It should have happened but didn't

A second event that didn't happen: seed balls. Doğukan had found this traditional sieve in Ulus: interwoven gut or leather; a work of art. We'd already sifted the vermiculture, the seeds had been ready for weeks, and we had found enough clay soil. We just didn't have enough time...

A first step to a Güneşköy herbarium collection? We'd just visited Tuğrul Körüklü at Ankara University herbarium and I'd asked for training. Why wait? No equipment, but there was some newspaper. No press or heavy books, but some thin books and a box with heavy stones. Let's try. Far fewer flowers than 3 months ago, but a dozen species, enough to have a go. The first try is sure to be flawed, but later I'll be more ready to take in the teaching. Soon I should be able to press flowers like those I showed Tuğrul, those Granny had pressed over 45 years ago, before we left France; he'd been able to name many of them, commenting on how many were also found in Turkish Mediterranean lands. Check out https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-press-flowers.html. I give some vermicompost to the elder, along with 3.5 litres in the earthenware pot, and another 1.5 litres at the base of the little tree. But who has eaten your leaves?

How many different ways to cut a watermelon? Though quite different in Ordu and Turkmenistan, the flesh is delicious. Doğukan, don't be so sure you can tell which are ripe, and which "kelek", those that will not mature. We now collect seeds separately - the best for planting next season, the rest for nibbling at in the evenings. The ginger is now sprouting. Doğukan, don't try eating them!! This could be Kim's last week: he shows us the Korean alphabet, so logical. Celal has worked out basic communication structures: "You go machine stop" meaning Please go and turn off the water pump. Communication can be so sensitive: a missing comma in a text message can turn a well-intentioned comment turning into a knife-sharp put down. How could Kim's careful request lead to an angry local? We think we have things under control, but a missed cue, hesitation, a mildly deterrent comment, the necessary words not coming quite fast enough: all can take a situation beyond control, a little too off track. Plans could have been better made, better anticipating a few more outcomes, each could dust a little confusion away. Might the key events that trigger evolutionary changes in fact come from an accumulation of tiny items, each adding a little more pressure, until a system is not quite strong enough ...and cracks!