Fiesta Courts Confetti-Strewn towering engagement
of the history of the city. Based on the parade, it is clear that the (Old) Spanish brought (a lot of) horses to Santa Barbara. The event features the largest equestrian parade in the country with hundreds of horses. It was…“… a mess, Dan,” Nazy exclaimed. “I don’t think I’d like to march through the street in a long, flowing Spanish dress behind the 8th Calvary.”
“It wasn’t The Calvary,” I explained. “Those were hombres.”
“Whatever that means…”
“On talented, dancing horses.”
“Dancing wasn’t the only thing those horses were doing.”
In addition to the parade, Fiesta is marked by cascarones: egg shells filled with confetti. Part of the fun is to crack the cascarone on someone’s head. Naturally, the grand(est)son had a target.
Santa Barbara is, of course, in California. Therefore, it was predictable that a fringe spoilsport would complain about the mess (clean-up is still underway) and the environmental impact of the confetti dye (“it will wash off in the rain and pollute the ocean&rdquo.
“Rain?” I thought when hearing about this. “Not only is that unlikely — we are in a drought — but who came up with the idea of storing runoff from the storm sewers in the ocean?”
Finally, Fiesta is marked by big hats. Befitting the fact that the grand(est)son spends a lot of time with his Glamother, ‘hat’ is one of the first words he has learned to say. (He says it the French way - without the leading ‘h’.) This year, Nazy and I competed for biggest new hat. Nazy won in the ‘biggest smile’ category.
As regular readers know, Darius and his special lady have been visiting Santa Barbara. Family members also knew that Darius ‘planned’ to formally propose to Christiane while she was with him in the USA. ‘Planned’ should always be interpreted vaguely when the word appears in any sentence that also contains the proper name ‘Darius’. In any case, Darius wanted a memorable and dramatic occasion. He asked me..
“Do you think I should ask Tom for suggestions, Dad?”
“Tom? Melika’s husband?”
“Yeah. Tom is..”
“ …a little over the top, Dar. When he asked Melika to marry him, he wanted to drain Lake Mead and paint “Melika! Will You Marry Me?” in red on the Hoover Dam. That’s not your style..”
“He didn’t drain Lake Mead, Dad.”
“Are you sure, Dar?” I asked thinking of recent photos of the Lake. “Did you know that Tom called me in Switzerland to ask for permission to marry Melika.”
“He asked you?”
“I thought of telling him that he should ask Melika instead of me, but it was such a charming and nice moment that I decided to behave myself. By the way, have you spoken to Christiane’s father?”
“Of course.”
“About this?”
“Well…”
After not finding an appropriate occasion in Greece, Hollywood, Los Angeles or (thankfully) Las Vegas, Darius, characteristically, decided that the last minute would be an ideal time and the courthouse would be a perfect location. Christiane was booked to return to Lebanon on the 13th. Moreover, the 12th was dedicated to an expedition to the nearby Premium Outlet Mall. Christiane had a very large shopping list and stamina that matched Nazy’s. But..
“the plan, Dad,” Darius explained, “for this evening is simple. I have the ring. I’ll take Christiane to the top of the courthouse to ‘see the sunset’ and then I’ll pop the question.”
“Splendidly romantic, Dar,” I replied. “But the courthouse is closed before sunset. Luckily we can ask Judge Adams to let you in and you can take it from there.”
“That’s great.”
“Now you just have to get home before sunset.” I concluded. “More realistically, I hope you can get back before sunrise,” I thought marveling at the shopping progress.
The Judge agreed to help. Melika’s office has a view of the Courthouse tower, so the rest of us agreed to convene there sunset.
“That’s a great idea!” I enthused. “I’ll bring my telephoto lens and we can capture the moment for posterity.”
“Make sure he gets there before dark, Dad.” Melika wisely (and practically) advised.
Getting Christiane out of the shopping mall proved problematic — until her shoe broke. She and Darius arrived at the courthouse just after sunset. Melika, Nazy, Tom, the Judge, the grand(est)son, two young uncles and I were huddled in Melika’s office feeling like..
“.. stalkers, Dan.” Nazy complained as I focused the camera.
“Paparazzi, Nazy,” I corrected. “These photos will become treasured family heirlooms.” My thoughts at this romantic moment were a bit more pragmatic: “If he doesn’t get on with it, it will be too dark to take photos.”
When we saw him snap a ‘selfie’, we decided that the mission had been successful. We all walked to the courthouse carrying a bottle of Prosecco bubbly to celebrate. “I should have gotten him a selfie stick,” I thought as we strolled across Anacapa Street.
Confident that the proposal had been accepted, we all met Darius and Christiane as they exited the tower. They were very happy. Then we walked to Ca' Dario for dinner.
The following morning, Darius drove Christiane to LAX for her long flight home. He will be here for a couple of more weeks before returning to Lebanon.
And, not content to be the star of the letter, Darius attempted to ‘one-up’ me by claiming he had the biggest hat.
For last week's letter, click here
A scene from the Fiesta Parade