Sapanca over the years....

Sapanca....

We go there every year... I remember my first year there... Anne (mom in law) and baba (dad in law) was still alive... i was this young bride trying to fit into the family... my beloved and i were basically there all the time during summer... who wouldnt love it there, eh? The spacious house...wonderful sapanca lake view from the garden...no need to cook coz anne was the Queen of the kitchen...that was her territory....and as the newly learning bride, my job was to adjust myself to my surrounding and enjoyed the pool!
And then the kids were born....How useful sapanca was coz having not need to do anything coz there was anne and mıstık (the family male helper)... i was busy trying to be a new mom...and the best part was...anne helped to put hatice to sleep....but that summer after baddin was born... Anne suddenly was called by Allah.....Sapanca without Anne was.....we felt empty...

That left only baba...i remember that last year of baba's life... my kids and i spent almost most of our summer in sapanca with my beloved coming and going from and to istanbul coz he had to go to work... i used to grumble somehow coz i hate having to spend time away from my beloved... but now i am glad we did coz that was the longest time my kids would be able to spend time with their dede (grandpa)....That was when i saw baba trying to play football of some sort with baddin... of baba answering hatice's innocent and silly questions...
Now, there is this emptiness coz the two persons are gone... which left only the children to go there..to jump into the pool...to enjoy the spacious house...away from the tiny space of our apartment home in istanbul...to breathe a fresh air from the hilltop garden of the house....
After almost 11 years...i cant say that sapanca is boring... the pool will always be the biggest attraction..i simply love swimming.. the kids too..in fact all the zaim kids love the pool... and each year....new happening..new unexpected adventures come in our way...
For example....one year... i cried at the summer house coz i simply lost my wedding ring...i left everyone panicked...looking around for that one ring...until özlem..my sister in law found my ring in the rice pressure cooker... yup..that nite..the family had eaten white gold wedding band indeed! This year...last wednesday..i cried again coz i lost my wedding ring again... and guess where it turned out?? in the pool of the sapanca pool!!! It must have fallen into the pool without me noticing it the weekend before....and i am forever thankful to dearest baddin for finding the ring....We still continue the big tour coz we love it..and coz deep down...i think we would like to honour baba..my beloved's dad who used to go to almost the same route...even as he aged...

This year though...we had a suprise as well.. as we were passing our normal route... almost reaching the house...we saw this land cultivated with young pine trees...they will be for sale i guess... we saw a few ducks.. the caretaker of the place told us that we could come in and look at the ducks up close...only then.. three *kangal* younglings...dogs i mean came rushing towards the gate...hatice looked at me pleadingly coz she knows what i feel about touching dogs..the hassle of the concept of *samak* ..as i am a syafiee.. touching dogs would mean the cleaning would involve the sand and water.. whereas in hanafi, washing with soap is enough... my kids r hanafi..i was in dilemma... finally i gave the go ahead..and the kangals we basically pleading the kids to pat them...one even bite at hatice's pants pleading her to play with them... of course, once we reached the house,i immediately told the kids to stay outside the house and i cleaned their bodies and clothings the syafiee way...out of respect for me...my beloved also cleaned himself my way...and i to show my respect for him.. cleaned everything again using soap...

and the beloved pool... ah.... who would have thought after almost 11 years here..i would get to experience swimming in the green pool?? argh!!! I pray whatever bad effects that greenish water had on all of our skins... the healing power of the oylat thermal would have worked itz magic wonders.....
And the old basket seller uncle i always buy from each year... yup..he is still there.. he still remembers me... i always get a special discout from him...i guess i will always go to him until the day he dies....he is such a sweet man indeed!

We always feed the wild cats when we go to sapanca..the BBQ smell attracts them anyway... last year..*.kar beyaz* the cat stayed over with her gorgeous kids....we fed them...we even bought some ready made feed from the pet shop and left them there for the cats to eat... this year..all kar beyaz's kids r all grown up..and perhaps with kids of their own....a lil kitten this year which baddin named *şirin gri*honoured us with her presence... her mom is nowhere to be found..and she is such a playfull and brave kitten...we contemplated of bringing her to istanbul...but how to bring her when u cant catch her?...
Sapanca has and shall always be about happenings...of the yester years...today...and tomorrow...

Baba..thank you for buying this place...Anne..thank you for making baba pay the men to make the pool.....This is the perfect getaway indeed...


Thank You for hopping by. Hope to see you again soon... :0)