My current knitting includes socks, socks, and more socks.  Mostly of the chunky variety, because I have the pattern memorized and can knit away while watching olympic highlights online.  Here are some finished ones.  The striped foot is because I was running out of the light green yarn!

Both of these socks have a turned top edge instead of ribbing, which I like.  The light pair has a picot turned edge and the darker pair has a single purl row turned edge.

There’s just one more floor above mine in the building, accessible by outdoor metal stairs.  There’s also an all-night light in the courtyard for security.  This combination results in an interesting reflection on my double-layer-translucent-plastic bedroom window.

This picture was taken in my bedroom late one night right after I moved in.   I generally sleep somewhat fitfully, especially in an unfamiliar place, so when I woke up that first night and saw this in the window, half asleep and dream-fuzzy,  I kinda freaked out.

Who was saying “HI” to me through my bedroom window in the middle of the night!!?  It felt threatening and alien and even after I figured it out, it was hard to fall back asleep, still irrationally feeling that something was outside my window trying to communicate with me.   It took about a week to stop feeling spooked whenever I saw the reflection.

These days, it makes me chuckle to think that if it had indeed been some malevolent alien visitation, that they would have introduced themselves with a “hi!”.

It does my eyes and my spirit good to be able to look long distances. I’m thankful for this view.

I’ve been trying hard to pay attention and appreciate the small things in life, because these days the big things are really kicking me in the ass.

The last book I bought was The Abyssinian Proof by Jenny White. Very enjoyable, linking the 1453 conquest of Constantinople with antiquities thefts and murders 400 years later, investigated by magistrate Kamil Pasha.  Jenny White has some other similar books but the only one I found here is still in hardcover and thus out of price range.

Total of 455 pages  @ 18 turkish lira price = equals 4 cents per page.  Not too bad, and I made it last for a week when I can normally read a book like this in a couple days.  But I decided I could do better, though it would mean a return to the classics.

That’s right, the master of long and dense (and entertaining!) literature, Charles Dickens. Actually, I can’t remember ever reading a complete C.D. novel, so it’s about time.  Total of 554 pages @ 16 turkish lira = a miniscule 2.8 cents per page. Score!

*Actually, when you do the conversion, the prices are not that much more than retail book prices in the US.  The problem is that in the US I often got books at libraries so I could read a much higher volume (and the things I truly wanted to read) without spending hardly any money.  Here, despite generous sharing among book-reading friends, it’s hard to find specific books and libraries are practically nonexistent so we naturally spend more money to read.  I’ve also adapted by intentionally reading slower!