Spring Action

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I’ve been incredibly busy the last few days, starting with giving the house a good scrub from top to toe.  It is always so dusty here in the Village, primarily caused by the surrounding farmland but couple this with the building work next door and we are constantly covered in a thin (or thick) layer of dust.  The Turk pulled the refrigerator out and behind it was a family of dust bunnies.  They were quite happy living behind the refrigerator but sadly they had to go as they were multiplying rapidly.  I am pretty sure I never ever cleaned behind my refrigerator in North Sydney but that was more likely because I am incredibly lazy and just assumed my cleaner (or perhaps The Turk) did it for me.  I cannot believe how much dust, fluff and general grubbery builds up here.  I am forever mopping the floor and forever exfoliating the grub from my skin. The house is looking schmick at the moment though, all shiny and dust free (for today anyway).

School finishes here in 3 weeks and Daughter and I am leaving for Sydney the next morning.  I love a countdown but this one is particularly exciting for me as I am going home to see my friends and family.  I am also incredibly excited about eating food.  Australian food.  Pub lunches.  Indian banquets.  Italian.  Thai.  Mexican.  Oh.  My.  God.  You name it, Imma gonna eat it!  Don’t get me wrong I love Turkish food too but here it is just food.  Every day.  God give me some pepper sauce.  I am drooling in anticipation of a good curry.  And then there is bacon.  I miss bacon.  I know, I know we’ve been over this already but I do.  I really, really do miss bacon.  A lot.

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I’ve also been helping The Turk in the garden.  Our spring garden is blooming.  Again no pesticides, we are being as organic as we can be.  Unfortunately we had a late rain last week and we lost some of our vegetables but our green beans are coming in nicely as are our summer lettuce and our corn.  The first strawberries have appeared and our tomatoes are flowering.  The Turk has had to ‘sex them up’ which for those of you who don’t know The Turk or I this is my explanation for him out in the garden violating the flowers with his finger to release their pollen.  He is adamant that this will ensure the flower will become a tomato.  Yes he has been doing this for years with both his tomatoes and his chilli plants.  He swears that it works every single time.  It does.

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Turkey has been in the press this past week.  The devastating loss of life in Soma and the subsequent protests and riots by the public is awful to witness.  The sadness I feel for the loss of life is overwhelmed by my anger eyeballing the behaviour of the politicians and their reactions.  I am sure that wherever it is that you are currently in the world whether it is Turkey or elsewhere you would no doubt have seen the footage of Yusef Yerkel kicking a grieving member of public last week in Soma.  Did you hear that he is now on sick leave as he injured his leg?  That poor man.  Injured while on the job.  Oh how I feel for him.  How lucky that he gets to sit at home and recuperate.  OMFG!  I am sorry but he should have been arrested for assault and fired immediately.  Did you also know that only a week before the Soma accident the political party CHP requested that the mine be investigated for work-related injuries and its safety record but the current ruling party AKP vetoed the request?  Yikes!  My heart goes out to the families of those who lost someone at Soma and my sincerest hope is that their deaths bring about reform within the Turkish mining industry which has an extremely poor record.

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I know I hopped onto my soap box again.  I know I promised I wouldn’t do it but sometimes its a little difficult for me to shut my mouth when an injustice is done.

Enough from me for now.  The Turk has just brought us freshly cooked corn straight from our garden.  A little butter, a little salt and pepper and this snack is fit for a queen – and her princess.

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16 thoughts on “Spring Action”

  1. Inspiration….Inspiration….Inspiration.
    I am off to clean behind my refrigerator, Book a flight somewhere exotic, order a curry, plant something nice to eat,release some pollen! say a prayer for soma, and i am already cooking the sweetcorn ready to smother with a pack of butter and sprinkle with black pepper.

    ( i used to love it when we were in the Turkish village and they would just go and pluck sweetcorn, and barbque them with baby new potatoes fresh from the field, best i have EVER tasted! oh memories are flooding back to me now.) Pluck apples,pears and cherries from the trees on the way home.
    Enjoy your trip to Australia, still loving your blogs, always entertaining and informative, and sometimes very funny. Daughter looks beautiful as usual. Also your highlights look fab.
    keep us updated on your trip.
    kind regards
    Jan

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  2. Sexing up tomatoes eh? We decided not to plant any this year, or green beans for that matter, so the new owners (eventually) will have to be happy with our full crop of onions (damn) and potatoes (double damn) plus the apple tree (damn, Damn, DAMN) which is going to be laden. We’ve never pollinated our tomato plants, and have always had a good harvest. Mind you, we have lots of bees and butterflies visit the garden so maybe they’re doing it for us.
    My Dad was another matter though, and ‘at the due time’ he would be out in the greenhouse with his feather ‘tickling’ his peaches, melons and cucumbers!
    Enjoy your bacon, I mean holiday, in Oz.!

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    • In Oz you definitely need to ‘sex up the tomatoes’, here there is a plethora of bees and butterflies and other winged insects to do it for you but that won’t stop The Turk for doing his bit too (just like your Dad).

      Yes, yes, yes. “I’ll have what she’s having”. Well that will be bacon. Bacon. BACON!!!

      Im getting carried away again aren’t I?

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  3. You could edit and use a portion of this on coveyview. It’s interesting to know about your garden and life in Turkey. I like your easy conversational style writing.

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  5. I do miss Indian restaurants (we used to live very near one of the largest sub-continental communities in Europe) but we do get the food. I just have to cook it myself. And now I’m wondering whether we need to give our (Mexican) chilli plants a nudge….

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  6. Hi Jane! Sorry I haven’t visited more often but got snowed under with 101. I gave out your link in my list of great blogs to follow. Really appreciate your kind words about my artwork. My stats are pretty small! But anyway I have learned a lot and met great people. Have a great trip to Australia. Do you miss fish and chips? That’s what I missed once after a trip to Europe. Enjoyed your post very much, as always! 😊. Cheers, Maria.

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  7. You taught me something new ‘sex them up’, I am going to try that if I ever have my own garden! Soma was terrible and it’s your blog so stand and rant, it’s better out than in.
    My boys are looking forward to meat pies and I want noodles!! The boys and I are now flying home early and staying in Tassie for a few weeks, I’m excited we leave on the 8th

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    • Aaghhh! You get home before me then 😛

      Oh yes a meat pie would be great (particularly if I can eat it at Brookie Oval). We can get noodles here but as I am no chef they are just goop by the time I’ve finished with them lol!

      I can’t believe your year is almost over Millie. Where has the time gone?

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