August is usually hot and full of surprises, though during this strange second pandemic summer, August is when things seemed to settle into a groove. There were so many little joys and I feel like so many of us have been hungry for exactly that.
Best Of The Month
My sister came to visit! Hillary hadn’t been in Turkey since 2016— she was supposed to come last year, but, you know, pandemic— and she hadn’t come without our parents during the entire time I’ve lived here. So it was terrific to have quality sister time and to show her my life these days.
I took Hillary to Kabak, the place I go every summer, and she loved it as much as I thought she would. It felt like Mediterranean summer camp.
I don’t know if it’s fair to count many small joys under “best of the month”, but they truly were: day trips to Kinaliada, a Mexican mole feast on my terrace, spontaneous beers with Instagram friends, midnight walks in Moda… there were a lot of little things that made August feel special.
Worst Of The Month
When August began, I was partway through a two-week trip along Turkey’s south coast. After spending the end of July in Kas, Claire and I went to Akyaka, and that’s when things got weird. First, there was massive drama with an Airbnb host that didn’t want to respect our booking and was verbally abusive (we stayed one night and then left), plus the weather hit 110°F/43°C (hottest I’ve ever experienced in Turkey), PLUS there were wildfires raging that were close enough to Akyaka that we could see the smoke. We were supposed to continue on to Cesme, but decided that it made more sense to cut the trip short and return to Istanbul, which was definitely the correct decision.
What I’m Loving
Reads: I always love reading Oliver Sacks, so this month I read his book about all things audio: Musicophilia. I really recommend anything by him, and this one was particularly good.
I also read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens after years of avoiding it. Why would I avoid a seemingly well-loved bestseller, you ask? Well, it’s because I read this Slate article and this New Yorker article about Delia and her husband and the murder they are connected to in Zambia, and hooo boy, the novel is good, but the backstory is WILD.
Music: Two songs I loved this month were Harika by Palmiyeler, and You Could Be More As You Are by Saada Bonaire, which is a very strange one-off new-wavey disco track with weird German singers that somehow totally grooves.
Movies/TV: I went to see two outdoor movies at Beykoz Kundura this month, which is always a treat. The first was a Russian silent film called The Peasant Women of Ryazan, which was presented with a live music accompaniment and was unexpectedly great, and the second was The Red Shoes, a surreal 1948 dance movie that I saw maybe a decade ago and enjoyed much more this time around.
Podcasts: I’ve loved listening to the first few episodes of LOUD, a podcast about the birth of reggaeton music that is presented in Spanglish. I also loved many episodes of Outlook this month, including this one about the secret link between two gymnasts and this one about the man who found the Titanic, and his secret Cold War mission.
The Film Files
I haven’t been shooting much this summer, and I’m not sure why. I did get some pictures developed from early July, though, that came out very well.
Ephemera
A piece I’ve been thinking about for a while was finally published by The Daily Beast this month, about Lake Salda, Mars, and whether or not tourism should happen at such a delicate, special place. Enjoy!
Upcoming
The first half of September is parents (including a little trip) and the second half will hopefully include our annual September wine trip. I am very much looking forward to it!
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