Continent drifting Beets favor california Siesta
I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful summer, filled with good times like we enjoyed in California: sunny and warm days, cool nights, beautiful sunsets and..
“Crowded roads,” I complained - thinking about the 14 lane I-405 in Los Angeles.
“You’re not on the road during the sunset,” Nazy replied.
“I feel like I’ve been on the road since the big bang. My rear is growing roots into the driver’s seat.”
“Dan..”
“Luckily, continental drift is relentlessly, albeit slowly, moving us toward our destination. We’ll be fossils when we arrive, but..”
“You can be the fossil,” Nazy interrupted,
“I am making a rhetorical point, here. Dear.”
“You’re not making progress.”
“Precisely,” I replied.
While Melika and Tom were relaxing in Croatia (see last week’s letter), Darius came to Santa Barbara to complete work on his research paper. Darius, who believes that all government is a criminal enterprise, took the opportunity to extol the virtues of Lebanon.
“The army burned marijuana fields just before harvest, Dad.”
“I hope they got permission from the appropriate militia.”
“They should have, they traditionally burn the fields in August every year. But this year, they burned the wrong fields.”
“Wrong fields?”
“They missed the fields that the farmers planted especially to be burned. They burned the good ones by mistake.”
“The good fields? What are we talking about?”
“The villagers have grown marijuana for centuries. It’s their livelihood, their way of life.”
“Doesn’t this stuff fund Hezbollah?”
“No, no, no. These are traditional villagers. They’re just trying to scratch out a living. When the army destroyed the crop, they fought back.”
“The farmers attacked the army?”
“Right. But then the Interior Minister paid the farmers compensation for the ruined crops.”
“Speaking of crops, Dar, an organic farmer at the market told me that human health had been in decline since agriculture was invented.”
“You are in California, Dad. They’re against fertilizer, antibiotics, electricity,...”
“... but not,” I interrupted. “the wheel.” (I was thinking about traffic on the 101 Freeway.) “This guy said something about the way the body processes carbohydrate. It was better when humanity didn’t store food for the winter.”
“There is no winter in California, Dad.”
While Darius ran models and ‘math-ed’ by proving theorems and lemmas, Nazy and I went into the city to check out the annual Santa Barbara..
“Siesta, Dan.” Nazy explained.
“We don’t have to go downtown to siesta, Nazy,” I replied. “We can do that by watching NBC coverage of the Olympic Games,” I thought. “But we should see the Fiesta.”
“That’s what I said.”
The Fiesta is marked by parades, impromptu Spanish and Mexican dances and street markets. Even the local buses are decked out for the occasion.
Nazy was happy to learn that the farmer’s market remained open during the festival. She was excited..
“... by the beet variety, Dan.”
“How thrilling.” I responded.
“So many different kinds, Have you ever seen anything like that?”
“I couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dreams. I am sooo delighted. I can’t wait to tell my friends in Zürich,” I replied. “Vegetables, especially root vegetables set my senses tingling.” I paused in thought. “Do they have any sugar beets?”
After the festival, we drove to Los Angeles. We strolled through Santa Monica and went to a Tango lesson at the world-famous OxygenTango School. Our completely unbiased instructor remarked upon my ability and skill.
“Remarked upon?” Nazy asked.
“Under his breathe,” I replied. “I did not say favorably remarked upon,” I thought.
The lesson was fun. Darius, who has been learning all summer, has enjoyed the experience and his time with Mitra and Stefan. When he gets back to Beirut..
“You can license the Oxygen Tango approach,” I explained. “and teach Tango in your spare time.”
“Spare time?” Darius asked. “What’s the license fee?” Mitra asked.
“Eh..” I replied to both.
“I want to leverage my Tango expertise on the dating front, Dad.” Darius continued. “Darius is studying Tango because he wants to improve human understanding at a planetary level,” Mitra explained.
“Oh.” I replied.
As our time in the USA drew toward and end, Melika and Tom returned from Croatia. Melika asked whether we’d be happy living in California.
“Of course!” Nazy enthused.
“Have you found a place?” Melika asked.
“Yes, I liked your place.” I replied. “And you don’t seem to be using it,” I thought.
It was, in fact, a wonderful trip. We really enjoyed seeing our talented, successful and fun offspring. We were glad that Tom and Melika got to take a break after the stress-filled IPO, we celebrated Darius’ completion of a research paper that has crowded his thoughts for a few years and we marveled at the wonderful community that Mitra and Stefan have created with Oxygen Tango.
The Cape Wielding Quartet
Nazy and Dan
Mitra
Darius