Ann Campbell, May You Rest In Peace

                                                                                                       Photo by Marash Girl
Above, WBUR volunteer Ann Campbell (may she rest in peace) chats with Zack Ezor, WBUR's Coordinator  of volunteers at a WBUR fundraiser several years ago.  
Ann, we'll miss you!  

                   "May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord 

                     make his face to shine upon you and give you peace."

                           

The Lucky Ones: Enjoying Colorado

The photographer needs to be in this photo as well, but he must have been
"enjoying the view" too much to set the camera on automatic and look at the camera rather than the view!

Emptying the Warehouse

Great exercise, both physically and emotionally!

Don't wish your life away!

When Deron was a little boy, he would wait with bated breath for the next holiday, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, his birthday, summer vacation . . .   His mother, mean mother that she was, completely without empathy for his excitement, would invariably say, "Don't wish your life away!"

Is that what happens when we forget what it's like to be a child?

What's wrong with these pancakes?

Making pancakes this Sunday morning reminded Marash Girl of a true story that her Aunt Zabelle related to her many years ago, a story Aunt Zabelle's best friend, Mrs. Evans, had told Aunt Zabelle.
According to Mrs. Evans, her young son Burt used to make pancakes for the family every Sunday morning, but one Sunday morning, the family was away on vacation, and went out to a restaurant to order . . . you guessed it . . . pancakes!

Burt took the first bite of his restaurant prepared pancake and paused, fork in air.  "These don't taste right!" he commented.  Mrs. Evans laughed.  The pancakes didn't taste right . . . they didn't taste like Burt's pancakes,  because the restaurant's pancakes were not burned!

THE QUICKEST WAY TO THE HOSPITAL

Years ago, right after church, cousin David and Marash Girl were hanging out on the sidewalk waiting for our parents when a car pulled up and asked for the quickest way to the hospital.  Cousin David, without hesitation, answered, "See that telephone pole over there?  Just crash right into it!"

You're too religious!

After hearing the results of the presidential election, Marash Girl fled to the local McDonald's to "drown her sorrows", as it were.  Upon settling at one of the window side tables, she heard folks speaking Armenian behind her, applauding the promised political efforts at keeping refugees out of this country. When she turned around to address, the speakers, she engaged them in discussion by quoting Jesus who said, "What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me!"

They're answer?

"You're too religious!"

Matthew 25:40

And  the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,  ye have done it unto me.

Attending Jim's Memorial Service on Old Cape Cod

It was Thursday, a perfect Cape Cod day; Marash Girl and Marash Boy in Chatham to attend a memorial service for their good friend, Jim Patriquin.  And they did.  They remembered Jim so well as did all of his friends.  A wonderful man, Jim.  And sorely missed.

Following the service, Marsh Girl and Marash Boy headed back to their little cabin off of Pleasant Street in Chatham --  a cabin that reminded Marash Girl of the days she spent as a child in Rumney, New Hampshire.  A simple cabin in the woods, with an outdoor shower, and the beach a half mile walk down the street.

Marash Boy dutifully parked the old Volvo station wagon behind the cabin to ensure that the rutted dirt road around the cabin would be free for others visiting the cabin enclave.  And that, as they say, was where the "rubber hit the road", or rather, in this scenario, the radiator hit a boulder and the water flowed out of the radiator and made the grass below the car very happy, but the driver of the car very unhappy.

Thanks to AAA, Marash Boy was able to arrange a ride (for the car and its passengers), the car on the back of the tow truck, the owners on the front seat of the tow truck, all the way back to Newton, safe and sound.  The passengers, that is.  The car ended up in the repair shop, for how long, they have yet to learn!

Setti Warren for Governor

              Volunteers gather in the basement of a Newton Centre home to make telephone calls encouraging folks to consider voting for 

               Setti Warren for Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Pink Barn

Little Girl:  What's that?

Marash Girl: A barn!

Little Girl:  Why isn't it painted red?

Marash Girl:  You can paint your barn whatever color you want!

Little Girl:  When I grow up and have a barn, I'm going to paint my barn pink!

Newton the 65th safest city in the country?

Hey, Marash Girl remembers when the folks in Newton never locked their doors!  Not so today!

Advice from a local policeman:  No home is safe from burglary, unless you have nothing the burglar wants!  And there's the answer to a safe home!

"Do as I say!"

"Do as I say!  Not as I do!" So spoke Peter, Marash Girl's father, when Marash Girl was old enough to begin questioning his orders by quipping, "But you do that!"  How dared she speak to her father that way?  Well, he did teach her to speak up for the right!

We miss you, Daddy!

Do you live the perfect life?

One day, five year old Marash Girl came home from church (the United Armenian Brethren Evangelical Church of Watertown, Massachusetts) with a handful of religious tracts.  Soon after Sunday dinner, she headed out the front door with the tracts clutched in her little hand.

"Where are you going?"  asked her father.

"I'm going to tell our neighbors about Jesus," she answered.

"When folks ask you what is it in your life that makes you live as you do, then you can tell them about Jesus.  But until then, don't talk. Live the life."

Do I have a deal for you!

Telephone rings. . .

Peter:  Hello?

Salesman:  Do I have a deal for you!  I can get you $10 for every $1 you invest!

Peter:  Sorry.  I invest $10 to make $1.  Goodbye!

Composting and Grandpa Peter

Grandpa Peter took composting very seriously, way before composting was the fashion for gardeners.  Grandma Jennie took composting as seriously as Grandpa Peter, and would save every scrap of vegetable leavings for the compost pile.  Grandpa Peter would grind fallen sticks and leaves and add those to the compost pile.  What lush soil was gifted to the garden as a result.  Not a scrap of vegetable was wasted; if it wasn't eaten, it was in the garden to enrich this season's vegetables.  Oh, for those good old days . .  . and those good old garden fresh vegetables!

Honesty is the Best Policy!

Overheard:

Tom:  You look great!

Joy:  Yes, but it takes longer than it used to!

What's Going On With The Sparrows?

Yesterday, walking home from the bank, I felt a sparrow (deliberately) skim over the top of my head as it flew to a low branch that hovered over the sidewalk.  

What's going on with the sparrows these days?  Is it the humidity that's getting to them?  

Anyone else experiencing sparrow attacks?

Yet Another Message From the Heavens?

Yesterday, at noon, waiting for the bus to Springfield at Framingham Shoppers World, Marash Boy and Marash Girl took shelter from the sun by standing under the shade of a maple tree.  Very soon, however, a large chunk of bread (which appears to be a very small chunk of bread in the upper left corner of the photo below) bounced off of Marash Boy's head and landed in the parking lot, thanks no doubt to some ne'er do well sparrow who had dropped the chunk as he flew out of the tree.  What is going on?  (See previous blogs for July 8th and 9th.)

Bread in upper left corner; tree's shadow to right.

A Tart to Share

Marash Girl and Marash Boy drove West to enjoy the beautiful day on the top of Wilbraham Mountain, where Karoun was awaiting their arrival.

[Marash Girl had promised Karoun a fruit tart from Whole Foods to share with the class Karoun is training to become yoga instructors.]

When Marash Girl handed Karoun the tart, Karoun started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Marash Girl

"I thought you were talking about a tart the size of a muffin.  I didn't realize you meant a tart the size of a pie!"

"Why else would I promise that you could share it with your friends?  Especially when I apologized for having eaten a quarter of the tart!"

Another Message from the Heavens?

Yesterday, Marash Boy and Marash Girl set out to meet Arax and Karoun at a lakeside restaurant on the Wilbraham/Springfield line.  (Didn't know there was a lake there?  Check it out!) Arriving early, they set themselves up at an outside table overlooking the water.  Soon the girls arrived (women, Marash Girl should say) and began to seat themselves at the table, but before Arax could sit down, a gust of wind lifted the umbrella from a nearby table and carried it straight towards Arax's head.  Marash Girl (or Superwoman, as she now is tempted to call herself), reached up and grabbed the pole of the umbrella, averting imminent disaster. No-one noticed except for Marash Girl, and maybe ???? Or perhaps Marash Girl created the story from whole cloth, just to have something to write about in her blog . . . 

The English Sparrow and Marash Boy

The other day, as we sat in the beautiful outdoors (granted, in the courtyard of a city restaurant, but still . . .) an English Sparrow flew by and dropped a pat of butter, right on Marash Boy's head!  Now what better sign of "good luck" could one wish for?

Never cease laughing!

To the CEO of a huge marketing company, Marash Girl's friend wrote a thank you note stating,

"The conversation never ceases to be dull"!

What she meant, of course, was the opposite!

She called him to apologize and he never ceased laughing.

Never back up when you can go forward!

When Marash Boy worked on construction as a youth in Springfield, one of the truck drivers cautioned him: "Never back up when you can go forward."

When teaching her to drive, Marash Girl's dad had cautioned her as well:  "Never back up when you can go forward."

Let's apply this to life:  "Never back up when you can go forward."  Or, as the Bible suggests in the story of Lot, "Never look back."  You remember what happened to Lot's wife, right?  No?  Look it up!

Dylan Marie on the Fourth of July

Hooray for the Flag of the United States of America -- Long may it wave!   Photo by Megan Charkoudian

Celebrate Independence Day!

Never forget what it means to be living in a free and independent country . . . and always value that freedom.  How are you celebrating today?

Marash Girl remembers fondly the Fourth of July celebrations on the top of Wilbraham Mountain . . . the days she and her family and neighbors (including old Charlie Merrick!) would watch and hear fireworks from all of the towns surrounding Wilbraham.

Happy Independence Day!

Composting and Uncle Ed

Uncle Ed had an easier method of composting than Auntie Rose.  He'd just throw it in!  Throw what in where?  He set up a large circular cage (stakes in ground surrounded by wire fencing) approximately 3 feet in diameter.  Into this cage he would regularly throw in vegetable leavings and simply toss onto the veggies a handful of soil.  It worked! After the second year, he simply lifted one side of the fencing at its base and regularly removed the rich soil that the vegetables leavings had become, adding the rich soil to his garden!  As the old folks would say, "What goes around, comes around!"

Composting and Auntie Rose

Have I written about Auntie Rose's method of composting before, or should I say, her method of loving up her plants?

During the preparation of every meal, Auntie Rose would gather vegetable peelings into small piles and, at the end of the meal. add to the piles any vegetables that were left on the plates of her guests.

Out she would go to her flower garden (a magnificent garden and now you'll know why) and carefully trowel around her plant(s) of choice, gently working into the ground around the plant(s) the day's vegetable peelings and vegetable leavings, petting the plants, and crooning to them as she went.  As you might imagine, she had the most magnificent garden in the neighborhood.  No artificial sprays, no artificial chemicals.

She probably "sprayed" her plants with dishwater (after she had washed her dishes, of course), as Medzmama used to do, taking the pan of dirty dishwater and tossing the water (not the pan) over the plants of choice.

You should have seen her garden!