family tree wings toward Braniff birthday arrows and tigers
It’s been another delightful week in California. it took almost no time to get over the jet lag from our trip, with Melika, Tom, Tiger and Arrow, to New York City. And, on the trip back, Melika managed to get a pair of Delta Airlines, children’s wings for Tiger. As regular readers know, Darius began collecting airline wings when he was very young. In fact, at age five, he wrote a letter to as many airlines as he could find. (See copy at end of letter.)
Factoid: It was harder to find headquarters addresses for the airlines in pre-internet and expensive long-distance telephone days. It would be difficult to replicate the variety that Darius acquired since so many airlines (e.g. PanAm, TWA, Northwest, Eastern, Western, Southern, North Central, Piedmont, US Air, NY Air, Braniff, Republic, National, Frontier, Continental..) are now defunct.
While young Tiger continues to amaze — he’s moving into a ‘Big Boy Bed’ and he loves to talk — younger Arrow is focused on distinguishing himself in the highly competitive ‘grand(est)son’ arena. For example, although Tiger set seemingly unbeatable records (high on weight, low on height) in the percentile chart for babies, Arrow has chosen to compete by recording low weight and high height scores.
Moreover, Arrow, unlike Tiger, goes to sleep easily: he actually likes naps. (Tiger claims that this is because: ‘that’s all he knows how to do, Dan’. )
Tiger is right — for now. But, young Arrow is getting better at holding his head up. He’s alert and he smiles a lot. He babbles and gurgles…
“I know, Nazy,” I said. “sometimes he sounds like a leaky toilet.”
“Dan!” Nazy replied. “He does not.”
When we took Tiger to swimming class this week, we realized that he began swimming class when he was about 4 months old. There has been a huge amount of progress for Tiger. At his last lesson, he floated on his back (all by himself) for 5 seconds.
Tiger is just about ready to graduate and now it’s almost time for Arrow to begin.
We found some old family trees among the ‘stuff’ that was liberated from THE STORAGE. One was inked by Nazy’s Dad’s cousin about…
“,,, 70 years ago?” I asked aghast.
“Yep,” Nazy claimed. “It’s dated 1327.”
“That’s 700 years ago,” I replied.
“It’s an old calendar, Dan.”
“A very old calendar,” I thought.
“1327 in the old Persian calendar is like 1948 in the US calendar. But I remember the art as being much more colorful. And the paper..”
“… is, eh, falling apart.,.” I thought.
“ …is beginning to show it’s age.” Nazy concluded.
The Safavi Family tree traces Nazy’s Dad’s family back to 600AD: US Calendar. We have two versions: the original (in Farsi) and a later copy (in English). Nazy is going to recreate the tree, which, as I’ve indicated, is about as old as the Petrified Forest, She’ll make a watercolor on a very large piece of acid-free paper. (In fact, she’ll do both English and Farsi versions.)
“But my birthday is at the end of the month.” I replied.
“I’m going after your birthday,” Nazy claimed as she handed me the itinerary.
“Right after my birthday,” I replied, frowning.
“Don’t frown, Dan. It puts wrinkles on your face.”
“Those are not wrinkles, Nazy. They are laugh lines.”
“Nothing is that funny, Dan.”
“I can’t believe…”
“At least I’m not going to Nigeria.”
“Nigeria? What’s that got to do with it?”
“You went to Nigeria on my birthday.”
“That was 25 years ago,” I replied. “I hope she doesn’t remember..”
“Don’t forget the time you went to Australia. And Malaysia. And india..”
“I brought you a topaz from India,” I interjected. “And an opal from Australia,” I thought.
“I’ll bring you a …”
“ … Presidential candidate's tongue?” I interrupted hopefully.
“Don’t worry about your birthday, Dan. I’ve got the perfect present.”
“Really?” I replied hopefully.
“Remember how you got me a shingles shot for my birthday?”
“Ah..”
“I think it’s time for your colonoscopy. I’ve arranged for Dr. Bernstein…”
“How very romantic, my dear.”
“That’s me!”
Factoid: It was harder to find headquarters addresses for the airlines in pre-internet and expensive long-distance telephone days. It would be difficult to replicate the variety that Darius acquired since so many airlines (e.g. PanAm, TWA, Northwest, Eastern, Western, Southern, North Central, Piedmont, US Air, NY Air, Braniff, Republic, National, Frontier, Continental..) are now defunct.
While young Tiger continues to amaze — he’s moving into a ‘Big Boy Bed’ and he loves to talk — younger Arrow is focused on distinguishing himself in the highly competitive ‘grand(est)son’ arena. For example, although Tiger set seemingly unbeatable records (high on weight, low on height) in the percentile chart for babies, Arrow has chosen to compete by recording low weight and high height scores.
Moreover, Arrow, unlike Tiger, goes to sleep easily: he actually likes naps. (Tiger claims that this is because: ‘that’s all he knows how to do, Dan’. )
Tiger is right — for now. But, young Arrow is getting better at holding his head up. He’s alert and he smiles a lot. He babbles and gurgles…
“I know, Nazy,” I said. “sometimes he sounds like a leaky toilet.”
“Dan!” Nazy replied. “He does not.”
When we took Tiger to swimming class this week, we realized that he began swimming class when he was about 4 months old. There has been a huge amount of progress for Tiger. At his last lesson, he floated on his back (all by himself) for 5 seconds.
Tiger is just about ready to graduate and now it’s almost time for Arrow to begin.
Photos: Tiger swimming in November 2014 and Tiger floating on his back Sept 2016.
However, since Arrow is not particularly enamored by his bath time, I’m not certain that he’ll take to the pool like a duck to water.
Of course, it doesn’t matter. He has a surplus of ‘cute’ genes; he’s even managed to convince Tiger that he’s a ‘keeper’.
We found some old family trees among the ‘stuff’ that was liberated from THE STORAGE. One was inked by Nazy’s Dad’s cousin about…
“,,, 70 years ago?” I asked aghast.
“Yep,” Nazy claimed. “It’s dated 1327.”
“That’s 700 years ago,” I replied.
“It’s an old calendar, Dan.”
“A very old calendar,” I thought.
“1327 in the old Persian calendar is like 1948 in the US calendar. But I remember the art as being much more colorful. And the paper..”
“… is, eh, falling apart.,.” I thought.
“ …is beginning to show it’s age.” Nazy concluded.
The Safavi Family tree traces Nazy’s Dad’s family back to 600AD: US Calendar. We have two versions: the original (in Farsi) and a later copy (in English). Nazy is going to recreate the tree, which, as I’ve indicated, is about as old as the Petrified Forest, She’ll make a watercolor on a very large piece of acid-free paper. (In fact, she’ll do both English and Farsi versions.)
Dan and Arrow
We also located the family tree of Nazy’s mother; recreation and updating of that one is the next project. Speaking of projects…
“Since it’s Shahrzad’s birthday,” Nazy informed me, “I have booked a trip to Washington for the end of the month.”
“But my birthday is at the end of the month.” I replied.
“I’m going after your birthday,” Nazy claimed as she handed me the itinerary.
“Right after my birthday,” I replied, frowning.
“Don’t frown, Dan. It puts wrinkles on your face.”
“Those are not wrinkles, Nazy. They are laugh lines.”
“Nothing is that funny, Dan.”
“I can’t believe…”
“At least I’m not going to Nigeria.”
“Nigeria? What’s that got to do with it?”
“You went to Nigeria on my birthday.”
“That was 25 years ago,” I replied. “I hope she doesn’t remember..”
“Don’t forget the time you went to Australia. And Malaysia. And india..”
“I brought you a topaz from India,” I interjected. “And an opal from Australia,” I thought.
“I’ll bring you a …”
“ … Presidential candidate's tongue?” I interrupted hopefully.
“Don’t worry about your birthday, Dan. I’ve got the perfect present.”
“Really?” I replied hopefully.
“Remember how you got me a shingles shot for my birthday?”
“Ah..”
“I think it’s time for your colonoscopy. I’ve arranged for Dr. Bernstein…”
“How very romantic, my dear.”
“That’s me!”
For last week's letter, click here.
Darius' letter to the airlines
(Picture of Arrow follows)
Arrow Sept 2016
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