"Ayağını yorganına göre uzat."

"Ayağını yorganına göre uzat."  

"Stretch your feet to the length of your yorgan." (yorgan = quilt in Armeno-Turkish)

So stated Marash Girl's father.  Not quite sure if her father meant to restrict Marash Girl's efforts or to extend her efforts in whatever she endeavored. Since Marash Girl was a small child when he began advising her to stretch those feet as far as she could, Marash Girl has always assumed he meant for her to extend her efforts as best she could in whatever she endeavored.  And she did!!!

With Marash Girl's thanks to Murat for help with the Turkish translation.

Şiş gibi geliyor!

Whenever it thundered and lightninged and the heavens opened up, from Marash Girl's childhood comes this little ditty:
"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!"

And as Grandma Jennie used to exclaim as she looked out the dining room window,
"It's raining cats and dogs!"

Or, as Medzmama would state assertively in her native language of Armeno-Turkish,
"Şiş gibi geliyor!!!"

"No adults except in the company of a child."

           It takes New York City to figure this one out!!!                        
Photo by Marash Girl

                        "No adults except in the company of a child."  www.nyc.govparks

Want To Keep Your Guests Guessing?

Want to keep your guests guessing? Make banana bread for them, but add a secret ingredient to the batter . . . A dollop of your favorite (seedless) jam!  The conversation will be going for a while as your guests attempt to identify that unexpected boost to the flavor of your delicious banana bread!

n.b. Try this "trick" with any cake or muffin recipe . . . you'll be surprised at how the flavor will confound your guests!

Can I Have The Recipe?

Years ago, Marash Girl worked with a woman who loved Marash Girl's baked goods; said woman always asked for the recipes of the tasty treats that Marash Girl prepared and often shared with the teaching staff at their place of work.  Marash Girl was as pleased to share those recipes as she was to share the treats.  But one day, said woman brought in a delicious cake reputedly of her own making.  When Marash Girl asked the woman for the recipe, the woman replied, "Oh, no!  I never share my recipes!"

"Enough Is Enough!"

                                     Black Lives Matter on Church Street in Newton Corner
                                                               Photo by Marash Girl

Remembering Aunty Lucy Daghlian and licking the chocolate off mixing spoon

also remembering aunty mogie putting the choereg into the oven just as we walked in the door.  she had obviously arranged it so we would smell the aroma of the choereg cooking!!!

Here's a Secret for Successful Baking

Here's a secret for successful baking.  This may seem obvious, but we typically have so much going on, that we may not take the time to plan ahead!!!!  So here goes with the advice.

First, check your recipe to be sure that you have all the ingredients required.  Next, make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature. That means that if you don't plan ahead, you'll have to use your stove top or microwave oven to slightly heat milk and eggs before adding to the flour mixture.  Try it.  You'll see the difference. . .  and let me know of the results!

I'm a little teapot, short and stout!!!!

I'm a little teapot, short and stout!

Here is my handle, here is my spout.

When I get all steamed up, then I shout!

"Just tip me over, pour me out!"

They taught well in kindergarten in the old days!!! 

All these years later, Marash Girl can still sing the song and dance the dance!!!!

How Jesus Saved Marash Girl From the Drug Culture

Marash Girl knew no one in Cambridge who was not doing drugs.  "Fools," she thought to

to herself.  "Why would anyone want to get hooked on drugs?"  Cigarettes were bad enough!!!  (Although by the grace of God, Marash Girl had managed to avoid tobacco cigarettes as well.) When consistently pressed by those around her, folks who insisted, "But you don't know what a great high you're missing!" . . .   she finally reverted to her faith:  "I get my high from Jesus.  Wanna hear about it?"  And that, as they say, was that!  They never bothered her again!  Apparently they did NOT want to hear about Jesus!!!

"Jesus loves the little children . . . "

Marash Girl's favorite hymn in Sunday School at the United Armenian Brethren Evangelical Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, was taught her by her Sunday School teacher who was a student at Gordon College.  This is how it goes:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world . . .
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world!

The chorus did not go on to explain that Jesus loves the grownups as well . . . red and yellow, black and white . . . although we kids were able to figure that out . . .  Marash Girl's guess is that many grownups could not. . .

Gather Ye Cherries While Ye May!

 l. to r. John and Nisha gather the cherries while they may.  
Photo by Marash Girl

An apple tree purchased in Monson, Massachusetts, 

many years ago grew to be a tall, strong cherry tree!

So . . . What is everybody's least favorite jam?

What is everybody's least favorite jam?  Give up?

A traffic jam!!!!

Riddle again!

Of all the jams in the world . . . strawberry, raspberry, blueberry . . . what is, without a doubt, everybody's LEAST favorite?  A prize for the first best answer!!!!  Give up?  Check in tomorrow!!!

A Light Riddle . . .

Why was the Lighthouse Keeper Crying?

The Lighthouse Keeper was crying because he heard that heavy winds were coming and he knew he lived in a light house!!!

Deep Sea Fishing With Dad in Newburyport

Third grader that she was, Marash Girl tugged very hard on her fishing line, so excited was she that she had a caught a fish; as she tugged, the line with the mackerel on the end of it swung behind her and smacked another fisherman . . . a man fishing on the opposite side of the boat . . . a cold wet smack right on the back of his neck.  The "injured" fisherman came roaring across the boat seeking to punch out his attacker.  Marash Girl's father (toughly muscled and fearless as he was) tried to calmed the fellow, giving him the eye and saying, "She's only a little girl . . . she didn't mean to hurt you.  She just didn't know how hard to pull!"  The man backed off, moved to a different spot on the other side of the large fishing boat . . . far enough away from Marash Girl so that he wouldn't have to feel another wet smack on the back of his neck . . . or have to deal with Marash Girl's father, iron-fisted Peter.  And that, as they say, was that!!!!

Happiness?

"Happiness is an empty dishwasher!" Marion Charkoudian, 1966

Why was the young dandelion crying?

     Why was the young dandelion crying? Because he heard someone calling him yellow!

                                                     Photo by Marash Girl

The old dandelion just looked on wisely.

One of Marash Girl's Favorite Poems . . .One Poem Left from the Old Days

When I Was One-and-Twenty

                          by A.E HOUSMAN                

When I was one-and-twentyI heard a wise man say,

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

       But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies

       But keep your fancy free.”

But I was one-and-twenty,

       No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

       I heard him say again,

“The heart out of the bosom

       Was never given in vain;

’Tis paid with sighs a plenty

       And sold for endless rue.”

And I am two-and-twenty,

       And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

Planting Bulbs???

Planting flower bulbs in your garden?  You'd better sprinkle some hot red pepper in the bottom of every declivity that you dig for your bulb (and cover the red pepper with a light sprinkling of soil), or you'll have no flowers coming up.  Why?  Squirrels and chipmunks, though they love to chew on flower bulbs, don't like hot red pepper!!!

Stuff

"Don't you just love 'stuff'?" chuckled Chuck Bilezikian (Christmas Tree Shop Entrepreneur) one day to his cousin, Marash Girl, as Marash Girl grinned back at him.

Black Lives Matter on Maple Avenue

                                                           Photo by Marash Girl

Newton Corner resident heading for rally in support of Black Lives Matter demonstration day before yesterday on Tremont Street Between Park Street and Waverly Avenue.

Black Lives Matter, Washington, D.C.

                                                                                      Photo Credit: Lorig Charkoudian

                                                                        Photo Credit: Lorig Charkoudian                                                                         

                                                Photo Credit: Lorig Charkoudian

Black Lives Matter, Newton Corner, Massachusetts

                                                       BLACK LIVES MATTER                       
                                      Underwood School, Newton Corner, Massachusetts
                                                           Photo by Marash Girl

No Shoes

Shoes and Socks Abandoned Yesterday
 On Newton Corner Church Steps
Photo by Marash Girl

Marash Girl remembers her dad,  Peter Bilezikian, quoting an old saying . . . don't know if it was from his life in Brighton, Massachusetts, or from his life in Marash, Ottoman Empire.  It went something like this . . . but it was in his native tongue of Armeno-Turkish . . . and not just a saying, but all too real for him.

"I wept that I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet."

"I'm not movin' the truck!"

What is this world coming to?  Little old Marash Girl walked up to the end of her short dead end street to ask a construction worker (one with no company name on his truck) if he would please move  his vehicle from in front of her front porch, the porch on which Marash Girl sits and knits in the sun every afternoon that she has a chance.  She asked as sweetly as she knew how.  His answer, without hesitation: "I'm not movin' the truck!"

What is our world coming to?

#BLM on Maple Avenue

Armenians Continue to Stand for Freedom for All!

ARMENIANS FOR FREEDOM FOR ALL

           
   Marash Girl on right holds sign reading, "Armenians for Freedom for All!"                                       (Boston Common, Martin Luther King Rally, 1965)

       "Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose."

       Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, 19th century French Writer and Critic

                                       "The more things change, the more things stay the same. . ."

#BLM . . . "I CAN'T BREATHE!"

                      Farlow Park, Newton Corner, Massachusetts - "I CAN'T BREATHE!!!"    Photo by Marash Girl

It's been many, many years since Marash Girl demonstrated with Martin Luther King on the Boston Common, Marash Girl carrying a sign which read, "Armenians for Freedom for All"  . . . and yet . . . "The more things change, the more things stay the same????"

Don't Drink the Koolaid!!!

Received a package of Koolaid with my yarn, Koolaid meant to dye my white yarn red, but Koolaid that is sold for a young child to imbibe.  Sadly, the ingredients include citric acid, calcium phosphate, Red Dye # 40, Salt, Artificial Flavor, Artificial Color Blue 1, BHT preservative!!!!  A drink meant for kids?  A dye  for the beautiful white yarn made from bamboo?  There's something wrong with this picture!!!!