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