Just a Perfect Day!

Wednesday was my perfect day. Metin works part-time in what he calls the Limon bahcesi (Lemon garden)  or sometimes he calls it the Istanbul garden because the owners are from İstanbul. It is about 10 minutes walk from our site. He invited me to come and sit in their garden as the owners were away and they have no objection if İ come with him . It is a natural garden and runs down to the sea.

The real reason he invited me is that he knows English Gent is driving me mad. He sits beside me at the pool everyday and rattles on. Now İ can talk for İreland but this guy takes the biscuit. He is dying of loneliness since his wife died and doesn't know what to do with himself. He rushed into business with a Turkish guy and has encountered many problems on a steep learning curve. As a result he is the authority on all things Turkish and none of it is good. İ have been his life coach for the summer and crave some breathing space.

Take your pick. Quiet oases to sit and take in the view.

The view.

I was recovering from the news from home. Our beautiful 15 year old cat died on Monday. I can't begin to describe how that makes me feel. It is probably a blessing for her as she had been ill The Grand Old Lady with the Colgate Smile  and Steamed Cat but I will miss her plonking herself on my keyboard and demanding attention. The thought of another poolside session was just too much so I jumped at the offer.

Cat and tortoise have decided to ignore each other after an initial investigation

There are several stray cats on the property and part of Metin's job is to feed them. When I arrived there was two beauties eating and Metin was sitting at a table reading the paper. I can see this is an onerous job!! I joined him but was soon startled by a strange bang, bang noise. I looked around and was told not to worry it was two tortoises making whoppee. I had to investigate, this was a first for me and boy, was it noisy!

Caught in flagrante delicto!

We then went to the lower garden. Metin had placed a chaise longue in the shade for me right in front of a deck in the sea. He read the paper and then set to work. He is building a small stone jetty out to the deck. He was diving for rocks and then rolling them into the shore and gradually building up the existing pier.

The perfect resting place!

Metin's rubber shoes are waiting for him. The seabed is rocky

Metin dives to look for stones............

....locates one...........

............rolls it along the seabed.............

.............time to get that stone out..............

"He-Man"

Building up the jetty

Our own private deck.

Gölkoy

 While Metin was working I had a wander around the garden.There was an abundance of fruit trees, pomegranate, lemon , orange, mandarin, figs and then there were grapes climbing all over the second house in the garden.

A  gate leads into the garden

One of the many paths winding its way through.

The empty house, the cats sleep in a room here in the winter, a mattress and an oil filled radiator have been provided for them.

Metin picks grapes for our picnic.

The mandarins will ripen in October

The lemons will soon ripen.

Figs, I thought these only came in fig roll biscuits:-)

 Not all the figs were at ground level but they were juicy and ripe.

Quince (reminds me of "The Owl and the Pussycat")

If Metin ever leaves his job he has been offered a permanent home here but of course that will come at a price. In addition to the fruit trees mentioned, there are grapefruit trees. The grapefruit are unlike the ones İ know,  long in shape rather than round. Most of the fruits are not ripe at the moment and so are green.

The grapefruit will swell in shape but still retain this basic shape.

Pomegranate

We should not forget the flowers growing randomly in the garden.

Gone to seed?

After my garden exploration it was definitely time to get wet. Metin continued to work while I dived in off the deck. Pure bliss. The water was crystal clear, I could see my toes. I had a good swim. There is a hotel nearby and I swam to their deck and turned round. The smell of lunch cooking on the hotel terrace made me hungry.

I wouldn't have minded a trip on one of these!

Metin was also feeling the hunger pangs so he hopped on his motorbike and bought kofte, meatballs served in bread with salad and the toasted like panini. This was followed with fresh figs and grapes from the garden.

Metin went back to work and I was left in blissful silence....actually not true, the cicadas were kicking up a mighty racket, but compared to English Gent rehashing the same old complaints it was as good as blissful silence.

Metin also catches up with his reading when he gets a chance. His newspapers await.

 I spent the rest of the afternoon alternately reading and swimming and I might have even caught a few zzzzz's. Five o'clock and I headed home, tired but extremely relaxed. What a perfect way to spend the day.

A view of Türkbükü Bay on the walk home.