June was my big month of visits, with some of my closest friends making appearances in the city. It was also a month where a friend ended up in the hospital, making it a particularly emotionally intense month, but affirming for all the friendships in my life.
Best Of The Month
The months started with the end of Alison’s visit, which felt like a perfect transition into real summer. On her last night, we stayed out too late talking with my friends and drinking cocktails and wishing there was more time— we always wish there was more time.
My friend Natalie also made a brief appearance; she and her husband Burak often feel like my absent family in Istanbul, now that they moved away many years ago. Her return always feels like a homecoming.
My best friend Kelly came to visit this month, for the first time in four years, and it was just so nice to slip into our comfortable friendship again, with all our shared history and fascinations and obsessions.
At the end of the month, I ran away to Datca to enjoy some beach time and a little quiet escape from the city, which was very much needed.
I also received some GREAT work news this month, but I will reveal more of that in a future post.
Worst Of The Month
The absolute worst thing that happened this month is that my friend Abdul fell off his fourth story balcony, and was in the hospital for five days. He is miraculously fine, but those were scary days and I was at the hospital with his sister and our friends that whole week. We are all so relieved that he is okay.
My kombi (sort of the device that heats my water) had an electrical problem, blew a fuse in the whole apartment, and stopped working. I had no hot water for three days, which is survivable in the summertime, but not fun.
What I’m Loving
Reads: I bought a pile of books when I was in the Bay Area in May, and the nerdiest was a nonfiction book called Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky. I read it this month, and it was great! I shouldn’t have been surprised that so much of it revoked around my home state of Massachusetts (of course— Cape Cod) and so many of the archival images came from the Peabody Essex museum in Salem, MA, a place I have visited many times.
Music: For some reason I went on a Bob Dylan kick this month, rediscovering my love for “Tangled Up In Blue” and other songs. I also grooved all month to the song “Disco Hi-Life” by Orlando Julius, nine minutes of good-vibe perfection.
Movies/TV: I don’t think I watched any movies or TV this month! This happens in the summer months sometimes.
Podcasts: I didn’t listen to as many podcasts this month because of all my visitors, but I continued to love the tail end of this season of You Must Remember This, which is probably the GOAT.
The Film Files
Alison is my main photography collaborator and being with her is always an inspiration. While she was here, she shot the second half of an experiment we started maybe three or four years ago, when I shot a roll of film in NYC and saved it for her to shoot the doubles in Istanbul— the reverse of our usual project.
Ephemera
There was one beautiful moment in Datca when I rode Jenna’s electric bike down from the village to the port at the golden hour in a billowing summer dress, and just felt that everything in that moment was absolutely perfect. And it was!
Upcoming
In July I will go south briefly for work, and then take off to the US again at the end of the month! I’ve been very happy to spend my summer mostly in Turkey, except for these brief family visits in my home country. With travel as screwy as it is, Europe can wait.
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