Good Old Friends

One of Nima’s old friends, Ali, is our guest for a while. He is like a brother to Nima. They know each other from elementary school. It’s great to have close friends around. He is trying to find a job here at Mississauga and Nima helps him not to miss a single company to apply.
Sometimes when I am working in my room I can hear they are talking about old memories and laughing to a certain point; discussing this or that. Ali went to Waterloo to visit some other friends there and Nima was saying he is already got used to Ali living with us. You know what maybe we should adapt him as our son :):)

A letter for you

I wish you were a bit only a bit selfish. I wish you knew how to put your needs prior to ours sometimes. I wish you were not so dedicated to us. I wish you knew how to say no sometimes.
I want the best of best for you, I want you be healthy; feel happy; be cheerful and not to be so much worried about us. I wished all these and blew the candles. May my wishes come true…

With lots of Love
Your daughter

There We Are

Once I was searching for the photo of the earth from the space or from the moon that I found this photo in the posts by Gavin Alexander.

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/gavinalexander/entry/untitled_entry/
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/gavinalexander/entry/the_pale_blue/

In the photo you can see a pale dot indicated by the arrow. This is earth!!
What do feel by looking at this tiny tiny dot which is the all world to us?

Carl Sagan in his book, The pale blue dot, expressed his feeling toward this photo. I don’t think it could be said any better.

The Youtube video is the part of his book by his own voice. Here is the part of the text. It’s amazing…

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."

My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don't feel so bad.

This is me right now!!!

Pettit Gardening

The weather warms up and spring is literally here. Everywhere you can see people start gardening and plant gorgeous flowers. One of our friends gave us some pretty perennials. We have a small back yard but I am still excited about gardening.
I am also thinking about planting some tomatoes and other vegetables in a pot good enough for two.

Remember Me?

I recently finished the story named “Remember Me?” by Sophie Kinsella that I received as my birthday gift. The story is nice and fun. The main idea of the story is quite fascinating.
Imagine you wake up in the morning and you lost past three years of your memory. You think it is April 15th 2005. What would you feel if someone tells about your past three years? Will you be surprised?
For me if I loose my past three years, the very first strange thing will be my husband. He will be totally stranger to me. We haven’t even met yet back in April 2005.
I expect to wake up in the morning and go to work everyday. I will have no idea that I am living in Canada and Behi is in Libya far far away.
Back in April 2005 I am working in a company and at the same time applying for some of the Canadian universities. I knew that my current supervisor is going to give me an admission so if some one told me you are a graduate student at memorial university and this is your 3rd year I won’t be that surprised. But being married for more than a year will definitely surprise me. Three years ago no one was in my life and I met Nima for the first time in July 2005.
I will have no clue about several friends that I made here in Canada. Who is this Eily by the way, sent me this book “The other Boleyn girl” as a gift? :) :)
Seriously imagine you have no clue about the past three years and someone tells you about yourself, what you did? And who you are? Will you say “I can see myself doing these? Or will you be totally surprised about yourself?

My Achilles' heel

Every person has his/her own capacity to tolerate anything that can get on one’s nerve. I always imagine everyone has circle around. The larger the radius of the circle the more tolerant the person is. Some people have a very small circle and things can easily get them to their borders and make them to show reaction, yield or what ever. Some people has a very wide circle around that barely anything can touch them, get on their nerve or make them to show any reactions. These people have a wide capacity of patience.
For me, I always wanted to expand my circle. I always try to increase the radius of the circle. There are many things that never make me angry and I can easily ignore but I have my own limitations. I have my own Achilles’ heel that if anyone put finger on it I will show reaction. I won’t yield that’s not me but I will get away from the person who sends arrow to my Achilles’ heel.
As I am growing up I learn more about myself. I discover my weak points. I don’t know if I always had that limitation and just because of the circumference it never showed up or I take it as I grow up.
I know one more things that about specific behavior that getting on my nerve I used to be more tolerant. But it’s like facing undesirable behavior for a long time can fill your bowl of tolerance for that specific behavior. Maybe for some people facing undesirable behavior makes them stronger to ignore it but for me it was not like that.

If I could just find Styx river...

A Little Mixed Up

When I was in st. john's I rented a basemnet of the house belong to a very kind old couple, Joyce and Gordon. They are around 83 years old and we are still in touch.
I found this poet on Joyce's fridge that her sister sent to her.

Just a line to say I'm living
That I'm not among the dead
Though I'm getting more forgetful
And more mixed up in my head

For sometimes I can't remember
when I stand at the foot of the strairs
if I must go up for something
Or I've just come down from there

And before the fridge so often
my poor mind is filled with doubt
Have I just put food away?
Or have I came to take it out

And there are times when it is dark out
with my hairnet on my head
I don't know if I'm retiring
or just getting out of bed

So, if it is my turn to write to you
And there's no need in getting sore
I may think that I have written
And don't want to be a bore

So, remember I do love you
And I wish that you were here
And now it is nearly mail time
so I must say "Good-bye, dear"

There I stood beside the mailbox
with face so very red
instead of mailing your letter
I had opened it instead

What color is your day?

I always feel everyday of the week has a color. For me Monday is blue or green, Tuesday is yellow, Wednesday has the same color as the red win, Thursday is red. I am not sure about Friday the color is white or transparent like a pure water. Saturday is like light orange or yellowish orange and Sunday is like ivory to me. It sounds funny but I guess other people have the same feeling toward the day of a week. This could be the combination of our general feeling toward each day, if you are busy or have fun.. I don't know

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!

The story of dining table :)

I am waiting for delivery guys to bring us our dining table finally. Because of the petite size of our dining hall it took us a long time to find a proper table. I hope this time they bring us the right one.
Two weeks ago Nima and I found a small furniture shop. we found a petite size dining table in their catalog that we liked and we bought. One week later they bring us a table with the same size and colour but different style. Nima called them and the manager told him, the manufacturer didn't produce that kind of table any more. he told us the table he sent us was very similar to the one we liked why we didn't keep it.
we checked the recite, he had written the name of the table we liked but the number of the table he sent. He probably knew at first place that the table wasn't produced anymore. he though maybe we didn't recognize the difference or maybe we liked the other one two. I don't what he though but I got a bit angry. I was nagging to Nima about how that man dare to make a decision for us etc
We back to his shop again and look at several other catalog and finally found the other one with good size and look.
Today I am waiting for them to come and bring back the wrong one and deliver the right one.
I hope everything be fine this time..

Some People are Like Me

Some people make progress because they are jealous of other people and they keep competing with those who are better than them. I never really jealous of any one, I did envy sometimes or admire most of the time but jealousy no way. I can not tolerate this type of people. Even if they see some good things about you they barely say it to you. Even if you inspired them to do more effort and make progress to take over you, they never give you any credits.

Some people make progress because they are eager for being well known; they are eager for power. They do anything to be famous in their field. Anyone like to have more power and make progress but being thirsty for power and do anything for that is different. These people are bothering me a lot. They keep trying to show off about their knowledge or bluff about their position and that how much important they are. I am not a competitor at all. I don’t know if it is a positive or negative thing about me. I like to make progress and be better than myself during the time.

Some people make progress because they enjoy what they are doing. They don’t care how many people know them. Even if they are famous it wasn’t their motivation for their work. They are naturally humble not like those who try to show they are humble and they enjoy hearing other saying this about them.

Some people are like me. At the middle of nowhere trying to find themselves. I hope it doesn’t take my all life… :)

For You

It's Valentine's day. Honey I didn't buy you anything, no Roses, no Chocolate and no lovely teddy bear. But I want to write this post for you; not sure when you will read this.

You know how much I love ice cream mixed with cantaloup juice , you know how much I love Faloode with lemon juice, You know how much I love Lamb kebab with Safran rice and Somagh... I love you more than these all even more than green almonds with loads of salt :) :)

You know how much I dislike tough and violent movies but I will watch "There Will Be Blood" two more times if you want :)

I know how you feel about sad movies, I will watch "The Kite Runner" alone. :)

I will use the toothpaste the way you like (press it from the end) just for you :)

I will do my best to write down what we need to buy before we run out of it :)

..

...

.....

I am ending the list of my sacrifices ! :)

You have no idea how I took these two photos last night when you were dreaming about seven kings. :) :)

With Love........................Hiva

Luck

I love this story very much, simple and wise.
‘There once lived a farmer. He had a son and a horse. One day the farmer’s horse ran away, and all his neighbors came to console him, saying: “what bad luck that your horse has run away!” and the old man replied: “who knows if it’s good luck or bad luck.”
“Of course it’s bad luck!” said the neighbors.
Within a week, the farmer’s neighbors came to celebrate, saying: “what good luck that you have your horse back – plus another twenty!”
And the old man replied:” who knows if it’s good luck or bad luck!”
The next day the farer’s son was riding amongst the wild horses, and fell and broke his leg. The neighbors came to console him, saying: “what bad luck!”
And the farmer said: “who know if it’s good or bad luck!”
And some neighbors were angry, and said: “of course it’s bad luck, you silly old fool!”
Another week went by, and an army came through town, enlisting all the fit young men to fight in distance lands. The farmer’s son, with his broken leg, was left behind. All the neighbors came to celebrate, saying “what good luck that your son was left behind!”
And the farmer said: “who knows?” ’ [From Follow your heart by Andrew Matthews]

I am thinking if the neighbors had anythings else to do except monitoring the old man? :)

I want it off for good

did you ever feel so angry about something but at the same time you can not do anything except being paitient. it's really hard to be patient sometimes...
It's like you see something but other don't which make you think "is it me who missing something?"
I don't know, I just know I am angry now and I want it off for good.
If I don't learn how to take over my anger, it will find another excuse to come back to be... I want it off for good.