Long Days

The sky gets light at 4am and the sun hits the top of the plane tree outside my window at 5:30am. The sun sets after 9pm and twilight lasts until 10:20pm. The Turkish women sit in plastic chairs on the sidewalk and talk until past 11pm. Jet lag has some advantages . . . Smell of cigarette smoke and savory meat in the evening, bread and coffee in the morning. The children arrive early. My room gets morning light. Ran along the canal for an hour: Two swans, some kind of unidentified duck, green algae, lush lime trees in bloom, damp rank smells, a couple dogs -- strange big wolfish mutts both of them, a few bums still sleeping in the weedy park, ghetto graffiti and abandoned playgrounds, the metal jungle gyms bright in the early sunlight. Very flat here, but must be careful to gently dodge the Muslim women out for morning walks.