Early Summer 2016

  We had a lovely summer.  My sister and my friend Maura came to us on holiday in June.    They were both so tired due to their busy work schedule and so excited to be here at last!  It was great to see them relax and enjoy themselves as the days went on.  We invited our Turkish friends over for garden parties.  We laughed, eat lots of food, drank wine and chatted under two sun umbrellas as we sheltered from the hot afternoon sun. 

My sister in particular loved being outside with all our friends,  this is something you cannot do every day back home in Ireland. It has been six years since she was here and she really needed a sun holiday!  Our lovely Turkish friends, Dilek and Suha invited all of us over to their beach and to dinner on their balcony.  Such wonderful home cooked food and great conversation.  Everyone so happy and content.   

 We went swimming every day,  my sister would gaze at the roses and the kittens (yes they are growing big and get more cute every day!) as she swam in the pool.  Sometimes she could be seen pulling the odd weed which managed to escape my not so often garden endeavours in this heat. I had to put pressure on her to just sit down and chill out.  She is so used to working that she found it hard to sit still.   

We went often to the beach where we again sat under an umbrella to keep out of the scorching sun.  We swam in the clear waters and it was so great to have company and laughter all around me. We cooked meals at home and eat them on the balcony while we chatted away till the early hours.... We had meals out which we also enjoyed as we watched the beautiful sunsets.  

The day came for their return home.  It was as always heart wrenching to say goodbye.  I had a few rough days......  I immediately went on-line and searched for flights back to Ireland.  After much searching, I found flights to London and from there later that evening to Dublin.  I was ok,  we would be going home at the end of July for a stay of nearly 4 weeks. Things were looking up!