Well I should say, Turkey is full of colour most of the year. Bouganvillea is like a weed here, it grows everywhere, up walls, winding its way up trees etc. It is a weed I'd love to have in my garden, I can tell you. The variety of colours is just amazing. I think I've already mentioned the different colours, white, pale pink, deep pink, lilac, deep purple and in rare occurrences, orange!!!

We went for a drive around yesterday, and the roads were lined with loads of jasmine trees/bushes. Oh wow the smell was amazing. It rained for about 5 minutes so then the smell of wet hot earth overpowered it. I didn't mind because I love the smell of rain on earth or grass after a long hot and dry spell.




Yashi, where my daughter lives, is surrounded by mountains or the sea - perfect combination. Everywhere you look, you see either...




This last picture is the road my daughter lives on - as you can see it's very busy!!!! It's so quiet and occasionally you see the odd cow walking down the road, or else the odd chicken!!! Apparently about 2 months ago, Mandi and Dogan was aware of a lot of noise outside and when they looked, they saw a cow in the garden, happily munching their grass!!! Someone had forgotten to close the gate at the roadside!! Because there are so many cats here, it's important to keep the gate closed, so that dogs can't get in and cause trouble.

We decided to go for a Subway lunch. The Turkish traffic is quite something else!!! I'm so glad that I wasn't driving. For a start they are on the wrong side of the road and they have different road laws!! Driving on the horn seems to be popular!! Our law of the use of roundabouts, is that the car already on the roundabout has priority. Not in Turkey, if you are already on the roundabout (going the wrong way too!!!), then you have to stop to allow another vehicle to come onto the roundabout!!!! So you need eyes not only in the back of your head, but also on the sides!! Well when we arrived at the Subway, I was struck by how beautiful they'd made the outside eating area. It was covered with a sort of "sail" to protect from the direct sunlight, but the whole area was full of bouganvillea...




We did drive around the little seaside villages, but those pictures can wait for another day.

We went to Dogan's hotel and it was so pretty there - look what they've done, the bouganvillea is growing up the walls of the hotel, and against the creamy white walls the vivid colours of the flowers is fantastic.


Of course seeing those colours combined with the deep blue of the swimming pool and the blue sky - amazing.

Looking from the swimming pool through the restaurant, you can see the beach. See how close you are - simply amazing. Mandi and I sat on the chairs just ouside the restaurant, people watching!!!! Oh I do love people watching and believe you me, we did see some sights I can tell you!!!! I'm still lily-white, because we've only had the odd hour of blue sky. Today however, we have experienced a lot of blue sky, but Mandi isn't feeling too good, so we spent it inside. No problem - I'm here for another 4 weeks. The staff here made a big fuss of me because I haven't been here for 3 years. They are so sweet and friendly. Even though I only ordered two beers and one lemonade (to make shandy), I had a plate of nuts and some chopped up salad!!! No charge for those extras!!

Mandi and I walked through the restaurant and found a lovely couple of chairs there. We were soon joined by a lovely Alsatian (German Shepherd) - I swear she's got a magnet for animals, because they all seem to suddenly appear near her and in no time at all she's rubbing their ears and giving them a stroke. Look at this face - total satisfaction and delight.

She is called Sasha and lives a couple of hotels down - she's not fussy though - she'll take any affection going!!

It was so hot and close - about 35C and about 70% humidity that I just sat there looking at this sight - oh was that water calling to me? There were only about 5 or 6 people in the water swimming and I was so envious. I was so tempted to just go in with my loose summer dress on, but as I'm the mother-in-law of the manager, I had to keep some decorum!!! This was one of those times, when I wish it wasn't so!!!!

Okay folks, that's about all so far. I've got to relax my back - it's hurting from all the walking etc I've been doing. I think it's the standing still that does it more than the walking. I wish you all a wonderful weekend, I'm going to be sunbathing, swimming and then watching the Monaco F1 Grand Prix - I hope.