On The Street Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

                                                                                        Photo Credit:  KarounCharkoudian©2022 

                                                                                                      Photo Credit:  KarounCharkoudian©2022 

                                                                The Irish Ale House in Springfield, Massachusetts, 

                                         has painted four-leaf clovers on its sidewalk in celebration of St. Patrick's Day!

Karoun On the Connecticut River. . .

"We were on a team building trip. We went north on the Connecticut River from Brunelles Marina to Northampton and back again." Photo credit: Tia Altman

First Christmas Tree of the Season

                             Springfield, Massachusetts:  Quadrangle,  Dr. Seuss Museum

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Springfield, MA:

Springfield, Massachusetts       Elina & Iffar show their appreciation for Dr. Seuss!
                                                                                                Photo by Marash Girl

And yet another family link . . . Dylan Marie is celebrating Dr. Seuss Day at her Day Care, BRIGHT HORIZONS,  in New York City (although its headquarters are right around the corner in Watertown, Massachusetts!)

The Barns of Western Massachusetts

The barns of Western Massachusetts housed not only the animals, but the tramps who walked in from the train station in the cold of winter -- no longer could they live out in the woods -- they needed a warm place to stay, a place warmed by the animals in the barn, and, if the farmer's wife was kind, she would invite the man (women were never seen as tramps in Western Massachusetts) . . . the farmer's wife would invite the tramp in to eat at the family table.

Or, as Medzmama experienced in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, the tramps would come to the back door and ask for food, food which she would always gladly give them, as she had experienced hunger and loss in her youth during the "aksoroutioun", known today as the Genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.  She had tramped, as it were, not in the cities, but into the deserts where the problem was not only to keep warm (during the nights), but to keep hydrated during the days, to keep from getting sunstroke and heat stroke.  Oh, what our parents/grandparents experienced was far more than the tramps, for our parents had to care for those around them -- they were not alone to do what they would with their lives -- they were a part of a family, if only the human family, the Armenian family that was becoming smaller every day from the ravages of hunger and thirst and disease and hopelessness.  

Now how did Marash Girl ever get here from thinking about the barns in winter in Western Massachusetts?

Experience the Vibe with Karoun in Springfield, Massachusetts!

                     On seeing the above, Marash Boy commented, "Your acting career has begun!"

MEN CAN COOK: Greater Springfield's fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity

MEN CAN COOK: Greater Springfield's fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity chaired by Karoun Charkoudian

Folks from the "West Coast" of Massachusetts as well as from the West Coast of the United States enjoyed "tipping" the waiter at the hilarious Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser on the evening of May 2 in the Elks Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Above: Supporting Greater Springfield's Habitat for Humanity

Dr. Seuss: From Springfield, Massachusetts, to Wall Street, New York City

Yesterday, while Massachusetts was celebrating democracy by voting in the primary elections, the children in Day Care on Pine Street, (just around the corner from Wall Street) New York City, and children all across America were celebrating Dr. Seuss!

Hillary Clinton Campaigning Yesterday in Springfield, Massachusetts

Congressman Richard E. Neal (locally known as Richie Neal) (left) introduces Hillary Clinton (right) in Springfield, Massachusetts, yesterday morning.  

Photo by Karoun Charkoudian

Smoking In Marash

Dr. George Charkoudian (cousin to Marash Boy on his father's side, cousin to Marash Girl on his mother's side) was a teenager in Springfield, Massachusetts, when, hoping to be allowed to begin smoking, he asked his father Karekin (born in Marash, fled Marash in the snowstorm of 1920), "Pa, when did you start smoking?"

His father's answer: "Smoking what?"

Çek bakhiim!

"Çek bakhiim!"  Nishan chuckled as he offered the plate of chi kufte to his guests at the dining room table at 17 Dearborn Street.  

"Çek bakhiim!" chuckled Marash Boy as he quoted his father, offering dolma to Murat at the dinner table on Maple Avenue.   

Murat laughed.  "You're supposed to say that when you're offering me a drink of whiskey from a bottle.  You know!  Tip the bottle up and "chug" (in English) or "çek" in the Turkish of Marash!

"Oh," exclaimed Marash Boy.  "So that's why my father would chuckle every time he offered the platter of pilaf to the guests at our dining room table with the words, "Çek bakhiim!" He was playing on the phrase that he always used on Wilbraham Mountain when he offered a drink to his buddies straight from the bottle!"

Get it right!

Reminiscing, Marash Girl pondered aloud, "What was it they used to say at Day Jr. High?  "Wake up and die right!"

"Oh, no," replied Marash Boy. " It was 'Wake up and fly right!'"

"Not at Day Jr. High!"

The kids at Buckingham Jr. High in Springfield, Massachusetts, must have been a lot nicer than the kids at Day Jr. High in Newton, Massachusetts, way back then!

In any case, there was no kindness intended when the kids in the 1940's and 1950's corrected each other!

Oud Repair, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1953

Again an email.  This time from a friend who recently acquired a family heirloom -- the oud her mother had brought with her from Syria, soon after the deportation and mass murders that were a part of the planned genocide of the Armenian people by the Turkish government.

Marash Girl's friend writes, "This is a picture of the writing inside my oud. When I was very little, my mother would play this oud and sing.  My uncle from Springfield would take it out when he played his violin etc.  Everyone in the family and extended family knew my mother had an oud. 

Pete Roberts was able to get between the design covering the writing.  I am so excited!  His son-in-law majored in Byzantium history and will be teaching at Columbia.  He lived in Aleppo where I think my mother bought this oud.  …The mystery continues……"

Marash Boy (a Middle East scholar in his own right) replies, "The Arabic translates: 'My work (product) George Khayik (Khayyak) in Aleppo 1924.'

 As interesting is the label of the repair in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Court House Place, a row of artisan shops, in 1953.  My sister and I had our violins, as did all violin owners in the Commonwealth, repaired by Raoul A Ricard."

Charkoudian Drugs, Springfield, Massachusetts

"When we were growing up, after they learned I was Armenian, folks would ask me if my father was a rug merchant.  Did you get that?" Marash Girl asked Marash Boy.

Marash Boy replied without hesitation. "No. Everybody in Springfield knew that the Charkoudians sold drugs -- they were drug merchants."

Both Marash Girl and Marash Boy wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Did you know that there's an Armenian community in Ireland? 
See  http://www.armenians.ie

Dinosaur at the Springfield Science Museum

 A visit to the Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, 

created more excitement than Marash Girl had bargained for!

Springfield, Massachusetts' Tech High, Class of 1954, meet again after 60 years!

All women, the "Big Band" entertains Springfield and the Class of '54 on Saturday night at the Springfield Armory.

Springfield Tech Class of '54 picnic at King Philip's Stockade, Forest Park, Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

 It took Marash Boy an hour to find the place, though he grew up not two miles from King Philip's Stockade.  When Marash Girl asked him why he couldn't find the place, he said,  "All the guys used to go necking there in high school: I never did!"  Did Marash Girl believe him?

The class had Sunday lunch at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Page from Tech High 1954 Yearbook

Excerpt from Tech High 1954 Yearbook

Black Squirrel in Stearns Park

The very first black squirrel that Marash Girl has ever seen paused long enough for her to snap this photo.  Where was Marash Girl?  Not in Newton Corner, not on Wilbraham Mountain, but in Stearns Square in the very heart of Springfield, Massachusetts, now Springfield's club quarter, right across from the original location of Reliable Shoe Repair, Marash Boy's father's cobbler shop from 1919 to 1963.

Still thinking about Easter . . .

Marash Girl remembers the first Armenian hymn she ever learned as a child, (perhaps the only one?)
taught her when she was very young by her Uncle Vartan (Rev. Vartan Bilezikian).  Here it is . . .

Allelujah, allelujah; hisous noren bidi ka, bidi ka . . .
ալելւոյայ, ալելւոյայ: Հիսուս նօռեն պիտի զա, պիտի զա
Allelujah, allelujah; hisous noren bidi ka.
ալելւոյայ, ալելւոյայ: Հիսուս նօռեն պիտի զա:

It came in handy yesterday when the priest at St. Gregory's Armenian Apostolic Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, (the church in which Marash Boy and Marash Girl were married), asked the congregation what Easter meant to them!  Marash Girl could answer, Հիսուս նօռեն պիտի զա:


Translation?

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus is coming, is coming again!
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!  Jesus is coming again!

Sleeping through breakfast . . .

Breakfasting in Springfield, Massachusetts, having wended her way down to the corner breakfast place through yesterday morning's sleet and snow and fog and cold, Marash Girl noticed that there was a fellow sleeping in the corner of the coffee shop.  Feeling a bit uncomfortable about having breakfast while a stranger was sleeping directly across from her, she thought she'd  better report the occurrence to the management.  The management immediately walked over to the corner, took a look at the sleeping man, and reported, "Oh, he's a regular," returning to his managing with no concern whatsoever.

A regular what? Marash Girl wondered, as she turned to take a sip of her coffee.

Dunkin' Donuts, 1950

Having coffee across the bridge yesterday, Marash Boy called attention to the vintage photo on the wall.  "There's still a donut shop that looks just like that in West Springfield, Massachusetts," he said.  "Without the vintage cars parked in front, of course!"