Celebrating Karoun's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAROUN DJAN!

Will post photos here tomorrow!

Invite your plants to take a shower

At the end of this long cold winter, especially if your heating system is of the "hot air" variety, you can be sure that all of your indoor plants are covered with dust, no matter how dust-free you think your house is.  Your plants are ready for a nice cool shower.  And that's what they deserve!  Just take your potted plants into the bathroom, place them in your shower stall or your bath tub,  and shower them in a gentle shower with water that is at room temperature.  (Too hot or too cold will be too much of a shock for the plants to endure . . .  no soap please, unless the plants are buggy!)  [Thanks to Susan of Longmeadow for this idea.] 

Alternatively, if you don't have a shower, as soon as the weather warms up, when the weatherman forecasts a gentle rain (no wind), take your potted indoor plants outside for their spring bathing.

You'll be surprised at how your plants will "come alive"!

Snowdrops Under Snow

Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek gála "milk", ánthos "flower")

Yesterday, a friend announced that her Snowdrops were up.  "How could that be?" Marash Girl asked. "All that's up in my garden are the snow drifts.  How can the Snowdrops possibly be higher than the snow drifts?" 

"I planted my Snowdrops at the edge of the tree belt so that when the sidewalk is cleared of snow, the edge of the tree belt is uncovered," Marash Girl's friend replied.

Garden envy reared its ugly head as Marash Girl lamented the fact that she would probably not see her Snowdrops for another year, as her Snowdrops were not planted close enough to the edge of her front garden which was still covered  with two feet of snow!

Note: Snowdrops are often the first flower to appear in the cold spring of New England.

Bramacharya and the Hockey Team

Marash Girl's "in house yoga instructor" will be teaching the concept of "bramacharya" next week to a class of pro hockey players. Bramacharya is commonly translated "celibacy", her daughter explained. [What a crime to womankind, should the team take that concept of celibacy to heart, or to body, as it were!]

Marash Girl begged her daughter not to translate the concept of "bramacharya" as celibacy. 

"Not only will the hockey players turn their backs on yoga," Marash Girl warned, "but think what would happen if the  hockey players [and all young men] did follow that rule . . .  As T.S. Elliot warns in his poem 'The Hollow Men', 

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Marash Girl can't control what her daughter will teach the team, but God willing, they, the hockey players, will reproduce.

Note:  Marash Girl's daughter explained that bramacharya literally means "walking with God" and though it has been traditionally translated to mean celibacy, a more useful interpretation for all of us, dear reader, might be "all things in moderation".

Grandpa Moses' Disappearing Olive Trees

Thanks to Ozcan Gulkesen for the above photo of a grove of olive trees on the north west side of Marash, the photograph taken in 1972. The grove is no longer.  According to folks living in (Kahraman) Marash today, most of the olive groves have been taken down to make way for apartment buildings..

 For years Marash Girl heard the story from her grandfather . . .  and later her father and uncle . . . how Grandpa Moses had planted 100 olive trees in Marash round about 1885, before he left for the United States . . . olive trees that would mature and bear olives in time for his descendants -- his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, his great-great-grandchildren  -- to enjoy.  But when he returned to Marash years later, to marry and have a family, the olive trees had all been cut down.  Not a tree left standing.

Marash Girl wonders if Grandpa Moses had heard the Nasreddin Hodja story that goes (in English) like this.

One day Hodja went out into his garden early in the morning to plant some saplings.  When evening came, he uprooted all of them and took them back into the house.

His wife asked him, "Hodja, what are you doing?"

Nasreddin Hodja answered, "We are living in bad times so I don't want to leave any of my belongings out in the open where someone might steal them!"

[From 202 Jokes of Nasreddin Hodja, Miniature Yayinlari, Istanbul, Turkey.]

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

Kindness goes a long way -- all the way to the United States

One might rightly ask, then (see yesterday's post) how it was that Marash Girl's family was still in Marash in 1919 and 1920, after all the Armenians had been driven out of the city to their death?  Another story of the kindness of their Muslim neighbors.

As Grandpa Peter told it, the muhajjirs that lived next door would warn his mother Yepros when the Turkish gendarmes were planning to scour the neighborhood clean --  clean of Armenians, that is -- warn Yepros to leave her home and move to an Armenian neighborhood that had already been "cleaned out".  The family would stay there until the neighbors -- the muhajjirs -- alerted them that the coast was clear, that they could return to their home, that the gendarmes had left Kumbet (their neighborhood in Marash).

Weaving to Survive

Yesterday evening, Marash Girl attended "Turn of the Screw" performed by the Newton Nomadic Theatre at Gregorian Oriental Rugs in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts.  The play was intense, the actors superb, and the setting (courtesy of Scott Gregorian) far more colorful  than any theatre Marash Girl had ever experienced.

Being surrounded by the oriental carpets brought back a family story of survival in Marash early in the 20th century.  As her father Peter told it . . . .

There she was, his mother -- young Yepros -- with 4 children and a younger sister to care for, her husband Moses in the United States, unable to return to his family in Marash because World War I had broken out.

As Marash Girl's father Peter told the story,  Yepros's uncle (her mother's brother) Ganimian (Marash Girl doesn't remember his first name), concerned, asked Yepros, "What are you going to do? How are you going to support these children? I'll set up a loom in your house, and teach you how to weave so that you and the family can weave cloth and sell it in the marketplace."   As Peter told the story, every member of the family worked at that loom -- he spun thread, the others (Gulenia, Paul, Rosie, Mary and his mother Yepros) did the weaving -- in fact, Aunty Mary Kurtgusian (later Pambookian) apparently caught the hook (and I'm not sure what Peter meant by hook) in her eye and to her dying day had a scar on her eye lid as a reminder of those days! Grandma Yepros sold the cloth in the market place in Marash, and if the cloth was too rough, or had too many errors in it, their Muslim neighbors (Muhajjirs) took the cloth to the countryside to exchange for produce from the gardens of other Muhajjirs.  Grandpa Peter proudly told of how he, then a 6 year old boy, would spin wool into yarn, the yarn that would  be woven into cloth by his mother, his brother Paul, his sister Gulenia and Rosie, and Mary Baju (his mother's sister, though they always thought she was their sister as they called her Mary Sister -- Baju in Turkish means sister).  With the waters coming down from the mountains, and some fruit and vegetables, milk and eggs, (and probably more raw wool to spin into thread/yarn for weaving) coming in from the countryside (thanks to their Muslim neighbors --  see above), the family was minimally able to survive (though apparently when they arrived in this country, they were thinner than thin!)

FROSTPROOF, FLORIDA

Marash Girl packaged the books that had been ordered from her for the day and made her way to the post office, as she did every day.  But this day was different.  When she handed her last package to the clerk at the post office, he began laughing.  
"What's up," Marash Girl asked.  
"This is the first time I'm seeing this!" answered the clerk between chuckles.  "Did you see where this package is going?  The address says Frostproof, Florida!  Is this a joke?" Of course, for those folks in snow-worn Massachusetts, it certainly seemed like a joke. The postal clerk checked to make sure. "It's real!" he exclaimed.

When Marash Girl returned to her office, she checked out Frostproof, Florida on Wikipedia, and this is what she found:

"The name Frostproof was a marketing ploy to convince potential Florida landowners that the town had never had, and never would have, a frost that could destroy the large citrus-driven economy. However, only a couple of years later, a frost killed most of the citrus in Frostproof."  

Oh, the ironies of life.  "Man plans and God laughs!"

Will we really be able to plant our peas on St. Patrick's Day?

When we were little, we used look out the window on a rainy day and sing:  "Rain rain go away; come again some other day. . . Little Johnnie wants to play!"

Today, we are living in the Boston area,  we are looking out our windows and crying, "Snow, snow, go away; come again some other day. . . Grown Up Johnnie wants to plant!"  And we might add, "Grown Up Johnnie wants to plant peas . . . it's almost St. Patrick's Day!"

Where did you say we come from?

From Dr. Michael Joyner, a colleague of Dr. Nisha Charkoudian, comes the following:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/science/study-backs-5th-century-historians-date-for-founding-of-armenia.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Geneticists found Armenians to come from a mixing of populations that occurred from 3000 to 2000 B.C., coincident with the date given by a historian in the fifth century.

On Being Identified As Armenian

Meeting with a playwright from Los Angeles last night, Marash Girl was telling stories from the old days -- stories from the years that she was an ardent member of the Harvard Radcliffe Armenian Club.  Her friend, the playwright, insisted that Marash Girl record the following story on her blog.  So here goes. . . 

Many years ago, Marash Girl met David Balaban, an ardent member of the Harvard Radcliffe Armenian Club, a brilliant young man who had travelled from the Northwest to study at Harvard College (later to become a brilliant and successful lawyer, of course!)  David was Armenian, but unlike the rest of his, he did not have the identifying marker at the end of his name.  He had no ". . .ian".  No one would know, looking at his name, or, for that matter, looking at him, that he was Armenian.  But David soon corrected that problem.

David Balaban submitted application to the courts to change his name from David Balaban to David Balabanian. When he appeared before the judge, (as David tells it), the judge asked him, "Are you sure you want to lengthen your last name?  Everyone who appears before me for a name change wants their name shortened . . . And you want yours lengthened?  Really?"  And, of course, the rest is history.  David Balabanian was Marash Girl's good friend in college . . . one of Marash Girl's and Marash Boy's best friends . . . and he is now one of the best lawyers on the west coast. 

So there, all you guys that changed your names so that no one would know that you were Armenian. . .  Some of us WANT to be Armenian!  See?  Get it?

Glven up on making oatmeal from scratch, have you?

Try again!  Combining the wisdoms of Grandpa Peter and Grandma Jennie, Marash Girl has come up with the solution for the perfect oatmeal for breakfast -- and ready in three minutes.

Buy yourself a tub of old-fashioned oatmeal at the supermarket -- nothing fancy, just plain old fashioned oatmeal.  All the supermarkets package oatmeal under their own labels, but Quaker Oats also still carries the original, old-fashioned oatmeal.

Pour a cup of dry oatmeal into a microwaveable bowl.  Add a cup of whole milk, a 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla, a teaspoon or more (to taste) of brown sugar.  Cook in the microwave for one minute. Open the microwave, remove the bowl of oatmeal, and stir.  If necessary, add more milk.  Repeat several times until the oatmeal is cooked to your liking.  (Marash Boy and Marash Girl like theirs slightly crunchy.)  Serve with freshly sliced bananas and milk.  In about five minutes, you will have a delicious and nutritious breakfast!

Is Marash still a city in Armenia?

A new acquaintance just emailed me asking,  "Is Marash still a town in Armenia?"  How about a thesis on the topic!  This year marks the 100th year commemoration of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1922) by the Turkish government, a genocide that has yet to be recognized and admitted by the perpetrators.  And no, Marash is not a town, but a city, and no, not in Armenia, but in Turkey, and no, there are no Armenians left in Marash.  All of the Armenians' properties (if not their lives) were confiscated by the Turkish government; some of us survived to tell the tale.  Marash is still alive in our hearts -- those of us whose ancestors were born and lived in Marash -- and yes, the city of Marash still exists, but without its Armenian population. 

BTW, Marash is now called Kahraman Marash (Courageous Marash) commemorating the year that the Turks fought the French and there, and finally got rid of us!!!!

Cold yogurt - the best thing for a burn?

After cold water, Marash Girl is told, cold yogurt is the best thing for a burn.  But then, cold madzoon (as she calls yogurt) is the best thing for a bee sting as well . . . Marash Girl learned that factoid one day many years ago on the afternoon that she was to play the piano for an audience of hundreds!

Marash Cycling Team, Sao Paulo Brazil

Paolo Bilezikjian from Sao Paolo, Brazil, submitted this photo to the Bilezikjian family page on Facebook  a photo of his Marash Cyling Team Jersey.  He writes, "The jersey comes with Bilezikjian on the back!"  Note the Lion of Marash on the right, and the words Marash in Armenian on the upper left.  The colors of the jersey, for those of you that don't know, are the colors of the Armenian flag:  Garmir, Gabouyd, Narinchakouyn -- translation: Red, blue and orange (Marash Girl's favorite color).  Come on, family members -- don't you want to run and play in a jersey like this one?

Boston Marathon Runners in the Snow

Boston Marathon Runners in the Snow

Statues  at the corner of

Commonwealth Avenue and Walnut Street, Newton, Massachusetts

Photo by Marash Girl

95th Anniversary of the Heroic Defense of Marash

With Roger Hagopian's documentary MEMORIES OF MARASH playing on the screen at the front of the auditorium, Marashtsis from all over the world, now settled in the Boston area, gathered in Belmont, Massachusetts, this past Sunday, March 1, 2015, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the 95th Anniversary of the Heroic Defense of Marash, a defense that ended with the departure of the French in the middle of the night, their horses' hooves covered with burlap to deaden the sound of their departure, the departure assuring the demise of most of the Armenians in Marash. (This information from eyewitness Stephen Baliozian - his oral history conducted by Marash Girl, the tape now on file at the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, Massachusetts - Stephen Baliozian who was 8 years old at the time of his departure from Marash during the famous snowstorm).

Opening remarks were given by Lalig Musserian; Nvart Kouyoumjian, chairwoman, welcomed the gathering, and Harout Sajonian, accompanied on the piano by Yelena Hakobyan, sang with the assembled the Armenian National Anthem and the Marash Anthem, following which a traditional Hokejash was served.  Blessings and remarks were offered by the Very Reverend Father Andon Atamian,

Entertainment consisted of a Piano Interlude with Yelena Hakobyan at the piano, a recitation of poetry by poet Avik Deirmenjian, and a musical program offered by Antranig Boynerian and Shan't Der Torossian.  Closing remarks were offered by Lalig Musserian.

The event was sponsored by the Union of Marash Armenians, Watertown Chapter; the hokejash was preceded by a memorial mass.

Peter Bilezikian remembered.  He told of how the Armenians, now few in number, unarmed, their young men having been taken into the Ottoman army (and often forced to dig graves into which they would soon be placed), from these defenseless people, the Turkish soldiers demanded arms; the Armenians had no arms to give. The Turkish soldiers proclaimed that they knew that the Armenians had arms, and if the Armenians did not give up their arms, they would be thrown into jail.  So most of the population, unarmed, had to go out and buy guns to give up to the Turkish soldiers in order to save themselves from certain death in Turkish prisons.

Such a sad story that Marash Girl really doesn't want to go there . . .

Peter also told of the Marashtsis gathering here in Boston --  how they gathered to be together, to remember, to ask of the whereabouts of their loved ones . . . where were they? had they survived? The moderator could not get the attention of the gathered amidst all the hubbub, and so he tried the following words, the words Peter remembered with a smile to his dying day; the words Marash Girl remembers Peter quoting throughout his many years of life.

"Quiet, please!  Quiet, please!  Pretty soon, by and by, we gonna have a the ice-a cream."

Although there was just as much hubbub this past Sunday, it was all joyous, and no, there was no ice cream!

Dignataries attending the event pose for photographer at culmination of Heroic Defense of Marash event held at the Holy Cross Armenian Church in Belmont..  l. to r. Elizabeth Cerda Koutoujian (Mrs. Peter Koutoujian, Jr.), The Very Rev. And on Atamian of the Holy Cross Armenian Church, Nevart Kouyoumjian (Master of Ceremonies), Peter Koutoujian, Jr., ( current Sheriff of Middlesex County, Massachusetts and a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives), Mrs. Peter (Connie Cassidy) Koutoujian, Sr.; front row are the children of Mr. & Mrs. Peter Koutoujian, Jr. -  l. to r.  Isabel, Cristian,  and  Peter Koutoujian

Peter Bilezikian remembered Cornelia "Connie" (Cassidy) Koutoujian when she was a little girl, as he used repair her family's furnace. He would be so pleased to see her with her husband and children at the Marashtsi events in Watertown, Massachusetts.  Peter Bilezikian would often recount his memories of Peter Koutoujian, Jr.'s grandfather as both Peter Bilezikian and Peter Koutoujian's grandfather were young boys in Marash together, and later settled in the Boston area.

MAP OF MARASH, 1920

Marash1920- Osman Koker Bu, avukat Yusuf Özbaş'ın 1980'li yıllarda hazırladığı harita olmalı. Burada da önemli ayrıntılar var..jpg

Click on map to enlarge, or drag off onto your desktop and enlarge!   Just for kicks! (Marash Boy has made this map the wallpaper on his computer!)  at #25 is the Bilezikcian residence. Note all of the churches. Kumbet (#28) where my great grandfather Sarkis' home was located

The map was made in 1920 . . .  but by 1920, very few (if any) Armenians were left in Marash!

Have a good day!

Brighton, Massachusetts. South side of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Photo by Karoun Charkoudian taken while Marash Girl was driving into Boston during rush hour.
Who would ever wish a bad day to anyone?

Condolences on the passing ofYaşar Kemal, master Turkish novelist and strident political critic

Condolences on the passing of master novelist and strident political critic Yaşar Kemal.  His book, Memet My Hawk, wrote of life in the Çukurova, "a geographic, economic and cultural region in south-central Turkey."  There is no question in Marash Girl's mind that her grandfather, Moses Bilezikian (in Marash his name was spelled Movses Bilezikdjian) rode in the mountains of Marash  and surrounding areas protecting travelers from marauding bandits with his Kurdish friends, among whom counted the grandfathers of Yaşar Kemal.

William Tapply, in DEAD WINTER, provides a smile for a Sunday morning

Whiling away the winter doldrums, Marash Girl has been whipping through (at the rate of about one book a day) the William G. Tapply's murder mysteries -- novels set in the Boston area and sometimes Maine, featuring Brady Coyne a lawyer and recreational fisherman. In DEAD WINTER (an appropriate title for the past month of February), Brady Coyne's client, a pastor who lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, proposes the following riddle:

Question:  "Know how to make Holy Water?"

Answer:  "By boiling the hell out of it!"

A thank you to the family for past kindnesses

Sevan Sisserian wrote on Facebook:
"Hello, I am not from the Bilezikjian family . But very grateful for their kindness. 
When my grandmother, her sister and my great grandmother escaped from Marash [during the genocide] they stayed with the Bilezikjian family in Aleppo until they were able to be on their own."  May God bless all of those who helped their "brothers and sisters" in time of need.

160,000 Page Views

Today Marash Girl celebrates the 160,000th page view!  A big thank you to my faithful readers!

Turkish Man from Aintab Dreams of Return of Armenians

Facebook post by

Robin Thomson

I DEMAND MY ARMENIAN NEIGHBOURS BACK IN AİNTAB

• 

  Robin Thomson Thats my dream.Thats in my heart.I have been grown in armenian quarter in Aintab.Whenever I see armenian homes I dream on that I wish they could come back here again and we could be neighbours forever.

  
  

  Would that all of his countrymen felt the same way!

  
  

  N.B. Marash Girl's maternal grandparents hail from Aintab (now known as Gaziaintab), a city in southeast Turkey and "among the oldest continiuosly inhabited cities in the world" . . . Yester Bosnian and Garabed Vartanian but were fortunate enough to see the "handwriting on the wall" and left Aintab very early in the 20th century, before the mass slaughter (1908) and before the genocide (1915-1922). They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts

  
  

Kahraman Marash posts 1919 Map of Marash on Facebook

Osman Koker, editor of 100 yil önce Türkiye'de Ermeniler Orlando Carlo Calumeno Koleksiyonu'ndan kartpostallarla,  comments, "The original version of this map is Armenian.  It was drawn by an Armenian Marashtsi physician Harootion Der Ghazarian in Aleppo after 1920.  Krikor H. Kaloosdian used this version of the map in his book (Marash gam Kermanig yev Heros Zeytoon, published in Newyork in 1934) for the first time.  And Stanley E. Kerr redrew and translated the map into English and published it in his book (The Lions of Marash) in

1973."

Banners Celebrating Genocide Displayed in Turkey

Armenian Weekly, Feb. 23, 2015

Banners Celebrating Genocide Displayed in Turkey

Anti-Armenian Protests Held in Istanbul Anti-Armenian banners celebrating the Armenian Genocide have been displayed in cities around Turkey. Meanwhile, on Feb. 22, two protests were held under the banner of “Demonstrations Condemning the Khojali Genocide and Armenian Terror,” in the Kadikoy and Beyoglu districts in Istanbul. Some protesters chanted anti-Armenian slogans, while others invoked the name of Ogun Samast, the ultra-nationalist youth who gunned down Agos Editor Hrant Dink in 2007. SO, DEAR READER, WHAT SAY YOU TO THIS CELEBRATORY DISPLAY?

Charles Pambookian, Iwo Jima, and The Boston Symphony

2/23/45 Raising Flag Iwo Jima - Photo credit: Joe Rosenthal, Assoc. Press

This month is the anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February - 26 March 1945), one of the bloodiest battles in World War II.  Marash Girl's knowledge of this battle is dim, but the aftermath of the battle in the person of her uncle, Charlie Pambookian, was real.  Uncle Charlie, a tall, handsome man, was always humble, always quiet.  He walked with a slight limp.  When Marash Girl asked, he said the limp was caused by shrapnel in his leg, shrapnel incurred during the Battle of Iwo Jima, World War Two.  He enlisted as a member of the United States Marines during World War II.  He and his company were the first to land on the island of Iwo Jima, and as he was immediately wounded, he was taken off the island.  Most of the rest of his company never survived. Uncle Charlie told Marash Girl that for years after that, he would sit in the back row of Symphony Hall whenever they had their rehearsals.  Just sit there and listen to the music.  It was the only way he had to deal with what today we know as PTSD and survivor's guilt.  He was born in Newton, Massachusetts, son of Marash Girl's grandmother's sister, Mary Kurtgusian Pambookian and her husband Jack (Hagop) Pambookian, both survivors of the Armenian Genocide from Marash.  Uncle Charlie grew up in Newtonville, Massachusetts, living most of his life on Albemarle Road, and attended Newton Public Schools. Charles Pambookian (born on August 26, 1924)  passed away at his summer home in   S. Harpswell, Maine, in August of 1987 at the age of 63. Uncle Charlie, we admire you! We love you! We miss you!

Don't watch the news!

The secret to being happy?

Don't read the newspapers! Don't watch the news!

Many years ago, Grandpa Peter was having a problem getting to sleep at night.

His doctor told him, "If you're having trouble getting to sleep, don't watch the 11 o' clock news!"

Grandpa Peter stopped watching the 11 o'clock news. It worked like a charm!

New Englander heads for Iceland to get warm!

The cold and the wind continue, so harsh at 9 degrees fahrenheit, that even unfriendly passersby can't help but comment on it.  Marash Girl addressed one such person as she shivered her way from the parking lot to the post office:  "Cold enough for ya?" she grinned.  His reply: "My friend just flew to Iceland to get warm.  It's warmer up there!"

Old Fashioned Tap Bell Tempts Visitors Young and Old . . .

"Please Ring Bell For Service" - Notice Tap Bell on left side of photo.

Newton Centre Post Office . . . "This old fashioned tap bell is so much fun to ring, even when you're at your station! I'll bet a little kid would be tempted just to take it home with him," spouted a customer to the postal clerk behind the counter.  "But his mother would return it that same day!" answered the postal clerk.  "She wouldn't be able to stand her son's constant ringing of the bell!"

Marash Girl hasn't seen one of these tap bells since she was in elementary school!  In fact, she didn't even know she knew the name for it, but when she typed "tap bell"  into an internet search (because you have to tap it to make it ring), up it came! The tap bells are available from any number of restaurant and office supply stores.  She's wondering as she writes . . . "Now let's see . . . who can I gift that little bell to . . ."  

Starbucks Ad Raises More Than Balloons

If readers spot more of these posters, please alert Starbucks customer service at 800.782.7282.

A Starbucks poster raised more than balloons when it pictured women wearing Armenian taraz,  one  woman carrying a takeout cup of Starbucks coffee, all of the women looking happily up into a sky full of balloons which sported the Turkish star and crescent.  The ad which raised the ire of the Armenian community,  has since, Marash Girl is told, been removed, but Marash Girl is dismayed to observe  that after 100 years, the public, in the person of a Starbucks public relation firm, does not know the truth about the Armenian Genocide! Can you imagine such a photo of Jewish folks looking happily up at balloons covered with German swastikas?

The faux pas reminded Marash Girl of the day she introduced herself, giving her full name ending in "ian".  "What kind of a name is that?"  asked the new acquaintance.  "Armenian," Marash Girl  replied, grinning.   "Oh, I know!" said the new acquaintance proudly.  "You're Turkish!"

How many millionaires in Newton, Massachusetts?

So Marash Girl was standing in a long line at the post office, joshing with the old guy standing behind her.  Did you hear what the Newton Patch reported?  Newton Has 1,136 Millionaires.  Can you believe it?  Oh, he said, Newton has more than that.  Every house in Newton is worth at least a million dollars... so how many millionaires is that?

HALEP VALİSİNİN MARAŞ ZİYARETİ - The Aleppo Vali's visit to Marash, circa early 20th century

Never seen picture of Marash Boy's relative Hagop Agha Khirlakian (relative to Kalpakians -- a medical family of doctors, dentists and pharmacists, on Nishan Charkoudian's maternal side). Osman Koker

believes that the Mutassarif who was so supportive to the Armenians  until the one day he disappeared was not the Mutassarif in this photo, but rather was Ismail Kemal Bey who was Mutassarif from 1915 to 1917 in Marash.

HALEP VALİSİNİN MARAŞ ZİYARETİ The Aleppo Vali's visit to Marash, probably early 20th Century.
Photo Credit: Kahraman Marash

More photos of Sunday's blizzard

Corner of Maple Circle and Maple Avenue.  Where's the Corner?

In background: steeple of church designed by H. H. Richardson. 

Newton woman rescues cat from certain drowning

Yesterday morning, on a day when snow piles were higher than most 6th graders are tall, a Newton woman, still barefoot in her robe, unwittingly let her cat out for its daily routine.  As the cat disappeared under the snow drifts, the woman leaped into the 0 degree fray, unshod, into 4 foot high drifts, and saved her beautiful black cat from what would have been certain death.

Captured on camera by Marash Girl.

Little Quail Sends Coals to Newcastle

Marash Girl received this photo yesterday from Little Quail and the little quails on Little Quail's birthday . . . celebrating in Western Maryland what we in Massachusetts would call no snow at all!

But then, again, they couldn't very well cross country ski in this:

Photo taken facing southwest on Maple Avenue at 7:30 A.M. in the midst of a blizzard!

Photo credit:  God

Happy Birthday, Little Quail!

Happy Birthday, Little Quail!  We love you on Valentine's Day and every day!  Have fun cross-country skiing!  Just think!  If you were here in Massachusetts, all you'd have to do would be to walk outside, strap on your skis, and go!

 

Note: Public Domain Photo

The Icing on the Cake

Friend:  Why do you think your father almost made it to 100?

Marash Girl:  He never ate the icing on the cake!

Friend:  Huh?  He never ate the ICE on the cake?  What?

Marash Girl:  No! Get your mind out of the snow drifts . . . .
He never ate the ICING on the cake!

Don't forget the brandy!

As Marash Boy headed out on foot into the snow covered wilderness 8 miles west of Boston, he called back, "If you have to send the St. Bernard dogs out after me, don't forget the brandy!"

He forgot to add, "And make that Armenian brandy!"

Diggin' out before the next snow storm hits . . .

"Diggin' out before the next snow storm hits . . .  "               Photo by Marash Girl

And more to come . . .

12 noon, Freb. 10, 2015 - "And More to Come!"

Front loader and dump truck at Maple Circle and Maple Avenue, Newton Corner - A moment to be thankful for!                                               Photo by Marash Girl

Another snowy day, eh? Well, not in Florida!

Photo credit: Posted on Facebook by Adam Putnam - 7 Feb 2015
"Get your Valentine a flat of Fla berries!"

Post submitted by  Sistah Sarah, in Georgia . . . "where we won't have strawberries till March."

Graffiti along the Massachusetts Turnpike

Down to a crawl, commuting into Boston on the Massachusetts Turnpike this week, passenger Karoun managed to snap this photo.  What in the world is the "artist" trying to say, and how in the world did the "artist" manage to paint it without being arrested? The graffiti has been there for months, untouched.

Snow, snow, and more snow!

Marash Girl has snow fatigue; so rather than writing more about snow and more snow forecast for the next three days, let her take a break.

Walking through the halls of Brigham and Women’s Hospita recentlyl, heading for a routine exam, Marash Girl and Marash Boy walked  passed the fertility clinic.

 “Lucky we never had to go to a fertility clinic,” commented Marash Girl

Well, if ever we had had such problems, we could have gotten a moska for you to wear!

(See Marash Girl blog, January 13, 2014:   marashgirl.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-moska-and-grandma-yepros.html

Happy Birthday, Massachusetts!

Today, February 6, 2015, marks the 227th birthday of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts! On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth "state" to join the Union.  

How will you celebrate?  

Perhaps a dinner at the Union Oyster House, Boston's oldest restaurant still in operation . . . 

How about a cup of coffee and a Boston Creme Donut at Dunkin' Donuts, an American global doughnut company and coffeehouse chain based in Canton, Massachusetts and founded in 1950 by William Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts?

Or a lobster roll, or better yet a bowl of New England Clam Chowder, or a freshly prepared piece of codfish or scrod, as some in Massachusetts prefer to call the Massachusetts' state fish.

Toast Massachusetts with a glass of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, Polar Gingerale (one of the few brands of gingerale made without preservatives!) or Sam Adams Beer,  while you and the kids crunch on Cape Cod Potato Chips.  And for dessert there are always Fig Newtons (created in Newton, Massachusetts) and Toll House chocolate chip cookies (originally created and served by Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield in the 1930's at their Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts.

And after all of that (or perhaps before), play a game of basketball, a game originating in Springfield, Massachusetts (Basketball originated in 1891 when a future Presbyterian minister named James Naismith (1861-1939) was assigned to teach a physical education class at a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. . . [From the internet]

Massachusetts Congratulates Victorious New England Patriots

The Boston Patriots greet their fans as they parade down Boston's major streets!

Confetti flew through the cold winter air over Boston's streets yesterday welcoming home  the 

victorious Boston Patriots!

Snow banks provide a resting place for the confetti that rained down on Boston's streets yesterday, welcoming home the victorious Boston Patriots.

Photos by Karoun Charkoudian who comments as follows:

First photo: Team going by in the duck tour vehicles. Teammates connecting with audience, and as excited as they were.  Cheerleading squad.  Photos 2 & 3:  Red white and blue confetti covered all of the snowbanks. General mood:  Everyone was so happy. Loud sound system and dancing.

Massachusetts Residents Suffer From Cabin Fever

Snow expected tonight, and again on Monday.  Being snowed in can wear on the nerves!  As cabin fever sets in, and folks become more and more frazzled, Marash Girl is reminded of one of her mother's favorite sayings:

Let's live in peace, not in pieces!

Blooms brave the Massachusetts snow!

Here in Massachusetts, the news is snow and more snow.  Folks have not been able to drive down Maple Avenue for 24 hours!  Nonetheless,t the flowers are  blooming in the east window of our kitchen!

MEMORIES OF MARASH: Roger Hagopian airs latest version of his documentary at ALMA, Watertown, Massachusetts; New England Patriots Win Super Bowl

New England Patriots Win Super Bowl In perhaps the most dramatic Super Bowl ending ever, the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 28-24, in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday. . . Wall Street Journal Massachusetts native Roger Hagopian airs latest version of MEMORIES OF MARASH at ALMA (Armenian Museum of America, Watertown, Massachusetts.)  In perhaps the most dramatic version ever made so far of  "Memories of Marash",  filmmaker Roger Hagopian defeated the denialists on Super Bowl Sunday with his latest version of the tragic story of how the Marash Armenians, those who survived the genocide, were forced out of their ancestral homeland.  To see an earlier version of this film, go to Youtube and type in Memories of Marash: The Legacy of a Lost Armenian Community (2002). The latest version of MEMORIES OF MARASH is for sale on DVD; just email Roger Hagopian to order:  RogerHagop@aol.com

Gurnet Island, Plymouth, Massachusetts

January, 2015:  This lone seagull guards Gurnet Island, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Photo by Marash Girl