Photo Essay of the Treleaven - Bates Lot

Text: Wyona Bates

Photo Credits: Moiya Wood
Piles of slash waiting to be burned.

Now the piles have been burnt,

The back hoe is gone.

The lower part of Marcia and Art's lot is raked.

There is even a better view on the roadside because the trees are down on Lot 9 and 10.

Wyona can hardly wait to get out there.

It is going to rain for the next two weeks.  The droplets  have already begun to fall.

Fazeela on The Movie about the Hajj (#42 in 80 Thoughts About Arta)

... sunset view at the Royal Jubilee Hospital ...

Dear Arta, 

I read Brenda's message and was so touched I cried. So here are a few of my thoughts under this Series, "Eighty Thoughts About Arta". 

The four of us (Ann, Brenda, you and me) had a special relationship as a group, and we each had our own relationship with each other. 

Brenda definitely had a very special one with you especially since you worked so closely together. You two were quite the pair.

Since we're sharing memories, I have my own of my relationship with you. I could write pages but I know you need your rest so I'll just note a few.  and listen to me talk and cry. You have no idea how much that meant to me.

Over the years, anytime I was in a dilemma, I would call you and ask if you would like to walk with me. I really valued your opinion -- you always had a way of looking at an issue which made me see things differently. And, of course, there was your sense of humour. In the process, on our walks, I learned lots about trees and foliage on campus.

Another memory that is indelibly etched in my mind is watching that movie "Le Grand Voyage" 

Remember that? 

My mom was going to the Hajj and nothing would stop her. She was 80 years old, frail with health issues but very determined. We talked about it and you suggested I watch the movie. You didn't let me watch it alone. You watched it with me over a couple of days and that meant so much to me. 

 It was a lovely movie, as much about the Hajj as it was about the father/son relationship. It certainly took my mind off my mother for a while.

One more thing. You used every opportunity to grow and learn and that was an inspiration to everyone who knew you.

Sometimes when I am hesitating about whether to make the effort to watch a movie or a play or an opera, I'd ask myself "What would Arta do?"

... remembering watching 
The Grand Voyage .
with Fazeela ...

So glad we were all a part of each other's lives. My time at the UC would have been so different without the three of you.

I'm so happy you're back at Rebecca's house and hope your sleep improves.

I did request "Braiding Sweetgrass" and the last time I checked I was #27 so I'm getting closer. Take good care, my friend. 

Know that my thoughts and prayers are very much with you.

Love

Fazeela

(No 42 of 80)

Brenda on Rising Before the Crack of Dawn (#41 of 80 Thoughts About Arta)

My friend Brenda MacDonald sent me this lovely letter. I think she captured my 20 years of fun that are outside of my paid work: a time children rarely known about their parent's lives.  I am including it in Tonia's Series about me, "80 Ideas about Arta".  

She said it would be alright if I put blogged it here -- having said that, I am being released from the Oncology Palliative Care this morning.  

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Dear Arta, 

 After reading that email you sent us about your health and mentioning the word “palliative” you scared Fazeela and I. Fazeela called me and we were both in tears. We talked for quite a while and all of a sudden I started having all these memory flashbacks. So now I want to share some of those and let you know what you truly mean to me!! While I didn’t work as closely with Fazeela and Ann I thought I would still share these memories with them as well.

MacKimmie Tower at U of C

We started our connection working for the same Department (you located on 7th MacKimmie Tower and me on the 2nd floor MacKimmie Block). I was very pregnant with Dylan when this happened and upon my return from maternity leave in 1996 I was informed they were moving me to the 3rd floor of the Block. This is when we started our every day routine of working together. Through the years you have played many different roles in my life: co-worker, mother at times (you do have a few years on me J), parent advisor, psychologist, computer training buddy, editor (along with Kelvin) but most importantly one of my dearest friends.

When Dylan was around 2 years old I brought him in to work. You managed to get hold of him and taped two of his fingers together. I told you how cruel it was to tape a little kid’s fingers together to which you replied “I was just checking his analytical skills”. We both just burst out laughing!!!

Learning new computer skills together was always fun. You were very much a “read the manual” kind of person and I was the “let’s see if we can figure out playing on the computer”. Once we had exhausted all possibilities we would call the IT Help Desk (Heather, Laurie, Gretchen, CJ and Deb). I remember Heather Weiland telling me that when they saw our phone number they got nervous because they knew that if Arta or Brenda were calling we had tried just about everything. When I took my Women’s Studies course I always used to joke that I was “off to learn how to be a feminist”. You always laughed at this and said “You already are a feminist”. I was so terrified of having to write a paper that I just wrote everything down I could think of. I was lucky enough to have not one, but two editors on my side (Arta and Kelvin). I aced that paper too!!!

We always had a lot of traffic in our office (your children, nieces, nephews and sisters). Everyone that came in was looking for “Arta”. I had no idea who Richard was the first time he came in and asked for “Arta”. I asked which relative he was and he said her son. I was surprised when he called you Arta and asked why your kids call you that. I think it had something to do with the size of your entire family and the fact that every time someone said Mom all of the Mothers would turn around. I have seen pictures on your Larch Haven Blog and you do have a huge family! 

buns ready to be put in oven

Cinnamon buns! Back in those days was there even a person in the Library that didn’t try them!  I remember Trell dropping off cinnamon buns (still hot) and was quite amazed that you would get up before the crack of dawn, go through the process of bread making and be serving fresh hot buns to the whole office. I remember the demonstration of “how to make them” that you gave in the Library Lounge one day as well! Amazing! 

I read your posts about “80 Memories for 80 Years”. I too am wondering if Patsy is still married to that boy. Post #21. 

I was thrilled to read all of these posts as I learned so much more about you. I didn’t realize that you had a dream of being a doctor first and then lawyer. I am sad that you were not able to realize that dream but in a way that dream was realized through your daughters Catherine and Rebecca. You have always been a proud Mom of all your children (and those that you were like a mother too as well). My last one but not because I don’t have many but you might need a rest.

I was reading one of your posts about our trip to the Shuswap and how you didn’t think I enjoyed myself. I can tell you that it was one of the most amazing weekend getaways I have ever had. I was quiet because I was inhaling all of the beauty you see when heading to the West Coast. The stop at Lake Louise, the Skunk Cabbage tour, the huge forest that we stopped to look (up) at those trees were huge, the water trickling down through the rocks as we were driving was just so stunningly beautiful I had no words. 

Being at your beautiful home, sitting at the lake watching fish jumping in and out of the water, walking on the beach, the night we spent in the hot tub where 3 of us were drinking Glen’s wine (I believe) and having conversations that made me blush! I will never ever forget that trip Arta.

You have truly been an amazing woman in my life and I love you very much for all of it!!!

Please feel better…

Love,

Brenda

(No 41 of 80)

Arta meditates on learning from one's parents, and learning from one's children

Lynn Ursenbach reported that the topic for the Relief Society meeting was "What have you learned from your mother?"

Great question. 

This question got taken up in the Harvard Study of Adult Development, as reported in George Vaillant's book, Aging Well.  

Arta started reading this book several years back on the recommendation of her friend Omar Kader, during a lunch conversation when he and his wife Nancy Kader visited Arta during Calgary Stampede time!   Yee hah! [for a lovely interview with him about Palestine, see this link: https://kennedy.byu.edu/omar-kader/]

Arta loved it so much that she encouraged me to get my own copy, so that we could talk about it.  It certainly raises interesting questions about what it means to live a good life over the different time periods that creep up on us.  

Here, Arta reflects on the question Lynn posed, but reversed.  That is, what does it mean to reflect not simply on what one could learn from one's parents, but also what one could learn from one's children. A question asked with less frequency, but one that is very significant.

Here is a 5 minute response to that question.

She and I agreed that if one is living a really full life, one should be able to provide additional answers to this question every day.   I look forward to seeing what other things she comes up with, because I am certain that I have provided her with many occasions for learning, and that my siblings have done so as well.  Now, we get to test her to see how well her lessons were learned!

  

Arta Remembers a Stethoscope

Today, when Dr. Katelyn Mueller was checking in with Arta, Dr. Katelyn put on her stethoscope to listen to Arta's stomach to make sure she could hear things moving around in there.  Suddenly her phone rang and she apologized that she needed to take this important call she had been waiting for.  She left the room and I looked over at Arta who had one tear streaming down her cheek. One tear can do that -- just be unstoppable.

I took Arta's hand and asked her what she was thinking about and she recounted this story:

When Catherine was in medical school and about to get married Erva Sherwood came to Arta and said the women in the ward wanting to have a bridal shower for her.  Arta insisted it was not necessary and pointed out Catherine had not been in the ward for some time now (having attended institute ward during her undergraduate degree and then moving to Edmonton).  She also said Catherine was already living on her own and probably had all the household items she needed. Erva insisted that the women wanted to celebrate with Catherine.  

So Arta told Catherine of the plan to have a shower and asked what Catherine might need.  Catherine said she needed a stethoscope.  Arta passed this information on to Erva and the women of the Bow Valley Ward who had watched Catherine grow up contributed money to an envelope which was gifted to Catherine after the usual fun of shower games, snacks and visiting. Catherine used this money toward the purchase of her first stethoscope on her journey and calling as a medical doctor.

Catherine and her Stethoscope -
Photo taken April 26, 2021
after coming home from working all day at her clinic
at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital.

 

One woman, (Arta thinks perhaps Toko Ishikawa, though it may have been Dolena or any of the others), took her monied paper dollar contribution and carefully folded it into an origami flower for Catherine.  Catherine never could use that money up and unfold that piece of paper, and that flower followed her to Montreal when she moved there to do her medical residency.  During her early years in Montreal, her apartment was broken into and she was robbed.  Catherine told Arta the most precious thing that had been taken, the one that made her the saddest, -- that folded flower.

Arta told me, when Dr. Meuller took out her stethoscope and so gently and carefully attended to Arta, that the Stethoscope Shower memory came flooding back. While Dr. Mueller was listening and tapping, that the beauty of the woman's medical accessory of a stethoscope was in her mind.

Arta said said the thing that brought tears to her eyes was the memory of women helping another woman in that woman's journey to help other women.  A Jacob's Ladder of women helping one another, tied together and connected though they would never meet.

~~ Mary

ARTA ADDS:  not everyone will know the reference to Jacob's Ladder.  I understand it as a group of people gathered together to push an idea forward.  The idea has found expression in practice, in song and even in toys!  Here are a couple of links to try:

1.  Pete Seger 1968 singing a version of the anti-slavery anthem Jacobs Ladder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a0XJ019Oac

2. for some old Jacobs Ladder toys:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVWrdSz2Q5c

Arta's Newest Accessories

Red Cross has loaned us all sorts of equipment to facilitate Arta's eventual safe and comfortable return to Rebecca and Steve's house -- what we are now calling home. This has included a hospital bed, and extra walker (so she can have one on each floor of the house), a wheel chair, a shower bench for the bathroom that has a tub, arm rests for the toilet that doesn't have bars already attached to the wall, and more.

For a couple of weeks now, we have had the special privilege of spending nights at the hospital with Arta.  This has meant that Rebecca and I no longer have time together at home; we see each other only in passing as we switch shifts with Arta at the hospital.  

Yesterday we had a rare few hours together at home since Arta is gaining some more independence and is able to be without us for a few hours in the day time.  We decided we both had "work" to do on our computers and decided to do side-by-side work.  I brought my table to her office and set myself up beside her desk.  I just grabbed the closest things to use as my chair and computer table.  

Can you name Arta's accessories that I am test driving?

And my view of Rebecca's workstation.

And our "work time" selfie.

If you had been there with us, you may have heard me say, of the wheelchair:

"It's surprisingly comfortable actually."

Things we love #40: Another meditation on Arta and Food!

Seriously? Cheese and Cream of Wheat Sandwich?!

My mother Arta loves food. 

This we all know.

It has been a strange time, as Arta's appetite has been impacted by that dratted unwelcome visitor on her pancreas.  

However, last week, after the bypass surgery/the new stent and the nerve block, Arta's appetite has returned.   

It has been a week of her making kitten-like mewling sounds of happiness upon encountering the small allowed pleasures like apple juice, yogurt and icecream.  

Now, I do 'get' the love of icecream, but I was a bit baffled by her approach to Cream of Wheat porridge.   Rather than warming it up, she made the decision to cut up some slices of the cold cream of wheat porridge and layer it with slices of cheddar cheese.   

I will take it only as a sign that her taste for food has emerged.

Some of you may know of Catherine's proclivity for making culturally-modified cut-and-paste art works for our family to share during our weekly Zoom family meeting.

This week, Arta's newly reaffirmed love of food was celebrated in this masterpiece of art! 

If you look closely, you will see that my brother Kelvin appears twice in this masterpiece.   

Did you find him?  

If you didn't, here is a photo hint... a picture of Kelvin's fabulous werewolf costume of so many years back.   

A classic!

Kelvin and Mary, as werewolf and dinner

This photo does directly speak to the food theme of this celebration of Arta (since it would appear that in this photo, Mary is worried that she is about to BECOME food.... the werewolf version of a cream of wheat and cheddar sandwich?)

Things We Love About Arta: No 39 Leaving Cochin

These photos are backwards so start from the bottom. 

Here is the last of Cochin.

The water is not that sparkling clean.

A little ferry full of those crossing the water.

There are Moiya and Dave and in the foreground. Arta and I are waving to Greg in the background.

This is for the potters in the group.

A coconut drink is so refreshing for some people. But you have to like coconut juice for it to be refreshing.

Moiya is still loving her drink.

Hats can be found in all forms. 

Things We Love About Arta the Teacher: No:38 Cochin, India

 One of our stops when going through the Suez Canal to Singapore was a stop in Cochin, India.

Arta looking out the window on our way from the ship to Cochin.

We were transported from the bus, through small roads and rain forest in these small vehicles.

Along the way were the telephone poles and wires. Just choose your wire.

And here we have left the vehicles waiting for our return after our visit to the locals.

Arta has found a captive audience in this group of friendly boys wanting to be taught.

Arta is busy capturing her photos.

Notice the lovely smelling flower necklaces that have been made for us. 

Your guess is as good as mine about what Arta is doing to entertain these guests.

Things We Love About Arta #37: A Poem/Letter to Arta from her Dear Friend Ria

April 10, 2021 

Dear Arta 

I think we both know that time has grown shorter for you. I hope and pray and wish I am wrong in this, but I cannot ignore the reality that cancer is so often the victor. I read in your blog, or did you tell me, that some time ago when one of your children was flirting with death (was it Richard?) you realized that you had not said all to him that you wanted to say. You then did so, and also told all your other children all the things that had gone unsaid. So, I am taking a leaf from your book and writing this letter to tell you all the things unsaid, and perhaps even some that have been said before. Take these words and make them a hug to wrap around you, to sustain you, to soothe you, to let you know you are loved and cherished and that you have, for me, made a lasting positive impression. Well more than an impression. A positive influence. You are like a magnet that pulls on the very best in people, pulling it to the surface. 

I am envious of your siblings and your in- laws, and your children. They have had a lifetime of you. They have seen you grow and evolve and like a rough rock, be polished into a brilliant gem by your life. You are in the very fabric of who they are. Your presence in their lives has in so many ways, covert and overt, nudged the atoms of their beings, and placed vibrations and memories in their very cells. Who you are, the very essence of you, will continue to influence generation after generation. Time will surely dull then inevitably erase the memories of you. Yet how you lived your life, how you moved through your days, the example you are will be like an echo in generation after generation. 

I believe that each of the friends I have in my life resonates with a different facet of who I am. We are all like gem stones, some more rough cut, some more polished, some with few facets, some with a multitude of facets. Each friendship is a ying and yang of energies which polishes the facets. I feel blessed and so grateful for our friendship. 

I have no memento, no object given by you to me, to remember you by. The objects that are touch stones to memories. But I don’t need such physical things. There are your words, Arta. The multitude of blogs postings which are, so in so many ways, the view of life through your eyes and your voice. What a gift to return to again and again. Oh, but there is the recipe for the Velvet Torte that you gave me years ago. I remember the night you served it at writers’ group (remember, we called ourselves The Friends of the Egg Lady after the character in Caroline’s story). What I remember is how good it was, and that none of us could remember what we wrote or read or discussed that night as we were all on a chocolate high. That torte needs to come with a caution that it is advisable to only consume small pieces! 

There is so much about you that I admire. Your love and dedication to learning and your curiosity about the world– and not just idle surface curiosity but a deep dive into all sorts of things that are foreign or unfamiliar to you; ideas, music, art, culture, stories, food… the list goes on. You are not a ‘traditional’ academic, yet you are the only person I know of, outside of researchers and professors that has read the entire Report on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. You told me that while working at the U of C library you would spend your lunch hours in the stacks reading the report. You also started reading the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (on Residential Schools) and in one conversation we had you told me you were in the midst of reading the list of all the residential schools. If there was an opera or play you were planning to watch, you would research the story, the background and reviews of the production. You kept pen and paper at hand when reading The New Yorker to note any word you did not know and then you would look up the definition. You have inspired me to delve deeper, to explore wider and to reignite latent curiosities. 

We spent a wonderful week together, just you and I, at the Lake in June two years ago. You gardened, I cooked and we talked and talked. We went on a drive to the Sicamous dump. There is probably no other dump in the world that can boast of such a magnificent view. We went to the second-hand store in Salmon Arm – you said to me “We need to go to Churchs today”. I was puzzled as It was not a Sunday and you knew I am a Buddhist. I was doubly puzzled when you added “I need to get a toaster”. When my confusion was exposed you explained the name and we laughed and laughed. Then we had a fun trip of exploring all the nooks and crannies. I still use the red bag/purse I got there. And you did get a toaster. Late in the week you told me that was the first time you had spent more than a few hours with just a friend. No family members. Just yourself and a friend. I felt so honored and grateful that I was that friend. I hope the experience was as wonderful for you. We had planned to do it again. That will not be, so I cherish the memories of those day even more. 

You have a deep and fierce love for your family. You have raised children who are remarkable adults. Your daughters are strong, fierce, courageous and kind. You told me once you loved babies – how they smelt and how they felt in your arms brought you great joy. Let’s be realistic, you did have a lot of children! So, you must have really, really enjoyed kids. I know you did and do because of the number of blog posts documenting spending time and playing with your grandkids. Do they know that you used to hide ice cream from them so you could have it all? Arta you were the one to introduce me to soup bowl portions of ice cream. “We love ice cream” you told me, “You just can’t do ice cream by half measures.” 

We also laughed about how your children planned behind your back to decide which one of them would ‘take care of you’ – would it be Catherine with a request for help with her family in Montreal, or Rebecca with need for a proof reader in Victoria, or Richard needing help with his brood? You knew they knew you knew -- these behind-the-scenes machinations. 

There are two ways your presence in my life as friend has changed me. 

Two lessons or shifts that I attribute to you. 

One is learning the importance of being calm and serene. That nothing is made better by panic. Even in the most challenging or terrifying times, it is best to be calm. Serenity is, for me, about being in the world and at peace – no great tilting at windmills, no wishing for a different reality, just a basic acceptance. Not resignation but a mindful conscious acceptance of the wonder and the messiness and the beauty and the ugliness of life. I think being the oldest of eight siblings and having a multitude of children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews has been a lifelong opportunity to practice being calm. Yet, I also am convinced that there is something in your nature, your character that is calm and serene. I can still remember you telling the "Friends of the Egg Lady" about you garage burning down, and the loss of so many treasures. There was sadness in your voice, so much was lost, but still there was serenity. 

Arta, the second lesson I can sum up by hearing your voice in my head saying “It was fun”. Doing things, buying things, experiencing moments just because they are fun. You have this energy of joy which surrounds you and trails out from you like a subtle waft of perfume. And you find fun and that joy virtually anywhere – even, as described in a recent blog post, in a trip to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. 

In our last phone call, you told me you are at peace – that you have lived a full, interesting and rewarding life. That your regrets are small and few. I know that it has been more than a full and interesting life. You have made a difference. A positive difference in the lives of many people, myself included. If I had written this letter by putting pen to paper you would see the marks of the many tears I have shed as I have written. My sadness and pain are not for you. You have lived an enviable life, though that has never been your intention. My sadness is because I will miss you. I will miss you often and deeply. Such is the price of friendship and love. A price I have been willing and glad to pay and will keep paying to keep you in my life, through so many wonderful memories. 

With love, 

Your friend (and a Friend of the Egg Lady) 

Ria

Pins #2 - Top Four

My Top 4 Pins

Part #2 of pins about jewelry. 

Saskatchewan Article
See Pin #4 on this blog post

I doubt that I own a pin that costs more than $50. OK, having said that, $50 seems like a lot of money.

So I just take that total cost and absorb it under “number of tans of gas I have purchased” which significant price point is the cost of 2 pins. 

This means if I’ll walk a little more and drive a little less and take that money and format it into "gas I didn’t buy," then pins I did buy spring right to the top of my list of fun I had in a lifetime.

#1. Deb Curran’s pin made from driftwood bone from the north – carved like an igloo

#2. Femo pin of 4 cartoonish looking women’s face – purchased for a significant birthday, purchased by 4 significant women to me.

#3. My December Holiday Pin, (purple, green, yellow, blue)

My largest pin, one through which the light flashed and picks up the joy of the holiday season. This pin is designed to be one of three flashes of light that make me breathless about the joy of holidays. A set of earrings highlighting one of the colours comes with the pin. I today’s world I have enough money that I could have purchase earrings that go with each set of jewel set. But in the world when I bought that pin I could only afford one pin, and one set of earrings. However, when I walk down the aisle at church and am wearing that pin, I try to pass Peggy who is wearing her own pin on her own jacket. I still like being old-fashioned. There is something very satisfying about an art form that few people care about anymore.  Just that I understand I wear beauty for others seems to bring happiness to me.

Pins passed from woman to woman

#4. Indigenous beaded poppy pin – 2 inches in diameter. I have two pins purchased by Rebecca at Indigenous Art Fairs. One of them is a two-inch poppy (of which Rebecca bought 10). On Remembrance Day she wears a pin and makes sure her loved ones have one to wear if they so choose. I chose one that was so cleverly and tightly beaded, in line by line. I wore the pin at night to a book event hosted by Shelagh Rogers. She remarked to Rebecca that she couldn’t believe she had arrived to the event without wearing a poppy. Rebecca said, here, take mine. And Rebecca took it off her shoulder and put it on Shelagh. I took the one off my backpack and gave it to Rebecca knowing I could pick out another when I got home. And so that is what Shelagh Rogers, Rebecca Johnson and I share in common on Remembrance Day. The point is, we all think ahead to the piece of jewelry we will wear that day.

Arta

Pins #1

Knowing that I am dying puts an unusual twist on jewellery that I still know and love.

One of the important ideas about adornment for me, is that I do it mostly for others and not for me. This is one of the true to the max ideas when it comes to adorning coats, and bags.

Bags sometimes need a pin to keep a clasp closed. Sometimes they need to have a pin to keep two clasps together.

Loving pins if a very old-fashioned idea I am told.

Why that makes me laugh is that it feels good to thought of as old fashioned.

I notice that when I go to church wearing a pin and I see another woman like Peggy Estabrooks also with old fashioned ideas of adornment I make extra special sure to see what she has used or maybe see if she is answering a question for me, why would I want to use the pin in this case and in this place.

Mary kept me busy one night. I was trying to find what pin to use and why. One pin was given to Deb Curran as a thank you gift for a talk she gave in Northern Canada. Because Deb doesn’t use pins and Rebecca might, that is how the pin ended up into Rebecca’s box of old-fashioned jewellery (ie: pins) which in this case marks only 10 pieces. The other 9 pins that were there, that had not been gifts were pins she had that had belonged to her mother-in-law, Verlaine.

A couple of nights ago Mary delighted me by listening to the story I associate with every one of my pins. I may be described 5 pins, but I am sure I have 25 others. One thing for sure, the rest of my night felt more calm believing, as it were, that I had finished off my life’s work, of associating the right pin with the right story.

We Love Travelling with Arta: No-36

 Arta, Greg and I were busy in 2011 taking as many cruises as we could out of South Hampton because that is the year Rebecca and family lived in London. We had a great place to stay before and after our cruises, one which was an 18 day Mediterranean cruise to Istanbul and back. 

La Rambla is a tree-lined street in central Barcelona stretching for 1.2 km. Our hotel was on La Rambla and we were happy to have a small balcony which we could stand on to take photos and watch people out walking.

La Rambla again from the other side.

And some of my photos are mixed up. Why did Audra make me lay in her chair.

Greg and Arta are out walking in Corfu Greece. I am following them with my camera.

Arta and Wyona are posing as best we can behind a white rock.

Istanbul here we are. We walk the sidewalks which we share with the pigeons.

If you look carefully you can see Arta and I looking up at scarves here in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was built in the 15th century and is the oldest covered market in the world, covering an area of 54,600 sq. meters. It has 56 interconnecting vaulted passages housing over 4000 shops. Make sure to buy a scarf and tie yourself to your companion or you will not find each other again or know your own way back to the hotel.