In honor of Veteran's Day

I give you my great-grandfather as a cook in the army. (I know, I'm a day late, but Veteran's Day isn't exactly recognized here in Turkey)

Uh oh

Mom brought a treasure trove of photos for me to scan in and work with. My favorite is this one of my dad. Doesn't he just like he is getting into trouble?

one chic great-grandmother

I love this picture of my great-grandmother taken while she was in Panama. Sometimes I just wish I had inherited 1/8 of her style.

Family Pictures (2)

I've decided to continue along the theme of old family photos. This is one of my great-grandfather from shortly after he became a cook in the Army.

A family resemblance

More fun with the family pictures...I think these two photos show who I got my looks from! You wouldn't guess now that mom and I looked so similar as babies.

Old family photos

This past week we've been sorting through quite a few things in the house, but my favorite has been some of the old family pictures we've come across. I have to say that I love this one of my mom. Who knew I had such a hot mama!

lessons from dad

The past week has been a bit rough. I rushed home due to my father’s rapidly deteriorating condition (we went from “dad’s going in for surgery” to “you need to come home and January won’t be soon enough” in a week). But the last few days by my father’s side really made me think about all of the things that my dad has taught me and given me in my life. He hasn't so much articulated these lessons, as let me know that these are the things I should always strive to do by his example and by his expectations. So below are ten things that dad has taught me, and although I’m sure there are plenty more things he has given to me this gives a pretty good idea of just what my dad was about.

1. Never give up! (This sort of goes hand in hand with never quit) This meant that even if I got frustrated or hit a wall and didn’t know what to do next I just had to persevere until I got it figured out. IT definitely helped to teach me to think outside of the box.

2. Anything that you start you need to finish. Sometimes this means that I had to do things that I didn’t especially want to, always had to finish a season for a sport, had to complete the things I was starting. It’s nice to realize that at this point that type of sheer stubbornness has gotten me through many an activity.

3. Actions speak louder then words. If you know my father at all you’ll understand why I say that. I always know he loves me even if the words were not often offered. When the words began to be spoken recently I knew that things were not going so well.

4. There is always a way to make a project better. In reality this meant that I’d come to dad with an idea that I wanted to replicate expecting some small project which then usually was translated into a more complex thing...but always ends up nicer then I ever expected.

5. Innovation and creativity are fun. Curiosity is a wonderful thing. If something no longer works then you might as well open it up and see what made it go originally. You never know what you’ll discover if you start to pay attention to the things around you.

6. I'm strong enough to do just about anything that I put my mind to. Being a woman is not an excuse for being able to do something. You may just have to think outside of the box in order to accomplish it.

7. I can always depend on myself, independence is an acquired trait. It might have been hard when my parents dropped me off at camp for a month and told me not to call, but I learned that I was okay on my own.

8. There is no sense in saying you can't do something, if you practice it long enough it and consistently enough you will achieve the ability . When I was little dad used to sit and practice soccer skills. It was left foot, right foot for hours on end....now I don't even think about it. This is definitely a lesson that has served me well whenever I attempt to start learning a new skill.

9. You might seem to ignore people sometimes but you always keep track of what is going on. Then when it really matters you do know all the information and have a way to help them out if they need it. And you should always provide help when it’s needed.

10. Family is important. You can always depend on them to be around and support you when you need it. Sometimes I thought it was crazy that my parents were at every soccer game I played in, but I knew they were interested in what I was doing. When people were saying “you’re going where?” I knew I could depend on him to be curious and supportive about my new destination whether it was in Africa, Turkey or beyond. That is a gift that is without measure.
Dad has influenced and shaped my life in so many ways. He may be gone now, hopefully to a place where he no longer feels the pain from his cancer, but he will never be forgotten. I can’t forget a man who had such an impact of the type of person I’m growing up to be. I love you daddy. Rest in peace.

Rest In Peace Daddy

Dad
Originally uploaded by ccarlstead

James Edward Carlstead, 67, of Buda passed away at MD Anderson in Houston Texas, December 4th, 2007.
He was born in Keytesville, Missouri on September 25, 1940 to Francis Pauline and George William Carlstead.

A 20 year veteran of the Air Force, Jim performed many duties for his country including running radar evaluation squadrons; officer in charge of a missile site “on the front line of the cold war”, a member of the Air Force and National Rifle teams, and gunsmith. He graduated from the Air Force’s Office Candidate School in 1963.

In 1980 he started Carlstead Truck Sales, which did business in the Buda, Texas area for 27 years. He served on the Hays Youth Athletic Association Board from 1987-1989, was a member and officer of the Austin Rifle club, coached the UT Rifle Team for 10 years, and enjoyed square dancing with the Waterloo Squares.

He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Ellen; his daughters Cristi Carlstead of Istanbul and Sara Carlstead Brumfield of Austin, a son-in-law Ben and a granddaughter Josie.

The funeral service will be Thursday, December 6 at 7PM followed by a visitation until 9PM at St. Anthony Marie Claret Catholic Church, 801 North Burleson Street in Kyle, Texas. Graveside service will be held at 9:45 AM Friday, December 7 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to the University of Texas Rifle and Pistol Club; c/o Lee Patterson; 2112 Guadalupe St., Room. 512; Austin, TX 78705 or to the St. Michael’s Academy Endowment; 3000 Barton Creek Boulevard, Austin, TX 78735.

a brief escape

Mom and I decided to take a trip up the Bosphorus today. We thought it would give us a nice break (after a month I'm starting to need a break from walking) and as you already know ferry rides are a favorite of mine. Little did I realize just how far up the Bosphorus we would go. We chugged right past the 1st bridge and the beautiful Ortakoy mosque and weren't even half way along the route when we passed the second bridge and Rumeli Hısarı. We stayed on until the end of the line...and the end of the Bosphorus. As the ferry arrived ın Anadolu Kavağı I could look over my shoulder to the Bosphorus and look ahead to the Black Sea. I had no idea we'd go that far, or that the trip would really take us out of the city. Anadolu Kavağı is just a small town - fish restaurants for the tourists on the waterfront, small winding streets of houses (with military housing???) going up the hill and a ruined castle up on the top. Just enough to fill the three hours before a ferry left. So we walked up the hill for the view from the castle, enjoying the breeze and the extensive sight of water, then took the road back down (avoiding the cemetery we'd passed through on the way up) to find lunch. After some fried and some stuffed mussels we were ready to head back to the ferry and claim a rail side seat to enjoy the trip back down the Bosphorus. A great way to spend our last full day in İstanbul.

Railroad Museum

As I sit and sort through my pictures from my trip to Selcuk with my parents I'm reminded of just how I spent my morning. After racking my brain and the Lonely Planet for something dad would enjoy we ended up at the Railroad Museum. Home to something close to 30 steam locomotives, as well as the personal pull car of Ataturk (father of modern Turkey) it's supposed to be the second largest railroad museum in the world. I believe it! If there had been many more to look at I'm not sure I could have stayed interested. Dad sure was, though. Even at the end he was bending over to look at a part and trying to figure out how things work. I guess that means I succeeded in my mission to find something he could enjoy. The guy who drove us from the hotel was a bit surprised that we could spend so much time looking around, but admitted it was nice to see people actually interested and not just walking through (although the ground were quite a beautiful setting to walk through). I have to say I can't really tell much of a difference between a 1918 locomotive and a 1956 locomotive - but at least trains hold that little kid magical quality that let me climb up in them and imagine a different life. Turns out mechanical minds can be quite entranced by steam engines!

Military Museum?

Yesterday we decided to go to what I thought was a military museum in Istanbul. I thought it was something dad might find interesting and I'm working hard to include him in my plans for outings. The sign on the building as we passed it on the bus was mili saray depot muze. For some reason I thought this meant military, perhaps its proximity to the naval museum was what mislead me. If I'd thought about it I would have realized that saray means palace. Turns out that this was basically a museum which was a storehouse of many of the things that came out of the numerous palaces in Istanbul. Housed in the former kitchens of Dolmabahce Palace it was a place you could poke around in for about an hour. Which we did. Luckily dad found enough interesting random things (a 3-d picture maker, old telephones, some guns) along with the hoards of candle sticks and porcelain to keep him interested for a while. Its one of those random finds which just isn't quite what you were expecting.

Family Perspective

It's always fun to introduce people to a place that you've gotten to know. I find it interesting to see the things that make an impression on them and am sometimes bewildered by the questions that they ask. Yes, I've lived in Turkey for a year, but there sure is a lot of information that I don't know. My parents are visiting right now, and it's great to have them around. Dad especially is super inquisitive about how things work and some of his observations have given me pause to think. Before his visit I never noticed that Istanbul doesn't really have billboards. All advertisements are either plastered onto the side of a building (and there are some building where the entire face is an ad) or strung as a banner between trees or poles. After watching for two days I think I've only seen two billboards, and they're not exactly of the gigantic size you'd see on the side of an American highway. Dad's questions have also made me realize I know very little about the shipping business, the types of boats and even the current relations between Greece and Turkey. I guess I still have plenty of things left to learn.

This stinks!

So I got woken up by a call around 10:30 Saturday night, my phone didn’t register the number and somehow I just knew that it was either my sister or B. Sadly I was right. B was calling to say that they missed their flight from Austin so they aren’t going to be arriving in an hour. No, instead I’ve got a whole other day to fritter away before I get to see them. That call definitely didn’t make my night! Oh well, at least they called me with enough time to change my taksi plans and before I myself had left for the airport. Now I know why I scheduled all our other flights for the middle of their trip, just in case.