We moved to this warm, sunny corner of Turkey partly because we were tired of UK winters. You can therefore imagine how thrilled we have been to get a blast of cold weather from Siberia. On the coldest day, the maximum was only two degrees, and at night it got down to minus seven. I know that’s nothing for readers from places like Canada or Scandinavia, but it felt pretty cold to us!  Very tough conditions for the local stray dogs and cats, too, so we’ve been trying to help them out as much as possible.

Snow on the peaks.

Snow on the peaks.

People in the village are telling us it’s the coldest weather they’ve seen for fifty years.  Neighbours have lost crops like spinach and broad beans, which is a shame — these weren’t crops for sale, but to make their winter diet a bit more interesting.

We switched bedrooms to help stay warm: we had been in one of the newer farmhouse rooms as it’s a bit larger, but moved back to the small bedroom in the old house. Compared to the basic breeze-block construction of the newer buildings, the half-a-metre-thick mud-brick walls of the old place make it so much easier to stay warm. Which is probably a good sign for what we can expect from our straw bale walls in winter.

The truck has coped well with some winter mud.

The truck has coped well with winter driving conditions.

I suppose the good news is that this was just a freak weather event, and not something we should expect every year.  And the dusting of snow on the hills and mountains did look great.

Not so much snow in this shot, but you can see how green the landscape looks from all that winter rain. That's the town of Selçuk in the distance, with part of the ruins of Ephesus in the left foreground.

Not so much snow in this shot, but you can see how green the landscape looks from all that winter rain. That’s the town of Selçuk in the distance, with part of the ruins of Ephesus in the left foreground.

Yesterday things turned warmer so we got some work done, but today there’s been a big downpour of rain: we’re expecting about 30 mm.  A great excuse to sit in a warm room with a coffee and write blog posts.

Sam looking fat and happy: the warm-milk ration has been increased because of the cold weather.

Sam looking fat and happy: the warm-milk ration has been increased because of the cold weather.

Marlowe drinking from a bucket and thereby doing his best Nosferatu impression.

Marlowe drinking from a bucket and thereby doing his best Nosferatu impression.