September, 2007

Dear friends and family,

This trip I returned to Prague - it’s been 4 years - and central Anatolia.

The Czech Republic is tourist filled, and not as friendly as it was 4 years ago. There were incidences where I was reminded of dealing with unhappy waiters during the Soviet period.

As to rugs and textiles, not much was visible, and the one carpet shop I saw was Persian and showed brand new Persian carpets and ceramics. It was also the start of Ramadan, and the conversation was mostly centered around ‘Iftar’ (the breaking of the fast).

Turkey was also experiencing the start of Ramadan, however Istanbul was amidst a holiday atmosphere, where the breaking of the fast had become a festival - especially in the Sultan Ahmet district.

The atmosphere was so festive there were even many-page newspaper articles about it - all with pages of pictures in color.

As to textiles, the weakness of the dollar has continued, and even the Turkish Lira has risen against the dollar. This makes buying a difficult proposition, especially when price is a factor.

Once again, our purchase prices were as before, and I wish to publicly thank our Turkish family for holding to their price, and thus allowing us to once again do business.

As to what we found: We were specifically looking for ‘semi old’ Anatolian village and nomad flat weaves of great artistic merit - and we found some. Yeah!

Other news: Our current exhibition in our Gallery is “Arrayed in Splendour - Garbed in Glory” traditional clothing from along the Old Silk Road. There is a Virtual Salon in progress at www.Turkotek.com. Where you can see our presentation and even comment on it.

The shipment is in and moth-proofed, and ready for your inspection and approval.

The tea is hot, and the temperature has fallen, and the pug puppy is still adorable.

A perfect time to visit our gallery.

Looking forwards to seeing you soon

saul and the sun bow crew