Three Weeks in October (II)

Kerry and Mark's friend, Todd, had been cat-sitting Ray that Sunday morning. He left after Mehran got there to help me with the setup. I told Mehran and all the people who came in after him that both front and back doors to the house had to be closed at all times to make sure Ray won't get away. My cat, Asghar, was allowed to leave our apartment in Ghaytarieh all the time. Even so, when he was supposed to be in the apartment we all made sure he wouldn't bolt for the door. Out of habit, I guess, I was overly cautious about Ray who never showed any interest about leaving the house. Ray is a house cat which means he roams the house, living like a king, but is never let out. Even so, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious, I thought.

Mehran and I set out the food, the plates, the backyard furniture complete with a hooka (ghelyoon), and the drinks. I was in jeans and a T-shirt, keeping it casual for the casual gathering. Mehran asked me if I wasn't going to change into party clothes. I was surprised he would ask that! I asked him why he thought we should dress up and at this point he said: "Well, because it's your birthday party and everyone will be dressed up!" Say what?!! It was not my birthday party, and I hate birthday parties and even worse, I hate surprise birthday parties!! I won't let this go! I kept asking him whose idea this was and what was this all about and whether the friends who had called to join the party were all in on this, too? As it turned out, Leva and Jahanshah had arranged for everyone to come ready to celebrate my birthday. Yikes! I went and changed.

The guests to my small party started arriving. Bloggers, writers, journalists, artists, and activists, my friends are some of the smartest and most professionally-accomplished people you would know. They are just a fabulous bunch. Everybody looked really good and was in a very happy mood. By the time Jahanshah showed up with the cake, I had stopped being mad at the lot of them! We were so happy to be together, as is always the case when we get together, talking and laughing and eating and having a good time. Ray came down to check out the scene, but turned around and went upstairs to be by himself, I guess! I felt bad for him because he was probably looking around and not recognizing anyone but me, missing Mark and Kerry. I went to check up on him twice during the evening, and both times he was sitting on the bed, alert and awake. Mehran suggested I shut the bedroom door on him, but I felt kind of bad locking him in for the whole night, so I let him feel free to move upstairs between the bedroom and Kerry's den, where she and Ray spend most days together.

We were having such a good time, jaaye hamegi khaali! We were celebrating not so much my birthday or Jahanshah's sendoff, but our friendship. As I made the rounds to check on my friends who had broken into small groups all around the house and the backyard, I could hear them talking about politics, telling jokes, and catching up with each other. Joy!

(To Be Continued...)

Three Weeks in October (I)

My friends were going to Japan for three weeks. They asked me to look after their house and their cat, Ray. I had been feeling tired and stressed out, needing to take a break without having to get too far from my life. I agreed. I figured since I really love cats and miss my cat, Asghar, whom I had left behind when I moved from Tehran three years ago, I would have a good chance to bond with a furry feline and re-energize.

I have known Kerry for more than twenty years and was fortunate enough to attend Kerry and Mark’s wedding many years ago. Kerry, is the epitome of an organized individual. Her beautiful house perfectly clean and tidy, her house cat, Ray, a dream of a cat, and her binder full of typed instructions on EVERYTHING about her house and her cat, were welcoming and encouraging signs that I was about to arrive at my oasis of sanity and peace for three weeks. I went to get introduced and oriented to the cat and Kerry and Mark’s house three times prior to their departure. I learned the elaborate lighting, sound, and alarm systems of their gorgeous house near Berkeley. Ray seemed shy but he did warm up to me some during my visits. Kerry even took me and introduced me to a few of her neighbors who had all been informed about a woman who would be living at her house for a few weeks.

I told Kerry I had prior plans to have dear guests on the first Sunday they were gone and whether it was alright with her if I entertained my friends at her house. The sweet woman was happy at the prospect of a party at her house, even if she wasn’t in it! I had invited my friends to our usual monthly get-together which I regularly host, except this time a dear friend of mine, Jahanshah, who was planning to leave the area was our low-key “guest of honor.” I call it low-key because he had made it clear he didn’t want a farewell party. I knew and everybody else knew that this would be the last time we would get together like this for a while.

Kerry and Mark left on a Thursday and I moved in and became house-mate with Ray, the cat. Everything went very well, including our bedtimes, when Ray would sleep at the bottom of my bed, just like Kerry had said he would. Things were going on really well with the two of us.

I returned to my house on that first Saturday night, cooked up a storm, and the next day, on Sunday, I took all the food and a lot of other things with me to my friends’ house where I expected my friends. A couple of days before the party, I had received emails and phone calls from a couple of my friends whom I hadn’t invited to the party. They said they had heard about the party and wanted to come, too. This is not unusual among my friends. I have many many friends and it is not possible to invite all of them to my house at the same time, so I take turns on whom to invite. All through my life, though, it has happened that I would get calls from people just before a party, inviting themselves over. It gives me great joy to accept and welcome my friends when they really want to come.

(To Be Continued...)

Ray

Ray The Cat, Saturday, October 25, 2008.

As promised, here is a picture of the creature I have been spending time with over the past 2.5 weeks. My work with him will be finished on Thursday, when my friends return from their trip. I was thinking yesterday that I will miss him so much. I'm not ready to adopt another pet, though. I will do it when my current responsibilities subside and I have less to worry about. Just the same, it has been great spending time with this sweet cat. I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday.

Sunday Reflections

I now routinely carry my camera everywhere. I am constantly snapping pictures of anything and everything that makes me think. Some days I wonder what I would ever do with the hundreds of pictures I have which I will probably never use and no one will ever see! But pictures of my friends and of any and all interesting people I meet are always fun to re-visit. Let me show you what I downloaded from my camera today. These two are Alireza Eshraghi and Nasim, my friends in Berkeley. Though very young, Alireza is an accomplished journalist who has been an analyst and chief editor to important Tehran newspapers over the past decade. He is a visiting scholar at Berkeley's School of Journalism this year. Most of you who visit here already know Nasim. Nasim is a reader-turned-good-friend. She and her wonderful husband, Jay, live in Berkeley and work at the University. Nasim and I had a lunch date on Wednesday and I asked Alireza to come along, too, to meet another wonderful Iranian in Berkeley. We had an enjoyable time chatting and eating salad and taftoon bread!

Folks, meet Ray. He is the cat I'm watching for the next few weeks, while my friends Kerry and Mark are away. He is a very sweet cat with an excellent disposition. He and I are getting along famously! He is a talker, too! Have you ever seen a cat that talks?

This is Shahram. I met him at a party on Friday night. Actually, in this photograph he is sitting next to an Iranian celebrity. I cut out the celebrity's photo, because to me the celebrity in this photograph was Shahram. I'll tell you why!

Shahram told me he is 55 years old. Can you believe it?! Mashallah! When he faced our surprise he said the key to his staying young is that that he has been able to love. He has loved life and people and family and friends and even awkward situations, he said.

As for real love, he had a great story to share. He said when he was younger he loved a woman named Asieh, who moved away and became lost to him. Ten years later he was at a friend's house when his friend told him her friend, Asieh, was arriving from London that evening! Shahram didn't waste any more time! He married Asieh soon thereafter. He said he loves Asieh all the more for how long it took for the two of them to finally get together. Isn't that a wonderful story?

Shahram and Asieh were so lucky, because they had ten years to wait for love. Not everybody is that lucky. If you love somebody, please don't lose them! Do what you have to do to keep them from slipping away and disappearing on you! Hold on to those who matter to you and confess your love to them. Happy Sunday you all!

The Wish

When I was a little girl, my family and I were visiting some relatives somewhere for the first time. I was apprehensive about sleeping in a house I had never visited. As our hosts kindly made everyone's bed, as is customary of Iranian homes and their generosity to their guests, lying in the bed next to my cousin, I told her about my fear of sleeping in new places. She told me about the "wish." She told me that whenever you sleep anywhere for the first time, you are entitled to making a wish that will come true. I am convinced I have been motivated to travel the world and go to different places all my life, because of learning about "the wish!"

I slept at my friends' house for the first time last night. Just before I fell asleep, I made a big wish with all my heart. For the moments it took me to concentrate on that wish, I was the little girl in that pristine bedding at my relative's house again. I wasn't thinking about what is possible, what is feasible, what is practical, and what makes sense! I was making a wish and it wouldn't have been a wish if it weren't big, impossible, irrational, and grandiose! Heeh, now I will have to worry all day, wondering what if my wish does come true?!!! What would I do then?!! I'm laughing like a madwoman right about now!

P.S. My adventures with Ray-the-Cat have already begun. I'll tell you about Ray when I am able to upload his picture here. Also, I am typing this blog on my friend's Mac and I'm having difficulties with some of the features. Forgive the appearance if this doesn't come out well. Have a nice Friday everyone!

Insomnia, Aash, And A Cat Named Asghar

Blossoms in Hamadan, Iran, March 26, 2008.

I have been working myself ragged again this week, working hard during the day at work while I concentrate on some exciting projects, and unable to sleep well at night. I am also volunteering to help out with an event in April, and so much work has to be done on that project between now and then. It's a good thing this is a short week for me as Friday is a State holiday.

I went to visit my younger sister on my way home tonight. She gave me a bowl of aash to bring home with me. It was a relief not to have to make dinner tonight! I want to go to bed early tonight (we will see about that!). I will tell you another story about Asghar and then I go.

So, I should have known better after the incident which had landed him in the third floor neighbor's balcony, but it hadn't occurred to me that this might happen again. The week following that incident, when my kids and I arrived our apartment complex, we thought we heard Asghar in the parking lot. This was surreal, because Asghar had been left inside a locked apartment on the fourth floor and there was no way he could be in the parking five floors below! Right? Wrong! My older son followed the cat's meowing and soon found him and brought him to us. Asghar's entire face was covered in congealed blood and his claws were injured as he had lost all his nails, taking a flight from the fourth floor into the parking lot! Oh My God! He was subdued and quiet and didn't respond very well to our calling his name. We rushed him to his vet in Amanieh, and he instructed us to take him to a pet hospital emergency room in Vanak for X-rays. As it turned out, he must have tried to fetch one of the birds on the tree branches just outside the balcony, and had taken a free fall five floors below, declawing himself while trying to hang on to the tree and the walls around, breaking his nose and fracturing his skull! Can you believe that?! He was heavily medicated to stay calm and we were told he had a 50-50 chance of survival. My kids were beside themselves with grief. The next day I had screen walls installed on the balcony (toori), and while he recuperated, we stood vigil by his side for a few days. He recovered soon enough, getting back to his "no good" state, but his tiny nose bore a very small crook where he had broken it! I miss Asghar, the cat with the crooked nose! He now lives in Karaj with a man who loves cats. Be good and have a good Wednesday you all.

Nostalgic About A Cat

A Ghorabieh Bakeshop in Tabriz. This is probably one of my most favorite Iranian confections! I remember Haj Jalil Tavazo offering me Ghorabieh in his shop one time, telling me in his sweet Azari accent: "een shirini kheili ghashangeh!" Too bad it can't endure time and travel very well!

Heeh! I saw this videoclip of Makhmal the Cat, eating the samanoo on her family's haft seen table! So cute! It reminded me so much of our cat, Asghar (Oscar, Oskie), today. I remember the day when he was still a kitten and had jumped from the fourth floor into the third floor apartment's balcony, and kept begging us to go get him, which of course we couldn't, because the neighbor was away for the weekend. I remember that in my desperation and with my children's growing anguish, I called the Tehran Fire Department, asking them whether they did animal rescue, as might be expected in these parts of the world. I explained that we might need a tall ladder to get the rescuer to the third floor balcony. Well, you might already know their answer to that question! They laughed at me and hung up! Later, I called again and tried to appeal to the dispatcher's heart. After I talked to him and begged him to help me, he and I reached an "understanding," whereby he said he or one of his colleagues might come to see about the cat after their shift was over that night, but that wasn't going to happen for a few more hours yet. So, while my kids and I waited for the firefighter, we had an idea. We had one of those plastic picnic baskets with a lid, which we sent down to third floor balcony through a rope, leaving a piece of meat inside the basket for good measure. Once the basket landed, Asghar jumped inside and got busy eating his little treat, we pulled the rope, closing the lid and started pulling him up! Mission accomplished, I called the dispatcher and thanked him, telling him that the cat was already rescued! Asghar went on to do many more naughty things in the coming years, the stories of which I might tell at another time.

That Love Seems Easy At First

In Zanjan's Sahrain Wildlife Sancturay, a park ranger offers a suger cube (so Iranian!) to a squirrel, February 2008.

I started replying to your kind comments and got most of them done, but not all. I was tired and decided to stop and come back when I can do a good job of this, the best part of blogging in my opinion. It has been a crazy week for me, full of commitments and running around, feeling stressed for looming deadines. It looks like I am almost caught up with most of my commitments. I am exhausted and in need of some solid sleep. I will make another post later in the day.

My friend, Mina, of IranWrites, who is a very sensitive and articulate writer, has written a beautiful post about her pets, three dogs, which is really sweet to read. She has also generously dedicated that post to me. I feel honored. I have had many pets in my life, but I will never forget my sweet dog, Gorgi, and my beautiful cat, Oscar (his Iranian name is Asghar). When I moved to US two years ago, I had to leave my cat with a kind man in Karaj who has been taking care of him since. Animals bring joy and love to our lives, and become our families. I think Mina's description of her special relationship with her dogs is indicative of just how important animals can become in our lives. I found it touching that among the many political and literary reviews Mina writes, she wrote a very personal post about her pets. If you can find the time, go take a look and read her piece. The woman knows how to write! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her dogs, bill clinton, Mercutio, and Ginger.