Nike Haircut (just undo it) & Einstein’s pomegranate orange juice
Why does Melika want us to meet her at the hair stylist?” I asked.
“Arrow is getting a haircut,” Nazy replied.
“Arrow? Haircut?” I replied. “Does Tom know about this?” I thought.
Arrow’s hair had never been cut. Ever! Blond and curly. just like what I used to have..
“You had hair?” Nazy asked.
“Of course!” I retorted. “In my prenatal dreams,” I thought.
Arrow’s beautiful hair even inspired a rock musical:
Let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
So, while Arrow looked really cool with his long hair (see top photo with Tiger), some people, at first sight, thought he was a little girl. So — the shears were out. He sat quietly on Nazy’s lap for the process. Later they both walked out through knee deep blond clippings.
“Still cute, but maybe not as strong, Nazy.” I noted.
“Strong?”
“Like Samson; cut his hair and he loses his strength.”
This week, I took Tiger to a scavenger hunt at the local Farmer’s Market. The school gave us an assignment: find market items that began with the letters “C”, “R”, “M” and “E”. We quickly selected Cucumber, Radish and Eggplant. But, we were having trouble with the “M”. I stopped by a flower stall and asked about Marigolds. No luck. We found a berry vendor..
“Do you have Mulberries?” I asked — ignoring Tiger, who was yanking my hand.
“Nope. This is not mulberry season,” He replied.
(“Dan!” Tiger interjected.)
“We’re on a school project. I need something that begins with ‘M’.”
“Dan!” Tiger called, yanking again.
“We’ve got a Melon — will that work?” The vendor asked.
“Great!” I said. “We’ll get a small one.” I turned to Tiger: What did you want?” I asked.
He pointed to a something green and leafy, but also something with an interesting smell.”
“Mint?” I asked.
“Yes,” Tiger replied.
“So?”
“Mint, Dan. Mint begins with ‘M’.”
“And it’s cheaper and not as heavy as melon,” I thought.
The next day, in Tiger’s ’Dolphin’ class, they made a fruit salad and a vegetable salad with the things the kids found at the market. As the ‘best writer’, Tiger made the sign.
“That’s great!” I told Tiger when the teacher showed sign to me. “Did you write that?”
“No, Dan. I painted it.”
This Monday, Darius, Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra returned to Washington State after a summer in Lebanon. The long flight (Beirut to Frankfurt to Calgary to Vancouver) was followed by a drive from Vancouver to Bellingham. And, as mentioned, Darius and Christiane did it with a one year old. I asked how they were handling the jet lag.
“Well, Dad,” Darius explained. “It was hard for Leandra. She was aware from midnight until 5AM last night.”
“That would be hard for you too, Dar,” I consoled.
“It wasn’t bad. I slept through the whole thing. Christiane was up with her.”
“Hmm.” I replied. “My marital experience would make me leery of restfully snoozing while my wife stays up with the baby.”
“Well, Dad, my popularity rating has been higher. But I think Leandra has learned to walk that night.
“Wow. Did you know that a one year old provided a counter-example to Einstein’s Relativity Theory, Dar?” I asked.
“Relativity Theory?” Darius asked.
“Einstein said, and I quote, ‘nothing can go faster than the speed of light’.”
“So?”
“So — Einstein never observed (or measured) the speed of a baby that has just learned to walk.”
This weekend, Mitra, up from Los Angeles, took me, Tiger and Arrow to an outing at a nearby farm. Even though it is ‘harvest season’ elsewhere in the country, it seems that, with the exception of the pomegranates, most of the local stuff had already been harvested. Undaunted, we enjoyed the slide and the sunflowers.
Mitra generally brings a collection of interesting foodstuff with her when she visits the children. This time she arrived with Blood Oranges. Tiger, who had made special orange juice from blood oranges with Nazy, enthusiastically helped Mitra make orange juice.
As regular readers know, Tiger is a very clever young boy. He was, in fact, able to answer one of the questions I handled in 11th grade Chemistry class:
“Tiger,” I said. “What color is the blue precipitate?” [It wasn’t an especially hard class.]
“Blue,” he replied, rolling his eyes. He was equally good at telling me the color of the White House, the Blue Mosque, the Red River and the Yellow submarine. My trap was set when I realized that he was creating juice from Blood Oranges.
“What color was that orange juice?” I asked.
“Dan!” he replied. Not answering.
And, finally, we continue to find interesting items as we delve into our ancient history…
“It wouldn’t surprise me if we found Tutankhamun’s death mask,” I claimed as Nazy and I attacked another box from the family archives.
Instead, we found more old family photos. Several, which were at least 75 years old, depicted Danish relatives. It’s not clear who these relatives were, but at least one of them was….. somewhat unusual.
More on Old Denmark Stuff next week. I