Category Archives: -Claire Murray

Istanbul Passage: A Novel by Joseph Kanon

Outside it’s rainy and chilly and it seems like spring might not make it this year. There’s not much I can do about the weather. What I can do is stop wasting time and start focusing on what I’m going to write about for this month’s blog.

I just finished reading Istanbul Passage: A Novel by Joseph Kanon. It’s an international spy thriller that takes place in Turkey at the end of World War II. It kept me mostly sitting on the edge of my chair afraid to breathe. I kept wondering: What was going to happen next?

One of the most interesting things Joseph Kanon did, from a writers’ and readers’ perspective, was make Istanbul, the city itself, come alive. It’s a character in the story and a very important one. This is an example from the beginning of the book. Notice how the city gradually comes to life, like a person almost:

“During those first weeks they didn’t see the old wooden houses, listing and creaking from neglect, the backstreets with clumps of garbage and mud, cracked fountains seeping moss. They saw color, heaps of spices, everything that wasn’t Germany and water everywhere, a city where you took ferries just to be out on it, looking at domes and spires, not the crooked, dirty streets. Anna wanted to see everything, the famous sites, then things she found in books, the Camondo Stairs, twisting down Galata Hill, the cast-iron Bulgarian church, the Byzantine mosaics out near the old city walls where they could eat picnics on the yellow grass, looking up at the giant stork nests in the ruins.”**

Reading the book was like stepping back in time, into the Istanbul that existed in late 1945. Joseph Kanon makes it possible for you to walk down streets, up hills and through back alleys. You feel the rush of flagging down a taxi or running for the tram. Coming down a steep hill in the funicular took my breath away.

“They caught the ferry back to Eminonu and wandered through the spice market like tourists, looking at the tall cones of ground spices and piles of dates. At a nougat stall . . . But then the man turned, eating candied pistachios, just another fat man, and Leon realized he’d been staring and looked away. They went out the side exit, past the bird market, cages noisy with song and fluttering.”***

I loved visiting the mosques, the bazaar and out to dinner to a nice restaurant. I became fascinated by constantly having to take a boat from the European to the Asian side and then back again.

What I took from this book is that it’s possible to make a city, any city, a character in your story. If you do, it could be a lot more interesting! Have you tried this technique?

*Istanbul Passage: A Novel by Joseph Kanon, Atria Books, 2012.

**Location 345 of 6,447.

***Location 3,301 of 6,447

Cruising in Europe

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Last September we took a cruise on the Danube and the Rhine Rivers. We started off in Budapest, Hungary and finished in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The trip lasted two weeks and was lovely.

Living, eating, drinking and floating along was very relaxing. The boat stopped every day in a different city. Most of us got off and went with local guides to see the sights.

The excursions were very interesting. In the larger cities, the guides would first take us on a bus for an overview of the entire area. Then we would get off in the older parts of town and walk around. In the smaller towns, we were able to skip the bus part and walk right into town.

The guides were very well educated, spoke several languages and knew a lot of local history. They could easily talk about what life was like four or five hundred years for the people living there. They always shared lots of interesting details and usually a few jokes.

I started to wonder, as I had more and more of these experiences, why would such educated people be so happy and willing to work as guides? I don’t think they were paid very much. They were always very happy with the tips we gave them in Euros.

I kept turning this question over in my mind trying to think of a polite way to ask. Finally I found a solution. In the next town, as we were walking around, and I was looking down at the cobblestones so I wouldn’t trip, I started working my way up toward the front of the group.

I had to wait for the guide to stop talking. She knew so much and was so concerned that we learn every detail that she very rarely paused, even for a breath. She didn’t ever seem to be silent, even when we were making a difficult climb up a steep road to the castle at the top.

But, finally she did stop talking for a second. I sensed this was my big chance. So, before she could start in again, I started talking. I told her I enjoyed the tour, was learning so much, and was so impressed with how comfortable she was in English. Then I asked my question: Of all the jobs available, what was it about being a guide that made her choose this?

“Oh,” she confided, “there are no jobs…” Apparently most of these towns had no business or industry, other than that related to tourism. If they wanted to live there, they had to find work. Being a guide or working in the tourism industry were the only opportunities available.

In a few other towns, I asked the guides there the same question. They all said the same thing. Yes, the towns were beautiful, historic and they liked living there. But no, there were no other opportunities to use their language skills and university training.

Do you find this surprising?

Tales From the Garden – Part 2

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I had such a good time volunteering at the Chicago Botanic Garden my first summer that I decided to go back the next year. This time I volunteered in the Fruit & Vegetable Garden. It was an entirely different experience.

All the Fruit & Vegetable volunteers, usually about four of us, would arrive early in the morning, before the garden officially opened, and meet in the Fruit & Vegetable Garden Office. The staff would tell us all about the plant we would be giving away that day. They would also prep us so we could answer basic questions about its care, use and how to cook it.

Then we’d go into the garden to the carts. One cart was parked just at the entrance to the Fruit & Vegetable Garden. The other was somewhere in the middle. One volunteer would staff each cart and the other two volunteers would walk through the garden greeting people and answering their questions. We’d change jobs every hour.

From the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Website www.chicagobotanic.org

The carts were made of wood and painted brown. There was plenty of room on the inside to keep all the plants we would be giving away that day. On the shelf at the top we would display a few plants to create interest. We’d also put our information sheets there. On one side, the sheet would tell all about the plant, its history and how to take care of it. On the other side, the sheet would have one or two recipes telling how to cook it.

I always tried to get the cart at the entrance. I met more people that way. I’d approach them as they entered the garden, saying, “Good morning! How are you?” Usually they’d respond back.

I’d continue, “Would you like a plant to take home today? They’re free and it’s a lot of fun growing them once they start producing peppers (tomatoes, basil, etc.). We also have a sheet that tells how to grow it and there are some recipes on the back.”

From the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Website
www.chicagobotanic.org

Most people said yes. Usually each person in the group wanted their own plant, especially the children. Sometimes people would stop and talk. They’d share how their gardens were coming along at home or how the last plant they’d gotten from us had done.

I always saw lots of smiles. Everyone likes to get something for free, especially when it’s something they can take home, grow for themselves and then actually eat.

The summer passed before I knew it and I had to go back to work. Next time I’ll tell you what I did my third summer at the Garden!

Tales from the Garden – Part 1

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I love gardening. I took it up many years ago when I had a high stress job and was looking for a way to relax. Several of my friends suggested Yoga. I took a class but never seemed to be able to really get into it. Fortunately I had summers off. One summer, I decided to volunteer at the Chicago Botanic Garden. That’s when I realized I’d found something wonderful.

From the Chicago Botanic Garden

I looked forward to driving out there one day a week and either working in the garden or showing people around.

The first year I worked as part of a team in the rose garden. I learned a lot about roses that summer. The Heirloom or Old Garden Roses were all introduced before 1867 and have a wonderful fragrance. But, usually they only bloom once a season. The Modern Roses, which came after, usually bloom continually from summer to the first frost, but they have no fragrance.

When the flowers die, you don’t just cut the dead ones off. You have to cut in just the right place so the plant will grow more buds and continue to have flowers.

It’s important to clean up the dead flowers that have fallen to the ground and other debris. Roses can get infected with various diseases. It’s important to keep them healthy.

It’s also necessary to choose the correct rose for the climate you’re living in. In Illinois and Michigan, we need roses that are winter hardy. That means they can survive the cold and ice and snow and return in the spring ready to bloom again.

Roses need sun and lots of it. So it’s essential to find a place that gets six hours of direct sun a day. It’s even better if it’s morning sun.

From the Chicago Botanic Garden

I learned many other things about roses that summer. But, most important, every time I started driving out to the Chicago Botanic Garden, I felt myself start to relax. I felt all my tension and stress start to dissolve and float away and realized I was smiling.

Next time I’ll tell you what happened the second summer I volunteered.

If It Wasn’t for Bad Luck – Part 2

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I know you’re wondering why I still believe, when it comes to electronics, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” I think you’ll understand after you read this.

I like HP products because they’re supposed to be simple, easy to set up and easy to use. To me that says, “This is something I can do on my own.”

When I was at Costco last week, they were having a sale on HP printers. I thought, “This is my lucky day: $60 off a $169 printer. This is for me.” It was an especially good deal because it was actually an “All-In-One”. Besides printing, it could fax, copy and scan. I was going to have state-of-the-art everything!

When I got home, I opened the box and looked at the first few pages in the Quick Start Manual. It was an “Ah Ha” moment. I realized I was in way over my head. But, not to worry, fortunately my husband loves challenges like this.

Michael didn’t even look at the Quick Start Manual. He told me he didn’t need to. Everything was quite simple and he’d have it, “All set up in about half an hour.” Well, half an hour came and went and then an hour and… You get the idea. It was all plugged in and sitting on the counter. It just wasn’t printing!

The next day he phoned Costco. He talked to several people. They were all very nice. He was on the phone with the last man there for over an hour, maybe two. Who’s counting in a situation like this? Nothing would print. Finally the man gave Michael a Case Number and connected him on a special Costco line to HP so we wouldn’t have to pay extra for the advice we were going to get.

There were a number of phone calls. Michael tried this and that. HP sent him to a different person several time. Bottom line, at the end of the next day the printer had yet to print.

Finally, and in defeat, the HP consultant said, “It’s a hardware problem. Take the printer back to Costco and get another one. It’s not working.”

So he returned the printer to Costco, and this time, before he left the store, he insisted on opening the box and trying it out there.

It worked. He brought it home. Plugged it in. Made a few adjustments and it’s just like the saying goes, “Plug and play.”

So, after going through all this, I still believe, when it comes to electronics, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

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