Happy Mother’s Day 2024
Starting with Jan and Elif, then to our mothers Ruth and Nevber, I wish a happy Mother’s Day to all mothers. They have a special place in our lives and deserve our gratitude. Happy Mother’s Day!
Photographs and articles by A. Cemal Ekin
Starting with Jan and Elif, then to our mothers Ruth and Nevber, I wish a happy Mother’s Day to all mothers. They have a special place in our lives and deserve our gratitude. Happy Mother’s Day!
We have had a couple of fun days as we approach our return to Rhode Island. I want to share a few more photographs before we leave on Wednesday morning. December 30, 2023 As they previously arranged, Mina went to spend a couple of weeks with her father on Saturday afternoon. That morning, she drove …
Since the last post introducing Kahve Cafe, we have enjoyed our time with Elif and Mina and even managed to have an adventure that now looks funny. Keep reading … Of course, we revisited Kahve Cafe and chatted with some customers as they too were enjoying Christmas with their families. They were surprised and pleased …
It has been over five years since we last came to Salt Lake City to be with Elif and Mina. We decided to fly to see them as it would have been almost impossible for them to close shop, Kahve Cafe, to visit us. For easier traveling, we decided to fly directly from Boston to …
We Wish You Happy Holidays and a Happy, Healthy New Year. This is a post that essentially summarizes our 2023 in words and photographs. There are many photographs; feel free to skip any. We wanted to share our year with you all. Since we have not had snow yet this year, Jan’s ice abstract welcomes …
We, and many others, are remembering Binnaz with fond memories and all the good she has done for so many people. Binnaz Melin Challenges overcome. Flowers blossomed. A life well lived. 1941-2018
We wanted to take Mina to see the WaterFire in Providence. It is a popular show created by Barnaby Evans that involves igniting small piles of wood in braziers permanently installed in the river. Moody music accompanies the show as tens of thousands of people line up on the river banks to enjoy the presentation. …
This year, the weather in May has been lovely. As we approached Memorial Day, I noticed the pleasantness of the gentle breeze and crisp air. That reminded me of an expression we used to use in my youth for such lovely weather, “like lemonade!” It is refreshing, cool, slightly sweet, and with the gentle tartness …
Yes, fifty-two years ago today, Jan and I got married in Adana, Turkey. A very brave woman, Jan flew to Turkey with her wedding gown on her shoulder to follow our joint destiny. A happy, very happy one at that. A very happy anniversary to the love of my life, Jan. The next fifty-two await …
As we come to the end of 2022, Jan and I wish you all happy holidays and a wonderful new year. Happy Holidays &A Happy New Year We survived another year! A series of health issues tried to tackle us, but we managed to move on. Elif and Mina managed to sneak out of school …
If you were thinking I disappeared from the scene, you are halfway right. This October 2022 update will fill you in. After the Orchis exhibit opening reception, things went a little awry. But all is well and getting even better. Health Matters I had a planned surgical procedure the day after the opening reception. A …
We wish you a very happy holiday seasonand a wonderful new year As tiring and challenging as the last two years have been, we try to rise to the challenge and wish that you all are doing the same. Better days are ahead and we need to stay alive to gather again when those days …
To all mothers, a small offer of gratitude. These flowers offer some visual connection to families, motherhood, children. Happy Mother’s Day Jan, Elif, and to all. And we remember our mothers Ruth and Nevber very fondly on this special day.
Dogs and cats, symbols of arguments and fights, can lead very peaceful existence together for a long time. Meet Kara and Cuki, pronounce the latter as Djuki. Kara was short for Karabash and Cuki was for Boncuk. Kara was a puppy when Jan and Elif picked her up from the local pound. Her looks, with …
It is not easy to have Covid-19 portraits taken! For an upcoming virtual meeting, I needed a photograph of Jan and me. Although I could have set up something indoors, the camera on the tripod, and taken photographs that way, I thought they would be more meaningful if they also conveyed the situation we face. …
I have scanned many slides, negatives, prints over the years. Since late December 2019, I have been doing it as a project to convert old photographs to digital and, in some ways, relive the memories. The result, I hope will be an archive of family members, gatherings, events as well as many photographs I took …
Although this time we stayed in Ayvalik for only four days, we managed to do and see quite a bit. Ayvalik is colorful and charming that invites exploration. We also met new people and saw new places. In this final post of the ongoing travelog, I will try to give you a feel for the …
Ma’Adra Unites a Mythological Couple When we visited the olive grove for the second time in the morning, we went to Ma’Adra Vineyards on the hills of Madra mountains for lunch. The road was winding and rough, the weather a bit foggy, but traveling as a two-car convoy we made it to the vineyards high …
A couple of years ago, Binnaz and Ergun purchased an olive grove as a future revenue source for the ASKEV foundation. The grove has about 1,000 olive trees, mostly old with a few newer ones. Since the purchase, they have done additional work to make the grove conform to high-quality agriculture standards with automated irrigation …
After the first two weeks in Turkey and seeing the family and friends, Elif and Mina arrived at the beginning of our third week. We spent the first night in Istanbul and the next day Mustafa drove us to Ayvalik as the girls wanted. The new roads and the bridge crossing the Izmit Bay cut …
Continuing from part 1, this is the end of our second week visiting Istanbul. Elif and Mina arrived on October 14 and we all went to Ayvalik on October 15 to return to Istanbul on the 19th. October 11, 2019 As planned, I dropped Jan off at Mehmet and Isin’s house where the girls would …
Our main reason to visit Turkey this year was mainly to see our family and friends. As we get older, our shrinking circle becomes more important, and that brought us there. Travel, especially air travel is getting harder, at least for me, but people we wanted to see made it somewhat bearable. Landed in Turkey …
We have been expecting Elif and Mina on July 4 around 2:30 PM. And that evening around 11 PM our relatives from North Carolina were expected to arrive. Well, partly the weather and partly due to the Trump’s July 4 show, Elif and Mina arrived around 7:30 PM and the crew from North Carolina did …
I feel lucky that I still see many of my friends going all the way back to our high school years, and a few even before that. I have known Alpay since we were freshmen in Adana Boy’s High School. Even then, I was not very active. But I remember him running around during the …