“The language we use to communicate with one another is like a knife. In the hands of a careful and skilled surgeon, a knife can work to do great good. But in the hands of a careless or ignorant person, a knife can cause great harm.”
~ Source Unknown ~

Exactly

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“And the Lord inspired the bee, saying: Take your habitations in the mountains and in the trees and in what they erect. Then, eat of all fruits and follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you)'. There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying color wherein… Read full post »

Anyone who has read Macbeth will remember - with a good measure of trepidation - the three wicked witches in the first scene of Act IV circling around their cauldron, chanting spells and adding bizarre ingredients into their stew such as :

"Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool o/… Read full post »

I love taking pictures. My posts attest to that. I don't know how I lived before the advent of the digital camera which affords me the luxury of thousands of shots and various angles of my subject. Like the old commercial about American Express, my motto about my trusty old Cannon… Read full post »

May your special day herald in an era of happiness and accomplishments, well deserved peace of mind, and the best of all of your heart's desires.

Love from your OS family.

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To Babacim, who would have been 86 years old today. 

May 19th  is also celebrated in Turkey as the National Day of Fitness and Sports, dedicated to the nation's youth by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic. 

shady trees 

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I come down to the kitchen for coffee and toast and find Wayne 'n Wendy sitting at the table, rolling their day's supply of cigarettes. They look suspended in time facing each other but neither looking at the other.

Wendy has dark circles under her eyes and she's quiet… Read full post »

Sunday was a perfect day to enjoy old Montreal, bustling with music, tourists, street artists and people of every age and background. I heard at least five different languages as my friend and I sat at an outdoor cafe, after a long walk along the pier, enjoying our lattés and doin… Read full post »

My sister and I decide it's time to take a break from painting her cozy den to a fresh layer of pale apricot. The act of moving the brush up and down and the color we selected together brighten our spirits and strengthen a bond we've had all our lives/… Read full post »

In many languages, the word "Lent" actually means "fast". Although their interpretation of Easter and its traditions may differ, after a long Lenten fast, people around the world would agree that at least one thing is in order : A sumptious meal.

The foods, as well as the style in… Read full post »

Juliet took one last look at the preparations before settling on her favorite chair in the living room. All the champagne flutes, silverware, china, napkins and the piece de resistance center piece – a gorgeous arrangement of May flowers – were in perfect alignment, like an/… Read full post »

                 Dame Melba

As history shows, some of the gastronomic creations that conquer our tastes as well as our fancy are results of either pure coincidence or sheer luck. Often times, what we have come to t/… Read full post »

Montreal under the magic of night 

My first Transatlantic flight was a pleasant but brief distraction from the grief of leaving behind a life - to which little did I know if I’d ever return. As a teen my immediate concern was missing out on the bonding experiences/… Read full post »

Jack and I had been married a little over a year when we learned we couldn't have children of our own. Until then, the thought of offspring had not really entered our minds. We were young and were full of plans for our future. Starting a family was – at best… Read full post »

Hello  dear Teenager, 

Welcome to a new era of your life. You don't know me, but just think of me as someone who is greeting you from the other side of teenage-hood and wishing you a fulfilling journey ahead. I was your age when I left my mother land and the… Read full post »

This is for those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers. If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their famous sketch, "Who's on First?" might have turned out something like this:

Costello Calls To Buy a Computer from Abbott

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store.… Read full post »

This post is in response  to the one called Just Words by Susie Lindau.   My comments on her post seem to have not stuck, so instead I informed her that I'd be responding with a poem I had written about my take on words.  Much different, yet another perspective from a differe/… Read full post »

                    Taxi ! Taxi !

“I never knew the truth until today!”

Evangeline announced as she took off her black mink coat and draped it over the unoccupied chair. … Read full post »

image source

Noah's Pudding is a Turkish dessert I have known and loved all my life as Ashure. I heard the nomenclature Noah's Pudding only after I started living in North America. The name made so much sense to me as I thought of the story of Noah and/… Read full post »

Stepping on Turkish soil after my first six year separation was full of mixed emotions. On one hand I felt as if I had never left my country. My eyes swallowed the sights simultaneously as my ears guzzled the sounds I had missed so much: the language, the familiar street noises… Read full post »