forty-one kinds of spices

recently was valentine's day and here it is mostly cold. they tell me a storm is coming, in from siberia.

today mo, ugur and i are staying at a hotel in istanbul, in the old city called the Sultanahmet. over six months since i slept in my own bed. here is everywhere i've slept since then, dates give or take.

aug 1 - aug 9 : stayed with friends in vancouver
aug 10 - 15 : at shambhala
aug 16 - 17 : hostel in vancouver
aug 18 - 22 : tofino and victoria
aug 23 : again with friends in vancouver, and baby
aug 24 - 28 : hostel in san francisco
aug 29 - sept 4 : in the dusty desert of black rock city
sept 5 - 7 : on a stranger's couch in reno
sept 8 - 16 : again in san francisco in a closet-sized bedroom generally alone
sept 17 - 22 : on the couch of a friend of a friend in montreal
sept 23 - oct 16 : in the questionable montreal flophaus
oct 16 - dec 3 : on the floor of the second bedroom of my apartment as it went from being my apartment to someone else's
dec 4 - 29 : housesitting
dec 30 - 31 : hostel in lake louise
jan 1 2008 - jan 16 : in parents' basement
jan 17 : hostel in london
jan 18 - feb 3 : guest bedroom at mehmet's
feb 4 - 5 : hostel in cannakale
feb 6 - feb 11 : back to mehmet's
feb 12 : world house hostel in istanbul
feb 13 - present : hotel in istanbul suburb, evac'd there by mehmet

mo is forever giving. lunch at the restaurant of the topkapi palace in istanbul and with our meal we had rosewater flavoured with forty-one kinds of spices. it is wearing on my soul receiving all that he has given me and continues to give to me. i like it but i want to give for a change. joni mitchell on the radio and it moves me greatly. she sings: the wind is in from africa: last night i couldn't sleep. sure is hard to leave you but it's really not my home.