smoke and ash, butterfly balloons and toys thrill birthday boy
I’m happy to report that my iPhone appears to have, eh, ‘weathered’ submersion. Everything works, although some features have different representations. For example:
“Nazy Martin!” My iPhone, in a cheery sounding Australian accent, interrupts.
“This thing doesn’t ring anymore,” I thought — ignoring the facts: Nazy’s ringtone is a classical music excerpt and phones stopped classically ‘ringing’ several years ago. In fact, the ringtone for my old boss at HP was a clown horn.
“Unknown caller!” My iPhone interrupts. Again.
“That’s Darius!” I thought, aware that he always calls via Skype to mobile. “I should have realized that marketers also block their caller ID,” I thought after mistakenly answering the call.
Memories of our time in New England were jogged the other night. We were visiting friends for dinner and ..
“It looks like snow falling in darkness,” I said to Nazy.
But it wasn’t snow. It was ash from a (relatively) nearby wildfire. The unusually heavy winter rains resulted in an equally heavy underbrush growth. The typical dry spring and summer has turned the lush green underbrush in to dry, brown tinder. Paradoxically, strong winter rains lead to difficult summer fire seasons. We can see smoke from the fires and, at night, we can see flames. Luckily, the fires (there are several) in the mountains are not moving in our direction.
Our friends have just relocated from NYC and..
“You promised us beautiful weather, Dan. But since we got here,” Joel commented, “we’ve had two earthquakes, two wildfires, several mudslides and..”
“But it’s been sunny the entire time, Joel.” I replied. “And I barely felt the earthquakes,” I thought hopefully.
This week we celebrated Arrow’s first birthday. Tiger didn’t want Arrow to have a birthday cake until he realized that Arrow wouldn’t eat the cake and couldn’t prevent Tiger from having a little more than his fair share. “Speaking of more than a fair share, Dan,” Nazy interrupts, “How many pieces of cake did you have?”
“I didn’t want Tiger to get sick by eating too much,” I replied. “Not enough,” I thought.
We began Arrow’s birthday week with his visit to the Yellowbird Music Class. He plucked the ukulele, shook the shakers, banged on the drums and crawled all around the room. However, he didn’t want to wear the birthday party hat.
“As I recall,” Nazy, “I said. “I don’t think Tiger was into party hats either.”
“Not just one of the balloons, Dan.” Nazy interrupts. “You popped the most beautiful balloon. The butterfly balloon.”
“The other balloons — the ones that did not ‘spontaneously’ pop — had ‘Happy Birthday’ written on them, Nazy.” I replied. “Maybe the butterfly got caught on a bougainvillea bush,” I thought.
We also had wine, champagne, toys, chips, fried chicken, grilled chicken, coleslaw, salsa, brothers, sisters, siblings, judges, hugs, hopes, and fun. Arrow was appropriately dressed in his “Arrow’ shirt.
While we were celebrating first year milestones in Santa Barbara, over in Lebanon, young Leandra was marking her six week milestone. And, she’ll be seven weeks old when Nazy and I arrive in Beirut at the end of this week.
Darius and Christiane have said that Leandra is sleeping a little better. It seems, however, that she prefers eating to sleeping. (Perhaps she inherited my genes.)
Nazy and I will leave on Thursday on a giant Emirates Airbus 380. We’re very excited about meeting the grandest daughter in the world. And about seeing Christiane and Darius as well.
And, here in the USA, we’re watching the Republican Congress fiddle with healthcare. Amazingly, even though the USA has the most expensive per capita ‘system’ in the developed world — a system that delivers, at best, mediocre results and fails to cover huge portions of the population, the GOP has actually figured out a way to make it worse. And, with Senator Cruz, they simultaneously demonstrate an inability to do arithmetic. (Note: If healthy don’t get covered, then unhealthy people will have to pay more. That’s the way insurance works.)
I know that some loathe the ‘mandate’ — i.e. the requirement that everyone purchase health insurance. It’s unAmerican! It’s coercive! It’s never been done before..
Oops! Has anyone ever tried to register a car without minimally mandated insurance?
Fortunately, the orange one is so ensnared in his son’s lies that his impact on the situation is, somewhat like his brain, miniscule.
Take care and stay healthy — it’s necessary if you live in the USA.
“Nazy Martin!” My iPhone, in a cheery sounding Australian accent, interrupts.
“This thing doesn’t ring anymore,” I thought — ignoring the facts: Nazy’s ringtone is a classical music excerpt and phones stopped classically ‘ringing’ several years ago. In fact, the ringtone for my old boss at HP was a clown horn.
“Unknown caller!” My iPhone interrupts. Again.
“That’s Darius!” I thought, aware that he always calls via Skype to mobile. “I should have realized that marketers also block their caller ID,” I thought after mistakenly answering the call.
Memories of our time in New England were jogged the other night. We were visiting friends for dinner and ..
“It looks like snow falling in darkness,” I said to Nazy.
But it wasn’t snow. It was ash from a (relatively) nearby wildfire. The unusually heavy winter rains resulted in an equally heavy underbrush growth. The typical dry spring and summer has turned the lush green underbrush in to dry, brown tinder. Paradoxically, strong winter rains lead to difficult summer fire seasons. We can see smoke from the fires and, at night, we can see flames. Luckily, the fires (there are several) in the mountains are not moving in our direction.
Our friends have just relocated from NYC and..
“You promised us beautiful weather, Dan. But since we got here,” Joel commented, “we’ve had two earthquakes, two wildfires, several mudslides and..”
“But it’s been sunny the entire time, Joel.” I replied. “And I barely felt the earthquakes,” I thought hopefully.
This week we celebrated Arrow’s first birthday. Tiger didn’t want Arrow to have a birthday cake until he realized that Arrow wouldn’t eat the cake and couldn’t prevent Tiger from having a little more than his fair share. “Speaking of more than a fair share, Dan,” Nazy interrupts, “How many pieces of cake did you have?”
“I didn’t want Tiger to get sick by eating too much,” I replied. “Not enough,” I thought.
We began Arrow’s birthday week with his visit to the Yellowbird Music Class. He plucked the ukulele, shook the shakers, banged on the drums and crawled all around the room. However, he didn’t want to wear the birthday party hat.
“As I recall,” Nazy, “I said. “I don’t think Tiger was into party hats either.”
The carpet at music class has changed, but I think they’re still using the same birthday crown.
An outdoor celebration with family and friends marked Arrow’s ‘real’ birthday. We went to Mission Park. Nazy prepared potato salad, pasta salad and a birthday cake. Right before the picnic, she sent Mitra and me into town to find a bottle of ‘bubble mixture’, party balloons and birthday napkins. It seemed easy, but after four stops, Mitra and I were only partially successful.
We were fully successful on the balloon front. But - somehow I managed to pop one of the balloons on the way to the picnic.
“Not just one of the balloons, Dan.” Nazy interrupts. “You popped the most beautiful balloon. The butterfly balloon.”
“The other balloons — the ones that did not ‘spontaneously’ pop — had ‘Happy Birthday’ written on them, Nazy.” I replied. “Maybe the butterfly got caught on a bougainvillea bush,” I thought.
We also had wine, champagne, toys, chips, fried chicken, grilled chicken, coleslaw, salsa, brothers, sisters, siblings, judges, hugs, hopes, and fun. Arrow was appropriately dressed in his “Arrow’ shirt.
While we were celebrating first year milestones in Santa Barbara, over in Lebanon, young Leandra was marking her six week milestone. And, she’ll be seven weeks old when Nazy and I arrive in Beirut at the end of this week.
Darius and Christiane have said that Leandra is sleeping a little better. It seems, however, that she prefers eating to sleeping. (Perhaps she inherited my genes.)
Nazy and I will leave on Thursday on a giant Emirates Airbus 380. We’re very excited about meeting the grandest daughter in the world. And about seeing Christiane and Darius as well.
And, here in the USA, we’re watching the Republican Congress fiddle with healthcare. Amazingly, even though the USA has the most expensive per capita ‘system’ in the developed world — a system that delivers, at best, mediocre results and fails to cover huge portions of the population, the GOP has actually figured out a way to make it worse. And, with Senator Cruz, they simultaneously demonstrate an inability to do arithmetic. (Note: If healthy don’t get covered, then unhealthy people will have to pay more. That’s the way insurance works.)
I know that some loathe the ‘mandate’ — i.e. the requirement that everyone purchase health insurance. It’s unAmerican! It’s coercive! It’s never been done before..
Oops! Has anyone ever tried to register a car without minimally mandated insurance?
Fortunately, the orange one is so ensnared in his son’s lies that his impact on the situation is, somewhat like his brain, miniscule.
Take care and stay healthy — it’s necessary if you live in the USA.
For last week's letter, click here
Nazy (with yellow hat), Melika and Arrow with his birthday cake
Dan and Arrow
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