Back In The Groove

I have had several posts written and ready for a few days now, but the frigid temps (not getting above 22 degrees, even during the day...really really cold for here) have also brought a lack of electricity and internet.  As much as we complain about it...it has been a nice change. We have spent the evenings reading or playing games...as opposed to sitting on the internet like our overachieving selves are prone to do.  But, it is also nice to be connected back to the outside world.  All of that to say, I am going to post a few posts at one time...because you just never know when the electricity will disappear again.  And in case you are wondering...20 minutes of electricity a day isn't viable in my eyes...and neither is having it from 1am to 4 am. Someone tried to convince me that we HAVE had electricity...which is technically true, I guess. But I am just not buying it!

In my last post I wrote about how I was having trouble to find the motivation to get out there and interact with my neighbors.  I knew that I would enjoy it once I did…but putting one foot in front of the other was the issue.

 

I had a plan to get out to visit the house on the end of our block yesterday.  One of the sons (and his wife) of that family works in the project with A.P. Their kids are the ones that come to play each week.  The extended family lives there and we visited them often in the summer.  One of them is a tailor, so I was taking some fabric to them to have sewn. 

As I was walking to the gate yesterday, kAkA came and said that those kids were at the gate and wanted to play.  Usually they come on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, but I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and invite them in.  I told them that we weren’t playing in the house, but would stay outside.  They weren’t happy about it (the love tearing my house apart, playing inside), but came in to play in the yard anyway.  They played for an hour or so…causing me to postpone my plans to visit their extended family…but it was fine.

I know I have posted this photo before, but it still makes me smile.  One of the sane moments that we have experienced with the kids playing at our house!

So, this morning after some computer work, and washing diapers, and arguing with Little T about the fact that it was 34 degrees out…meaning he couldn’t go naked…We got out the door and headed down the street. 

We had a nice visit at granny’s house.  There are 12 kids who live in that yard (plus the four who come to visit and hang out there during the day while their parents work) so it is kind of a zoo.  Little t loves going because there are plenty of kids to play with…and because he always gets candy!  We sat in the guest room with a sand-alee in the middle.  This is a wooden table that has a heating device placed under it (usually a pile of coals set in a bowl) and heavy blankets over the top. The idea is that you sit around the table with your legs under the blankets.  It is actually pretty slick and we all sat there cozy.  The t.v. was on – per usual and pretty soon we all became riveted by the Turkish soap opera that was blaring.  We chatted as we watched and sipped our tea. We chatted between commericals and all let out a dramatic sigh at the end of the show. 

In case you are wondering, the only way that a Turkish soap opera is more exciting than an American one is the blurring.  Because the women wear scandalous things like tanktops or shirts that show skin below their collar bones…their tops are blurred out.  It just adds to the mystery and aura that accompanies that unending drama of a soap opera…or something like that…

I declined the offer to stay for lunch because we were on our way to day one of a wedding party for the daughter of some of A.P.’s coworkers. Lunch and an afternoon of dancing were in our near future and we had to go home to get ready.