New wall

It is lovely weather these days. The summer heat is over. Even in the sun, it is possible to do some work, although the shadowy places are still the preferred spots to spend some energy.

We have called in big machinery to rework the wall in the garden. First, the old wall was pushed down. Then, some digging was done until we reached the rocks (about 2 meters deep) and now some men – nephews of Mohamed – are building a foundation to build a new wall.

We have to do this, because the old wall – very beautiful – was built “dry” on the earth. Each time it rains the soil becomes unstable and parts of the wall kept falling down. In the end it was even dangerous for someone to walk by it, because at any moment rocks could have fallen off.

We wanted to have this done a month earlier, but nobody wanted to do this kind of labour during Ramadan, which is understandable.

Ramadan is over, the “Eid” is over and even the week vacation all people working for government received is over. Life is back to normal again.

Ramadan or not, it is all the same for Zakaria. He is preoccupied with other things. Being able to communicate better, these days – although most is non-verbal – he regularly requests to have the radio turned on. When the music pleases him, he starts moving to it, waving his hands and shaking his head. Another hobby of his is cleaning by running around with the necessary material and using it very seriously.

But when “Tatti”, he just wants to be cuddled by Mohamed or sit on his arm. He is a baby still, although he thinks other wise.

Fast asleep

In a week Ramadan will be over. Fasting has now become a routine. While before everybody was hurrying home half an hour before sunset, many are still outside finishing a chore or just enjoying the weather when the Muezzin calls to announce the end of the day.

School summer holidays are over. The children dressed in blue uniforms go to school early in the morning.

The storks flew over end of August which is early. Autumn must be coming soon to Europe. Even here, it seems like it will come soon. We are having thick clouds threatening for rain this week. Campers report heavy rain in Turkey.

The sun is still very hot. It is too hot in the sun to work in the garden during the day still.

I would love to do some gardening. I could do it, as Zakaria now enjoys himself by walking around, playing or just observing what I am doing. As long as he can get dirty, he is fine.

He is growing and learning full time which makes him hungry most of the time. His teeth are bothering him, but not too much anymore. He only needs one long nap during the day which quite frankly suits me much more than the 2 quick ones he did before.

Last night after he had gone to sleep at night, I heard a cricket quite nearby chanting shortly 3 to 4 times and then it stopped. I thought it was on the balcony. When in the morning, Zakaria called me to tell me he had woken up, I found the cricket dead in the mosquito net covering Zakaria’s bed.

We always had crickets in the house during wintertime. Maybe that one came in, because the nights are becoming too fresh for them. It got trapped…

A baby lizard was hanging around in my kitchen’s sink the day before yesterday. That one probably came with the figs we picked that day. I caught it and put it outside.

These lizards are extremely ugly. There are hundreds in the garden. Some are huge and they are fast. You cannot catch them, as they are masters in slipping through holes or climbing over walls.

This reminds me that I don’t see the tortoises anymore. Maybe they were upset by the changes in the garden and left. We covered the back of the garden which was left wild before with this white chalky soil. Remains to be seen.