Kittens in the Corner

A super yacht arriving at Kargi Koyu.

Hil and I arrived in Datca last week with our friends Melanie and her Mum Shirley. This was the start of Girl's Week - well girl's 10 days really as Matt will be joining us next weekend and Tom and Charlie the week after. We flew into Dalaman quite late, picked up a couple of cars and drove without incident over the mountains arriving here at 2am. The next morning over breakfast we spotted movement in the corner of the garden - OOOH KITTENS!!! There were three tiny ones with their Mum under a bush. Melanie and Shirley were beside themselves with excitement. We enjoyed watching them peep out and then take a few steps into the world. Then sadly they vanished, Mum had moved them elsewhere. We thought that was it - but oh no, after we had waved our guests off and they were on their way to Kalkan something happened. We were sitting on the terrace enjoying coffee when Mum cat appeared with a little  fluffy ball following her. 'Oh where are the other two', we thought. She walked brazenly into our lounge and left kitten number 1 in the cubby hole under the stairs and then strode off down the path. Five minutes later she returned with kitten number 2 in her mouth and deposited that under the stairs. You can guess the rest - kitten number 3 joined the family a few minutes later. By this time Hil and I were hysterical and we just sat there watching the entertainment. Of course then we had a bit of a problem. We thought it best to leave them alone for a while and when we went out last night we locked them all in, a bit risky but all was calm when we came home. I managed to catch them and put them in a towel lined basket and now they are under a bush in the garden and for now all is OK. Fatma - a neighbour has been to see them so word is out. I am hoping that in a day or two I can give her the basket full of cats and a bag of cat food and say 'Here you are love take these'. It doesn't end there as Mummy Cat has a sister who is heavily pregnant and she is casing the joint for a suitable nursery. I'm hoping she thinks next door would do..
Anyway here are some photos and also some of our lovely friends who joined us for five days.

So cute. We are not handling them any more as they must remain as wild as possible.

Kittens in the house - Matt will have a fit when he sees this!

We moved them into the garden

A lovely day out at Palamut Buku.

Back to our bolt hole

Here we are again. It is our first visit of 2015. The weather is fabulous - hovering around 24C, just right for me. The house was still standing and all was mostly fine in side. Roland rat has been chewing the waste pipe again which is a complete pain as we installed expensive valves to keep him out. So he has either found a way past them, or he chewed them prior to the installation or he has been trapped between valve and loo all winter.
The cats have all reappeared including Bruiser who has not fared well this winter. We whisked him off to the vets for TLC and will pick him up on Friday. He didn't seem happy when we assisted him into the basket but it is in his best interests. Beyaz is fat and fluffy so she has found someone to care for her or perhaps she has become an expert mouser. There are a few new ones including a very handsome young Tom cat who goes by the name of  Mr. Fifty Shades. He has lovely grey markings.

Hil and Matt undertaking a spot of topiary.

Maybe we will have oranges this year.

Matt and Hil have been busy tending the garden. Our gardener takes good care of it but is not as severe at cutting back as we are. The spring flowers are fabulous and there are some lovely ones in the garden.
We were not expecting it to be warm enough for lounging on the beach but it is and Matt has braved the cool temperatures of the Med.
We've met up with some old friends which is nice and had a good evening in the Sunrise bar with Metin and Linda. Looking forward to our cake night on Friday!

Everybody here hates the trumpet plant but I love it.

Bougainvillea is looking good.

Matt helped out with the high bits.

Our front path looking fab.

Hil doing a spot of topiary!

Our lovely view.

So many pretty flowers in our garden.

The Big Cycling Challenge

Jack decided to give his Dad a Christmas present to remember - entry to the Tour of Flanders bike ride, all 127km's of it during Easter 2015 weekend. The 16000 amateurs rode on the Saturday with the professional race the day after. Any way we all decided to go and support them. All being me, Tom, Charlie and Hil. I booked 2 nice apartments very near the main square in Bruges.
 http://apartments-house-of-elements.hotelsbruges.net/en/
The younger ones had one and us oldies had the other. The position was great and also meant we didn't need to spend loads of money on dining out every night. Charlie and Tom cooked one night, Hil and I did another and Nadine joined us. Then we sampled some Bruges fine dining on the other two nights.
Those of us who were not cycling made the most of all Bruges had to offer including the boat trip and general plodding around. Hil and I hopped on a train to Blankenberge to see our old pal Nadine while the men were cycling. Now I met her on an internet forum several years ago and met her in person at a wedding in Turkey, since then we have met up whenever I visited Jack in Belgium or she has come to England. I love having international friends and have quite a few now.
As for weather we had a couple of lovely sunny days. The cyclists however were unlucky and it was quite challenging for them cycling up steep cobbled roads in the rain! They seemed to enjoy it though and both came back looking happy with their T shirts and medals.
Here are some photos of our lovely Easter weekend.

A great deal of beer sampling happened - after all there are several hundred to try.

My lovely boys

Out in the sunshine

I love having my brood together

Fido the famous doggie in the window

The lovely lunch at Nadine's house

Nadine's special Belgian lunch was delicious

Nadine's Easter decorations assembled by her special friend

Street sculpture

Blankenberge

Hil and I went to the seaside to see Nadine

Easter eggs everywhere

The main square

We loved the boat trip in the sunshine

The professional bike race

Two happy cyclists after their long, hard ride

Dinner out was delicious. The waiter said his tip was going towards his botox treatment.

The kids kept us entertained with card games

Helicopters filming the race

So many beers to taste and so little time

We enjoyed welcoming Nadine to an evening in our apartment

I don't drink but do have other vices