(*) I find myself lately (as I am getting older?) that I am returning to my roots... Things that in the past I thought belonged to my past are gaining importance. My outlook in life is changing... I find that the more I simplify my life the deeper the joy I get out of things. My uncle Erdo's philosophy on life is clearer now. Somethings that my father practiced when I was a little boy start making sense now; I understand now the essence of his letters that he wrote to his friends -my sister found those tucked in his ol'e faithful typewriter after he passed on.

What was I saying? Oh, yes -roots. The point is that I find myself reading more and more Turkish, and communicate with Turkish speaking friends -in Turkish. Since the number of passages that I want to share with my friends and my family in Turkey is increasing I decided to split this BOOK into two: a SCRAPBOOK and KARALAMACA DEFTERI. Both contain things that are timeless in my book (no pun intended). I just wanted to save the trouble to my English speaking friends of sorting through things they cannot read -or read but not understand. Enjoy.

p.s. Don't forget to click on the thumbnail picture in the beginning of each piece to see the larger version. Most of it is from my erotic art collection which I am very proud of. I hope it does not offend you. If it does, do not look at it for too long ;-)

JB, 01/15/04