Yashar was enthralled by this book (Possum Magic
) that arrived in the post for his birthday. The illustrations (by Julie Vivas) are gorgeous and I love this story - I remember reading it when I was little too. It starts with "Once upon a time, but not very long ago, deep in the Australian bush lived two possums" and later leads to eating vegemite sandwiches in the far north of Australia and lamingtons in Hobart. So Australian and very, very cute.
about places where you could take the mushrooms you had picked to be checked to make sure they weren't poisonous. I wish they had that here. Am I being too cautious??
Because the paths were rough and Yashar was still sleeping when we arrived we stopped off at the picnic area for some rice pudding - best in warm weather, but always a favourite of mine!
The forest was part of the setting for the water supply system for the Byzantines and Ottomans who used aqueduct bridges to supply water to Constantinople. Parts of the bridges are still standing like this one we drove under on the way to the forest. History really does permeate everyday life here - it's so easy to forget how rich and interesting the history is when you drive under it and walk past parts of it every day.
Yashar loved looking at all the Autumn leaves and the lake and touching the bark of the trees. We loved it too - a little bit of stillness to take back to Istanbul. 
I am still amazed that Yashar is now 1. What a year it has been. Lots of changes. Lots of adjusting and lots of fun and happiness.
For his little party we put up some autumny forest decorations after being inspired by our recent visit to Belgrade Forest (which was so pretty, calm and green that I will definitely be posting a few pictures from there soon). Nothing overboard with the decorations - at this age the kids didn't even notice the decorations were there and, of course, I think handmade decorations are the best kind! Yashar and I went for a walk and collected some gorgeous Autumn leaves that are blowing around and piling up on the paths at the moment. Then I sewed some together just using a needle and thread to make the chains of them and attached the rest of them to the walls using blu-tac.
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What a happy weekend we had. Yashar had lots of fun opening his presents and playing with all his friends. I can't believe he is already one year old. I'm so proud of him. I will tell you all about his birthday very soon!
This book - Baby Love by Robin Barker - has been my guide for the past year. I read it and reread it constantly. My sister gave it to me after finding her own copy so useful. Particularly being here in Turkey, far away from my family and friends' support and guidance, it really was my source of advice and information that I felt I could really trust. I liked its approach - relaxed and realistic - and also how comprehensive it was. My sister-in-law would often ask me questions just before rushing to the doctor and the book always seemed to have the answer and saved her many unnecessary trips. Saying 'my book says...' became a running joke between us.
family focus here, having babies and parenting would be more natural and easier, with good experience and knowledge being passed down from generation to generation. This has not always been my reality here though. For example there is a startlingly high rate of cesareans here (according to this article around 39% which is double the maximum rate recommended by the World Health Organisation - in some private hospitals the rate is as high as 95%!) and many doctors are notorious for their over prescription of medicines. Old wives tales also abound. Apart from that, my own ideas about parenting have meant that I need other sources of guidance. Plus I just love books!
Now Yashar is almost one year old and I have found myself rereading the last section (9 - 12 months) of Baby Love and wondering where to next? I have copies of Raising Boys (a book recommended by my cousin who has three boys) and The Creative Family by Amanda Soule on their way. But I need more! I guess I am fairly relaxed in my parenting and don't enjoy being preached to or a one-fits-all approach. 
This time I experimented a little more with the technique I used. I applied the paints much more thinly (they are watercolours but last time I used them more like acrylics). And I used a brown pencil to outline and do some detail and shading (last time I used grey lead). What do you think?
I tried varying the settings for live trace but just couldn't get a result I was happy with and the whole process just gave me no happiness. Painting usually makes me smile. This just made me frown. This is one where the lines were closest to something I was happy with and I quickly filled in some colour to get an idea of how it would look. But I found no matter how much I changed the settings for live trace, the result just looked too computer generated for me. I think there is something special and real about a hand sketch and this just didn't have it.
He can't even walk, but some how he manages to climb into and stand up in his Baba's sock drawer! What are you up to mister?? Nothing, I promise!
I don't know the name of the track or who made it so if you know please leave a comment - I would love to know.
I made it for my dear little niece Ruby and thought the colours would be cute in a little girls room. I am so sad to be missing out on seeing her grow (she is just a few months younger than Yashar). So I hope my sister can point to the picture and tell Ruby about her Aunty Verity.
