strange blooms

How does your garden grow?  The geraniums on the balcony and all the greenery survived in our absense, and even the more unusual plants are starting to blossom.  There are two cactuses in the window, one that has these bright red drooping flowers alternating years and this other who sends out bizarre alien feeler antennae.  This other plant lives in a glass Bier Maß and leaves under the soil where daylight can get in. Also every other year, it sprouts weird, little and sticky white flowers.

even old New York was once New Amsterdam

I am just freshly returned from vacation with the whole weekend to recuperate and relax and let the thoughts and memories settle and sort. 

Seeing Istanbul was probably the most exotic exposure I have had, and while I am glad to come back to our little house in a city founded by Charlemagne himself, it amazes me that one can be in the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the capital of the Roman Empire, the seat of the Eastern Orthodox church at lunch time and then back in Unterfranken by mid-afternoon.

salut de Istanbul

H and I are having a fantastic time in the city. Here is a picture post card view of the Hagia Sofia from the terrace of our hotel.

by any other name

We are excitedly packing and rearranging the indoor topiary and landscaping to make it easier for our neighbor to manage watering this jungle of plantlife.  We'll be in Istanbul, Byzantium, Constantiople, and PfRC will be taking a short sabbatical.  I have read that the Turkish people have a slang designation for Germany--exonyms are a challenge, Deutschland--Frengistan or Frankistan.  I feel I have barely cracked the guidebook but we have already an overwhelming amount to explore.