I loved every sentence of this and felt like I was there!
The street sweepers, the hedgehogs (my God I miss hedgehogs!) - your description is delicious. I really want to go one day.
The atmosphere of “so long, suckers!” rhymes with summer Moscow - every Muscovite worth his salt decamps to the country cottage in these months in a city-wide exodus.
Believe or not, Russia and in particular Moscow came to mind a few times while I wrote this up; how could the idea of the dacha not occur to me? Plus, I suppose it’s no coincidence in so many ways that Moscow has so often been referred to in history as “the third Rome, and a fourth there shall not be” (Constantinople being the second, obvs)…Hedgehogs, ahhh hedgehogs. I could write an entire piece just on them, and might do so soon. The affinity that Istanbulites have for the fat little hedgehogs that walk our streets at nights is reflected in banners you see around the city warning drivers to avoid them! So many things…
I was so shocked when I found out there are NO hedgehogs whatsoever in the US, wrote about this - the core childhood animal, how?! Am now intrigued about the Istanbul hedgehogs because I imagine them a more mellow, coastal, cruise collection kind of hedgehog.
Surely there can't be NO hedgehogs whatsoever in the US? Is this a fact or hyperbole? It never occurred to me there could even be a continent without those little cuties...
Hello Lady Montague, Julia’s back in town. The writing and the sentiment are equally elegant. There really is a book gestating in these marvelous apercus.
So beautiful! You made me see each of those shifts in my mind’s eye, as I try to appreciate the seasonal markers here in Chicago nd Plymouth, and prepare my own elixirs to buffer the rigors of winter and the seduction of huzun…
Thanks Mamo; yes we must all keep watch for the seasonal markers, no matter where we are (Boston, Chicago, Istanbul, Moscow), and buffer against, as I love that you said, the “seduction” of the hüzün….for it IS seductive and maybe even slightly necessary in order to get through the winter months
I loved every sentence of this and felt like I was there!
The street sweepers, the hedgehogs (my God I miss hedgehogs!) - your description is delicious. I really want to go one day.
The atmosphere of “so long, suckers!” rhymes with summer Moscow - every Muscovite worth his salt decamps to the country cottage in these months in a city-wide exodus.
Believe or not, Russia and in particular Moscow came to mind a few times while I wrote this up; how could the idea of the dacha not occur to me? Plus, I suppose it’s no coincidence in so many ways that Moscow has so often been referred to in history as “the third Rome, and a fourth there shall not be” (Constantinople being the second, obvs)…Hedgehogs, ahhh hedgehogs. I could write an entire piece just on them, and might do so soon. The affinity that Istanbulites have for the fat little hedgehogs that walk our streets at nights is reflected in banners you see around the city warning drivers to avoid them! So many things…
I can’t wait to read about the hedgehogs!
I was so shocked when I found out there are NO hedgehogs whatsoever in the US, wrote about this - the core childhood animal, how?! Am now intrigued about the Istanbul hedgehogs because I imagine them a more mellow, coastal, cruise collection kind of hedgehog.
Surely there can't be NO hedgehogs whatsoever in the US? Is this a fact or hyperbole? It never occurred to me there could even be a continent without those little cuties...
Me neither! There litetally aren’t any
Investigation loading…😂
Beautiful evocation of the city’s pulse coursing through its motorized veins
Thanks D; hope you become first hand witness to the pulse soon!
Hello Lady Montague, Julia’s back in town. The writing and the sentiment are equally elegant. There really is a book gestating in these marvelous apercus.
Oh thank you so much Pops. You can't even know how much those words mean to me....!
So beautiful! You made me see each of those shifts in my mind’s eye, as I try to appreciate the seasonal markers here in Chicago nd Plymouth, and prepare my own elixirs to buffer the rigors of winter and the seduction of huzun…
Thanks Mamo; yes we must all keep watch for the seasonal markers, no matter where we are (Boston, Chicago, Istanbul, Moscow), and buffer against, as I love that you said, the “seduction” of the hüzün….for it IS seductive and maybe even slightly necessary in order to get through the winter months