For me, like many others, it’s not just a song title, ♪♪♪ “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”♪♪♪!
Fall and winter are my favorite seasons because I love the changing leaves, Halloween candy, turkey and all the fixings, and three months of Christmas decorations and music. (Yes, mine stay up through January!)
While many were enjoying the pool and the summer heat and humidity, I already had my Halloween and fall decorations out. And, I almost put up my two Christmas trees in mid-October!
There’s a reason for that, which I’ll get to. But, I didn’t. I actually put them up the first weekend of November — a few days later than usual.
While COVID is still sickening people and worse, the “pandemic” is over. I hope you’re healthy and festive as we head into the holidays.
For some of you, we communicate once a year at Christmas through cards. For others, we keep up with each other through social media, my blog, and a few, by phone or text. (Yes, calls are still a thing!)
I’m very grateful for all that I’ve been blessed with in life. I’ve never taken any of my successes for my granted and I’ve always tried to move on quickly from my failures.
In early 2022, I moved into a more modernized apartment in the same complex.
I also signed on for three more years as the morning meteorologist for the NBC affiliate in Decatur, which covers Central Illinois. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here going on three years!
When I talk about being grateful, much of that is directed toward my sister. Last year’s holiday season from Thanksgiving into early 2022 was not a good one for Tammy. We almost lost her, but she’s a fighter.
Doctors were able to figure out her medication, she lost a lot of weight, and is now healthier than she’s been in decades.
This beautiful photo was taken just two months after the one above in the hospital!
Now, if she’d just stop smoking and exercise and take advantage of this latest lease on life!!!
While a few more coins were thrown my way in the new contract, not much of it went into my savings. I live a simple, no-frills life, so I spend my extra cash traveling. And, since my passport is expiring, I took advantage of it.
After travel was sidelined in 2020 and early 2021, I went to Vegas twice in the summer and then to Greece for my birthday last year once I was fully vaccinated.
This spring, I traveled to Costa Rica. On the week-long trip, I saw incredible fauna and the Arenal Volcano National Park…
walked across eight hanging bridges, some of which were hundreds of feet long and hundreds of feet over the vast forest of trees!
My favorite meal there was a sea bass, which was preceded by a delicious shrimp and lobster bisque, and followed by pineapple cheesecake.
And, Costa Rican breakfasts are much simpler than Mediterranean ones. One interesting staple of the diet there, even at breakfast, is beans and rice!
I met four amazing people that I’ve kept in touch with from southern California (Bill and Sandi and Tim and Kathy).
Because of Tammy’s hospital stays last holiday season, we had to cancel our week-long trip to Cancun, Mexico. We re-booked it for June and enjoyed ourselves.
And, instead of visiting my favorite American city, Las Vegas, I spontaneously went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in August. Hated it! That’s why I don’t do spontaneity.
But, this view was nice!
And, then in October, before the passport expired, I took the trip of a lifetime, almost two weeks exploring Turkey! It was incredible.
The Spice Market in Istanbul was breathtaking. (I love this selfie because of the little lady behind me smiling. It still bring happiness to me today looking at it!)
The mosques and the architecture…
and cruising the Bosporus Strait was amazing.
It was incredible how quickly the landscape changed from the sprawling metropolis to the vast empty land to forests to big cities again.
The highlight of the trip was a sunrise hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia just 3,000 feet above the jagged, volcanic terrain!
An absolutely breathtaking experience. Check out this spectacular one-minute video I took!
I loved the Mediterranean breakfasts…
the lamb kebabs…
and the desserts, especially the baklava.
However, my favorite food was the persimmons — so sweet and delicious.
And, it was a pleasure hanging out with my new friends Eleanor and her daughter, Allison…
… along with Mike and Apar and Jonathan and Colleen.
Along with all of the fun things I experienced in 2022, there was one bit of sadness.
Betty, a sweet woman that I’ve called “Mom” since 1995, after years of mental decline, passed away in early September.
It was heartbreaking over the past few years to talk “at” her on the phone as she tried to process who she was even talking to.
Miss Betty was Christopher’s mother (we dated from 1995-2004). She definitely loved her grand dogs, Miss ABBA and Mister Panda!
Even after Christopher and I went our separate ways, Betty would still come visit me wherever I was living — Maryland or the Quad Cities — and I made several visits to see her in Ohio!
And, this Thanksgiving, as I feasted on turkey, I thought of Miss Betty. She was notorious for gnawing the last bit of meat off a carcass (okay, a bone)!
So, one Thanksgiving, I convinced her to pose for this photo! LOL
Miss Betty, thank you for the loving me like a son! And, the “Son” ornaments you gave me over the years are on display!
In 2023, there’s still only one concert I want to see — Kylie Minogue.
Maybe it’ll be in “Xanadu” – ♪♪♪ “a place where nobody dared to go” where “a million lights are dancing and there you are – a shooting star” ♪♪♪! And, maybe #Pug20-something will finally become a reality next year!
My friends, here’s to 2023 — a year hopefully filled with love, excitement, happiness, and peace!
“May hope and faith conquer fear and hate this Christmas”!
Since my passport was expiring, I wanted to take one more big trip and I wanted it to be the trip of a lifetime. I’ve had several amazing vacations in the past and exploring Turkey was right up there with the best of them!
Many of you saw the hundreds of photos I shared from my ten days trekking across the country. But, today, I’m sharing some stories behind the pictures and some things I learned.
However, I’ll get the sadness out of the way first. Last weekend, just three weeks after I arrived in Istanbul and eleven days after I left the city and country, police arrested a Syrian woman they say set off a deadly explosion that killed six people and injured more than 80 others.
The Turkish Interior Minister is now accusing the United States of complicity in the attack. It’s because we have a military partnership with a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria originally formed to battle the Islamic State. American condolence messages were dismissed by the IM. He said, it’s like “the killer is among the first ones returning to the scene”.
My heart aches for the people of Istanbul and Turkey because of this senseless violence because everyone I encountered on my trip was very warm and hospitable despite language and cultural differences.
As the Turkish move forward to find security and peace again, I want to share more of this beautiful and geographically diverse country with you.
This photo is from Imagination Valley in Cappadocia. Can you see the couple dancing? That’s nature, volcanic activity, and imagination for you!
It was a very long two days getting to Istanbul.
After waking up at 2:30 a.m. Friday at home and working the morning show, I went home, packed, and then drove an hour to the airport.
Three flights later (fifteen total hours in the air) hitting three counties and two continents while straddling a third, I arrived in Istanbul.
This beautiful display was at the airport. Once I got to my hotel, I showered and went to bed!
What a way to spend a Saturday night in the largest city in the Middle East (Istanbul’s population is officially 15 million, but in reality, it’s about 18 million counting refugees, mostly from Syria. That’s about twice the population of the Chicago metropolitan area!)
Bright and early Sunday morning, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast and set off for the day.
First up was the breathtaking “Spice Market”…
the beautiful “Blue Mosque” from the outside…
and the going inside St. Sophia Basilica.
When my tour group of forty people left Istanbul the next day, it was wild how quickly the landscape changed from the sprawling metropolis of traffic and skyscrapers to vast empty land to forests to big cities again.
The photo below is Pamukkale in western Turkey.
This is not ice and snow. It’s terraces of mineral deposits (calcium carbonate) from seventeen hot springs!
The most beautiful city I explored on my own was the Aegean Sea-seaside town of Kusadasi.
That was the stunning sunset looking toward Greece while I sipped beverages with my new friends, Eleanor, and her daughter, Allison.
And, in Kusadasi, I couldn’t resist taking a selfie with this background. If only I could convince my morning colleagues I’m the “Greatest of All Time”! 🙂
The highlight of the trip was a sunrise hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia just 3,000 feet about the jagged, volcanic terrain — an absolutely breath-taking experience!
We did experience a little more excitement that wasn’t part of the package. As we were heading to the balloon ride by van in the morning darkness, our driver was on his phone and rear-ended the car in front of us. No one was seriously injured and we obviously made the balloon flight in time!
One interesting thing about the Cappadocia balloon ride is how vital it is to the area’s economy. Do the math — about 100 to 150 balloons take off each day (weather-permitting) with about 20 people on board. This is a half-million dollar per day industry!
While I love my photos, this video is even more stunning to capture the experience.
As the trip wound down and we returned to Istanbul, I really enjoyed a beautiful cruise on the Bosporus (Bosphorus) Strait to see the city’s structures on both the European and Asian continents.
We then visited the “Grand Bazaar”, which was huge, but other than the beauty of some of the lamps and tea sets I’d love to have, it mostly left me unimpressed.
I loved the “Spice Market” from the first day in Istanbul more.
Now, let’s talk about food since you know how much I love eating and plating it for photos!
I so looked forward to the Mediterranean breakfasts and I ate plenty. There were many days I skipped lunch because I ate such hearty breakfasts.
This was one of my favorites breakfasts there.
Yes, I ate every bite on the plate since I don’t waste food and I only take what I’ll eat!
After this breakfast, I walked from the hotel into town and back twice that day to work it off!
And, the art work along the Aegean Sea was stimulating!
In addition to the breakfasts, I loved the desserts, especially the baklava and the honeycombs dripping with honey that you just cut off what part of it you want!
Also, the lamb kebabs were tasty and the homemade breads were incredible!
On this day, I ate two loaves of that bread with my kebab!
Out of everything I ate in Turkey, my favorite food was the persimmons — so sweet and delicious. Sadly, I was told by people familiar with them here in the States to skip them because they taste nothing like the ones in the Mediterranean!
And, while we’re talking fruit, I had freshly squeeze pomegranate juice with a splash of orange to sweeten it. This gives me a chance to show one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip — a fresh pomegranate splitting on the tree!
One of the best meals on the trip because of the heart-felt feelings behind it was when we stop at a small village and had lunch made and served to use by local women. (Again, notice the bread basket sitting right in front of me!) 🙂
The food was great and the environment was so warm and inviting!
Also, on the trip, I ended up eating beef twice and both occasions were part of a “set menu”.
I gave up beef more than a decade ago and only had it once before this trip. (Disclaimer: These beef medallions were tasty, but I’m okay with it being another eight years before I eat cow again. If I want beef again, I’ll get the plant-based, fake beef “Impossible Whopper” at Burger King!)
Back in 2014, in Tel Aviv, Israel, when ordering beef and lamb kebabs to share, we Americans were expecting separate pieces of each. However, they were mixed together and so we ate them! (This Tel Aviv meal below is one of my all-time favorites! This is the “salad” part of the feast, even though they brought out fish, too.)
Yes, I ate a lot of food and enjoyed every bite. (I gained five pounds!)
At home, I only eat one meal a day — dinner. Unless I’m eating out, which is rare, or having dinner with my sister, Tammy, my dinner six days a week consists of a huge salad, and a piece of chicken or pork as a side dish, with my bread, salted butter, and wine.
Enough about food, I’m getting hungry.
In addition to Eleanor and Allison, I enjoyed spending time with Mike and Apar (next to me in the back) and Jonathan and Colleen.
One thing I learned the hard way in Cappadocia was not to get too close to a hungry camel. While this one was eating, I thought I’d a take a selfie.
The next thing I felt was its hard teeth biting at the back of my head! I didn’t get the selfie, but it hurt like hell for several minutes. Luckily, the skin wasn’t broken, so I didn’t get camel cooties!
There were many beautiful Turkish men and women. Here’s one example…
and, here’s another (on the left). I assume he was Turkish. He might have been a tourist like me!
I think he actually flirted with me, as much as you can in Turkey.
In Turkey, gay sex is legal, yet many in the LGBTQ community still face discrimination, harassment, and even violence and death from their relatives and neighbors. However, acceptance is slowly gaining there. This is especially true in the metropolitan city of Istanbul.
Oh, that photo above was part of a belly dancing lesson. The beautiful professional called some of us onto the floor to teach us some moves.
I think my moves were actually belly flopping instead of belly dancing! I definitely didn’t have “Moves Like Jagger”!
Now, here are a few things I learned about the country:
Turkey is 98% Muslim, but it’s much more relaxed than most other Muslim countries. (However, while I wasn’t looking to hook up, apps like Grindr are banned!)
Turkey’s population is officially 85 million, but there are about six million more refugees, mostly from Syria. (Turkey is the 18th most populated country in the world — the U.S. is at #3 behind China and India!)
Like any country, there are in the incredibly rich in Turkey. However, the average annual salary in Turkey is just about three thousand dollars a year per person! $3,000!!! In the United States, the average salary is 23 times higher, even though I don’t even make the average salary here, but I’m not complaining when I heard that sad statistic!
This incredible photo is on a ferry ride from the European continent of Turkey to the Asian continent of the country!
50 million people will visit Turkey in 2023, yet tourism is not a Top Five money maker for the country!
Like many other places I’ve visited, there are many stray animals. In Tel Aviv, it was cats.
In Turkey, there were cats, but I mostly saw dogs!
But, what’s interesting is that many of them are caught, vaccinated, spayed, and neutered. Most of the dogs are even ear-tagged to show they’ve been checked. And, people take care of the “strays” by feeding them and giving them water. I didn’t see one dog that was hungry and scared!
Speaking of water, there are many countries in the world where Americans are advised not to drink the water and to only drink bottled water.
However, Turkey, like China, is one of the countries where people that live there don’t even drink the water!!!
You can use tap water to make coffee and tea. However, I still used bottled water for that.
It just blows my mind. I can’t imagine that countries don’t make water drinkable for residents. (Yes, I’m aware that the U.S. doesn’t have a perfect record — Hello Flint, Michigan!)
On the trip, the hotels put out a nice breakfast buffet spread, but one thing that was missing — bananas. That’s very interesting because bananas are grown in Turkey, but mostly for export! (Yet, you could find them in stores.)
And, finally, the weather for the entire trip was perfect!!!
Not one drop of rain fell and high temperatures were mostly in the 60s in the higher elevations and in the 70s to near 80° elsewhere.
Those warmer days and nights proved a little bit too much for us Americans because the “tourist” season in Turkey usually winds down in early October and many hotels had already turned off the air conditioning for the season!
Visiting Turkey was amazing and if you every get a chance, go!
Before I wrap this up, I saw two things that I’ll call “signs” for my 2023… a wedding and this little adorable princess.
So, in 2023, I hope to become a pug dog dad and fall in love.
Hey, Turkey put it out there. It’s up to me to make it happen!
I’ll close with one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip. It was on the first day at the Spice Market. I loved that when I took the selfie, the woman behind me was smiling so warmly while her friends talked away.
It still makes me smile today seeing it!
And, here’s a song I fell in love with flipping through the channels. I mostly watched music videos because music is universal even if you don’t know what’s being said!
It’s “Hadi Bakalim” by 4 Yuz.
Again, I didn’t understand the lyrics, but it sounded so familiar. I racked my brain and realized that it a Loona song I loved while living in Chicago in 2001!
Anthony
P.S. If you’re still reading, either you’re bored or my stories and photos are interesting enough to keep your attention.
On a more twisted and morbid note, maybe it’s a good thing my passport is expiring. (Yes, I’m likely going to renew it.)
Why twisted and morbid?
Well, I talked about the terrorist attack in Istanbul just two weeks after I left the city. I know it’s only coincidence, but I’m beginning to think that bad things follow me!
I was in Ottawa, Ontario, in September 2014.
A month later, a gunman opened fire on Parliament Hill and the Canadian National War Museum. He killed one and injured three others.
I was in Paris, France, in October 2014. Less than three months later, two French Muslim extremists attacked the “Charlie Hebdo” headquarters killing 13 people and two days later, another terrorist killed four others in a grocery story.
And, then on November 13, 2015, coordinated attacks across the city killed 137 (89 of those were at the Bataclan Theatre), including seven perpetrators.
I was in Las Vegas in March 2017, and October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a country music concert killing 58 and injuring another 851 (422 by gunfire).
I was at The Jacksonville Landing Mall in January 2017. In August 2018, a gunman opened fire there killing three (including himself) and injuring 11 others (ten by gunfire).
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 