all quiet

these images are from last sunday and have been taken around my neighbourhood. an early morning rain washed over the streets; clean, quiet and fresh. i was on my way to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend. why i'm posting photos and having a difficulty putting words to them? well, because i've no words lately and i'm contained with excitement on my escape from the city. there's some sort of a word-less feeling, a way of expression, or maybe i'm just a bit tired of expressing thoughts and feelings in a conventional way. whatever that means :). have a nice afternoon.

caution: slowing down

let the holiday preparations commence! got my necessities ready, to be packed later during the week. i turn into a very organised version of myself every time i go away somewhere; so here we are, i've been a busy bee- with a very interested and curious cat on my tail. now, slowing down.

notes to self: need more bottoms and no more tops / get the flea drop for the cat earlier in the season, not when it's party time for the flea eggs / if you need to be in your underwear while doing it, that means it's not the best time for ironing / black is a colour too.

stargaze

we still wake up to this kind of sky here in istanbul, it's wonderful but what i need is more of it (sorry if that sounds a bit arrogant); i will be needing more starry nights as well, stars that will be gazed at from open space in nature, all the different hues of sunrise and sunset too- i made a promise this morning to take in all that i'm surrounded with and appreciate it all once i'm in the nature (that includes eating as many figs as possible too) - i know, i sound desperate but i promise to shut up about it once i'm out of city limits.

some greenery update: i got a new pot plant, the purple one-don't know what it's called; it was sitting at the dry cleaner's window so i asked the guy for a small branch (my granny told me it always makes better plants when you 'steal' it from someone) which he was happy to oblige, so here it is, he says it's a type that grows quickly, we shall see. and i am very happy with these two little ones; i can almost watch them grow if i look close enough. some bigger scale greenery here, seen on a slope from city centre and a lush suburban area close to the black sea.

my ganesha

ganesha. the lord of success and beginnings and the destroyer of obstacles. it's been sitting there peacefully and firmly on my chest of drawers in my bedroom; i've grabbed it on a hurried shopping spree on my last day in India from a little-but-overcrowded souvenir shop, packed with other deities and symbols. the choice was a conscious one though, i knew i wanted a ganesha. i love its shape, its hand carved wooden base and what it represents: wisdom, the natural desire to enjoy life, the capacity to listen to others, humility and most importantly the letting go of the ego. it's beautiful and is a powerful reminder. i am a person of few words today, just wanted to show you my ganesha.

hi

this post is about solitude. it's about escaping from all that's happening around. shutting down to all the noise and distraction and the chit-chat of the mind for a while. a short escape. an inward escape. as much as i love being around people, i do that shutting down thing quite often; i tend to shut down deliberately when i hear loud boasts or loud 'doings' or loud anything these days. i've noticed that the withdrawal helps me gain my sense of balance back and it calms me down, keeps my sanity intact. i need calm as much as everyone else and recently i've been feeling i'm doing more to discover new ways to achieve it. what can i say, it's not coming easy.

this is a celebration of a short but peaceful time spent alone and the ending of a working day.