Thank You

A big THANK YOU! to EAS, One Family, Lori, JJ, Gill, Farah, Treaders, NLA, Bobbie, Linda from Alabama, Heloise, Sluggy, Anne, Celie and Anons,

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts and prayers. They are much needed at this time of the disaster.

Unfortunately we lost dad's cousin and his wife. Honestly, I thought I knew they wouldn't make it but, when I heard the news, it hit me like a rock. They were a lovely couple, kindest of people. Hope, they rest in Peace.

Heloise, thank you for the hug. I would love to meet with you in person one of these days when you come to visit. I truly appreciate your love for my country. I understand you want to contribute and I can recommend you two organizations I trust "Ahbap" and "AKUT" Unfortunately, I do not trust even the Red Crescent in my country anymore. 

I think the cheapest way to contribute is by Credit Card. It needs to be authorized for International Transactions. They also have International Fund Transfer Information on their sites. Either way, please do check with your bank or credit card company so, you don't get hit by huge transaction costs. 

Here are the links: 

https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey

https://www.akut.org.tr/en/donation

Your prayers and good thoughts are so much appreciated. 

"Peace at Home, Peace in the World"

Mustafa Kemal ATATURK

Earthquake

Unfortunately, at 4:17 a.m. the Southeast part of Turkey has been hit by a huge earthquake which affected at least 10 cities in Turkey and some parts of the neighboring nations. Two more earthquakes followed in a neighboring city. Thousands of small earthquakes keep happening in the region.

A cousin of my father and his family are under rubble as I type this. I don't know if they will survive. I am just hoping.

The rest of my family is safe but, many people have lost their lives and loved ones.

Finally!... Snow

The long anticipated cold weather and snow is finally here. It has been raining for the last couple of days and today, I finally saw some snow. It is supposed to snow till Thursday but, we'll see. It's very windy today. These cold fronts usually come from Ukraine and Russia, or the Balkans and Europe. We need snow for the farmers, and for our water supply. So, all is good.

Tomorrow, the schools will be opening after a two week long winter break but, may be not. The governor likes to decide at the very last moment to announce whether there will be school or not.

I am supposed to go to my dad's cousin tomorrow. We shall see a show called Fire of Anatolia. I had seen it when they first came out many years ago. They have toured in 106 countries since then and they are pretty good. They tell the story of all the civilizations settled in Anatolia with dance. Anatolia is the Asian part of Turkey, We are basically sitting on two continents , two peninsulas connected with three bridges, one tunnel for passenger vehicles and one tunnel for the Metro line. Anatolia has been a cradle of civilizations for thousands of years. Money has been invented here, the first written contract in history has been signed here, people settled and formed cities and then, massive civilizations. 

I had a frugal win this weekend. I have a Poang Chair from IKEA in my bedroom. The cushion is red and has bleach stains on it. My curtains and my bedspread are pale blue so, the red really doesn't go with my bedroom.

I was about to shell out USD 50 to replace the cushion but, I really didn't want to, so, I looked around my apartment and found a Cream colored thin, cotton blanket. 4 safety pins later, I now have a cream colored chair which goes perfectly with my bedroom. The chair is more of an accessory than something I actually use. I had bought it when I had a second apartment while I was working and just don't want to let it go. 

My freezer is now full again after eating everything that was in it. I will be eating out of it for a while. Time for dinner which is pre-made and waiting for me in the fridge. Hope, it was a good weekend.

Purse, Handbag, Pocketbook Whatever

For a person who is not a native English speaker, it is sometimes hard to choose some of the words while writing. I am sure that's not a problem for any native speaker of the language because, they will use their own words. I started learning English with a British method and British books (Longman) when I was 11. Then I went to College which was founded by Americans where the course material was from the US by American writers. When I worked for a multinational in NY, I was exposed to a good deal of New York, Brooklyn (yeah that's different) and Boston accents thanks to my colleagues. Would you believe I was once called a "Damn Yankee" when I was traveling in the Southern US? (I turned around and cursed in Turkish. Haha!)

Anyhow, whatever you call that thing that mostly women carry around all the time starts to weigh a ton, I am sure you all know, it is time to empty the whole thing and organize.

I emptied the contents of my purse (I usually use this word) and as always could not believe how much junk found it's way into it.

I cleaned the whole thing inside out with wet wipes and got rid of the junk and now I feel better.

Also, I took out my warmer sweaters because it is freezing these days. It actually snowed a little last night. Yay! We need more snow for sure. 

Cooking in bulk and freezing a few dishes help a lot. No cooking this week. I may need a few fresh veggies by the end of the week.

Lately I found this YouTuber, Nicole She has figured out the important things in life fairly early and I agree with pretty much everything she says. If you have time, check her out. She is crazy cool.

Upstairs neighbors must have visitors again tonight. They are usually very quiet but, when the TV is blasting away, I know they have visitors with, I guess, severe hearing problems.

Since we have talked about accents, here is a favorite scene which I may have shared before.