43!

Today the mercury reads 43 degrees. That's Celsius. In Fahrenheit it must be at least 115. I assure you if feels far hotter. While Mehran has gone off to help his partner paint the shop and take his brother and some friends to play sports (indoors, but even that is a stretch. How anyone can move in this heat is quite beyond me) the children and I have spent a leisurely day in our pyjamas recuperating (in front of the air conditioner) from our hectic weekend.

The program at the Baha'i Summer School went really well. The audience participation was phenomenal, which of course helped with the flow. I read the quotes and made a brief commentary, the other panel members elaborated certain points with other materials and the coordinator pulled it all together with a PowerPoint presentation. I think everyone got something useful out of it. I know I did. The topic, in case you were wondering, was "The Challenges of Empowering Children to Serve Humanity."

Sunday was spent in a flurry of baking: 3 plates of rose water cream puffs (in the shape of 9 pointed stars - which, given my time restraints, was not my most brilliant idea. They looked gorgeous, but took way too long) a double batch of brownies (chocolate fudge, of course), a loaf of pumpkin bread (original Maine recipe), a batch each (average yield of 30) of chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, white chocolate and macadamia cookies, M&M cookies and a batch of the most scrumptious ginger cookies you could ever imagine. This was supplemented by a large tray of chopped veggies and dip, a huge platter of corn chips and salsa, a plate of cheese, olives and meat, three mammoth platters of cold cuts, pickles, bread and cheeses (that a lovely lady from our community brought to help out. She and her husband were wonderful. They helped us set up and pack up in addition to helping with the food and drinks. She thought of everything I forgot, like the tablecloths and garbage bags.) and a luscious pyramid of fresh apricots that another woman brought from her garden. The girls and I even made 20 rainbow flowers to adorn the table. Behold:

The girls posing with the sweets. Bayan is behind Anisa rearranging the flowers.

With everything. Impressive huh? Although I must admit I have (temporarily, I am sure) lost the urge to bake.

Today the kids slept in, which was lucky for me because it was after 1 am by the time I finished the dishes. (Mehran helped, which was really nice.) Our first relaxing day of the holidays was spent sipping mango and banana fruit smoothies for breakfast, building a fort out of the couch cushions in the front room and reading stories in the newly created "cave".

We later attempted to make some Persian ice cream but I accidentally missed a crucial step which caused the hasty transformation of the ice cream into a gourmet saffron and rosewater milkshake. It still tasted good, it just wouldn't "jell".

In the afternoon, to stave of the 'stir crazies', I brought out my foot spa and the kids had a blast soaking their feet, tossing bubble balls, and exfoliating (of all things). Even Bayan got in on the action.

Perhaps a dash too much of the cinnamon foot soak. Oh well, it made for some great bubble fun. Notice the bandages on Anisa's legs. She had a rough fall on the gravelly parking lot at the summer school. Just the entrance you are hoping for: (especially when you are running frightfully late and are trying not to draw more attention to that fact) to arrive with an hysterically screaming child bleeding profusely from both limbs. Poor darling!

A handful of bubbles keeps boredom at bay.

Anisa is singing, in case you were curious.

I must be off. Dinner is almost done and the kids are hungry. We're having cannelloni and salad (from our garden) ... YUM!

Meet the Cousins

We are most likely heading to the Baha'i Summer School for the day tomorrow, regardless of the alleged panel presentation I am supposed (???) to be preparing for. As it stands now I can confirm that I have NOT received an e-mail (I have double checked), nor has my message regarding clarification been answered, nor am I certain of the topic. I only know that my name appears on the program (albeit spelled incorrectly - perhaps there is hope in that) for a 10-15 minute presentation towards the end of the day.

The current plan of action is as follows: if worst comes to worst I will grab some quotes and "wing it". In the meantime I will procrastinate as efficiently as possible and take the time now to introduce you to Mehrdad and Mitra's kids.
This is Sana, hiding in the Cherry trees. I believe I mentioned that he can be extremely professional at avoiding photos . But look at the gorgeous smile. Here is a better one of him and Uncle Mehrdad (photo courtesy of Aunt Mitra, for which we are inexpressibly grateful).

Sana is very well-spoken, especially in Persian, so it gave myself and the kids a great opportunity to practice ours while they were here. Sonia also has an extremely impressive vocabulary, although she tends to save her words for those she is most comfortable with.

Here she is with Anisa, modelling the princess outfit the children gave to her. Isn't she sweet? She loves to accessorize. I don't think her little red handbag left her side the entire time she was here.

Here is one of her and Ruhi on "Thanksgiving" day.

And a closeup of the curls: I am sooo jealous! Ten years of perms and not once did a professional stylist even come close.

Gorgeous! Anyway I must be off we have "family night" plans tonight and I have to get quotes and thoughts organized for tomorrow...I think...

Halelujah!

I would like to call it a miracle, but I rather think that I am beginning to go a teensey bit senile, in my old age. After turning the house upside down, after searching the car (twice), after scouring the front garden at Farzin and Elham's, after hijacking Mehrdad and Mitra's camera for my own purposes, after downloading their photos (in a desperate bid to get some relevant pictures to put on the blog) and after ultimately coming to terms with the loss of the camera and photos, guess what I found upon arriving home this evening? Ruhi was worried about a spider, who weaves a web across the front veranda every evening, it was at that moment that I realised that I had given Ruhi the camera to take a picture of said spider. In my defence may I just add that it has been nearly 7 years since I have slept through the night...surely that must do unfortunate things to your brain...

I have learned a valuable lesson in all of this: Be grateful for what you have, even if it is not entirely what you would wish for because the moment that it is gone you want nothing more than to have it back. Profound, eh?

Bitter Dissapointment

I still have not fully accepted the fact that our digital camera, along with all our photos: the cousins, family reunions, lunches and dinners with friends, Thanksgiving (Christmas) Day, the visit to the farm, feeding kangaroos, the over-enthusiastic emu that Bayan took on, cherry picking and the Gingerbread House that we made entirely from SCRATCH!... is gone. Sigh. Sniff. I keep thinking that maybe it will turn up somewhere but there is very little hope of that happening. I put it in my purse as we were leaving Farzin and Elham's house last night and somewhere between their front door and our car it (I believe) must have fallen out. At this moment it's the only likely explanation. Sigh.

So, no more photo's for awhile... Sigh!

SIGH! Well, I'm off to drown my sorrows in a pile of Ferrero Rochers and have a word with the ants who, as of this morning, have commenced a systematic attack on the Gingerbread House...the gumdrop trees (that the girls made) were the first casualty, they ambushed those yesterday. I really wanted to post a picture... Oh well. Maybe next year...

The Cousins Are Here! The Cousins Are Here!

This is just a quick post as I don't foresee having a chance to write anything again for a little while. I have just finished off my last movie review for the year (phew!) and am neck deep in gingerbread house paraphernalia, cooking supplies for Thanksgiving (Dec 25) and we have plans for the next week that include: five lunch engagements, cherry picking in the hills, a trip to the coast to visit an island inhabited by penguins, a trip to the airport, a day at the Baha'i Summer School (at which, rumour has it, I am supposed to be presenting something...no one has contacted me, so...???) and on top of it all it's our turn to host feast which means preparing refreshments for 200 people. Excellent!

But the best part?... The Cousins are HERE! Ruhi and Anisa, and Bayan for that matter, have been having a great time getting to know Sana and Sonia, Mehrdad and Mitra's children who are visiting from Perth (along with their parents). We have thus far been visiting people at their homes, gone to a farm and braved the local shopping complexes complete with swarming masses of desperate, frazzled-looking, last minute Christmas shoppers...always a pleasure. I will post some photos later. Sonia has got the most amazing hair(!) and I've got some really cute shots. Shirley Temple eat your heart out. Sana, like a seasoned celebrity, has managed to evade most of my photo taking attempts...but I think I may still have gotten a couple good ones where he isn't ducking behind someone or something. He has the kind of smile that angels only dream of.

Uh Oh! Gotta go. Bayan's just handed Mehran a fist full of poo...

The Mummy Date

I arranged to pick Ruhi up early from school on Friday (the last day) and have Mehran's mom look after Anisa and Bayan for a couple of hours so that I could have a little bit of one on one time with Ruhi, something that I know she needs and sorely misses. We had plans to go ice-skating, but changed them at the last minute due to bush fires (which, I later learned, were rather distant, although you couldn't tell that from all the smoke). I didn't want to be in an enclosed area where you can't see the light of day and have absolutely no idea what is happening outside, especially as Anisa and Bayan were not with us. Ruhiyyih also developed a sore tummy ( I rather think heat related, if that is even possible) and enthusiastically opted to go and get a frozen yogurt instead. Plus it was gentler on the pocketbook so Mehran would be relieved to no end.

Ruhi, very maturely and of her own accord, selected a 'healthy' vanilla double (as you can see from the photo) cone. Even though she was ogling the less healthier "tootie fruitie" complete with rainbow sprinkles and lollie pieces and even though I told her she could get whichever one she wanted. It was a proud moment when she decided (without the least input from me) that, no, vanilla would be a better choice. I went with a luscious looking strawberry cone, also a double but I shan't emphasize that.

We swapped cones almost immediately as the strawberry one was, well...pink and the vanilla one had the most unfortunate after-taste you could possibly imagine. I ate it anyway as I hate to see waste (both food and financial) and as motherhood has apparently turned me into some sort of walking garbage disposal, where I live off the scraps of others. At any rate we will be avoiding the vanilla from now on.

We had a lovely chat, did a bit of window shopping and relished just having a quiet moment together. Maybe next time we will go ice-skating...

The world is my dress

Perhaps I should have included this photo as well. I hope that this clears it up. Mehran is still the caterpillar-like creature on the left, Ruhiyyih is the figure doing the splits on the right and I am (in) the middle. That whole section includes both me and my dress. Notice the dangley feet at the bottom. Aren't I just darling?

The Wedding Picture

Anisa drew this masterpiece the other day. It is a picture of Mehran and I getting married. I think it is absolutely brilliant and delightful. Just looking at it fills me with glee and I'm (as Mehran so happily put it) "the fat one". He on the other hand has been depicted as the caterpillar like creature with spiky hair. I love my dress. I wish I looked as good as this in real life. Wouldn't that be something? Anyway isn't it gorgeous?

Fireworks

On Monday evening we packed some cups (guess who chose the monkey one?) and a couple of thermoses, one for the tea and one for the hot chocolate (sweetened with organic rapadura sugar in a pathetic nod to healthy eating. No matter - the kids loved it) and headed to the local oval to have a beverage based picnic and watch some fireworks.

Did you guess correctly? Ruhi thought the pooh bearish one resembled a reindeer and called dibs before Anisa or Bayan knew what had happened. Thankfully Anisa had her eye on the pink monkey and Bayan really didn't care what he drank out of so long as that hot chocolate kept coming.

The girls had a little play while waiting for the fireworks to begin.
They loved the vibrant display. Bayan on the otherhand did not. He was quite frightened by the exploding sounds and spent the entire show (all 5 or 10 minutes of it) fearfully clinging to me while I cuddled him in my arms. Poor dear. Anyhow here is some of what we saw:

Follow the Trail

of regurgitated apricots

and you will find

Bayan.

This Morning

I woke up to find this:

Three happy children quietly drawing pictures, working together, sharing the markers, helping each other and using beautiful manners before running off to engage in other pursuits, leaving this...

in their wake...Isn't life grand?

Baby Elephants

The girls had their ballet recital today. It was at a massive theatre and they did a lovely job. I think that they changed a few things last minute, but can't be sure as I was busily trying to keep Bayan occupied backstage in the "patient room" a term Ruhiyyih aptly coined for the waiting / practice room. There was a closed captioned television (without sound) where I was able to watch parts of the performance, though the camera was far away and it was generally difficult to make out. I am hoping that the DVD taken of the performance will be much better. For now you can feast your eyes on these photos that we took at home before leaving for the theatre.
Here are a few from the "patient room":

Anisa playing hide and seek with Bayan.
The bunny rabbits and baby elephants playing 'duck, duck, goose' before going on stage.
Cute huh?

Hot Stuff

From the moment you woke up you knew that today was going to be a scorcher. You could feel it in the air, in the stillness of the morning before you even opened your eyes, before the sun was even over the horizon. The day did not disappoint. It is at times like this that I swear the planets are out of alignment and that earth is on a course headed directly toward the sun.

Bayan and I spent the morning making an enormous pot of applesauce. I am trying to use applesauce in place or sugar and butter to make a few recipes just a little bit healthier. I theory it's a good idea. In reality I'll let you know.

While we made the sauce Anisa contented herself with "reading" a pile of books and munching on the apple portions that Bayan brought her. After picking Ruhiyyih up from school we raced to Mehran's parents home to water the plants and tend the chickens while they are still away on pilgrimage. An activity that, I must admit, has been good for me. In the past I have been extremely wary of all things nastily gross such as animal feces and all nature of vomit. Whilst parenting has taught me to come to terms with many of "my issues" it was nice to do a useful job, however unsavoury, and not wind up with SARS, avian flu or quarantined as a bio-hazard. So I have happily cleaned the chicken coup for two weeks, collected eggs (great fun), shovelled juicy chicken diarrhea (not so fun) and helped the children feed them. I have not panicked when Bayan (repeatedly, and despite my best efforts) has entered the coup and fallen into the poo hands first (thankfully not head first. We can be grateful for small miracles.) I have not called secret government agencies who specialize in toxic emergencies (you know the ones in the plastic suits who clean up and contain epidemics) despite a desperate longing to do so... Overall it went fairly well, until the scorcher. It was so hot, dry and windy that I was practically hallucinating by the time we pulled into the driveway. From there it just all went to pieces. The kids were a bit grouchy. (They weren't the only ones. Isn't funny how heat can do that to people? Well, maybe not really funny...) I had just come out of the nesting area (that, let's face it, would be a tight squeeze for a vertically challenged munchkin, and I'm fairly tall) which (being made of galvanized steel) felt more like an oven than anything else) with a shovel full of dusty, dirty, poo when a great gust of hot, dry, wind blew a good 85% of the shovel's contents all over me: hair, eyes, face, shirt.. you get the picture. In a state of horrified shock, thinking perfectly unpleasant thoughts, I stomp across the garden to deposit what remains of the shovels contents in the "poo pile" beneath the bottlebrush trees. Not halfway across the garden, I step (OK, stomp) on something (I still don't know what it was) which punctures my shoe and also my foot. Fabulous! Now I'm limping around the garden, like Frankenstein's monster covered in dirt, sweat and chicken poo, desperately trying to water the plants with a thoroughly decrepit hose that blasts apart every time more than five drops of water attempt to flow through it, (and don't forget the heat) all the while trying to keep Bayan out of the coup, Anisa from plucking the chickens bald, and the chickens out of grandma's herb garden where they repeatedly flee seeking refuge from Anisa. Finally the garden is watered, the animals cleaned and fed, the chickens rounded up and the mail collected. That is when I realize that the key to the shed is missing. Somewhere in my travels it has fallen out of my pocket... It just keeps getting better. The next twenty minutes are spent retracing my steps and scouring the garden, coup and shed... No key. I lock up as best I can and call Mehran to let him know that the key is missing. (He drops by on his way home and finds it in two seconds flat, lying on the grass beside the shed, naturally.)

Practically delusional from heat and stress I pile the kids into the car and drive home. Where the kids and I take a break in the backyard, gorging ourselves on homemade mango and coconut popsicles while listening to the distant rumble of thunder, watching for lightening and waiting for some much needed rain to finally fall.

Mud Cake (3 Dec 07)

Ruhi began mixing up a concoction in the backyard in order to 'feed the ants' of which we have plenty. It progressed to a thick, soupy-like substance that the girls have christened "the cake".

It's contents are questionable as countless things have been added, everything from rosemary sprigs and portions of insect eaten tomatoes to bits of brick and toilet paper (that was Anisa's addition. I didn't ask. Some things are just better left unknown.)

Mmmmmmmm. We hope the ants enjoy.

You'd Never Guess

What Bayan has been up to today.

Looking at this picture, all lightness and sweet, you could be forgiven for thinking he is a brown haired version of a cherub plucked from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel...

But then...picture me attempting (the operative word) to teach Baha'i classes to a group of 10 children ranging in age from 2 to 6. While using an egg (raw, mind you) with a face pained to give it a bit of personality. I was trying to explain how people (the egg) can let life get them down, but when you demonstrate virtues (spoonfuls of salt) the egg will no longer sink as it is buoyed by compassion, kindness, friendliness, etc. All well and good, except that every other sentence was interrupted by me making wild dashes after Bayan as he: climbed on the furniture and window sills (mistaking the classroom for his own personal amusement park), attempted to stuff an odd assortment of items (specifically whiteboard markers and fingers) into the VCR / DVD player and created a graffiti mural on the back wall that would put many a high school delinquent to shame.


For his next adventure he ambushed a herd of baby elephants who were patiently waiting to have their photos taken before practicing for the ballet recital next weekend. Thankfully his sisters were among the elephants and all were gracious and forgiving.


Later that afternoon, while visiting Mehran's uncle and aunt (in the space of no more than five minutes mind you) Bayan got his foot caught in something that could have easily broken his leg, reprogrammed numerous electrical appliances, played Russian roulette with the Persian samovar, and came scarily close to burning their house down by igniting the gas pilot for their heater and attempting to set the light cord on fire... And yet you can't help but love him.

At Home (30 Nov. 07)

Ruhi was home again today. We thought she might have had heat stroke when she came home from school. She was very hot (naturally the thermometer was without batteries so I never got an accurate reading, but she was extremely overheated), pale, nauseous, slightly dizzy and very tired. She actually fell asleep sitting at the picnic table at Mehran's parents house. We had to feed the chickens (an activity she usually loves) and water the plants but she instantly dozed off. We got pizza for dinner and she barely ate one slice. (On a good day she can polish off half a large pie all on her own, provided it's pepperoni of course.) She lay down on the couch and after a couple of chapters from the Chronicles of Narnia was fast asleep. (It was only late afternoon and Ruhi is a night owl.) This morning she slept in and had a slight headache and a sore throat. Needless to say she got the day off of school. She occupied herself with an art program on the computer.

While Anisa accessorized a self-outline. (Those are teeth, in case you were wondering.)

And Ruhi helped with the finishing touches as the image was transformed into a princess complete with jewels, a crown, a mermaid attendant and an illustrious unicorn smiling at a grassy patch underneath a rainbow.
Bayan, meanwhile, was King of the Juicer as he and I juiced about 3 litres (a little less than a gallon) of carrot and apple juice.
Yummy!

Prayers for Grandma (Nov. 24 07)

We tried to time our family prayer session to match with Grandma's memorial service. As we didn't know the exact time, only the date, and as we are on the other side of the planet and are approximately 17 hours off US time, this was easier said than done. Hopefully we got it right enough. We gathered for prayers on Saturday morning (to coincide with Friday early afternoon). There were flowers, we lit a homemade rose scented candle and we all took turns saying prayers. Ruhi even said extras, going through most of the prayers in the book she made.

I have been trying to remember when the last time I saw Grandma was. I can't accurately recall. It may have been when she and Grandpa drove over to our house in Freeport to say good-bye before moving to Arizona. I would have been about 10. Can that be right? Could it have been that long? I am sorry that I didn't know her better. I am sorry that the last few months passed the way they did, but I am glad that her suffering wasn't prolonged. While it is sad for those who are left behind I am sure she is very happy now. She could always be counted on for prayers and for little acts of kindness. One thing for certain she will be greatly missed.

Care Package (18 Nov. 07)

When Ruhi and Anisa heard that their friends Joshua and Amelia had most likely come down with the chicken pox (after having been immunized mind you) and would not be able to leave the house for some time, they busily set about preparing a care package to drop at the door. They used up a couple of by-gone potatoes which we cut into shapes: stars, hearts, circles, diamonds, etc. and painted patterns onto paper which we used for wrapping up some coloring books and small gifts that the girls made.

They all helped bake healthy blueberry muffins (especially Bayan who overthrew the girls to become head chef).

We packed everything up and dropped it at their door. It was very nice watching the kids get excited about doing something nice for someone else. As it turned out Joshua and Amelia didn't have chicken pox after all.