August 19
The Earthquake,

The news from here is good and bad. Bulent's family is fine, but their summer home in Yalova is gone. We have seen the wreckage on T.V. We have lost some old friends... we don't know how many, yet, but Bulent's best friend's wife and seven-year-old daughter were killed, and many of Bulent's oldest friends' parents are also gone. Most of the complex of buildings where Bulent's family always spent their summers is completely flattened, taking with it hundreds of families, including many of his parents' closest friends and the family which was renting his folks' place. The earthquake lasted 45 seconds and was (latest news) a 7.4.  There is widespread devastation along the sea of Marmara. Comparatively speaking, there is not much damage in Istanbul, itself. We are stunned, but O.K.
 

This is how the summer place looks like now. It used to be a 5 story building like the on the upper left corner, well it used to be 5 stories as well, but now its 4 stories, the first floor is no more...

 

June 8:
Summer's early. We've been swimming off the boat, and in the pool, and that calls for a poem. Or,
actually, a little song (a la Winnie the Pooh):

(Sung to the tune of Westminster Chimes)

I
Smell
B.
O.

Is
It
Me,
O.

?

(O.K., so Winnie the Pooh was never so indelicate.Tra La!.)

And also:
(WARNING WARNING...here you must picture Doctor Smith running away, shreiking, while the
Robot waves his arms. Those of you who have not seen the reruns of "Lost in Space" will just have
to refer to the movie, but since I never saw it, I can't be sure of your receiving the correct image)

Submitted for your approval:

An archaic form of pottery - er - poetry, we like to call "Spewing". Here's an example:

Spew
ing
Mew
ing
J.
R.
Ew
ing.

or, in its even lesser-known, non-rhyming form:

There is no
Word
That rhymes with
Haggis

unless, you, have, a, lisp. Repeat after me, gently lisping:

Please pass the Haggis,
Methinks me butt doth saggeth.

Can you tell that I'm feeling a bit "Over-punctuated" these days?
Uh oh, I'm experiencing Deja-vu. No, that isn't it. Plagerism? Hope not.