Tita's Visit

*New picture added to bottom of post.*

For anyone who doesn't know, Anahita flew into Charlotte on her way to Charleston for Saskia's wedding. We didn't get to see her then but she drove back late Saturday night so we could be with her for all of Sunday and a good chunk of today. At this moment she's on the airplane heading back to SF :-(

I took a few pics of our picnic Sunday at Winthrop Lake, our family's special place. Usually we're missing Anahita's presence, but this time Shirin, Gabriel and the boys were absent. Hopefully one day...

Three Gardenburgers to go please! I can never get Saeed to cooperate for pictures. The weather was gorgeous.

Anahita asked the guy walking by to take our pic. He was participating in the Disc Golfing Championship but was kind enough to stop.

So, this is Saeed's "I'm smiling for the camera" face, making both of us laugh.

Tita poses while he complains about having to pose for pictures.

With sandwiches demolished and naps for the old folks, Tita jumps up to climb the tree.

Not bad for a 30 year old!

They found it funny that I kept my napkin from blowing away by holding it between my toes. Personally I think it's rather ingenious.

A father gazing on his daughter's face, memorizing it for those times it's far away.

It was a lovely visit. We watched movies, took a walk, and went shopping. Not sure when we'll see her again...

 Oops! I forgot about this picture and our "tour" of Rock Hill. After being gone many years now, Tita realized that RH has grown quite a bit. We took her on a tour that had to include Winthrop, both for old times sake and to see the many changes. She saw the 'funny tree' that the girls used to climb on when they were little, she saw and spoke with her (and Shirin's) former piano teacher Dr. Barban who has retired but still sees private students and performs, and here she is exiting Saeed's building. The girls spent quite a bit of time here during their elementary school years. While I was at work Saeed would pick them up from school and they hung out in his office till he could take them home. He must have fed them crackers for a snack because as we drove up Tita said, "Oh, that's where we used to eat crackers!"  My favorite story, though, is when the girls went to Bill Murdy's office and saw a box on his desk, and thinking it contained raisins asked, "What's in there?", hoping to be offered some raisins. Murdy in his dead-pan delivery style said, "Cigars, you want one?"