Goodies from the Galley....:)

Dad's Birthday Pie!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

This year for dads birthday I made him a lemon pie. Well the recipe is for lemon merange but I skipped the merange part ;)

We left Marmaris a few days ago and are sailing with some friends we
met in the marina. So Friday we hung out in a small town we found called Gocek. Had lunch and did some shopping. Then hit the road.....Well I mean the sea :) After we sailed for a few hours we found a
small quiet bay and had a yummy Birthday dinner and of course, the pie for dessert.

So here's the pictures....enjoy!! 

Til next time....-Maggie

wandering along....

We've been travelling with Time Warp and really enjoying it. It's the first time we've sailed with anyone and it's fun to meet up at anchor, analyze the day and the wind, have someone to call on the radio and hang out in town with.

We were anchored in Dalyan, first night from Marmaris, and took the dinghies up a fresh river, inland heading towards some rock tombs built high on the mountain. What we ended up doing....is going in circles looking for the main river between all the grass and cattails growing around. The grass was just tall enough to where we couldn't see the main river. It was still fun cruising around, half expecting to see an alligator any minute.

We left at noon and sailed down the coast and hooked in behind an island called Baba Adasi. Very calm anchorage and we slept sound! Speaking of which, since we'd left the marina, it must be the fresh air, or being outside all day, but we've all been extremely tired and hungry! We eat huge meals and an hour later, we're all hungry again. I think our bodies are burning some serious calories and we're trying to re-fill. Also, we're all exhausted by 8 or 8:30 at night. So we try to hold off until 9:00 and sleep until 8:00 the next morning. I guess it's healthy living, eh?

Thursday, we left there and sailed a long day down and into a large bay with dozens of small bays and anchorages around called Fethiye Korfezi. We went up to Gocek, a sleepy village in the north corner and anchored there. We had run out of propane, we have two 10 gallon bottles which last us about 3 months and were hoping to wait until Greece or Cyprus to fill because gas is SO expensive in Turkey, but no luck. So Friday we went in town and found someone to fill it for 75 Lira ($50) about $5 a gallon. Not the end of the world. We also found a great restaurant for lunch where we all ate home cooked food and bread for 25 Lira ($15) It's hard to feed 7 for $15 anywhere these days!

Friday afternoon, we headed towards Fethiye and had wind right on our nose, so we ducked into a little bay and anchored for the night. The wind in the Med is very sporadic we've heard from people who have sailed a lot of other places. We don't have a lot to compare it to but it always seems to be shifting and not where you want it from. The saying goes: "There's 3 kinds of wind in the Med, too much, too little, on the nose" After almost 1 year of sailing here, I'd say that's spot on.

Saturday, we caught up to Time Warp and found two other boats from Marmaris anchored in the bay in Fethiye. It was like a little reunion! Fethiye is a big town that stretches all around the bay and has a lot of cool ancient ruins that the town has molded around. The antiquities are lit up at night, so it's really dramatic sitting at anchor looking at the hills of thousands of years of history.

Sunday, we all went exploring to a gorge, and as most exploring goes, ended up with an adventure. We took a "normal" dolmus, the little buses, towards a place called Saklikent, and as we went, Peter and I chatted with the driver. As it ended up, for a little extra Lira......he took us from the first stop to 3 more spots not on the dolmus route, and we basically ended up with a private tour guide! He owned 6 dolmus routes and had his route covered and explained casually that he owned a restaurant, and 8 olive groves, which he manages in his spare time! He took us to his restaurant, for a pause and of course lots of free tea, and there we were, sitting on the floor in a mass of pillows, amazed at how things unfold as you venture out and go with the flow.

We saw some amazing sites......get this......a 4000 year old city called TLOS. 4000 years! I think that's the oldest site we've seen and it surreal to think it had been there since Abraham. We also went to a big spring out of a mountain where they've build streams and waterfalls in and through a maze of tables and hammocks.

It was very peaceful with all the rushing water and we couldn't look out over the valley of farms and villages and not thank God for His amazing creation. And His Grace by which He allows us to enjoy it and each other!!

Sorry such a long post........Hems.

....over the wall!

Last week started with a "Boat Jumble" It's a bi-annual event in the marina where everyone digs out their "treasures of the bilge" and has a big swap meet, I think the idea is to sell more than you buy and we almost succeeded. We sold an extra small outboard that came with the boat when we bought it. (We've since up-graded to a bigger dinghy and motor) and only bought some original charts for where were heading for only 3Lira ($2).

Maggie did some baking and made some banana bread and cinnamon rolls to sell at the jumble and ended up with 30 Lira ($20) for her efforts. She'll definitely be making baked goods for customers if we're in a marina again.

Levi found a pair of flippers for his snorkeling adventures this Summer, and bought them with money he's earned in the marina. He figured out, towards the end of the Winter, that people in the marina pay well for odd jobs they don't want to do. So he made some good money in a short time crawling in hard to reach chain lockers, cleaning barnacles off dinghies and lending a hand to an electrician working and running wires in boats. IF we wind up in a marina, I fully expect Levi to be handing out business cards the first day we're there and be busy the whole Winter!

The jumble was followed by a bar-b-que, grilled meatballs and chicken shish kabaps. Our group of 25 stayed and had a great afternoon in the sun, telling lies and stories and it was a fun way to say good-bye to the marina.

Monday, we finally left the marina. For those of you following us, I'm sure it was getting a bit boring hearing all about Marmaris! Of course, it went faster than we thought, and it ended up being a mad rush to get things finished on the boat, doing the last loads of laundry, and filling the fridge and freezer and making our way out. Monday morning Rachel and I were in town for a last minute doctor appointment, buying groceries, and a few things for the boat. Maggie and Levi were an incredible help and had the boat clean and packed by the time we got back. We left in Hemingway style as some of our laundry was still hanging on the clothes lines on the boat as we motored out of the marina! We certainly felt loved as a lot of our friends came out on their decks and waved us off, very cool feeling!

We've met some great friends in the marina and it was bittersweet leaving after 3+ months there. One of the newer families is the Drinkalds from Australia, Steve, Cheryl, and their kids Chelsea (11) and Nick (8). Fantastic family. We found out later that they were involved with Growing Families, a Christian parenting program that we'd done in the US. Small world indeed. They recently moved aboard a big catamaran called "Connect 4" and are excited about heading out in about a month. After we left the marina late in the day on Monday, they came out to where we were anchored and had dinner. We played games and had a great time until after midnight. It was sad to say good bye, but we're hoping to hook up with them, maybe in Israel.

On Tuesday, we headed out of Marmaris bay and were travelling with another family we'd met, Peter, Ruth and Will (12) on "Time Warp" They are Americans and were wanting to have a "trial run" going East before they turn around and head West through the Med in preparation for crossing the Atlantic in November. We made it as far as Dalyan some 18nm and anchored in a bay. It was a fantastic sail, calm seas and gentle breezes. Just the kind of day you wait all year for! We were thrilled to get some wind in the sails and water under the keel. We're making our way to Fethiye with Time Warp and we'll write more next week.........

Bye for now........Hems.

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Bananas!!!

Yes the bananas were on sale this week at the store! So they were
quickly purchased and brought home to use one of my favorite recipes.
I've done this recipe many times before but this time decieded to add
cinnamon to one loaf. And chocolate chips to the other......mmmm they
were so good with the new improvments! :)

I didn't get pictures of the chocolate chip one because it was inhaled
before I could get it out of the pan!!! :) But here's pictures of the
one with cinnamon.....










Thanks for looking! Til next time....--Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Here, I had promised to write a weekly post thinking I'm so bored I will gladly do something like this in my free time. But (as life goes!) it did not happen this way at all! As we get ready to start our sailing season and leave Marmaris Bay the days seem to be speeding by and I don't know where they go! :)

That goes, of course, the same with my baking. But business can not stop me from doing what I love right? So Friday night I stared a batch of cinnamon rolls for Saturday morning......Without thinking I accidentally made a full batch instead of the normal half batch I make for our family. Need less to say I was going to end up with over 50 cinnamon rolls!!! Thankfully some of our friends here in the marina took them off our hands with out any complaints. Thanks guys! You saved us from some pretty terrible stomache aches!! ;) Here's a picture of them. One is while they were rising and the last is after they are baked complete with frosting......Thanks Grammy for the great recipe! I wish you were here to bake them with me!!

All in the pans. Now it's time to rise!

Just a few of the MANY I had to frost :) Haha

Also before I go, Mom asked me to make some cookies for a small potluck we had here with our friends. I looked through the cook book and had been dying to make this for a while so I took it as a good chance to try the new recipe out. Once I figured out how long they needed to be in the oven(since our oven has a mind of its own!!) they were really simple! They are Lemon Tea Cookies coated with a lemon juice and sugar mix. So here's pictures of the "finished product." :)

The Lemon juice and sugar mix getting drizzled on top!

I have so much fun staging the photos! I think it makes them look even yummy-er! :)

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed the photos!! --Maggie

.......now it gets fun!

Well, we must have muttered something under our breath at some point about this lifestyle not being challenging enough.....trying to travel around over here with 7 of us on a sailboat (and not really even being sailors!) but I guess the Lord thought we could handle another challenge.


We found out a few weeks ago that sevensailors is growing to eight! We are expecting a baby in early September, and have been trying to come up with a plan on how this would work. 


Let's see...we first met with a female gyno/doctor here in Turkey, and our first meeting was quite an experience. She works at the local hospital in the mornings and sees patients in her office in the afternoon. We went in a waited for almost an hour and then she popped her head into the waiting room and said, Rachel! So we went in her office and sat there for literally, 5 minutes. She asked us questions like how many kids we have, vitamins Rachel's taking, so on. Next thing, she has Rachel on an exam table and she's doing an ultra-sound. It's certainly NOT like the States where it's planned, scheduled, family all comes and videos taken and all that. We just looked up and there the baby was......swimming around, looking healthy! The whole visit took maybe 15 minutes and we left there kind of in a blur at how quick it was. Pretty to-the-point. She thought everything looked good, so we started talking about options for birth. She is willing to help us deliver at the hospital she works at and thought it would cost, with her fees, roughly 1000 US. Everything, done.


Another option is......we looked up and found a midwife in Israel, where we were planning to sail anyway, to see if she would take Rachel as a patient even though we won't be there for another few months. She is an American who immigrated to Israel in the early 70's and literally has written the only book on midwifery in Israel. She has a 'birthing center' on her property which consists of cabins we are able to rent to have the baby in. You can visit her site at: http://www.birthathome.co.il  They are stocked with shower, bath tub, bed and look very comfortable. She has delivered thousands of babies and works with a hospital nearby in case of emergencies. The cost is similar at around 4000 Israeli sheckels (1200US) She was willing to see Rachel when we get there in June and sounded excited about our plans. She recommended some blood tests here in Turkey which we've already done. A BIG plus with going to Israel and using the midwife is all the kids would be able to be a part of the experience and could be in the room. 


So.......lots to think about. We know God is working in all of it and are excited to see which direction He points us. We get a little stressed at the unknown of it all, but I think that makes us trust Him more. Keep us in prayer as we see where God guides! It looks like it's going to be an interesting year!


Hems

busy weeks

That's me at the top of the mast. We changed our wind gauge and anchor light. The normal bulb uses something like 1.5 amps an hour, and an LED one we changed to uses .1 amps. It doesn't sound like a lot, but when you count on solar and wind power to fill the batteries, every amp counts. Gone are the days of leaving ceiling fans on all day as we once did!


Last week we had to make a trip out of town to renew our boat's 'cruising log' the official papers for our boat registration. So we took the boat out and happened to have a great sail as well! We anchored in a bay and it was a good reminder of how dark and quiet it is at anchor, we can't wait to get cruising again. We came back the next day, and I spent a day checking back into Turkey afterwards and renewing our visas, boat log, customs, etc, etc.


This week was busy as well. It started Sunday night when Levi and I played soccer against a Turkish team. It was an "indoor" field, more like a cage match. We were on a team of non-Turks, two guys from England, one from South Africa, one from New Zealand, and Levi and I representing the US. We played pretty well since we'd never played together before and only ended up losing by 2 points, 6-8. They get pretty serious about it and we're still sore! It was definately full-contact soccer.


Monday night was a music 'jam-session' with some musicians from the marina. One French guy plays jazz sax, another guy plays piano, and Levi and I played our mix of bluegrass and celtic tunes. There were quite a few people there and they seemed to enjoy it. We had a good time also, just wish we knew more songs. Definately on the list to learn more songs this year while we're at anchorages. We're trying to download music to learn from while we're still in the marina.


Later in the week, on Friday, there were about 75 people involved in a life raft demonstration. Someone had a liferaft they were going to have serviced, so they agreed to blow it up in the pool and let people try to climb in it with lifejackets and survival gear on. Levi and Emma jumped in and went for it! They started with the liferaft upside down and Levi flipped it over and climbed inside and then pulled Emma into it. The pool is not heated and the water was something like a brisk 60 degrees.They did great. We don't have a life raft yet as we don't plan to wander too far from shore, but it was certainly interesting to see. One of those things you hope you never have to see for real!!


All this amid finishing boat projects and meeting new people as they drift into the marina. We met a great family from Australia who have a story very similar to ours. Planning/dreaming for 10 years, finally went for it and bought the boat here in Turkey. Their plan is to sail across the Atlantic later this year and down to Australia the year after. They have two kids Chelsea (11) and Nick (8) and our kids have had a great time playing and showing them around.