The Best Thing About Life

Yesterday, Sam and I held hands as we walked away from a sandy beach shore. We had just spent a few hours playing in the water and walking on the sand at a beach park near our home. As we approached the car, Sam said to me, "Going to the beach is the best thing about life."

I might have felt the same way when I was four years old. And really, my own sentiments today aren't that different. For me, going to fun places or doing fun things with someone you love is the best thing about life.

Favorite Things

At the beginning of this year, after Sam got his "big boy bed," we made some changes to Sam's bedtime routine. Before tucking Sam into the covers, all three of us sit on top of Sam's bed and say our favorite thing that happened during the day. Perhaps this new routine inadvertently developed because Sam's new bed arrived: it's easier for our family to sit together on a twin-size bed than in a crib!

Anyhow, I also realized this morning that our "favorite things" routine might have developed because I was channeling my inner Maria Von Trapp! Ha! The similarities between our routine and The Sound of Music are amusing.

Istanbul!

I haven't been in the mood to write about my trip to Turkey lately, but I'm determined write at least something. I think that the task just seems to daunting, because this trip was so momentous and activity-filled. Plus, my friend ixoj recapped our trip really well (see her posts: Turkey Part 1, Turkey Part 2, Turkey Part 3, and Random Turkey Thoughts). I feel like so many things have already been recorded, but I'm forcing myself to write. I know that there are other things that I want to remember. I thought I'd jot down a few bullet points, because that somehow seems more manageable:

• When we arrived in Istanbul at 2:00 am, we had a taxi driver take us to our hostel. The windows were rolled down. I distinctly remember warm, heavy, purfumed air come wafting through the taxi windows. While driving, I remembered a quote about an Delacroix painting which was described as being "redolent of the exotic, perfumed, and drugged harem atmosphere."¹ Whenever I caught a waft of some perfumed, spiced air during my trip in Istanbul, I couldn't help but think of this quote. The warm, heavy atmosphere in Turkey reminded me very much of Orientalist descriptions that I have read about harems.

•  I loved seeing Hagia Sophia and the Chora Church. Those were dreams come true! I loved seeing the Anastasis painting at the Chora Church. And I loved Hagia Sophia. The space inside the building was so majestic and awe-inspiring. And I really liked seeing the "golden chain" of light that surrounded the base of the Hagia Sophia dome. It was especially interesting to be in this church and see both the Muslim and Christian influence (and also how Muslims tried to cover up Christian imagery with either plaster or modifying the relief carvings of the cross). My one disappointment is that I didn't see the Viking graffiti in Hagia Sophia. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find it! Next time I'll have to actually pay for a tour guide.

 

The Obelisk of Theodosius, erected 390 CE

 The base of the Obelisk of Theodosius, erected 390 CE. It was interesting to see this Roman base supporting an obelisk with Egyptian hieroglyphs.

One of the Medusa heads in the Basilica Cistern. These two heads serve as the base for some columns and seem to have been intentionally placed upside down (or on their side). I'm sure they were just placed that way for functional purposes. These sculptures were used to support columns, and the heads were probably inverted so that they would be the right height and/or size for that load-bearing function. No one in the Byzantine period would have imagined that tourists would be crawling through their underground cistern in the 21st century!

• It was really neat to see all of the Roman and Byzantine influence in the city, too. I really liked seeing the Eyptian obelisk in the Hippodrome, as well as the upside-down Medusa heads inside the Basilica Cistern.
• I'm glad that my friends convinced me to go on a Bosphorous Cruise. The palaces along the shore were really neat to see. Plus, the water in the Bosphorous was so blue! It was lovely.
• I don't really like shopping, but I did enjoy seeing all of the eclectic goods for sale in the Grand Bazaar. One of the neatest things was a 19th century iron press which was used to imprint images of the crucifixion onto bread at Eastertime.
• Istanbul was extremely HOT and humid. We were sweaty all of the time, and my hair was a poofy frizz-ball.
• Our hostel was located next to a big avenue that was sectioned off for shopping. It was fun to pass all of the shops each night, as we made our way back to our hostel. The only downside of our location was that our hostel was located near a night club. It was sometimes hard to sleep with club music blaring.

 Galata Tower is claimed to have been built during the 6th century CE.

• I will also remember sitting at the base of Galata Tower and eating Magnum bars, in honor of Rachsticle's birthday. If only we had known that she was about to break her ankle on the other side of the world!

Some of the bricks from the Ishtar Gate, placed in an installation to give a recreation of the gate's appearance. The snake-dragon represents the god Marduk (the chief deity), and the bull represents Adad (the storm or weather god).

These lions (a symbol of the fertility goddess Ishtar) lined the processional way of the Ishtar Gate. It was neat to see these bricks up close, because you could tell that the animals were in relief (they project out from the flat surface of background).

• The Istanbul Archaeological Museum was really cool. I spent a long time wandering through the galleries on my own. I liked seeing the Alexander Sarcophagus and the few examples from the Ishtar Gate. (I wasn't aware that part of the gate and processional way were in Istanbul! I thought everything was at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, but I was wrong.)

The courtyard of the Süleymaniye II mosque

 Detail of the Western painting within the dome of the Suleymaniye Mosque.

• I loved the Suleymaniye Mosque! There were domes all over the place: lining the roof of the courtyard and the main area of the mosque, too. The atmosphere was so calm and pleasant in this space. I also liked the interior decoration. The painting inside the main dome looked quite Western to me (see above). The whole feel of the mosque was really different from the crowded Blue Mosque (which had a lot of irreverent and disrespectful tourists).

 

 The New Mosque. We never went inside of here, but we passed this mosque every day as we would walk into the Old City. One evening we passed by right as the call to prayer took place.

• It was really neat to hear the call to prayer at multiple times during the day. You could tell that some of the muezzins at the larger mosques had more experience (and were a little bit more formulaic and proper in their call to prayer). I wonder if this more formulaic approach is because the muezzins in Istanbul were underwent vocal training a few years ago. When we went out to the country, I noticed that the muezzins were a little bit more creative in their approach to call to prayer. The muezzin in Patara (a small beach town) seemed to like to improvise, but I didn't get such a relaxed feel from the muezzins in Istanbul.

1 Laurie Schneider Adams, A Western History of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994), 356.

Seasons: Turn, Turn, Turn

For some reason, I occasionally get reflective when I am vacuuming the house; I often think about the passage of time and how things change. Perhaps I get in such a mood because I'm cleaning up the dust and dirt that has accumulated on the floor over time?

Anyhow, I've been trying to do an extra-thorough clean of our house this week, which has caused me to think about different seasons of life. I thought about specific seasons that in which I am involved right now, and the ones that we have been undertaking since the beginning of the year. Since the year is a little more than halfway over, I thought I'd write what seasons and repeated activities have comprised my family's year thus far. Some of these seasons have ended, but most of them have not:

• House projects
• Gardening projects
• Extermination projects!
• Nightly "Wordament" tournaments before going to bed
• Traveling independently (we have yet to travel as a complete family this year!)
• Family weekends together
• Sunday dinners with Gram and Bop
• Therapy
• Introspection
• Reading fiction!
• Superheroes
• TV shows for Me and J: American Idol, White Collar, The Mentalist, Downton Abbey
• TV shows for J: Mad Men, Arrested Development, Modern Family
• TV shows for Sam: Blue's Clues, Busytown Mysteries, The Avengers
• iPad games for Sam: Angry Birds and Cut the Rope

On a smaller time frame, here are some of the things that comprise our most current season, as of the past few weeks:

• Root beer floats
• Corn on the cob
• Blueberries
• Pie
• Sunburns
• Carpenter ants
• Painting white trim in the house
• Weeding garden beds and spreading wood chips
• Prepping for next year's art history courses
• Watercoloring (J)
• Designing a photos book for co-workers (J)
• Sounding out words in "First Reader" books (Sam)

I like that life is varied by different seasons. I like that there are times for certain seasons, and I (often) like that seasons end. I also like that some seasons are able to repeat themselves, in at least one form or another. Even when one season ends, it's nice to know that there the possibility that you might enjoy something (or even a whole season of something) at another time.

Fred Astaire --> Donald O'Connor --> Danny Kaye

Here's your classic movie fact for the day: Danny Kaye was the third person who was considered for the role of Phil Davis in the classic film, White Christmas.

 Originally, White Christmas was intended to reunite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in another Irving Berlin musical. (Crosby and Astaire had previously co-starred in Holiday Inn and Blue Skies). However, Astaire declined the film after reading the script. (I wonder if Astaire ever regretted that decision!)

In turn, Donald O'Connor was selected to play opposite Bing Crosby. But get this: O'Connor got sick from a disease that he seems to have gotten from a mule. O'Connor had recently filmed Francis, a story about a soldier who gets befriended by a talking mule (see image above). This mule apparently transmitted some disease to O'Connor though, and he had to back out of White Christmas shortly before production.

In turn, Danny Kaye was considered for the job - but he asked for a huge paycheck ($200,000 plus ten percent of the gross), not thinking that his offer even would be accepted. Paramount was in a bind, however, and they accepted Kaye's request. And, in the end, aren't we all glad? I can't imagine this film without Danny Kaye.

I've always considered Donald O'Connor to be a poor imitation of Danny Kaye. But now I wonder if O'Connor was more popular than I have assumed. Was Donald O'Connor more desirable for the Phil Davis role? Or was he just a cheaper option for Paramount than Kaye? Who was the bigger star, and who influenced who? Could it be that Danny Kaye actually an imitation of Donald O'Connor? (If this is the case, the Kaye surpassed the actor whom he was imitating!) It looks like the two actors began their careers around the same time (if you discount O'Connor's appearance in Sing You Sinners as a twelve year-old boy).

Any thoughts? Who do you prefer: Donald O'Connor or Danny Kaye?

For more information, read Turner Classic Movies' article on White Christmas.

Sam reads!

See Sam. See Sam read! Read, Sam, read!



We have been working on reading and sounding out words for a long time. Sam learned his letters and all of the sounds that they make when he was about eighteen months old, thanks to The Letter Factory DVD. (I don't feel like I can take credit for teaching him any of that.) Sam hasn't always had the patience for reading, though, so over the past year we have stuck to simple books like the BOB Books. Lately, though, he's wanted to sit down and read more things on his own. I'm always surprised at how many words he can read on signs and boxes throughout the day, too. We'll need to encourage his interest in reading this summer!

Ants, Shasta Daisies, and a Hanging Basket

Today has been a rather frustrating day, since we noticed that carpenter ants have infested our home. Just as soon as we finished paying off our furnace, this new house problem has cropped up. Boo! I left a message with an exterminator, and hopefully he will be able to come in the next few days. In the meantime, we have tried to figure out how the ants are coming into the house and close off some potential entry points.

While I dealt with some of the ant stuff this morning, J did a nice job weeding most of our front garden. When we went to Lowe's to get some stuff for the infestation, we also picked up some wood chips and a few flowers. I told J that I wanted "something fun" for the house in addition to all of our boring carpenter ant purchases, so we got some Shasta daisies and a hanging basket. Even though this day has thrown me for a loop, I get cheered up when I see these new flowers.

The White Mountain Shasta Daisies are on the left of this photo. They are perennials which need semi-moist soil. They will grow to be 12"-15" long. The spent flowers need to be pruned.

This hanging basket has bacopa, Million Bells Calibrachoa, verbena, and Trailing Petunia.