CHRISTMAS FUN.

Christmas every year looks almost the same at my house. Endless cards and games between gnoshing.  Theo, Cedric (hidden) Kristanne and Doug play 13, the national card game of Viet Nam while...

...while Mason and Virginia play cribbage at the other end of the table. People change places, step in and out of games and in general have a good time.

We chose a Mexican theme for this Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner was home-made chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice and pinto beans with a romaine salad. As the family members grow, it's tough to fit everyone in with one picture.

After dinner we took a walk into the night to look back at the lights and found our selves in awe of the starry, starry night. Stars so close we could see the constellations and Milky Way as though touchable. Virginia started a carol and we stood in the street and sang and gave thanks that light pollution has not blocked ancestral skies on our tiny portion of the planet.

Grandson, Stewart, home from Japan for Christmas, brought this sample of Japanese foods. He taught us how easy Japanese is to learn because the characters are so consistent. If a character means house, or rock or walk, it will always mean that no matter how many characters in a sentence.  His brother, Mason, easily picked up some Japanese words. Leave it to the young.

Christmas day was more of the same. My brother, Bill, left, joined us for the afternoon. We are playing elevator with Stewart, Virginia, Mason, Owen, Ken and myself. At the opposite end of the table, Theo, Doug, Kristanne and Laurie play RummiKub.

We played around with hats and I thought of some artists paintings as I looked at what the camera did to Mason's arm. One giant appendage and one shrunken.

I rarely wear this hat, but I love it.

It has seven watches glued on it, plus other fascinating pins, buttons, beads and junk.

I bought a Playboy jacket at a second hand store just for the buttons. (I'm a collector.)  We had great fun with it. I liked this picture of Owen, though a bit blurry and in a distracting background.

It's tough to get Owen to stand still for a picture, but I love this smile.

And Dad, too. I liked this one though the light wasn't quite right.

But he liked a different one. I think he was trying not to laugh.

Stewart said, no way. The hat was too small and he couldn't get the jacket on his second arm.

None of these pictures are in the correct order. I didn't remember to take a picture of our Christmas Day dinner, which was chili rellenos with an apple and cabbage pomegranate coleslaw, and home made-by Doug and Virginia- Chicken, Pork and chili cheese tamales. Goodt stuff.

Before we finished Christmas dinner, the desert table was almost bare.

We had our anonymous book trade, only three to open. And, all too soon, it was bedtime for me,  the picture taker. My ears picked up hushed conversation sliding under my bedroom door as I succumbed to sleep.

The next morning, everyone was up bright and early. Ken and Laurie's family drove back to Reno in time to put Stewart, Mason and Kristanne on an Airplane for Las Vegas. Home for Mace and Stan; Stewart will reconnect with his girlfriend before returning to Japan.
My cup runneth over.

SETTING SAILS, LAST NIGHT, FETHIUE PORT CITY

2014-Turkey-4-27, Greek Ghost Twn,Soguk Su Cove

Last night, I saved our visit to the ghost town to an album, above, if you would like to see all of my pictures in a slide show.
It was my plan to take a Sunday off, but here I am, enjoying all over again, setting the sails, and moving on to our disembarkation city of Fethiyue, pronounced fet-hah-yay.

The weather has taken a turn, with clouds and wind building up a storm.

Our captain decides it is time to set the sail, which they do once on every tour. The sea is roiling which gives a bit of rock and roll, called Poseidon’s horses-ancient vernacular.

Mehnehten climbs the mast and must somehow make sense of the multiple ropes that govern the sails.

The foresail is first to flare.
Wait a minute. If all three men are tackling the sails, who is steering the boat?

OWEN?

Of course, his pal, Usla put him up to it. And, truth be told, the ship is anchored.

The mainsail fills. And we are officially a sailboat. It’s beautiful and complicated to watch the process.

Then its time to take the sails down and pack them away in those built-in green canvas sacks.

Mehnehten walks the boom, tucking every bit of canvas away. Mainsail first.

Foresail last. A fascinating show for we land lubbers.

We have American pizza before dinner as a treat. Usla warns us, “Please, don’t tell any other OAT traveler that you had pizza on the gulet or they will all expect pizza.  A tour leader from another company ordered the cheese and special ingredients and then his cruise was aborted and the ingredients left behind.”  I’m sure they won’t be reading my blog but Usla knew we had bumped into people from another OAT tour group and had visited and conferred with them.

The wind was really blowing hard as we sailed on to Fethiyue where the ship takes on provisions for the next cruise and we disembark.

Fethiyue is a big port town that is at the moment very political with problems between the Kurdish and the Turkish moslems, who have a small difference in religion and language. Kurds number 20 million and hold much of the oil in Turkey and unrest here is increasing as the problem goes unresolved. The Kurds want a country of their own. For that reason, OAT does not bring tourist to visit the city. We get to view it from afar.

Our last night on the gulet, through the porthole window, the lights of Fethiyue burn brightly farewell.