Landscaping, at last, or back to the vegetable kingdom

Araucaria araucana, my dream tree, takes forever to grow


Way before I was dying to move into the house, I was dying to do the planting. But it was not to be. My theory that we should plant the trees before building the house was demolished with arguments involving ants, cows, drought.

By the time we moved, we were too broke, so we had to wait. Then when I started enquiring with our landscaping company, again I was dissuaded, "it was not the right time." But also, several times I was told that nothing would grow, that any tree would become a bonsai at best, etc. etc.

So, tired of all the naysaying, this past weekend I found myself a wonderful, huge nursery whose owner is a bit more positive about my chances at having trees and eventually a garden. She visited the site, made an appointment for us to go over all the species she thinks will work, toured us around her nurseries and some places she's landscaped (not our style, but all looking nice and healthy), and eventually agreed on a list of things that we like and that have a chance in our lot, punished as it is by salty sea winds.

Below is a visual list of all the stuff on my list. Ironically, although I said I want to keep the list short so our place doesn't end up looking like a nursery catalogue, the list is quite long. But we have a lot of perimeter to cover. Initially we will attempt to do the upper fence, about 130 yards of it, with as much inside the property as outside (the future sidewalk or whatever it becomes once they actually build the road.) We will also try to reinforce some sections of the bottom fence, although not all of it.

Also, we will plant the public space where a "traffic circle" or plaza that will never in a million years be built is, at the corner of our street and the main road. That is, we have a quarter of that circle to landscape as well, and if it ever becomes a circle, well, it will already have a quarter of it planted.


Jazmin
White oleander


Dracena
Strelitzia alba
Purple penisetum
White penisetum
Italian poplar, or alamo piramidal

Retama
Pink tamariz
Washingtonia palm

Yucca
Purple formio
Green formio
Pindo palm
Pitosporum
Poplar (alamo carolino)
Guayabo del pais (local guava)

The other araucaria
Butia, the 4x4, all terrain palm
Equisetum, a fashionable green stick-like plant

Casuarina

Formally and belatedly introducing Oso

The bits and pieces around are cushion filler foam from various former "beds" that they like to eat and to spread all around the yard ...

I guess I was not only very busy but a bit embarrassed to announce we had acquired a third puppy in as many months. As a friend told me today, "I can't believe you went from zero to three so fast." She claims I would do well in Colorado, which apparently is the most dog friendly state in the U.S. Anyway, after having Lunes and Tulu for a few weeks, I had the uncontainable urge for a third puppy, so I did my search for a 2-month lab or golden retriever, and was happy to find one in a vet's shop in San Carlos. Off we went with Barbi to pick up yet another one, and when we got to San Carlos and stopped for directions we were corrected by the locals. Not a vet shop, but a seed shop. Hmmmm. We arrived at the place to confirm that indeed it looked nothing like a vet shop, and to have to wait half an hour for the guy who had claimed on the phone he was waiting for us there. He arrived with a tiny puppy that in my inexperienced eyes did not look one month old. Upon introduction, puppy barked at me, just when I noticed that his head was CRAWLING with fleas. Closer inspection revealed all kinds of scabs as well. This was a very tense moment. The guy was lying through his teeth, drawing up a fake vaccination record right before my very eyes ("He has all the shots") and defensively asking me if I knew anything about dogs in response to my comments about the puppy not being anywhere near 60 days, or about his forehead looking like a flea airport, as the fleas taxied around and took off and landed again...



We went with our gut and just took the puppy and ran to the real vet, Sienra, in Maldonado, who confirmed that Oso had fleas, staphilococcus, probably all kinds of parasites, no shots, and was no older than 24 days. In his words, he would be lucky if he made it, as he was a prime candidate to get sick and die. Off we went then with Oso, who lived for about 10 days in two boxes next to my bed (bathroom box and bedroom/livingroom box, a system I will trademark). The introduction to the other two was a bit tough, as they were scared silly of the little rat dog who was a tenth their size but who would bark at them and give chase and bite like a bear. By the time Barbi was gone, no more than two weeks later, Oso was sleeping with the other two and hanging out all day outside. Right now all the parasites and scabs and fleas are gone, and he's become a force to be reckoned with. Obviously the alpha, and learning everything way faster than the other two.

I have to say that I missed them soooo much while on vacation that in Paris Barbi had to pull me out of a pet shop where a similar aged golden retriever on sale brought me to tears. This week we have debuted the "family beach outing" with the three of them, as there is usually nobody at the beach save for a couple of fishermen and the weather is amazing...

Enough talking, now I'm off to play with them...

Composition: My winter holidays

My winter holidays were actually spent in the Mediterranean summer. For two weeks we criss-crossed Turkey and the Cyclades islands in our own version of "The Amazing Race."

First, after a 20 hour eventless trip, I arrived in Istanbul where I was met by Barbi, who had been visiting his mother and his restaurant for a couple of weeks already, and looked quite tan. We spent one night at Zeynep and Jackie's beautiful apartment in Galata with its views of the Bosphorous and the cow-sized seagulls squawking away, walked a lot, had brunch with Ozgur, shopped for Uzbeq silk fabrics at the Grand Bazaar (at a smuggler's shop hidden on a second floor where you almost need a password to be let in), and at around midnight boarded a bus to Ankara that according to Barbi would take us in 5 hours and would be less tiring and less hassle than dealing with 2 airports, plus transfers, etc.

Wrong. We were on the bus for 8 hours, 3 of them spent trying to get out of Istanbul.

Ankara's famous hittite statue, removed by islamists and later reinstated after much popular demand

We arrived with our bruised asses in Ankara mid-morning, spent a day with Barbi's father, and the next day flew to Hatay, in Antakya province, so close to the Syrian border that most Turks call it "Arabistan". At least temperature-wise, it was indeed Arabistan. But also, our friends and incredibly gracious hosts Seval and Alpagut guided us through various eateries where we had THE BEST TURKISH FOOD EVER IN OUR LIVES. Really.
Alpagut and Barbi at the site of our first amazing meal in Hatay

The tahini, fresh mint, zahter salad (thyme leaves salad with millions of spices) the hummus, the salads with pommegranate dressing, the dozens of mezzes, the kunefe --a dessert served hot with melted cheese inside, deep fried angel hair dough on the outside, and soaked in syrup, the best I've ever had-- everything was incredibly fresh and full of flavor. Coupled with delicious sesame-covered, hot from the oven, flat bread, there was nothing we could do but eat non-stop the 22 hours we spent there.
Barbi matches the door in Hatay both in color and size

The shoe repair place
Cherries are in season and the cart is adorned with mosaic images

After a visit to the mosaic museum, and a delicious lunch, we flew to Ankara again where we rented a car at the airport, visited friends Baris, & family, who fed us yet again (tea time) and continued on to have dinner at Barbi's father's just before driving 12 hours to the Mediterranean coast. It was a bit mad to drive all night, so we made a couple of stops along big trucks to sleep for a bit, but were still in Cirali in time for breakfast at a beautiful lodge by the sea.

The garden in our Cirali inn, complete with all kinds of fruit trees and chickens...

The beach at Cirali off our inn's restaurant area


Cirali is a gorgeous, protected beach near Antalya, where lodging is not very good quality and is pretty high in price (nothing under 100USD) but where you pay happily anyway because of the gorgeous setting and peaceful atmosphere. We swam, we slept, and early the next morning we drove off again, this time to meet our ferry in Marmaris (via Dalaman airport to drop of our rental car, bus and taxi to the port).

Arriving in Rhodes in the late afternoon, we went for a long stroll in the old town, which never ceases to please me, had a fantastic dinner, as usual in Rhodes, and at 3 AM boarded a huge, old ferry towards our final destination (almost). The 13 hour trip promised by the travel agent turned out to be more like 18 hours. We camped on very comfy reclining chairs, pulled out our recently purchased bedspread and pareo collection, and slept for 90% of the trip. As we hit about 6 or 8 different islands, passengers embarked and disembarked, and we just watched it all go by until Santorini, where we were able to barely catch the last ferry to Ios, our final destination, arriving at 11 pm.

Traveling in style -- gypsy style.

From the moment we set foot in Ios it was clear that it was all worth it. We had a top-notch dinner by the pool, and retired happy to have a few days of rest ahead of us. For five days we swam at about a dozen different beaches that ranged from touristy but half empty to rural and peopled by goats, driving in our rented canary-yellow Fiat Panda, which Barbi mistook for a Land Rover Explorer and took on roads that more than dirt roads were coarsely chopped rock roads.

The view from our room in the early morning

One of a gazillion postcard-perfect chapels in Ios

Goat beach, my favorite

Our off-road adventure comes to an end

At Basilico, the Italian operated restaurant at the "party" beach

But the Panda performed stellarly, thanks in no small part to its amazing driver no doubt, and took us to some wonderful places. My two favorite Mediterranean features combined in the beach next to Ptalamos, where the crystal clear, turquoise sea was framed by a sandy beach covered by a herd of about 120 goats, all bleeting and ringing their huge bells in unison, providing quite a concert. Definitely the highlight of "my winter vacation."

Our return was through a 3 hour fast ferry to Athens (plus one hour bus ride to the airport in 500 degree heat through ugly Athens) and one hour flight to Istanbul, where we crashed at our friends Sema and Volkan's place. We were lucky that it was the weekend, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them, and with Ozgur and Naim. We did some more shopping in Istanbul's fancy new shopping mall, Istinya something (summer sales!) had a couple of lovely breakfasts, and were driven to the airport by Sema and Volkan, where our nightmare return journey began.

first wonderful breakfast at Sema and Volkan's

second, and our last breakfast in Turkey

Looking on the bright side, the countless hours of flight rescheduling at various counters yielded an all expenses paid night and day in Paris, the first time for Barbi. Still, we arrived home about 28 hours late and luggage-less, as one suitcase was left behind in Paris and the other in Sao Paulo --they say.

Barbi in Paris bistro

in Paris delicatessen

patisserie
yet another patisserie

our millefeuil and apricot tart at Paul's patisserie


They better arrive soon, as this was my once-a-year shopping event as well as my winter holiday, and everything from the bottles of tahini and pommegranate syrup to hundreds of yards of Uzbeq silk and my Uzbeq silk kaftan, new clothes for Barbi and me, olive-wood kitchen utensils, hand embroidered bed sheets, hand woven camel-hair and silk shawl, greek slippers, and who knows what other trinkets and goodies are all packed in those two suitcases...

Another highlight of our trip, beyond the swimming in insanely beautiful, deserted beaches, was the seasonal fruits we ate, which would taste great to anyone, but which were further appreciated by us as we were coming from apple-orange-bananas winter weather. Delicious watermellon, plus incredible apricots and cherries and peaches. As a summary of our vacation, they were all featured in our delicious going-away breakfast at Volkan and Sema's.