Leandra christened, poltroons dither, Tiger cares and Arrow shares
We’e still juggling things here — a new granddaughter, a..
“Dan!” Nazy interjects. “We are not juggling Azelle.”
“Perhaps ‘juggling’ wasn’t the word I was searching for,” I reply.
In point of fact, a lot of things are happening. Nazy (mostly) and I (minimally) continue to unpack (me) and arrange (Nazy) stuff. The final load of belongings from Zurich are carefully stacked in the garage. Nazy, ignoring the box labeling information (see photograph), wants to eliminate clutter.
In addition to the ‘junk’…
“… it’s not junk,” Nazy interrupted.
“Of course not my dear,” I replied. “It’s random junk,” I thought. And, while thinking, I opened a box that contained an unopened box that was labelled ‘brown stoneware dishes’. The inside box had been packed when we moved from Houston, Texas to Hanover, New Hampshire — in 1985. We didn’t unpack it when we arrived in Hanover and, three years later, we put it in storage when we moved to The Hague. We retrieved, but never unpacked, the box when we returned to New Hampshire. When we moved to Switzerland, the (still) packed box was repacked and transported to Zürich, where we stored it in the government-mandated basement bomb shelter — from whence it was picked up and repacked for transport to California. Our first home in Santa Barbara was too small for all of our belongings, so we sent the excess (including the box of brown dishes) to a storage facility in Anaheim. That storage has been repositioned into the garage of our new home. Naturally, I seized on the obvious..
“Can we just throw this stuff out?” I asked.
“This was our first set of dinnerware, Dan. It has emotional value.” Nazy replied.
“Ah,” I said. “So?” I thought.
My sister has since informed me that this brown stoneware, from the 1970’s (“late century modern&rdquo
is trending and popular. So it’s good that we stored it so long.
While we were getting settled in the new home and Azelle Karen Adams was learning about being a baby, Darius, Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra were in Lebanon — enjoying a warm summer and time with friends and family.
For (the lovely) Leandra the summer was not only enjoyable, it was also very productive. She learned to crawl, is on her way to walking, can mimic her parents’ activities and says, among other things, ‘Hi’. She also had the starring role in her very first public event: Christening.
Although Nazy and I (and Tom and Melika and Mitra and Stefan) wanted to be there, the events of summer made it impossible. Although we weren’t able to come, Christiane’s family was very well represented. Her brother, Eli, and sister, Carla, were God parents.
Aside: Just to be clear — my definition of ‘adult’ excludes both the hubristic, self-centered, gauche, fear-mongering current resident of the White House as well as the GOP’s pusillanimous poltroons who, by inaction and silence, enable, support and encourage division. Special thanks to my friend Larry for bringing the words ‘pusillanimous’ and ‘poltroon’ to my attention. Now, if we could just get someone from Congress to become a stalwart chevalier.
Meanwhile, Tiger, promoted from the ‘Shark’ group to the ‘Dolphin’ group at school, also doesn’t join his class until he has made sure that Arrow is well-ensconced in the Starfish area. Arrow really likes Tiger. And, although he’s a little uncertain about Azelle, he is beginning to cotton to her:
“When Azelle was crying, Dad,” Melika explained. “Arrow tried to give her his pacifier.”
“That is an impressive change,” I thought.
And, finally, Good News for those readers who are tired of hearing about our move — and specifically about the progress we’re making unpacking things. On Monday, the city, which stupidly agreed to a ‘no charge’, one-time pick-up of move related packing material, came by the house in a flotilla of garbage trucks.
“My, my,” I thought. “It reminds me of a Conga line of Snow Plows on the Mass Pike."
(We found the collection of old newspapers. I've hidden it somewhere in the garage.)
Aware of the Monday schedule, I began preparing on Sunday afternoon. I was ready to bring the initial load to the curb when..
“Dan!” Nazy shouted. “That doesn’t look good.”
“So?” I asked. “It’s for the garbage collector,” I thought.
“You need to stack things more neatly. Wait for me.”
“Yes dear,” I replied. “Why?” I thought.
Nazy rearranged, compressed, consolidated, adjusted and smoothed the..
“Garbage and debris,” I thought. “Who cares?” I said, in err.
“I care, Dan.” Nazy replied.
I’m sure that the garbage collection staff was impressed.
“Dan!” Nazy interjects. “We are not juggling Azelle.”
“Perhaps ‘juggling’ wasn’t the word I was searching for,” I reply.
In point of fact, a lot of things are happening. Nazy (mostly) and I (minimally) continue to unpack (me) and arrange (Nazy) stuff. The final load of belongings from Zurich are carefully stacked in the garage. Nazy, ignoring the box labeling information (see photograph), wants to eliminate clutter.
In addition to the ‘junk’…
“… it’s not junk,” Nazy interrupted.
“Of course not my dear,” I replied. “It’s random junk,” I thought. And, while thinking, I opened a box that contained an unopened box that was labelled ‘brown stoneware dishes’. The inside box had been packed when we moved from Houston, Texas to Hanover, New Hampshire — in 1985. We didn’t unpack it when we arrived in Hanover and, three years later, we put it in storage when we moved to The Hague. We retrieved, but never unpacked, the box when we returned to New Hampshire. When we moved to Switzerland, the (still) packed box was repacked and transported to Zürich, where we stored it in the government-mandated basement bomb shelter — from whence it was picked up and repacked for transport to California. Our first home in Santa Barbara was too small for all of our belongings, so we sent the excess (including the box of brown dishes) to a storage facility in Anaheim. That storage has been repositioned into the garage of our new home. Naturally, I seized on the obvious..
“Can we just throw this stuff out?” I asked.
“This was our first set of dinnerware, Dan. It has emotional value.” Nazy replied.
“Ah,” I said. “So?” I thought.
My sister has since informed me that this brown stoneware, from the 1970’s (“late century modern&rdquo
is trending and popular. So it’s good that we stored it so long. While we were getting settled in the new home and Azelle Karen Adams was learning about being a baby, Darius, Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra were in Lebanon — enjoying a warm summer and time with friends and family.
For (the lovely) Leandra the summer was not only enjoyable, it was also very productive. She learned to crawl, is on her way to walking, can mimic her parents’ activities and says, among other things, ‘Hi’. She also had the starring role in her very first public event: Christening.
Although Nazy and I (and Tom and Melika and Mitra and Stefan) wanted to be there, the events of summer made it impossible. Although we weren’t able to come, Christiane’s family was very well represented. Her brother, Eli, and sister, Carla, were God parents.
Elie, Christiane, (the lovely) Leandra, Carla, Darius
The formal ceremony was followed by a big celebration: they were, after all, in Lebanon where they ‘do’ celebrations with pizzazz. The Lovely Leandra and her parents were belles of the ball — or, in Darius’ case, Prince Charming of the Ball.
Darius, Christiane and family will be returning to Washington State at the beginning of September. We’re really looking forward to seeing them and wish them the best for a very safe trip.
Back here in Santa Barbara, we’ve been very pleased by how nice and gentle Tiger is with his new sister. In fact, he has been acting like an adult.
Aside: Just to be clear — my definition of ‘adult’ excludes both the hubristic, self-centered, gauche, fear-mongering current resident of the White House as well as the GOP’s pusillanimous poltroons who, by inaction and silence, enable, support and encourage division. Special thanks to my friend Larry for bringing the words ‘pusillanimous’ and ‘poltroon’ to my attention. Now, if we could just get someone from Congress to become a stalwart chevalier.
Meanwhile, Tiger, promoted from the ‘Shark’ group to the ‘Dolphin’ group at school, also doesn’t join his class until he has made sure that Arrow is well-ensconced in the Starfish area. Arrow really likes Tiger. And, although he’s a little uncertain about Azelle, he is beginning to cotton to her:
“When Azelle was crying, Dad,” Melika explained. “Arrow tried to give her his pacifier.”
“That is an impressive change,” I thought.
And, finally, Good News for those readers who are tired of hearing about our move — and specifically about the progress we’re making unpacking things. On Monday, the city, which stupidly agreed to a ‘no charge’, one-time pick-up of move related packing material, came by the house in a flotilla of garbage trucks.
“My, my,” I thought. “It reminds me of a Conga line of Snow Plows on the Mass Pike."
(We found the collection of old newspapers. I've hidden it somewhere in the garage.)
Aware of the Monday schedule, I began preparing on Sunday afternoon. I was ready to bring the initial load to the curb when..
“Dan!” Nazy shouted. “That doesn’t look good.”
“So?” I asked. “It’s for the garbage collector,” I thought.
“You need to stack things more neatly. Wait for me.”
“Yes dear,” I replied. “Why?” I thought.
Nazy rearranged, compressed, consolidated, adjusted and smoothed the..
“Garbage and debris,” I thought. “Who cares?” I said, in err.
“I care, Dan.” Nazy replied.
I’m sure that the garbage collection staff was impressed.
For last week's letter, please click here.
Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra
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