just make do with the curtains as is.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Another wednesday (without) WOYWW 81

It hardly seems that long since i was typing my last post, but it appears that a week has flown already. My craft room stll looks like this, hence the not really crafting with Julia's merry band but i am soooooo hoping to get back in the swing of crafting next week. That is once i assemble my stash into one craft area in one room. So i thought this week i would show the utter chaos...



The reason my craft room looks like this ...... since the weather turned colder here we have been looking at heating systems. We finally decided on a fireplace. So on Monday the workmen came and my house turned into no-mans-land of dust, plaster, bricks and electric cable.

You might think by now that we bought an electric fire.....NO......but we had to relocate all the aircon units, the TV and phone points and sockets.

There was a general hive of activity, lots of tea making. Turkish workers work best when supplied with a constant source of tea. We went through a whole box of sugar cubes, they like their tea strong and sweet! YUCK!

By 10.30am it all got a little too much for me so I escaped and left Kerem to it. By 5.30pm I returned to the scene of devastation. It took them til 10.30pm to actually finish everything. By which time i had been hiding in my relocated craft room for 4 hours. I was starving and bored so ventured out at 9.30pm for the last gasp.

The remainder of Monday night and Tuesday all day were designated cleaning. From the clean on monday we still had to rewipe everything again on the tuesday morning as the dust was still settling.



My christmas tree looks like it has had a dusting of snow, but really i just couldnt bear to take it all apart to clean and put it back together again, so a good shake and vac will have to do for now.

Today has been a day of washing. 2 rooms were locked. That seemingly doesnt matter when it comes to dust. It is like....no passport needed to cross the border, so I have done about 8 loads of washing. Thankfully it has been about 20 C today so most of the washing is now in the ironing pile.

Happy Wednesday

finally my decorations Turkey style

well this is as good as it gets.



My decorated room i.e there is a christmas tree. This lasted all of 4 days, then we got the fireplace in. More on that in the next post. There was not a lot to choose from in the way of decorations, so this will have to do

Have a lovely christmas

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

it should be a different kind of post today....

but no time to play with the WOYWW group today, i have been so busy trying to decorate the villa.

I rescheduled my flights, with one thing and another it is becoming obvious that DH and I are going to spend this christmas on the Aegean coast.

Still, I am sure that we will make the most of it, given the circumstances. Hence the decoration. I will post more when i am satisfied that it looks even remotely christmassy. At the moment there is a tree in pieces in its box; 3 strands of tinsel round various pictures on the wall and some cards on the TV stand. No photos til this is resolved.

hope you are all enjoying your christmas decorations
c

Sunday, December 12, 2010

sunday and it should be a good day...

but......

we went out this morning to take the rubbish to the bin only to find that our angelic (NOT) dogs had killed a kitten. I wanted to hide in a corner and pretend that it was all a nightmare.

I know it is a natural state for dogs and cats to fight, and truth be told there was no gore. I think they must have thought it was a toy then when it died they left it alone....for us to find!

i hate that part of their nature though, if only i could train them out of it.  It is the one down side (apart from the barking) of having dogs when there are so many wild animals on the site.

I hope this post doesnt spoil your weekend, but i have to share!

More crafting posts later, i promise. I need to craft now to lift my spirits after this...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

WOYWW and birthday cards

Not really sure which WOYWW this is, but I have been working on the kitchen table these past 2 days because some friends came round to do christmas cards.



Tidier than usual huh!
We cant buy cards in Turkey, so Tuesday was obviously when panic set in for some of my friends. We did have a very nice evening, lots of chat and DH even made some nice spicy lentil soup for us....we were too busy to make anything to eat ourselves.

I was working on a couple of birthday cards. My friend's twin grandsons have their birthday when she is home so she wanted something different for them.

The dogs were waiting patiently for some biccies so thought i would add a photo

 and finally the finished cards




I am not sure that i will have a chance to blog hop much this week again, but I thank you all for your lovely comments last week.

To join in with the wednesday madness pop over to Julia's blog.

Happy  hopping

Monday, December 6, 2010

JYC day 6

It's the 6th day in the Journal your Christmas project. I cant believe that i have actually kept up with my journalling (in a note book) all ready to transfer over once i get round to preparing the pages.

Christmas is coming faster and faster every year, this is my attempt to slow it all down a little. Today's prompt is to record 2 christmases.

My first is one from my childhood when i remember my dad hiding little presents IN rather than under the tree for mum, so he could send her hunting for them later. It was really funny to watch because we knew where and what it was but it was nice to see Mum get excited about something different.

My second is the christmas of 2008. Returning (delayed) from honeymoon I spent most of christmas day on a plane and then driving up from the middle of England. We didnt get in until 10pm, but everyone was still there so a little silver lining to a christmas gone wrong.

2 years on...

Today is our 2nd anniversary. I can't believe how time has flown.

We went shopping in Izmir yesterday and Kerem got all annoyed because he couldnt find me a present, but with christmas coming I dont really feel the need for presents. A card and dinner tonight is more than enough. Although i might subject him to looking through our wedding photos afterwards too!

I really feel lucky to have him in my life, although sometimes I kick and scream - hee hee, I do thinks it is worth it

Thursday, December 2, 2010

What's the weather doing????

Well, outside the temperature has been a lovely 22 C today. Once the sun went down it did cool down a little, but no rain and no snow/frost/blizzard/white out...you get my drift.

I'm determined to make this December a month of fun and festive frolicking. Actually translated that means as well as doing a christmas journal, I'm going to buy a tree and decorate the villa this year. Normally I wait til I get home to Mum's and find that she has done all the hard work and i can just sit and enjoy the christmassy feeling.

I guess it's a little strange, it feels like stepping out of summer straight into christmas. However, i think i have the best of both worlds. I get to have that lovely festive feeling without any of the boredom factor you get when the shops start selling christmas after halloween.

Hope you all manage to find that Christmas spirit early this month, December truly is a wonderful month.

Big hello to my new follower Becky.

AWOL Wednesday

Where did it go? What happened to my desk photo???

Basically I have a lot going on at the moment. I will be popping by Julia's blog to snoop at other crafty desks, but this week is likely to be just as busy as last week getting ready for christmas etc so I am only spectating this week, not participating in WOYWW.

Today is/was the 1st December (cos I still haven't gone to bed although it is past midnight). This is the first day of Journal Your Christmas course by Shimelle



I like her manifesto, as it pretty much captures exactly why i am journalling my christmas this year. Of course there is another reason, but more on that later.

So happy Wednesday, and happy december. I hope everyone finds their own joy this year.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

WOYWW 77

wow, wednesday and here we are dashing down to Julia's blog to try to get the no 1 spot. Then we all go snooping to see what other crafty goodness is on everyone else's desk. Why dont you come join us?

This past week has been very busy, but today I'm hoping for lots of me time (aka snoopy bloghopping).




Short post this week. On the desk today: Christmas cards, foam balls that i am going to create with and a lovely scrapbook album that i found on a shopping trip to Aydin. Believe it or not, I am actually using the desk like this to make cards this week. Too busy to tidy...maybe next week!

Have a wonderful wednesday.

Friday, November 19, 2010

purple parsnips or carrots?

As Bayram (festival) draws to a close I found myself going through the fridge trying to work out what needs to be cooked now and what can be kept for later.

At the weekend market I bought a turnip and some rather unusual carrots.

The orange ones are my normal variety, but i couldnt help buying a handful of their more colourful neighbours. I felt that a week was long enough for them to linger in the fridge, so I thought I would boil up some turnip and carrot to make a mash as a side dish.

However, when the timer went off this is what i found (and halloween doesn't come round again for another 11 months....)


The purple carrot at the bottom had turned the water a lovely shade of purple, so not sure what the mash is going to look like at the side of the beef stew, but it tastes a little more like parsnip/turnip than carrot.

Oh well, such are the joys of living in a different country. Sometimes you find the most unusual things.

A big hello to Ann my new follower.

More crafty posts to come later, once i have tracked down my awol mojo.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

WOYWW 76

It's wednesday and that means Julia has a lovely list of ladies all linking to her blog and showing their desks. Wanna join in? Click on the link and it will take you there.

My desk still has christmas stuff on it, although i really should be doing some birthday cards as i have a few in December.
Isn't it funny, once people know you make cards they get quite insulted if you send them a shop bought one. That is all well and good, but i just dont seem to have enough hours in the day to make all the cards i need.



This post was prepared Sunday, and the photos were taken on Monday night actually because it is Bayram here on Tuesday so that means Tuesday and Wednesday we will be round at my mother-in-laws. Death by over feeding, but it all tastes so good. My diet is so not happening this week.

Incase you are wondering about the tealights, we had a power cut at the weekend, and i decided to leave them handy incase the power went again. Might investigate OTT lights when i am in UK.

The shoebox is telling me that it needs to be filled with more christmas cards.

Thanks for all the lovely comments last week. Sorry i never managed to get to everyone on Julia's list, it was such a hectic week. I promise to try harder this week.

Have a great wednesday, and happy hopping.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Did I really need to see that??? I think not....

OK, so it's Kurban Bayram here in Turkey today. That means that all over the country people are sacrificing sheep and cows. The point is that you are meant to distribute it in 7 pieces to 7 families in need.

We went to MIL's to pay our respects and eat and drink til we could no longer.....

but.....

what should meet me at the kitchen door (no pun intended) ......a whole cows head, already skinned....but still with the eyes. Eeeeyyyoooowww! Honestly, it was as big as my torso. And given that i am no waif....you can imagine the size....Needless to say I didnt ask what they were doing/ were going to do as I dont think i could stomache knowing.

And, as for the eating, really didnt feel all that hungry any more. Took my glass of tea and didnt venture into the kitchen again.

On the bright side, it was great to see most of the family in one place. That is no mean feat as DH is one of eleven! I didnt understand most of the conversation, but I got cuddles and kisses and it made me feel like part of the family.

Monday, November 15, 2010

red squirrels at Virgin Mary House

I was looking back at some of my holiday snaps, and i realised that i had not blogged about the Red Squirrels. I love squirrels, but we rarely see any red squirrels in Scotland (if we even have any left).

When my visitors were here in October, we went to Ephesus. Mum wasn't really in the mood for the long walk down marble roads so after dropping L & S off, we continued up the very winding road to the Virgin Mary house (2nd time for me in a week). But it is lovely there. So tranquil, no matter how busy it gets.



Only the raucous family of red squirrels were misbehaving. I managed to get a few shots, but to be honest most of the time it was just tail and a*** - not good blogging material. Everyone was laughing at the little critters though, and they seemed to be happy to cavort infront of spectators. It was almost like they were performing for the camera! Another reason why i love that place.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Turkish Craft Stash

I have actually managed to find some stash locally.





The red/black/brown flowers cost me ~50p
The hairband (i'll cut the felt flowers off) ~£1.20 
The vine ribbon (green, gold, silver) 3m cost ~£1.50
The rikrak (black,red,brown) 3m cost ~£1.50
Organza gold ribbon 25yd ~50p
pot of gold flower gems ~50p
sheet of gold/wine ribbon roses ~ £2.25
pink beads, white plastic flower ~50p
silver and gold waxed thread 1m ~ 20p

The shop had lots of ribbon and sequined butterflies/hearts etc so might be going back there. It is unusual to find anything other than ribbon here though, so i am quite excited.

I am going to use the rikrak for the weekly challenge on UKS, I'll post that later...but here are some anniversary cards i made earlier.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

It's Thursday...I think

My head is so not on right today, have you ever had one of those days where things just wont go right no matter how hard you try? Well, today was one of those....or should i say, yesterday was. Thankfully it is past midnight and i have managed to get past the day intact, lol.



Made this card on Tuesday, it is for a challenge that Spyder set for Quirky Crafts Challenges so i just had to play along. I used freebie papers (I'm getting good at this - huh!) The purple brads are actually card candy which i am becoming totally addicted to using. Used some twinkling H2Os and some sakura glitter gel pens and actually I'm relatively happy with the outcome.

so why not pop over and visit Spyder, she has some really fab freebie digital stamps and she posts a new one every wednesday.

happy hopping

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

WOYWW 75

Wednesday again, were there any other days inbetween this week?



This is my relatively tidy workdesk. I liked the freebie papers that much i used them again for a 21st card. The other card is a work in progress. I'm not sure that i am happy with it, well with the gold peeloffs and the chalking on the flowers and leaves anyway...it might evolve over the next day or two.

To the left is a pile of freebie papers, some adhesive gems (which i am truly begining to adore) and my trusty trimmer - CM.




I really do have a lot of freebie papers that need to be used up, some are still in the magazines. I'm getting better at using them, it pleases me when i see them on a page layout or a card, but does anyone else find it hard to make that first cut. Once they are no longer intact I can hack away without a care, but that initial cut.....well, say no more.....

Last week I managed all the blogs again, I am starting to understand why people dont like word verification! Will try hard, but I'm not sure I'll make it round to everyone this week because I have a few things on.

Happy WOYWW everyone, and if you are new to the desk-showing mania please pop over to Julia's blog to find out why we are all addicted...

Monday, November 8, 2010

Marvellous Monday

It's Monday again, so must be time for another UKS weekly challenge.

I managed last weeks challenge by the skin of my teeth. I stayed up last night to finish the layout way into the wee small hours. Wont be doing that late again, teaching 8 year olds after that little sleep is not something i wish to revisit!

The theme was out and about. We live 20min from Bafa Lake, one of the most tranquil places I know. Luckily eveyone who visits wants to visit, so it would be rude not to oblige.....





The layout is of my 2 gorgeous nieces, taken last summer when my brother and his family were over. I miss them more than i can say, but photos and layouts help...

We used a sketch, the bling is on the flipflop flowers and the blue bead below the dragonfly is a Turkish Nazar. The nazar (evil eye) fends off evil spirits, it is a protection charm. It is customary to give as a gift to visitors, babies etc which is a custom I love about Turkey.

Big hello to my new followers: Carolann, Bonnie and Debz.

Hope you all have a marvellous monday....

Saturday, November 6, 2010

pumpkin soup

I love autumn in Turkey because we get huge pumpkins in the local market. It is my favourite soup to make for winter. I have been asked by a couple of bloggers to post my recipe for pumpkin soup. So, here is how i make it:

ingredients:
1kg of pumpkin
2 onions
4-6 potatoes
veg stock cube
500ml milk
salt & pepper
butter

Peel and deseed the pumpkin then cut up remaining flesh into smallish chunks.
slice 2 onions into large chunks.
First fry up the onion in butter, then add the pumpkin chunks. On a low gas let the pumpkin sweat, stirring regularly for 20 min.
cut up 4-6 large potatoes into cubes and boil separately (as you would for mash potato).
Add the boiled potato to the pumpkin/onion mix
Boil 500ml water, dissolve the stock cube and pour into the mix
Add 500ml milk.
Add salt and pepper to taste
Bring mixture to just under the boil and simmer  for 30min. Beware, because there is milk dont let it actually start boiling. This will lead to disaster...believe me, I spent many a time cleaning overflow!

I tend to put the soup in a blender, but you dont have to. It freezes well so you can eat straight away or make it  and freeze it for a rainy day (when you cant be bothered to cook).

You could also add sweetcorn, carrot or lentil but i like it as it is.

When i visited WOYWWer artjen on wednesday, she had also posted a pumpkin soup recipie which is a bit different to mine. It tasted good ( i omitted the celery salt though - yack)! Incase you want to try a variation on the theme. Lets face it, there is always more pumpkin to be had!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Fantastic Friday

Well I managed to hop to all WOYWW blogs this week again. Very time consuming, but very very inspiring.

I wanted to say a big Hello to Kay and Jo, my new followers.

I have had a great day so far. Did a bit of housework, some washing followed by the last of the WOYWW hops. The sun is shining and it's about 21oC outside so a cuppa was in order and the mandatory cuddle with my dogs. They dont realise i sit out to have a cuppa in peace, they think i'm visiting them! lol!

Then..... i opened my email to find that my SIL had (as promised) sent me some photos of halloween. They were fab, but even better was the motorbike photos that she sent as well. I laughed so hard and ofcourse now I am wondering which paper to use because i just have to put them on a layout. Mum if you are reading this...the layout might be mine...not yours.



A peek of one of the photos I will be using. Layout to follow.....have a fabulous friday!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

WOYWW 74

It's Wednesday again...yay!




So, what is on my table this week? Just now, a card that i am working on using freebie papers. Well i had to have a little tidy up so that i could do some more scrapping. I can make cards in a mess, but i tend not to like scrapping in chaos. Somehow chaos finds me after i finish the layout though (snicker).



This layout was completed at the weekend as part of the team challenge for UKS.  The topic was ...What would you do if you had an extra hour?... my layout tells how i would go and spend it with dad and his dogs. (that isnt me in the photo, it's a neighbour's child I think)

It is a tradition that i do a couple of pages for mums (surprise...NOT) christmas pressie. What is on the pages is generally the surprise, not the fact that she is going to receive them.

Last week i managed to visit all 148 WOYWWers, apart from vicky #125 who's link went back to Julia's (the gatekeeper of all things WOYWW). Which is where you need to visit if you want to join in with our blog hop. But beware...it's addictive! So pleased with myself, although i did lose 3 days to the blog hops. I think there were only a couple that didnt let me leave comments, but i did have a good peek. What a fantastic creative bunch you all are.

Well, I'll try to pop round to everyone again this week - time allowing.  Happy hopping.

Fat Tuesday

Well it is still Tuesday (in the UK).... This week I managed to lose 1/4lb. Not much I hear you say....but you didnt see what i ate. Everything i saw basically.....

My excuse???....... None!

Today we did a habit audit, and it turns out that i eat for comfort, I snack attack and low and behold...I eat because it is there to eat! ...DUH!.... I knew all of that, but it is surprising how much it hits home when it is in black and white (or in digital figures on the scale infront of you).

So, this week I am going to change my habits. I am going to log what i eat, weigh it and calculate my points. That way I might have a fighting chance of losing some next week, but actually deserving the reduction in weight this time.

Had some ladies over tonight making christmas cards. I really miss the crops and classes that i used to attend in the UK. It is so nice to have some like minded people to share a hobby with. We are going to try to get together every Tuesday evening until I go back for Christmas.

A big hello to my new followers Sherry and Rhonda.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

pumpkin and pomegranates

Well yesterday I went to the market. It has the most delicious fruit and veg. I got my weekly shop for 20TL (under £10). The best buy was this huge slice of pumpkin for 50p. I put the phone there so you could get an idea of just how big the slice is.

 The pomegranates are huge as well. I like the really sour ones, DH likes the sweet ones - just as well i cant work out which are which before I buy, lol.




I'm going to make pumpkin soup this week. It's my favourite winter soup. Let me know if you want the recipie and I can post that in a later post.

I love how fresh the veg is. It tastes wonderful.

Also a big HELLLOOOOO to Shaz and Cath, my new followers. More crafty posts to come...promise

Friday, October 29, 2010

christmas trees - a piece of pie

As I don't actually have any crafts shops that I can source embellishments from I tend to make them myself. There are 3 ways that I have worked out how to make christmas trees. When I say worked out, only the Pieces of Pie was an original idea:

Easiest, cut a tall triangle shape in patterend paper (seen this done lots in mags). I cut a template from cardboard and use this to draw around because my hand drawn triangles always end up squint.


Alternatively, punch out 2 or 3 different sizes of hearts. They need to be nesting hearts (idea from CM idea book).



Finally, use 2 or 3 different sized circles. Cut into quarters or even sixths and fit together. I've found that using 3 slices from the same sized circle works best for me. Attach as below:


This is a peek at a couple of wooden embellishments that i keep to use as templates for hat and mitts


happy tree making

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

WOYWW 73


It's Wednesday, so that must mean that it's time to see What is On Your Workdesk again. To join in the fun, pop over to Julia's blog where all those inviting links are kept in a central location.

Today's desk is a little more disorganised than creative. I don't actually know where most of my crafty things are at the moment. I suppose it's all part of rushing around trying to get the house (and myself) back to normal after my visitors.

Still, I have managed to make some christmas cards. I tried embossing and then running over the (snow or snowflakes) with my white ink. I am fairly happy with the result so might try with other shades of card stock later. I also managed to use my paper weaved embellishment (that i posted about a few weeks ago).

I can also spy my halloween punch that i was using for some of my cards in the last few weeks, and a sentiment that i wasn't happy with from a previoius card order. Did I mention before my hatred of throwing things out? I'm sure i can do something with the shape, lol.

Off out early this morning, but will be hopping over to see lots of desks later this afternoon. Thanks to everyone who left lovely messages last week, hopefully i managed to return the visit.

Happy Wednesday!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

They've all gone home

The house is so empty now, but it was fun having everyone over to visit. I am very tired, so having a lazy day today. Actually, I am doing loads of washing. Think I am on my 5th load now.

The weather was a lot cooler this October, and wetter than normal. So, as I was cleaning all the beds I thought I should make an attempt at changing the wardrobes around. This is a very Turkish phenomenon, or should I say it only happened once I moved from Scotland (you can wear jeans and jumpers all year there). There is a marked difference in my colour scheme between summer (mainly white) and winter (mainly dark - black/red/green/blue). Ofcourse, I wear brown what ever the weather - i just pick a shade to suit, lol. (My friend Zilpha rolls her eyes in disgust). I love brown and cream.

Hopefully I will get back into a bit more crafting, and onto UKScrappers to chat with my teammies a bit more too this week.

Just before I go a big Hi to Elanva, my new follower.

I promise my next post will be a bit more crafty than this one. I am fiddling about making some DIY christmas trees for cards and tags. I'll post more about this later......

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

WOYWW 72


Today it's the return of a busy desk. As my mum is here I have been taking the time (and opportunity) to get information on some of the heritage photos that i have. Of course it is going to benefit her as the return on her time is going to be lots of pages with lots of information/journalling for her albums.

My sister brought me a couple of books to read, we have problems getting English books here and most of my friends dont have the same taste in books as I do. That is why there is a reading book as opposed to craft book on my desk, she is staying in the craft room/spare bedroom (poor thing). That's also the reason for the tight shot of my desk and nothing else.

I didnt have a lot of time last week to visit WOYWWers, but I promise to try harder this week. Thank you to everyone who visited my blog last week and left lovely messages. I think i managed to visit everyone, although it did take ages without the number. I had a great time on my roadtrip to Sirince, but didnt like the early rise. Hence I dont think I'll be at the coveted #1 place again, love my bed too much.

If you are wondering why I am showing this mess, pop over to Julia's blog to join the fun. Have a lovely wednesday and i hope you all have better weather than our thunder & lightning.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Virgin Mary house and Sirince

Well, we had a lovely day on Wednesday in Sirince (pronounced She-reen-gee). It is in the ancient city of Selcuk (sell chook) and up a very very high mountain. It is cute and quaint, and produces very fine fruit wines. There is also a lovely church up a very steep climb - but it has a lovely view



Afterwards we were going to visit Ephesus, but as P's knees were aching we decided that virgin Mary's house would be gentler on the legs, and less slippery underfoot. Ephesus can get quite treacherous in the rain because of the marble slabs that the roads are built from.

this is the path from the house to the chapel, and the foundations of the house

This is a photo of the chapel, and the wall of white is a wall which has been covered with tissues and ribbons of wishes (which you then tie onto the wall). The setting is beautiful and the sense of peace and tranquility there is incredible. If you ever visit Turkey this is definately a place to come to. Whether you are religious or not, the park can be enjoyed just for the setting.



Well, just a short post as mum and sis are here....so off to do some entertaining...but before I go...Hello to Gez! I have my first follower. Hope you enjoy the post, more craft stuff next week.