The Chaos...

... continues.

--dining room--

The workmen are finding lots of kitty toys each time they move a big piece of furniture. This was under the hutch.

The kitchen is covered in plastic.

The eating area is now a big empty room with plastic sheeting blocking the entrance to the living room. Poor kitties have to go through the hall to get to the kitchen and beyond. They seemed less stressed today than yesterday.

The plastic sheeting as seen from the living room.

Tippy is the least affected by all the fuss; here she's calmly cleaning herself.

I have a kitchen table in my living room along with about 500 other things that don't belong there.

All the objects removed from the dining room hutch and glass cabinet are in the piano room.

Thank God we have other rooms to live in while all this is going on or I'd be a mental case!

Repainting The House

We've lived here for about 15 years now and that's a long time to go without repainting the walls. Saeed has spent his summers working on the yard and the house had to wait, but now that the yard has turned into a (nearly) self managing wildlife sanctuary and we can finally deal with the inside.

It's amazing how I can get used to ugly things. For 15 years I've been telling Saeed how much I hate this wallpaper the original owners put on.

The living room wall has had scratches and unwashable smudges on it for about 10 of those 15 years.

One more look at this beauty. Is is possible that this was ever good looking?

Nearly as bad was the plaid wallpaper in the bathroom.

This means that Saeed and I have to agree on wall paint colors. He and I agree on quite a few things but color has never been anything but a source of debate. He likes to go wild and crazy and artistic (life is too short!) and I like to match, coordinate, achieve a purpose such as lighten up a room (life is too long to live with the wrong colors!) Ultimately we have to come to some compromises. 

In the living room we've had a dusty rose which is nice and warm and inviting. Still, "pink" is not a color I like very much for a room unless the room belongs to six year old girl. After looking at the living room rug (below) I had decided to find a very pale grayish blue similar to the small accents in the rug, not the stronger powder blue that is more predominant. After days of trying to find a nice kitchen color that would coordinate since the two rooms flow into each other, I ended up caving in to Saeed's dusty rose again. I can't deny that the rose color is warmer than the icy blue, but I hope we can find a shade that is still warm but less pink.

I was trying to take a picture of the kitchen chair color through the table but of course Tippy had to get into the way.

This is currently our kitchen rug situation. Not great, but it's what we have right now. Saeed liked an "aloe" green that I agreed to. I don't think it matches the green below because it's much lighter -- we're trying to lighten this room because the lighting is so poor -- but it's a bright, cheerful color that complements the dusty rose well. Maybe we'll end up changing the rugs....

In addition to Tippy, Chappu was my constant buddy as I walked from area to area.

Our dining room is much browner that any of our other rooms. Color scheme of our dining room...

-rug-

-sofreh cloth-

-table runner on sofreh on table cloth-

... and our nice warm brown hutch. The wall is so white, so we've chosen a color that is still pale but has a touch of golden 'cider' in it to warm it up a bit.

Behind Chappu lie our color samples on the black case.

Saturday the men came and stripped some of our peeling ceilings and removed the plaid wallpaper from our bathroom. My mirror is gone for now. Poor Lupe. The man was clunking and banging so she spent the day in our closet. I noticed he had shut her in by closing the door but I always pay attention to things like that and let her out.

Our bathroom is currently cluttering up our normally tidy bedroom. I can't take a shower in our bathroom so thank God for the extra upstairs bathroom. It'll probably get a lot worse before it gets better.

Calvin is the other one who is very unhappy about these loud, strange men. As soon as they arrived he ran into his favorite hiding place, you know it, the coat closet at the end of the downstairs hall. Soon the two younger guys began stripped the ceiling in that hallway and closed Calvin in just like Lupe got closed in upstairs. Saeed and I are going to be doing a lot of head counts before this is over!

Enjoy The Reunion

A more personal post coming soon, but till then...

I bumped into this heart warming video of the man who raised and rehabilitated a gorilla to release into the wild. Five years after his release they meet again:



If you believe it is wrong to kill gorilla, chimps, and other wildlife go to The Jane Goodall Institute's petition and sign your name. There is an increased push to end this illegal practice.

The Shah Of Shahs

I borrowed this book from Neda and read it together with Saeed. Well, I read aloud while he drove - we finished it in less than two trips to Athens, about 12 hours. It was written by the Polish journalist and author Ryszard Kapuscinski who has covered revolutions around the world. He befriended Che Guevara, Salvador Allende, and Patrice Lumumba, witnessed 27 coups and was sentenced to death four times.

As cool as all that is I most appreciated his writing style. Wouldn't you think a book of this title in the section labeled "contemporary history/nonfiction" would be boring as hell? But Kapuscinski writes so smoothly, so descriptively, and with such wit that you forget you're reading a history book. He captivates your attention and then pulls you into subject like a lover entices his beloved. How does he do that?!?

In his poetic style Kapuscinski weaves the history of the fall of the most recent Shah of Iran, stories of the individuals participating in the Iranian revolution (and those trying to stay out of it), and his own observations and interpretations of the events that occurred. The first two thirds of Shah of Shahs focuses more on the historical background leading up to the revolution. The last third concerns the revolution itself. In this section Kapuscinski reflects on the nature of revolutions since he has experienced first hand dozens of them around the world. He observed that the people who come to power after a revolution aren't the same people who brought the regime down. He explains that in the case of Iran the people with a democratic vision took the greatest risks, suffered the most oppression, and caused the downfall of the Shah. Iran could not support a democracy, however, because the majority of the population preferred Islamic fundamentalism and got that in the form of Ayatollah Khomeini.

I particularly enjoyed Kapuscinski's observation of Persian men. They have certain behavioral tendencies when in a group, things Saeed's been telling me about for years, but to hear it described by someone else was quite astonishing and funny for me. So this is much more than a history book and if the topic interests you I highly recommend it. I will, however, have to return this particular copy to Neda.

Pics From The Weekend

Saeed has been waiting two years for Cyrus (who turned 2 today!) to get big enough to help him in the yard. The first thing he did Saturday morning was lure Cyrus outside for some gardening.

Planting tomatoes and peppers.

Watering.

Placing the stakes.

I should have taken before and after pictures, but after the manly yard work was done Cyrus was muddy from head to toe. I stripped him down to his diaper, threw his clothes in the washing machine, cleaned him up and put some fresh clothes on him. Now clean, he contentedly watched Baba from the safety of the back door.

The weather was gorgeous so off to Cherry Park we went.

Cyrus came too. Here he is mixin' it up with the big boys.

Cyrus still needs help with some things, but as you can see from the sign in the background this was the first time he was 'legal' --- Tot Lot Ages 2 - 4.

The two women watched from the bench.

What kid hasn't been put in a tree by his parents?

Cyrus and I rode in the back seat on the way home. He was sleepy so I tried to keep him awake by playing "let's make faces."

Happy face ('say cheese' is how you get this expression.)

Angry face.

Sad face... C'mon Cyrus, SAD face.

Very sad face...  Oh lord have mercy.

Surprised face! My surprise was that he can't do that one yet!

I have NO IDEA what this was.

The next six pictures were taken by Cyrus himself.

#1

#2 (there were about ten versions of this shot)

#3

#4

#5

#6

Everybody needs naps after the park. Here Shirin had just woken up from her nap when Cyrus called out for her. Funny thing is, once he got her, he fell back to sleep.

Baby Kai was moving under Cyrus but he slept right through the fetal earthquakes.

He manages to sleep in a curved position to make room for the belly, the little angel boy in a yellow Big Bird t-shirt.