Flat Thea, maps and computer glitches

Flat Thea and kitteh

This is where the post about Flat Thea was supposed to be. But no. By whatever twist of fate, whatever ill wind, bad karma, goddamn computer glitch, blogger fuck up, some Sultan's cranky ghost or, nearly impossible to consider, but perhaps because of something I did, I don't know, but when I was nearly done I undid something, a totally ordinary action, and the post vanished. After that, try though I did, there was no way to retrieve it. Gone.

Flat Thea at the Topkapi Palace
(Top-cop-ie)

Thea, our six-year old granddaughter, made Flat Thea in kindergarten as part of a geography project and we got to participate. Photograph Flat Thea wherever we go and send Thea the photos. Then she takes them to school and adds them to a map along with all the other kid's photos of their Flat "whoevers" wherever they've been over the past few weeks. This post started as a few outtakes but, as is often the case with me, it got complicated.

Flat Thea at Hagia Sophia
(Eye-ya Sophia)

First I included a description of Topkapi Palace, then the briefest mention of the city, cities, that have flourished on the banks of the Bosphorus for the last two thousand years. No surprise given that the Bosphorus Strait is a very important waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranian and North Atlantic as well as being part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. Once I did that, of course, I had to include some mention of the Sultans, harems, eunuchs and how young princes were strangled with a silken cord to reduce challenges to the crown prince yet avoid the spilling of royal blood. And just as I was done, and adding the photos, poof! A flick and everything vanished and I could not get it back. Now you will have to imagine all that for yourself, or read Wikipedia like I did. I have no heart to go on.

Flat Thea in Istanbul

Since arriving nine days ago, we have visited all but one of the "must see" sites and otherwise wandered around Istanbul straining to catch glimpses of ancient Byzantium, great lost Constantinople and Istanbul of today. Today we will take a ferry up the Bosphorus strait to the Yoros Castle from which we will be able to at least get a glimpse of something that has fascinated me since childhood, the Black Sea. And today, Swami, Minerva and Flat Thea will join us. They all want to see for themselves if the Black Sea is really black. I've told them all it's not but they refuse to believe me.