I'm home from Istanbul. The trip was good. Travel was mostly uneventful, meaning no flight delays or complications. The airline did lose my luggage on the way back. They're still trying to locate it. Still, if I had to lose it, I'd rather lose it on the way back than on the way over. I had everything I needed while I was there. I'm making a list of contents. In case they don't locate it, they can pay me for what I lost.
Anyway, the trip. Istanbul is a pretty amazing city, and I learned a lot about it's history and geography, as well as having a great couple of meetings over there. I didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, but I managed a 2-hour boat tour on the Bosphorus - the waterway strait that divides Istanbul (and Europe from Asia) and connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. I also managed time to run around and take pictures, although I didn't end up with time to actually go into the mosques, which is a shame. Maybe next time. It takes a considerable amount of time to get from point A to point B anywhere in Istanbul, so that eats up a bunch of time.
I did learn a really fascinating thing about the Bosphorus. The water on top is fresh water and runs swiftly from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea, since the Black Sea is at a slightly higher altitude. However the water at the bottom of the Bosphorus flows in the opposite direction! And it's salty, coming from the Marmara Sea, which comes from the Aegean Sea and ultimately from the Mediterranean Sea. The two waters in the Bosphorus don't really mix. The just flow past each other in different directions and with different salt concentrations.
The first picture in this post is the Blue Mosque and the next one is Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia as the Turkish call it. The other two pictures are taken in a courtyard of the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately, the afternoon I took the boat tour, I actually left my camera in the hotel room. I could have kicked myself.
My hotel was really nice and was situated at a great location. It was located about 3 blocks from the Istanbul Congress Center and maybe 5 blocks from Taksim Square. Taksim Square not only has the lightrail stations, it's also one end of the busiest shopping street in Istanbul. They say 3 million people a day shop there. I believe it. LOTS of people.
The two Congresses I attended were both good. The first one I helped organize, so it pretty much consumed my time the first three days I was there. I had much less responsibilities at the second Congress, which is why I could escape for some sight-seeing. I was also put in touch with young woman who did her training in the US, by a mutual colleague. She was kind enough to invite me out for dinner one evening with her Father and several people I know from the Association. It was a perfect evening - great food, great company, outstanding open-air restaurant on the Bosphorus with a wonderful view.
So overall I would have to say the trip was really good. I made some new colleagues/friends with international members of the profession, learned some new things and got a chance to visit one of the amazing places in the world that I may never have gone to without these two meetings.
Now if they could just find my luggage, it would be pretty close to a perfect trip.
I mentioned last time that I have a jay hanging around who goes to the feeder, gets one sunflower seed and carries it to the metal shelf where he opens it and eats it. He repeats this behavior over and over, occasionally stopping for a drink at the little bird bath. So the pictures in this post are of him doing this.
He clears the feeder whenever he lands on it - all the smaller birds making way for him. I've seen the smaller birds occasionally challenge the redwing blackbird for feeder rights, but never seen them challenge the jay.
I'm spending most of this weekend getting my act together for going to Istanbul on Wednesday. I've been planning my wardrobe and figuring out packing. I've already done everything as far as money, visa, notifying credit cards, upgrading phone service so it works over there, setting up the pet sitter, etc. Now I'm making myself lists of what to remember to take (camera, ipod, etc) and what to remember to do before leaving (water plants, leave note for sitter, etc). Nine days away takes more planning than 3 days, which is mostly what I've been doing lately.
Big family news. My nephew and niece-in-law had their twins yesterday morning around 2:30 am. The twins are 34 weeks, so they're early and in the NICU, but they're doing well. The little girl is breathing room air on her own pretty much. The little boy is requiring some ventilation and surfactant therapy to get his lungs to finish maturing and work well, but both are beautiful. I know, I know. Of course I would say that, but really, they are beautiful babies, which isn't surprising, given their parents. I wish I had taken some pictures of them when I visited yesterday, but I'm still so old school I never consider using my phone to take pictures. Thus this post has all blue jay pictures.
The little boy, Aiden, is just over 4 pounds, 17.5 inches long. The little girl, Addison, is 4 pounds 10 ounces, 17 inches long. How Kellie managed to have both those kids inside her is a mystery. Apparently the twins will stay in the NICU for 2-3 weeks, until they're sure they are growing and putting on weight and everything (lungs mostly) is developed enough.
Kellie and Jason are doing well. It was a c-section birth so Kellie will be moving slowly for a few days, and both were understandably sleep-deprived when I saw them yesterday. I think it's still sinking in for them. I also think it will be hard for them to have to wait the 2-3 weeks to take their babies home. They are definitely excited and proud parents though. And actually, they get to semi-rest for 2+ weeks before becoming totally sleep-deprived while caring for twins. I'm very happy for them.
Also I'm glad if they were going to have them early, they had them before I left for Istanbul, so Lynne didn't have to try to get hold of me there. Although my phone should work just fine. Still I wouldn't have gotten to see them as newborns.
Damn! I just saw a cat catch one of the sparrows. He grabbed it on the ground, took it under the shrub and immediately started eating it. I have such mixed feelings about this. My own cats are too old to catch birds, and of course I don't want my bird feeders to be a place that is a bird delicatessen for cats in the neighborhood. But quite obviously the cat is hungry - a stray neighborhood cat I haven't seen around. He immediately started eating that bird, and he's thin. Still, I know it's happened at least once before because I found a part of a wing when I was cleaning up one day a week or so ago.
I may have to move that feeder. I enjoy watching the birds up close and personal, this close to the house, but there is too much shrubbery close to it for cats to hide and pounce from. That being said, the birds are already back, but none on the ground - all jockeying for position on the feeder itself. And there are a LOT of sparrows here. Decisions, decisions. Well, the feeders will be empty while I'm gone, so maybe both the birds and cats will have moved on by the time I get back from Istanbul. The hummingbird feeder will have enough to last while I'm gone.
Anyway, that's all for today. My next post should have pictures form Istanbul.
A friend of mine called me a bird lady the other day - because I fill the feeders essentially every day and support a horde of small sparrows and finches. I suppose I should be glad she didn't call me a crazy bird lady.
Although I generally do see mostly sparrows, finches and doves, I do sometimes get some of the slightly larger birds. This redwing blackbird in the first picture comes by randomly, and I managed to get a couple shots of him. I also have a couple of bluejays that hang around and are really vocal about it when I'm out there. Jays of course, so that's to be expected. The jay in the picture in this blog has a behavior that seems to be specific to him. He flies to the feeder, takes a single sunflower seed, flies to the metal shelf I have out there, holds the seed in his claw and cracks it with his beak and eats it. I've watched him repeat this over and over and over, but haven't seen any of the other jays doing it. I also have a few brown-headed cowbirds that come by randomly.
The sun is peaking out intermittently today. There was only about a 20% chance of rain today according to the forecast, so imagine my surprise to find it actually raining this morning. It only rained about 20 minutes and I don't know that we even got a measurable amount of rain, but the lawn liked it. I'll take anything I can get, considering how dry it's been here. I'm hoping we get more tomorrow, when I think they're actually forecasting 50% chance. If you look closely at the second picture of the redwing, you can sort of see that he's wet from the rain this morning, since it was raining when I took that picture.
I refilled the hummingbird feeder this morning too. It wasn't empty. It's a big feeder and with only two little hummingbirds, it doesn't deplete very fast, but I refill it whenever I notice gunk growing in it. So they should be happy humming campers.
*laughing* Okay, maybe I am a bird lady. Going through two bird feeders full of seed every day though . . . the little guys are going to be hungry the 9 days I'm gone this month. I'm not going to ask my pet sitter to fill them. I'd prefer she stay focused on the cat-kids.
There are only two things that I haven't done now to get ready for my trip to Istanbul. One is call my credit card companies and let them know not to block my charges over there. Or to try to convince them not to block charges anyway. I did this when I went to Austria, and one of the credit card companies still blocked my charges. Frustrating.
The other thing is to plan my wardrobe, so I can begin planning my packing - what suitcases to take, how much room I'll need, etc. Everything else is done. Tickets, passport & visa, hotel confirmation, some money exchanged, international service on my phone, meeting registration confirmation. I'll probably find something else I need to do, but it's coming together nicely.
Anyway, I guess that's about all today. There's a little bird out there with a dark smudge on his breast. I wonder what he is . . .
