Siamese business fish duel for new year easter egg birthday
Welcome to Persian year 1395, which began with last weekend’s vernal equinox. Here in California, we’ve done our part to adjust the weather so that the local ‘user interface’..
“User interface?” Nazy asked. “What does that have to do with weather?”
“It’s the ‘look and feel’ of the..”
“Look and Feel? You sound like some kind of engineer.”
“Not just an engineer, my dear, a helluva an engineer. I went to Georgia Tech where we invented look and feel. If fact, when I got my first look at you, I began to feel..”
“That’s enough, Dan.”
As I noted in last week’s edition of The Weekly Letter, Nazy and I celebrated the official beginning of Persian year 1395 at precisely 9:30 PM on Saturday. Nazy set up the official celebratory table, the haft-seen, with a small alteration.
“That fish,” I said, “is not gold.”
“It’s a βeta; a Siamese fighting fish from…”
“Siam?”
“Thailand. It’s got flowing fins and it doesn’t mind small bowls of water.”
“I thought a gold fish was traditional.”
“I never know what to do with the goldfish after the New Year.”
“Last year we dropped it in Melika’s Koi pond.”
“I know. But you didn’t tell me that Koi ate goldfish.”
But enough of New Year and back to local atmospheric conditions. The weather has been warm and sunny. The anemic rainfall generated by the overrated El Nino caused the wildflowers to bloom. Locals with Irish backgrounds used St. Patrick celebrations to wax enthusiastic about a color unseen in California since the last century. And..
“We need to enjoy the verdant, emerald fields,” I noted.
“Of course,” Nazy replied.
“Because it will be over soon. I am sad to say that El Nino is dying. It spent the winter like the Republican front-runnier: awash in loud mouth pontification.”
“Trump doesn’t pontificate, he shouts. He says we need a businessman President.”
“We tried that. George W. Bush was a businessman. He turned a surplus into a deficit, was unprepared for the biggest attack on America since Pearl Harbor, started a pointless war in Iraq that killed thousands of American soldiers (and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis) while creating ISIS. He presided over the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. And, unlike Trump, ‘W’ didn’t send four companies into bankruptcy. We can’t handle a business President.”
“So The Donald is not your favorite candidate?”
“He’s fully qualified to be the host of Let’s Make a Deal. He’s already wearing a costume: his ‘hair’.”
But enough discussion of buffoonery; more important things beckon. This weekend, for example, young Tiger went on his first Easter Egg hunt. it was..
“… a bit disappointing, Nazy.” I complained.
“Disappointing? He found the golden egg.”
“I know. That’s what was disappointing. I thought we’d win $10,000 in cash or a Lamborghini.”
“Don’t you think that was unlikely?”
“All we won..
“We?”
“… he won was a free frozen yoghurt. I might have been satisfied with a double scoop of Ben and Jerry’s Cherries Garcia ice cream, but..”
“Dan—“
“But: NO! And the we even forgot to collect the yoghurt.”
This week we also celebrated Darius’ birthday…
“How could we do that?” Nazy asked. “Darius isn’t even here.”
“We celebrated from afar. Remember Darius’ adventurous side. I have a picture of him on the Berlin Wall before it was completely removed.”
“I remember, he wanted us to drive to Poland so he could get a passport stamp.”
“I know, but the visa cost 100 Deutsche Marks for each of us. You know, though, so far, the grand(est)son is a lot like young Darius. In the photos bellow, taken more than 30 years apart, the children and the two adults look exactly alike. ((But the water looks a bit different.) See Photos below
Happy Birthday, Dar
“User interface?” Nazy asked. “What does that have to do with weather?”
“It’s the ‘look and feel’ of the..”
“Look and Feel? You sound like some kind of engineer.”
“Not just an engineer, my dear, a helluva an engineer. I went to Georgia Tech where we invented look and feel. If fact, when I got my first look at you, I began to feel..”
“That’s enough, Dan.”
As I noted in last week’s edition of The Weekly Letter, Nazy and I celebrated the official beginning of Persian year 1395 at precisely 9:30 PM on Saturday. Nazy set up the official celebratory table, the haft-seen, with a small alteration.
“That fish,” I said, “is not gold.”
“It’s a βeta; a Siamese fighting fish from…”
“Siam?”
“Thailand. It’s got flowing fins and it doesn’t mind small bowls of water.”
“I thought a gold fish was traditional.”
“I never know what to do with the goldfish after the New Year.”
“Last year we dropped it in Melika’s Koi pond.”
“I know. But you didn’t tell me that Koi ate goldfish.”
But enough of New Year and back to local atmospheric conditions. The weather has been warm and sunny. The anemic rainfall generated by the overrated El Nino caused the wildflowers to bloom. Locals with Irish backgrounds used St. Patrick celebrations to wax enthusiastic about a color unseen in California since the last century. And..
“We need to enjoy the verdant, emerald fields,” I noted.
“Of course,” Nazy replied.
“Because it will be over soon. I am sad to say that El Nino is dying. It spent the winter like the Republican front-runnier: awash in loud mouth pontification.”
“Trump doesn’t pontificate, he shouts. He says we need a businessman President.”
“We tried that. George W. Bush was a businessman. He turned a surplus into a deficit, was unprepared for the biggest attack on America since Pearl Harbor, started a pointless war in Iraq that killed thousands of American soldiers (and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis) while creating ISIS. He presided over the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. And, unlike Trump, ‘W’ didn’t send four companies into bankruptcy. We can’t handle a business President.”
“So The Donald is not your favorite candidate?”
“He’s fully qualified to be the host of Let’s Make a Deal. He’s already wearing a costume: his ‘hair’.”
But enough discussion of buffoonery; more important things beckon. This weekend, for example, young Tiger went on his first Easter Egg hunt. it was..
“… a bit disappointing, Nazy.” I complained.
“Disappointing? He found the golden egg.”
“I know. That’s what was disappointing. I thought we’d win $10,000 in cash or a Lamborghini.”
“Don’t you think that was unlikely?”
“All we won..
“We?”
“… he won was a free frozen yoghurt. I might have been satisfied with a double scoop of Ben and Jerry’s Cherries Garcia ice cream, but..”
“Dan—“
“But: NO! And the we even forgot to collect the yoghurt.”
The entire week has been exciting because Persian New Year, Easter and Spring Break all take place at the same time this year.
“Spring Break?” you ask. “Why does Dan care about Spring Break?”
“The Montessori School is on holiday.”
Tiger is enjoying walks in the park, trips on the slide and strolls by the ocean. His vocalizations have become more and more complex. But..
“He’s misunderstood a basic pronunciation rule, Nazy, He thinks that the ’s’ is silent in every word that begins with ’s’.”
“Really?”
“That’s right. He doesn’t say ‘stop’, he says ‘top’. It’s actually very impressive that he’s internalized this complex concept.”
“Maybe he just hasn't learned to say ’s’.”
“That could be it too.”
This week we also celebrated Darius’ birthday…
“How could we do that?” Nazy asked. “Darius isn’t even here.”
“We celebrated from afar. Remember Darius’ adventurous side. I have a picture of him on the Berlin Wall before it was completely removed.”
“I remember, he wanted us to drive to Poland so he could get a passport stamp.”
“I know, but the visa cost 100 Deutsche Marks for each of us. You know, though, so far, the grand(est)son is a lot like young Darius. In the photos bellow, taken more than 30 years apart, the children and the two adults look exactly alike. ((But the water looks a bit different.) See Photos below
Happy Birthday, Dar
For last week's letter, click here
Darius (age 2) and Dan
Dan and Tiger (almost age 2)
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