Token Of Appreciation

Every year my company gives us a little something to show their gratitude for our hard work and service. The first year it was a nice deck chair, then a sport bag, then an insulated 'back pack' food bag, and this year an umbrella. I always like everything they give us and am thankful; the items are always of good quality. Yet I never forget the underlying benefit they get: advertising. When I go to the soccer game with my deck chair, bag of cold drinks, sport back full of supplies and sit under the umbrella, I am a walking advertisement. I wonder what we'll get next year?

Chappu models my new umbrella.

Nap Buddies

I came home from work one day to this cute sight:

Frosty and Saeed taking a nap together, almost spooning. There's nothing better than sleeping with cats; it's one of my favorite things.

Rainy Day

It's been a long time since I've taken photographs and I really miss it. So here's one picture. It rained today and you know how I love droplets. :-)

Visiting Sasha 2010 and 2014

I have wanted to post about our August 2010 visit to Sasha and Tari's place for a very long time. I took so many pictures there that the thought of sorting through them and deciding which ones to include seemed daunting. When I review pictures I always want to include all of them. Each snapshot was something worth taking, right?

Sasha and Saeed met years ago through their professions as psychologists. I'm not sure Sasha wants his private life scattered into the blogosphere so I'll simply say he is very interesting, has been many places, and lives life to the fullest. He and his wife, Tari, met through their shared love of the arts and when you see their house and their pottery studio you'll see a life full of art. Tari also loves animals and you'll see lots of those as well. (I left most of the cat and dog pictures out of this post if you can believe it.)

To get to their house you have to go down a long drive past the horse pasture. Since it was August it was lush with vegetation and their home looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle.

 

Their front porch is covered in pretty plants, wind chimes, and wrought iron furniture. This picture doesn't do it justice. I just wanted to sit out there and commune with nature.

We had a potluck lunch and Tari is fixing an amazing black bean salad with mango, cilantro, etc. Sasha had already been out in the pottery studio and is speckled with clay and paint as only an artist should be. What you can't see in this pic of the kitchen are the very high windows with ledges that are used by their cats. I was fascinated to watch them far above my head, sitting and looking out the windows into the highest branches of trees in the back yard. What a great life for a cat.

When you come through the door you come into this room. It's full of books...

...and artwork. The theme is Western and Native American art. Tari used to live in the Southwest. All of the pieces we saw were either made by Tari or Sasha or obtained through trading at art shows or received as gifts from other artists. There are paintings, sketches, fabrics, pottery, animals skulls, and so on.

One of their many cats. Tari is an animal person and rescues all kinds of cats, dogs, birds, cows, horses, and other types of animals I'm sure.

This is their dining room from one angle...

... and from another angle. Every inch of their house has something amazing to look at with a story behind it. You really ought to click on these to enlarge them.

One of their bathrooms has a whirlpool bath and lots of natural light...

... so of course plants.

Both Sasha and Tari own and ride horses.

This is the cow Tari saved and took care of till she (the cow) died.

The pottery studio.

Sasha wanted Saeed to do some Persian calligraphy on his vases to see what it would look like. Saeed is very artistic but never does this, so he had to practice a bit on paper.

Some of Sasha's pieces are cat platters. :-)

Another cat platter.

Saeed now tries to actually paint on the vase.

The next five pics are of Sasha dipping the pieces in the paint.

The paint looks reddish orange but comes out a rich dark blue.

One side with Saeed's calligrahpy...

... and the other side.

He let me paint a couple of coffee cups.

Recently, September 2014, we went back for another visit. Tari was away but after a lunch of Persian breakfast Saeed and Sasha picked up where they'd left off... in the pottery studio! They have plans to do more pottery with Persian calligraphy; we all thought their pieces from 2010 looked quite pretty.

I love this picture.

This time Saeed painted on the inside rim of the bowl.

It's poetry that he made up at that moment. I'll have to ask him what it says.

Almost done.

Painting while listening to Persian music must have helped.

The finished products:

Saeed's poem roughly translated:

I am in love. 

I have gone mad like Majnun in the wilderness. 

When you are not with me joy cannot be with me.

For those who don't know, Majnun is the Romeo in the Persian's own Romeo and Juliette story. Persians use the names "Leili" and "Majnun" to convey the intensity of love in their speech and poetry.

 Leili and Majnun