then, it snowed

I woke up this morning to the news that school had been cancelled. The joy of a snow day is equally felt by both teacher and student, and like a kid, I lounged about in my pajamas until about two o'clock. I made a feast of eggs and sausage for breakfast, and sipped on coffee while luxuriously grading student work in my living room. It was marvellous.

Then I just had to go outside.

Pedro wanted to check on the gulls at the Mimar Sinan Bridge, and needing a break, I agreed that this was a fine idea. The scene was very bleak outside the kitchen window; yellow-grey skies and bouts of whirling snowdust. We bundled up and climbed into the car, now dubbed "Atilla the Krill Mobile" (which I will explain later), and carefully made our way towards the bridge.



Among the huddled groups of fluffed feathers, we spied some pink Slender-billed Gulls and this fine Pallas's Gull— which excited me, as I had only previously seen Pallas's Gulls in Oman. Somewhere in the snow, we spotted the shapes of those three flamingos who seem reluctant to leave Büyükçekmece Lake.



The snow came in waves, and during a pocket of dryness as the light was fading, we jumped into Atilla to head back to town for a certain fish soup and a plate of fried anchovies.



The best part of winter is coming in from the cold— the defrosting of limbs is quite euphoric!