Another Boring Beautiful Morning

Cover for Besiktas photo album

Every day is exactly the same, at least for the past five days, sunny, clear blue skies, and cold, 18 degrees when I got up.  The lake still looks like a skating rink, shiny with the glare of the sun though snow/sleet is expected late Thursday, so who knows when the lake will unfreeze. We will have to take advantage of both today and tomorrow, enjoying the outdoors for a hike and save the gym for later in the week.

A few minutes ago Fed Ex dropped off the photo album I put together for Ates, a teammate with Besiktas, while at Beth's house, with Ramiro's help.  It's about our stay in Istanbul, especially the wonderful hospitality of my good friend Ates and his wife, Mine.  They basically took over our lives when we were there, set up 'programs,' where we were wined and dined by teammates, visited malls, restaurants, and he was responsible for my being honored by the Turkish Basketball Federation.  The book is amazing, mostly photographs from our trip, but some pictures from our early years together in Istanbul.  The cover is a shot of our team in 2009, obviously much older, but still happy and excited to be together again.  He is going to love it and we have decided to get one for ourselves.