I'm sorry but there's only going to be one photograph today.
I'm writing this mostly for myself, to work through my own thoughts.
As you may know I have a small farm near Antalya, and I have been involved with Syria and Syrian refugees for quite a while.
This weekend we learned that there was a Syrian Kurdish family (mother, father, and four children aged 3 to 11) who had come to Turkey about two weeks ago to get away from the fighting in Syria, or more correctly, from the ISIS.
They're from the northern part of the Governorate of Aleppo and were living in Antalya in what could best be described as a hut, with more or less no food, no money, and no possessions.
We went to see them, and after talking for a while we asked them if they'd like to come and live on the farm, at least for a while, so that they, and especially the children, could take a breath, collect their thoughts, know that they had a place to sleep and food to eat, and so that the children could play and be children.
While all this was going on a few 'but what ifs' wormed their way into my mind, these 'what ifs' wanted to make the decision I had to make about asking them if they wanted to come to the farm difficult for me, but they couldn't, they lost, the decision turned out to be easy.
They said yes, and are on the farm today.
I was hoping that being on the farm with the chickens, and the kids, and the puppies would help the children be children again but they still seem to be in a kind of shock, it might take a day or two, but I think they'll be OK.
But they have started smiling and there have been a few giggles too.
Just writing this helped me to chase those last little remnants of the 'what ifs' from my mind.
Thanks.
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a fine spring day - in many ways
(sorry there's only one photograph today)