Kayaköy Turkey.

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Kayaköy is a deserted village in south west Turkey. Terry’s niece, Alison Brown joined us for this leg of the trip. She worked for the US embassy in Turkey, and this village was on her bucket list of places she wanted to see. In ancient times it was the city of Lycia, Later, Anatolian Greeks lived here until approximately 1922. The ghost town,
now preserved as a museum village, consists of hundreds of rundown but
still mostly standing Greek-style houses and churches which cover a
small mountainside and serve as a stopping place for tourists.

At the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) Greek inhabitants, mostly elderly women and children, were forced to leave through a march of fifteen days. During that death march,
the roads were strewn with bodies of dead children and the elderly who
succumbed to hunger and fatigue. The exiles of the next year were no
less harsh. In September 1922, the few remaining Greeks abandoned their homes and embarked on ships to Greece. Many of the abandoned buildings were damaged in the 1957 Fethiye earthquake.

Many of the exposed interior walls Still have warn coats of paint that serves as a reminder that this village was occupied not long ago. I imagined residents going about their lives in the narrow Stone alley ways. As Terry and Allison hiked ahead, I stopped to sketch on a bluff overlooking the ruins. I thought that this was a view that a painter like Cezanne would have appreciated. In September of 2014, the Turkish government announced plans to develop
the village. It plans to offer a 49-year lease that will “partially open ‘s the archaeological site to construction” and anticipated
“construction of a hotel, as well as tourist facilities that will
encompass one-third of the village.

Anatolian Houses in Goreme Turkey.

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This is a view from the grass covered roof outside our room in Goreme Turkey. We traveled to Derinkuyu, an underground cave city. Snow began to fall as the taxi driver drove us to the caves. Rooms, passage ways and an air shaft were all carved into the rock deep under ground. You couldn’t have claustrophobia and live in this underground city. The tube shaped passages were just large enough so you could walk through while hunched over. Extending to a depth of approximately 200 feet, it is large
enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their
livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city
in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found across Cappadocia.

 The underground city at Derinkuyu could be closed from the inside with
large stone doors. Each floor could be closed off separately. The city at Derinkuyu was fully formed in the Byzantine era, when it was heavily used as protection from Muslim Arabs during the Arab–Byzantine wars (780-1180). It was at this time that most of the chapels and Greek inscriptions
were added. The city was connected with other underground cities through
miles of tunnels. Some artifacts discovered in these underground
settlements belong to the Middle Byzantine Period, between the 5th and
the 10th centuries A.D. When the Christian inhabitants of the region were expelled in 1923 in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey the tunnels were abandoned. The tunnels were rediscovered in 1963, after a resident of the area
found a mysterious room behind a wall in his home. Further digging
revealed access to the tunnel network. It was opened to visitors in 1969 and about half of the underground city is currently accessible to tourists.

Dovecotes in Goreme Turkey.

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Freud would have much to say as to why women, and men,are so fascinated by these naturally formed pillars, called dovecotes, that populate the valley near Goreme Turkey. Terry and I hiked the valley exploring several ancient christian Churches and then climbing a sandstone cliff to get an overall view of the valley. Some of these phallic pillar had been carved out to make cave dwellings but they were no long occupied. One lone window is visible in the sketch. They are formed from thousands of years of erosion. One stone at the top resists erosion allowing water to run down the shaft gradually eroding a way sandstone.

In ancient Greek mythology the
dove represented Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, and figures in the
holy books of the major monotheistic religions. The earliest reference is
in the Old Testament, where Noah releases a dove to seek land, and it
returns with an olive branch showing that life had been restored following
the deluge. From then on the olive branch and the dove became symbols of
friendship and peace. In the New Testament, when Jesus is being baptized,
the Holy Ghost alights on his head in the form of a white dove, which is
why in Christian iconography the dove represents the Holy Ghost.

In the
Koran, when Mohammed is fleeing from the Qureysh, he hides in a cave.
Spiders weave webs over the entrance and a dove makes her nest, so his
pursuers do not bother to look inside and he is saved. In consequence, the
generality of Muslims regard pigeons and doves as sacred and do not hunt
or eat them. From the same motive buildings in Islam countries often
incorporate dovecotes. The
earliest examples of nesting houses for birds in Turkey date from the 16th
century and can be seen in mosques, bridges, libraries, and other public
buildings. The dovecotes in these pillars, can be seen high up just at the lower edge of the head.

The Anatolian Houses Hotel in Goreme Turkey.

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On our trip to Turkey, Terry and I stayed in the Anatolian Houses Hotel (50180 Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir, Turkey) in Goreme. Our room was in the stone building attached to the large sandstone structure on the left: The living room was in the building and the the bedroom and bathroom were carved out in side the sandstone. It was like living ” a very modern well a point cave. The bathroom had large jacuzzi tub and very tiny windows that can be seen on the cliff face. The walls had plenty of carved out niches for storing towel and clothes. In one section of the bathroom, the floor dropped and and a glass plate was used to maintain the flat floor surface. A light was placed down in the crevasse to illuminate the ceiling.

On one occasion, I had to run back into our suite, because I forgot something. While running out of the bathroom, I smashed my forehead against the bathroom doorway. I was dazed for a bit but recovered, simply cursing my stupidity. Goreme is well known for it’s hot air balloon rides. We didn’t splurge on the balloons, but they brightened up the sky every morning.

Fourth of July Fireworks over Lake Killarney.

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A week before July 4th, I sat on the end of a dock with my toes in the water admiring a gorgeous sunset over Lake Killarney. The underbellies of the clouds turned a bright watermelon color and the horizon was bright yellow and orange. As the last of the color faded away from the clouds, I heard a series of pops on the far shore. It wasn’t the quick hectic sound of a pack of fireworks going off. It sounded more like a series of shots from a rifle with a pause between each trigger pull. Should I keep sitting at the end of this dock, I thought. How far could a bullet travel if shot across the lake. The wood around me didn’t splinter, so I lay back and watched the stars. At least a horizontal target was harder to hit. The sound probably was fireworks, but after living through several weeks of Pulse related vigils and fundraisers, I must have experienced a mild case of post traumatic stress disorder. Any loud noise would be associated with an assault rifle.

On July 4th, I returned to the dock to watch fireworks as they illuminated the sky and water. In Orlando there are fireworks every night at Disney, Universal and Sea World, so I had no desire to fight traffic to get close to Lake Eola. Lake Killarney offered a relatively peaceful alternative. The distant fireworks had to compete with a far more inspiring display of heat lightning in the clouds. Odin ignited severe bright light in bolts to the ground which was as impressive as any fireworks burst.

A young couple began setting off mortar tubes which just set up fountains of sparks maybe ten feet high on the boat ramp near where I was sitting. It was fun to watch their childish delight as they would light the fuse and run away. Although not as impressive as a profession show, these smaller fireworks were just as fun. The wildlife, I usually see, were nowhere to be found. The ibis, egrets and a large grey owl were probably as far away from the fireworks as they could be. This human instinct to blow things up isn’t part of the natural order.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for July 16th and 17th.

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Saturday July 16, 2016

4pm to 8pm Free. Cruisin’ Downtown DeLand Car Show! East Indiana Ave Downtown DeLand, Deland FL. Classic cars and rods.  Live DJ, giveaways, shopping & dining. Fun for the family! Every 3rd Saturday night! INFO: & for showing your car 386-738-0649

8pm to 10pm Free. The Orlando Shuffle. Beardall Senior Center, 800 Delaney Avenue, Orlando, FL. The Orlando Shuffle is always free, family-friendly, and fun. It takes place the 1st and 3rd Saturdays every month. Come play, learn, or just hangout 7 to 9 p.m. at the Beardall Courts, at 800 South Delaney Avenue between Orange and Delaney Avenues. Retro attire is encouraged.

10pm to Midnight Free. #Otown Get Down. St. Matthew’s Tavern at the Orlando Beer Garden 1300 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida. Good people of Earth, hello and welcome to #OTownGetDown!

This is a gathering of local Artists and Entertainers who will be donating their time and talents for #PulseNightClub.

All proceeds from the ART AUCTION and RAFFLE will be given to Pulse Nightclub and the renovation of their establishment.

This is a FREE EVENT. All that we ask is for you to enter the auction and raffle!

Sounds by:

Dizzlephunk

Featured Artists:

Rip Halsi

Chris Tobar Rodriguez

Alexander Ray Watkins Jr.

Edward Seymour II

Frankie Messina / #ApartmentE

Bernard Cruz

German Lemus

Performances by:

Eturn Azar Javaheri

Kaleigh Baker

Phraydoe Peans

SETGANG SOUTH

JaWaan LaRue

Raffle donators:

Orlando Weekly

Red Bull

Juice Bike Share

KŪLT

We The Seeds

Sunday July 17, 2016

10pm to 4pm Free. Lake Eola Farmers Market. South East section of Lake Eola Park, North Eola Drive, Orlando, FL. Weekly.

Noon to 3pm Free. Music at the Casa. Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, North Park Avenue, Winter Park, FL. Alborea Dances Flamenco  Alborea Dances is a multicultural Entertainment Dance Company, created and directed by Jenny and Ernesto Caballero, who have been dedicated to the world of dance for more than 20 years.

They have combined their experiences as dance educators, performers, choreographers and events coordinators, to present dances from Spain, Bolivia and Middle Eastern countries.

After many years of performing in International festivals and important venues around South America, Europe and the United States, life brought them to Florida to delight their audiences on the stages of Universal Studios, Sea World, Walt Disney World, Resorts, Hotels and Conventions.

Also, they have been featured on The Travel Channel’s Great Hotels Series and Orange County TV’s “Central Florida’s World of Dance” series.

2pm to 4pm. Free. Yoga. North East section of Lake Eola Park, Near Red Pagoda 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL. Weekly.

Beartoe at Love by Design in the Milk District.

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Love by Design held in the Milk District, (2424 E Robinson St, Orlando, FL) was an all-day celebration of The City Beautiful’s talent, diversity and resilience. Local artists and designers will donate original work for sale and auction. Food and entertainment will be provided by local musicians and food trucks. Proceeds will benefit OneOrlando, the fund formed by the mayor’s office to respond to the needs of our community in the wake of the Pulse Tragedy.

Beartoe was the second band to get on stage a fly I arrived. It was a scorcher with the limited audience sitting under a tent in a parking lot. I was devouring a “Thor” from the Swedish Food Truck. A Thor, is basically a hotdog in a wrap surrounded by mashed potatoes and those crunchiest I usually only experience on Thanksgiving on top of green beans. It was a very filling meal washed down by a pear cider. It felt good knowing that proceeds would go to OneOrlando.

 Beartoe has been writing, performing and touring from The Historical
DeLand florida for over 10 years. With a 4 piece outfit they bring soul,
blues, country and folk together in a powerful way. They are very
quickly becoming recognized as a Florida staple. Look for them on the festival circuits and around
Florida. This is an act you don’t want to miss.

Inspiration for the World Mural Pulse Orlando.

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I went to The Falcon (819 E Washington St, Orlando, Florida) to meet International Mural Artist Michael Pilato and learn about ways to be involved in the new large-scale Pulse Orlando Mural being created in honor of the 49 souls.

Michael’s talent for painting and passion for transforming the grief-experience into a creation of beauty, inspiration and healing has now led him to Orlando. He gave a brief presentation about his (and his painting partner Yuriy Karabash) unique murals Titled Inspiration soon to be a global movement. Michael explained the creative process in which our entire community will be involved. Local artists of all styles are needed!

Michael’s deep desire to connect with human spirit inspires his murals to transform beyond his own brush. The entire Orlando community is invited and encouraged to participate in the creation of what will be the largest public art display of Remembrance, Healing, Acceptance, Beauty and LOVE, yet!!

All who are wanting to be a part of this endeavor are encouraged to attend. No idea, paintbrush, pencil, crayon or hand print is too small…

This is your art.
This is our voice.
This is Orlando’s mural.

Michael was at my 49 portraits event. He was inspired by the varieties of styles seen that night. the Orlando more is still in a state of flux but there is huge support to make this project a reality. H will like take the form of many murals which can also be experienced interactively. If a cell phone is pointed at the mural, software will cause a square to pop up over certain faces on the wall. Interactive media then will tell more of a person’s story. Amazingly, when I entered the Falcon,  Michael asked me to be on the board for this project.

There are many layer of meaning behind Michael’s murals. He got choked up a he spoke about his daughter, who he was very close to. She died unexpected at the tender age of 19. After her death, a red tailed hawk visited Michael, and he painted the hawk for her in murals. She appears in several places in recent murals, as a flower, and her childhood picture appear behind another larger portrait. A tattoo of d falcon on Michael’s wrist remind him of his daughter as he paints. Grief is transformed it beauty. The Orlando mural faces the monumental task of transforming hate into love. I will help in any way I can with this project while continuing my every day sketches try it to understand I tragedy. It is important to note that artists who assist with the mural will be paid. Michael is searching for various styles an each artist is given a panel, or panels to work on in the air conditioned comfort of their own studios. The ideas are still taking form.

Three little girls at the meeting handed out paper hearts with crayon rainbows on them.

Ragtime at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

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I went to a dress rehearsal for Ragtime the Musical at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts presented by Encore! Cast Performing Arts. Entering through the stage door I got lost in the maze of backstage hallways and found myself backstage for Pecha Kucha. The whole audience was holding up glow sticks while Bob Kodzis stood on stage inspiring them to follow their dreams. What an amazing sketch opportunity.  I had gone to the wrong theater and so had to backtrack. Ragtime is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. The music includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and ragtime. Based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States in the early 20th century: African Americans, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem
musician; upper-class suburbanites, represented by Mother, the
matriarch of a white upper-class family in New Rochelle, New York; and Eastern European immigrants, represented by Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia.

Coalhouse Walker Jr. dreamed of finding his lost love Sarah. When he discovers she is living with a rich white family in New Rochelle, he immediately goes to the home. Sarah refuses to see him. Despite this, he returns each week to play Ragtime on the family piano in hopes that someday she will come down to see him. Hearing Coalhouse’s music, Sarah finally descends to forgive him, and the lovers were joyfully reunited.

 The musical includes cameos by many of New York City’s historical greats, like Houdini an JP Morgan. The rich and poor mingle in the vast city. Tateh , a Jewish immigrant sells paper cut out silhouette to scrape by with his young daughter. One day he creates a stack of silhouettes, that when flipped come to life by moving. Someone offers to buy the book for a whole dollar. Tateh vows to create more moving pictures. The next one he would sell for two dollars.

Ticket sales on July 9th and 10th, Benefited USO Central Florida. The USO
strengthens America’s military service members by keeping them connected
to family, home and country throughout their service to our nation.
That mission is accomplished on a daily basis thanks to the dedication
and generosity of the American people. Whether it is a commitment of
time from a volunteer or a contribution of dollars from a donor, USO
Central Florida turns this generosity into centers, programs and
services that reach troops across 14 counties in Central Florida.

Love by Design in the Milk District.

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In response to the tragedy at Pulse, AIGA Orlando created Love by Design, an event that sought to inspire and empower us all to stand against discrimination.  Love By Design was for civic leaders, creative professionals and anyone else who cares about the future of our city. Representatives from the LGBTQ and Muslim communities shared their stories as we all begin the process of healing from our collective heartbreak. Together, we will determine how to move forward as a city that lives with more love every day.

Even more than a reflection on this tragic event, Love by Design was an all-day celebration of The City Beautiful’s talent, diversity and resilience.

Local artists and designers donated original work for sale and auction. Food and entertainment was be provided by local musicians and food trucks. Proceeds will benefit OneOrlando, the fund formed by the mayor’s office to respond to the needs of our community in the wake of the Pulse Tragedy.

AIGA Orlando is a professional association for design and creative professionals. Formed in 2000, the association currently has about 250 members, and grew 68% in 2015 alone. Their mission is to nurture a thriving creative community and serve as a hub for creatives in the area.

When I arrived, Beemo was the first band to get on stage. It was a scorching hot day and [ ordered a pear cider to quench my thirst as I sketched. Anna McCambridge Thomas helped organize the art available for sale. A tent helped keep the small audience coo in the parking lot behind the Milk Bar. Partial proceeds of all drink sales went to the One Orlando fund as well. “Is there light? Is there time? To set our world to right?”