I’m sad today. I feel the way this monkey looks. Maybe it’s a reaction to being “up” so much lately: what goes up must come down?

Or maybe it is because I missed yesterday’s tea party.  See Too sleepy to go…and Tomorrow: a Tea Party.

I don’t know. I just know that today I didn’t want to get out of bed. And so I missed church. Missing church definitely does not make me feel good. 😦

Later this afternoon I will see my Turkish friend Yasemin, who I originally met when I was her English as a Second Language tutor. At that time she was expecting her first child, who is now a teenage girl! And she has two younger sons, including one who is less than two years old.

Here we are a little over a year ago, on the day that her parents were flying back to Ankara, Turkey after their visit here. It also happened to be my 65th birthday, so they took me out for a birthday brunch:

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My birthday brunch, 12/26/2016–L to R: Yasemin’s dad, visiting from Ankara Turkey; her older son Ahmet; her daughter Esma; Yasemin; me; Yasemin’s mother.
Ahmet and me
Yasemin’s husband Halil and daughter Esma
Yasemin’s mother and baby son YaYa
YaYa
Yaya bundled up

I wore a birthday present, a lovely red plaid corduroy shirt given to me by my friend Laurie.

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Laurie Ashline, a friend from church, gave me this red plaid corduroy shirt.

Yasemin and the kids and I will be meeting today at our local Panera, where I’ll probably get their “Pick Two” option with half a tuna sandwich and a cup of their delicious creamy tomato soup. I tried to grab an image from their menu, but had no luck. 😦

Hopefully seeing my friend Yasemin will perk me up. Here we are when I visited her parents and in-laws in Turkey in 2006:

Uncle Mustafa and Esma Sara
Devrek, waiting for the bus
Devrek
lunch al fresco with Yasemin’s parents and inlaws
pitstop for water on the way to the village
Esma Sara
the old house at the village
outside the village
Devrek
Yasemin’s inlaws’ village
Yasemin and me and the Black Sea
Zonguldak

One of my goals when I lived in Turkey in 2006 was to see each of the seas surrounding it. Yasemin and her mother and Esma and I went to Zonguldak one day so that I could see the Black Sea, which borders Turkey on the north:

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Yasemin and me and the Black Sea
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Zonguldak

It’s hard to believe how little Esma was then. If I remember I’ll take some pictures today….

Well, here’s to having a better conclusion to the day!