Hope you’ve got some great things planned tonight.

Love the colours this time of year— even the concrete buildings seem different.

This was the weather all day today. Needless to say, I’m thrilled. I have a steady supply of hazelnut coffee and the world is good.

Turkey has a wealth of shops that fall equally under the categories of “antiques” and “junk.” These shops are often built around a large collection of old books, stacked floor-to-ceiling with no particular rhyme or reason. Two other common features of the antiques/junk shop are the Table of Random and Unusual Coins (my most recent selections are pictured above) and the Suitcase of Old Photos (I bought quite a few, which I’ll scan for you later). Other that that, it’s a free-for-all, and you might find anything in these shops from old furniture to vintage clothing to obsolete electronics (last time I went out antiquing I spotted an 8-track player).

Here’s something I couldn’t resist buying— as you can see, it’s a set of six glasses with a pitcher. I was shocked that none of the pieces had any damage, and I asked the shop owner if the set was really old. “No, it’s not old,” he replied. “It’s maybe… 1960, 1959, something like that. Pretty modern.”

You mean to tell me that this entire set of glass items survived half a century in a Turkish household and is still here to tell the story? The shop owner didn’t understand why I thought that was remarkable, which worked in my favour when negotiating time came, as he seemed keen to get rid of the set. “Brown glass, people don’t really like it,” he mumbled.

I guess I’m not “people,” then.

Sometimes there’s a reason for cake, and then sometimes you just have to celebrate for no reason at all.

I can’t believe Halloween is less than a week away. I’m so excited, I can barely see straight!

Last year I wasn’t able to do NaNoWriMo because we were travelling around Thailand and Malaysia at the time. It felt weird not writing a novel in November, because I usually do NaNoWriMo every year. For me it’s not about creating a knockout bestseller or anything like that— I do it because I get a good feeling out of it, because I love the community aspect, and because I think it’s a useful exercise on several levels. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

So I’m back in the saddle this year, and I couldn’t be more excited. I love the selection of participant banners they have this year, and I chose this one because, coincidentally, the working title of my book is Monkey Mind.

So if you’re NaNoing this year, add me! We’ll struggle through together. This will be my seventh NaNoWriMo and I couldn’t be more excited.

Nearly to 30 now.

This is one last sky shot from That Morning, and now we’re done with those, I promise. But I have to admit, I don’t get tired of the skies this time of year.