Visitors From Atlanta

Last weekend Saeed received a call from Tannaz and Masih that they would be in Charlotte this weekend for an engagement party for one of their friends. Since we have been trying to get them to come to our house since they moved to Atlanta, we were really excited about their visit and wondering if they'd actually make it. What's prevented them from coming before now is Tannaz and her mom's mortal fear of cats. We didn't think they'd ever come, but come they did. Saeed was in the kitchen most of the day cooking some awesome Persian dishes; I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of that.

Masih took this picture and...

... I took this one. What did we have? Khorush-e bademjoon, fesanjoon, rice, tadeeg, noon, and sabzi. Mmmmm. Can't wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. It'll make having to go to work tomorrow less painful.

This was the first time we met Farideh. It's obvious where Tannaz gets her good looks! Saeed has a mouthful of pomegranate seeds. How cute!

We had a great time with them. But I'm sure you're wondering about the dreaded cats? Well, our cats are quite afraid of strangers, nearly as scared of strangers as Tannaz and Farideh are of them. All was well for a while, as the cats stayed safely upstairs. Ok, look at the stairs behind Tannaz's head. See anything?

How about now?

Only Layli couldn't stay away. She kept coming down into the diningroom scaring Tannaz and Farideh. She just wanted to be with us, but I had to put her back on the stairs several times. She seemed pretty happy to be watching us from there too.

After our guests left I looked up the stairs and I saw Lupe and Shahbanu (you can see her back at the very top) ready to come down and snoop around now that the coast was clear.

Teddi was there too, but she never left the safety of the upstairs the rest of the night.

Shahbanu and Lupe had to patrol the diningroom table.

Lupe had to smell EVERYTHING, even unused forks.

Interestingly, although they like to smell everything, neither Shahbanu nor Lupe like to eat human food. If Obi or Chappu had been on this side of the house we would've been beating them off with a stick!
What were the cats on the other side doing? Mostly sleeping, but I did catch Chappu playing with the string setup Saeed made for her. Earlier in the day she kept crying for us to pull the string so she could chase it, but neither of us had time. Thus the string setup.

I think Masih will at be emailing us the pictures he took with their camera. If the pics are any different I'll post them too. I'm so glad they came - it was great fun!