EARTH HOUR

Tonight 29th of March 2008 from 8pm to 9 pm is called EARTH HOUR. This is an international gesture that every body around the world will turn off all their lights and unnecessary electrical appliance to help the environment.
This movement started by the Australian green lobby last year and extended to the rest of the world this year.
We have guests tonight and I am thinking to light up the candles all over the house for one hour. Nima doesn’t agree with me, he said we can’t push our guest to participate.
I can turn on only one light and mix it with several candles, it is just one hour, I guess everyone will understand.

The Kings

I heard about King Henry VIII of England when one my friends was telling me about his visit from Royal British Wax Museum. There were statues of the king and his 6 wives.
At first it seems great to be a first lady but these poor wives was not that fortunate, at least five of them.

Catherine of Aragon was the first one who gave birth to Bloody Mary.
After twenty years of marriage, that she could not deliver a boy and she passed the age of birth, Henry VIII declared their marriage annulled. It is said that she died of a broken heart, four years later. The second wife was not that lucky!!

The king married to Anne Boleyn immediately after annulling his first marriage. Anne gave birth to Queen Elizabeth I but no son. King charged Anne with betrayal, after making up false evidence against her. She was finally executed at the Tower of London, where she was beheaded with a sword. At the same time Henry had affair whit Marry Boleyn, Anne older sister. I don’t know how come 4 other women dare to marry him.

Jane Seymour became the third wife of Henry only 11 days after Anne execution. She gave birth to King Edward VI and sadly passed away 12 days after that.

Anne of Cleves was the fourth queen. It is very interesting story that how King Henry agreed to marry her. It seems that the king sent a painter to make a portrait of her to make sure that she is pretty enough for the king (she was in Germany). Apparently the painter was quite generous and made a pretty portrait that persuaded the king to marry her. But when poor Anne arrived, king Henry insulted her that she looked like a horse (actually I think horses are quite pretty). They divorced immediately. At leas she didn’t executed.

The fifth queen was Catherine Howard which was Anne Boleyn cousin. I don’t know what she was thinking marry to the man who executed her cousin. By the time they got married, Henry was 50 and Catherine was 19. She found the same destiny as her cousin. She was accused of having many lovers (I am not surprised but that age difference) and be headed with her lovers at the Tower of London (6 years after her cousin).

The last and the lucky one was Catherine Parr who was mostly a nurse for the old king. Henry died in 1547 four years after his last marriage and let the last queen outlive him.
It is said that king Henry (like many other kings) has several mistress.

You can see the pictures of his wives here:
http://www.larmouth.demon.co.uk/sarah-jayne/wives/wives.html

At the same time that King Henry VIII was in England (1491-1547), back in Iran, 15 years old boy called Ismail I (who was also a poet), became the founder of SAFAVI dynasty in 1502. He was the one who reunited the Iran in 1510.

In one of his war against the Selim I, the Sunni king, Ismail favorite wife was taken hostage. Selim king demanded huge concessions for her release. But Ismail refused to cede to his demands. It is said that Ismail had died of a broken heart in 1524 at the early age of thirty-six, never having seen his beloved spouse again.

Happy Norooz

یک گلدانِ سفید با جوانه های کوچکِ گندم که هنوز خوابالوده ی برناییند

یک گلدان، سنبل بنفش،پر از غنچه های بسته، بیتاب شکوفایی

دو ماهی قرمز کوچک، که تنگ بیقرارشان می کند

چند سیبِ سرخ که وسوسه ی آدم و حوا را به جانت می اندازد

اندکی سنجد و کاسه ی کوچکِ سمنو

چند حبه سیر

سکه های طلایی برکت

هفت سین ما بر پاست
دلتان زنده سرتان افراشته سلامت و شاداب باشید

سال نو مبارک

P.S. The photo is "haftsin" table that my older sister arranged last year back home in my parents place. I just love her taste...the bride and groom are Nima and I..

Yes!

It's 10:30 at night. I finally finished the draft of my paper. It took me a long time to write this. I am exhausted but I also feel great. I know tomorrow my supervisors will send me back tones of comments but it doesn't matter for now. I should go to bed. nothing is better than a deep sleep for tired mind. Good night everybody :)

My Lovely season Spring

Spring is coming. the very first day of the spring, 21st of March, is my birthday. It is also the begining of the new Iranian year, "Norouz". Back home it's time to "shake home" clean it allover, buying new clothes and preparing "Haft sin" table.

I am thinking about two gorgeous Magnolia trees in our garden. The white one should start to prosper and the pink one will catch up later.

I miss walking in streets, seeing shops full of Red fishes and purple hyacinth, sabze,...

I always loved the few last days of the year before Spring come. It's like something going to be happen, it's like really everything are going to be new and revive, the earth and all the creatures.

I love the few last seconds tic tac tic tac .... BOMB .... the traditional music ... Happy Norouz

like always I have the same wishes to pray for:

to be a better person,

to have better vision of the life,

to have bigger ears to hear :)

to be sharper to learn

to have better eyes to see

to learn from my mistakes (I barley do)

to break less hearts and not let other break ours

not to be fooled with our fake ego

not to be limited with our narrow mind

not to judge others in a first glance

can be trusted for our words

to be knowledgeable and quite generous with that

to be surrounded with those who are better than us

to be a doe but to be a Lion

to be an eagle but to be a lamb
to be powerful but never use that against the weak

quite a long list!