awaiian Toyota drives to Helium-filled Jupiter on way to Moon
“ … a low-key party. He should have as many guests as his age.” Nazy claimed.
“His age, Mom? He’s one. That would mean one friend.”
“That’s what the books recommend.”
“We’re celebrating with Kaia and Juliana - they’re both turing one at the same time.”
“So three..”
“It’s a Hawaiian theme party, Mom. We have caterers, Hula Dancers, Lai’s, pineapple.”
“For three babies?”
“Yep. And 80 guests. You and Dad need Hawaiian outfits.”
“What about you and Tom?”
“We’ve got several in our costume closet. We’ll need to get flowers and balloons for the decorations.”
It was, of course, a BIG celebration. The Grand(est)son danced a Hula (for a while; in the picture, he’s clearly said “I’m finished”.. And, following the lead of his grandfather, he fully enjoyed his birthday cake.
Mitra and Stefan drove up from Los Angeles. They also had a palindromic trip back home: Stefan’s Toyota van hit the 400004 mileage mark. I suggested that we tell Skip, one of Tom’s friends who is ‘the voice’ in all Toyota commercials, about this milestone. Maybe Toyota will want to use Stefan and the van in an advertisement. It’s not over yet:
“100,000 more miles,” I noted, “and you’ll have half a million. That’s the mileage from here to the moon.”
“And that’s what we’re aiming for,” Stefan replied - pointing skyward.
We recovered from the party back at home on Alameda Padre Serra. (Note: The Pope is going to canonize Padre Serra who established many of the California Missions. We wonder if they’ll rename our street to Alameda San Junipero after the planned sainthood of Father Junipero Serra.)
Stefan is, among other talents, a master with wood. I wanted his opinion on a recent purchase.
Flashback
Beirut May 2015
“I really like those hand-crafted backgammon sets,” I told Darius while were were in Beirut.
“I know just where we can get one,” Darius replied. (We spent the next half hour walking around the Hamra district looking for ‘just where’.)
Darius and I watched the craftsmen who were working in the back of the shop. We considered several options before (mentally) settling on one with mother of pearl inlay and hand carvings. Wisely, we put off price negotiations.
“We’ll have Mom bargain on the price,” I said as we walked home.
A few days later, Nazy joined us in the shop. She chopped the asking price in half. And then she saw..
“… look at that desk!” she exclaimed. “That would really look nice in your office.”
It was, I had to admit, spectacular. The asking price was about the same as what we paid for from my Restoration Hardware desk. Shipping unfortunately doubled the cost. We (reluctantly) settled for the backgammon set - which they promised to finish in the next few days.
End Flashback
In Stefan’s opinion, the backgammon set is worth at least 10 times what we paid. We confirmed his estimate when we considered sets available at the local Turkish store. Seeing an entrepreneurial opportunity, I advised Darius to bring another set with him this summer.
As I mentioned in last week’s letter, Tiger - or ‘Jamsheed’, as Nazy and I call the grand(est)son - is beginning to walk. It is an event that demonstrates human evolution:
“It’s amazing, Nazy,” I noted. “Just as the baby is becoming to heavy to carry, he learns to walk.”
“Really, Dan, I..”
“And, better still, he wants to walk.”
He does want to walk, but he his strolls are not completely smooth and effortless. In short, he looks a little like a Zombie with his hands outstretched for balance.
“It’s just like when he began to sit up. He hadn’t mastered small balancing movements and he was a bit wobbly.”
“Yes, Dan,” Nazy replied. “But when he lost his balance while sitting, he just rolled onto the bed. He didn’t crack his head..”
“You’ve forgotten the time that Darius was ‘watching him’ while he was sitting on the marble floor by the fireplace.”
“Yeah, well Now if he falls, he could crash into the coffee table. He could get a black eye. He could..”
“.. be a little boy, Nazy.” I interrupted. “Don’t worry, he’s fine.”
“Gong!” resounded from near the kitchen.
“I told you!” Nazy shouted.
In fact, it was (I’m not making this up), The Gong. The grand(est)son has learned to ‘play’ it.
In sum, this week Tiger has made ‘walking’ his preferred means of locomotion. He will crawl only if something is out-of-reach from a standing position. (He also, thankfully, crawls up the stairs.)
There is an interesting birthday alignment in The Adams Family. Tom’s birthday is a week after Tiger’s birthday. And this year was Tiger’s very first birthday. If threatened to leave Tom..
“… with that sinking feeling, Dad.” Melika explained. “like having your birthday on Christmas Day. We had a huge Hawaiian party for the babies.”
“I’m sure we’ll find something equally gargantuan for Tom.”
“Well, Dad. His birthday is close to the Solstice Day parade. And we’ve made arrangements to participate. We’re using a Solar System Theme. Mathew has constructed the 9 planets out of giant balloons - some 10 feet in diameter. We’re filling them with Helium and..
“You know, Mel, Darius told me that Helium is a very rare gas.”
“And it takes a lot of gas to lift Jupiter, Dad.”
“Darius, speaking as an economist, told me that the only reason people can buy Helium is because the USA established a Strategic Helium Reserve in 1916.”
“Why?”
“We needed Helium for the Zeppelins.”
“Zeppelins?”
“Blimps. There were ‘big’ in World War I.”
“We don’t use them now, Why do we still..”
“… it’s a government program, Melika. If you looked at the ‘real’ cost of Helium, you’d find that it would take about $100 to fill up a single birthday balloon.”
“Jupiter will cost more..”
“That’s why you need to compress the Helium when you’re done. Save it for another hundred years and this parade will pay for itself.”
I thought of recommending that she store the Helium inside the Jupiter balloon, but remembered that it had leaked out of the birthday balloons we bought last week.
But, I digress.
“You always digress, Dan.” Nazy interrupts.
The solstice parade - and the subsequent pool party at the Jones’ - will mark Tom’s birthday celebration.
Nazy and I (astronaut costumes), Mitra (astronaut) are joining Tom, Melika, Tiger, and about 83 other people in the parade. We’re not supposed to take photos during the parade, but will have some images to share in the coming week.
Family at the Parade
(Why does my hat look dorky?)
