Tiny human of Iran

Jeg er en lad blogger for tiden. Det er primært fordi jeg ikke laver noget blogværdigt; fx kom jeg i weekenden til at falde i vinflasken både fredag og lørdag, og det var mægtigt, men generelt ikke blog-egnet :-)

Men det går godt. Med mig, altså. Mit hus roder, og jeg var vist lidt sent på den med at sætte kartofler, og en af de nyindkøbte jordbærplanter er vist død, men det går godt. Jeg genså en gammel bekendt her i weekenden og da vi var igennem den rituelle "hvor er vi så henne i livet nu"-snak, var det jænne gu'e ting der faldt mig ind. Jeg er glad om morgenen, når jeg altså sådan er ved at være vågen, og glæder mig til at tage på arbejde. Jeg er lykkelig (naturligvis) når jeg kører til og fra stationen i Lille Blå. Og jeg glæder mig til at komme hjem til mit lille hus igen om eftermiddagen.  Det er næsten uhyggeligt, og jeg er egentlig lidt ræd for at jinx'e det, når jeg sådan siger højt, at jeg har det Godt. Nemesis, Hybris, og alt det der I ved nok.

I får lige endnu en mini-serie fra Iran. Denne gang af en lille pige jeg mødte uden for en grønthandler. Hun ville gerne på facebook :-)

@ N ~ I have been remiss. Again. Sorry for the radio silence (not the first time, certainly not the last).

As usual, half of the excuse is the usual. Sleep, eat, commute, work, lather-rinse-repeat. Also, at the weekend, when I was supposed to be doing something bloggable, I fell into a bottle of wine (along with some great company), and whilst it was thoroughly enjoyable it wasn't really suitable for the blog. What happens around the fire pit stays around the fire pit.

I saw an old acquaintance and when we had the whole catching-up-on-the-last-15-years talk, I was really pleased to find that everything I had to say about my life (as per 30 April 2014) was positive. I'm happy when I wake up (once I'm actually awake, that is); I actually look forward to my working day; I am still truly, madly, deeply in love with my Little Blue Car; and I really look forward to returning to my little old house at the end of the day.  So now, having said all those things, I am of course terrified of jinxing it :-)

Instead, you get to meet this little person. She was standing on a stool outside a small green grocer's while her parents were shopping. I thought she looked so cute and I had just learned the Farsi word for photos (mainly because I had heard it in so many sentences related to me, as in "yes, she takes many photos", hee hee), so I was kind of-sort of able to ask her mum if I could take her picture.

Oh yes!  Both mummy and daddy got to work immediately, making sure she looked picture perfect:

And then she struck a pose:

Such a cutie pie  :-)   

Bum gardening

Yes. Bum gardening.

My favourite garden discipline. Which basically means you're sitting leisurely on your bum, enjoying the sunshine and the bird song, while you're pulling up weeds.

It beats meditation, hands down, and is also known as "dirt therapy".


I posted about this on facebook earlier today and a bit later it struck me that I haven't really come across this in any of the gardening books I've devoured over the years. Could it be that I am a first-mover here? Should I copyright it, take a year off to write a book about it, and become a millionaire??  (@N ~ we'll split the profits)

...

If you are not the kind of person who enjoys digging the soil, neighbour cat is here to demonstrate other ways of enjoying a garden:

Jeg skrev om "bum gardening" på facebook i dag. Altså - havearbejde som foregår siddende på måsen mens man hiver ukrudt op og - ganske gratis, uden assistance af meditationsguruer eller mindfulness coaches - lader tankerne strømme frit i hovedet.

Hvad skal det mon hedde på dansk?  Jeg kan ikke lige komme på et ord, som falder i min smag. Hjælp søges.

I øvrigt slog det mig, at jeg ikke er stødt på fænomenet i nogen af de havebøger jeg har læst gennem tiden. Og det er jo ellers det vigtigste overhovedet i en have - at hygge sig i den.  Hyggen behøver forresten slet ikke at involvere egentligt arbejde. Se bare nabokat demonstrere ....

Sprogblomster

Har været på påske-visit hos familien Hittemis. Er blevet kravlet på, tvangsindlagt til leg, og udsat for verdens største knus - alt sammen af min tre-årige Hitteniece. Tre-årige hjerner er sære, men fascinerende. De skifter konstant mellem en himmelråbende mangel på logik - og en helt overdreven udvisning af samme. Fx har hun været på besøg på en gård hvor de red på heste. I den anledning var hun iført "kasket-cykelhjelm". Altså ridehjelm, men totalt logisk beskrivelse hvis man ikke lige kendte dét ord. 

Hun præsenterede også sine dukker for mig. Den ene hedder Ruth! Er det bare mig, eller er det ikke et spøjst navn til en dukke? Ruth blev introduceret med både for- og efternavn. Den anden dukke hedder bare Småkage :-)

På et tidspunkt kaldte jeg hende (ikke dukken, altså) for "yndlings-niecen". Senere på aftenen spurgte hun sin mor hvorfor Tante Tine havde kaldt hende for sin yndlings-næse :-)

Ganz fantastisch. Turen bød også på fødselsdagsvisit hos nu 94-årig mormor samt indtagelse af en hel flaske portvin. Det her påskeferie er lige til at holde til ...

        zzzzzzzz.......

Have been visiting friends with kids. Am endlessly fascinated by how 3-yr-old brains manage to combine a complete lack of reason with the most baffling yet impeccable logic. Alas - most of the linguistic acrobatics are un-translatable :-(  sorry

Am off work this week. Plans involve gardening + perhaps a mini road trip with my family. We'll see where we end up. Happy Easter!!

Posted from iPhone 

So, what's with the whole New Year in March thing?

Min ferie i Iran faldt meget belejligt sammen med det persiske nytår - som tidligere nævnt er vi nu i år 1393. Nytåret fejres ved forårsjævndøgn og kaldes Norouz, hvilket lodret oversat betyder Ny Dag.  Det er en rigtig forårsfejring, og en af de allervigtigste "komponenter" er Haft Seen bordet, så det skal vi en tur forbi nu.

Hurtig opsummering: Haft betyder 7, Seen er bogstavet S, så på bordet er der 7 ting som starter med S som symboliserer forskellige ting for det nye år.  Jeg så dog nogle borde hvor jeg helt sikkert talte mere end 7 ting, så man kan godt fortolke det lidt frit. Nedenfor er et udvalg af "S'er" + nogle andre ting som gerne skal med på bordet.

@ N ~ I think I promised you a walk through the Iranian "Haft Seen" table which is an essential part of their New Year's celebrations, and that is what we are going to do today. The Persian New Year is celebrated at the spring equinox and it is called Norouz which translates directly as New Day.

Haft means 7 and Seen is the letter S - so, basically (as I wrote before), the table is decorated with seven things that all start with S and all symbolise something special for the new year.

To be honest, on quite a few tables I spotted more than 7 s'es so you can "customise" this quite a bit I think :-)    The list below also has more than seven items on it ... and there are a few extras which also go on the table.

Pari's Haft Seen table

Goltala's Haft Seen table

(a more manageable size for someone like me :-)

Goltala's Grandma's Haft Seen table

Haft Seen display at a café in Tehran

First thing on the list is the SABZEH - sprouts. Usually wheat, but also sometimes lentils or mung beans or something like that. This symbolises rebirth.

SABZEH

spirede hvedekerner eller bønner,

som symboliserer genfødsel

Then there is SEEB, apples, which symbolise beauty and health. Apologies for the bad pic.

SEEB - æbler, som symboliserer skønhed og

helbred. Fotografen beklager billedkvaliteten.

Next up is SENJED which is some sort of dried fruit (symbolises love), SERKEH - vinegar (symbolises age and patience), and SOMAGH - sumac, a type of spice (the sunrise)

SENJED - en slags tørret frugt som symboliserer kærlighed

SERKEH - eddike (i gamle dage var det vist vin, men

det er ikke lige sagen nutildags) som symboliserer

alder(dom) og tålmodighed

SOMAGH - et krydderi, som symboliserer solopgangen

Then we have SAMANOO which is a kind of sweet creamy "pudding" made from wheat germ -I think- (symbolises affluence), SIR - garlic, pronounced [seer] (symbolises medicine), and SEKKEH - coins (symbolise wealth/prosperity)

SAMANOO - en cremet sød sag, lavet af spirede

hvedekerner (jeg har ikke helt forstået hvordan), som

symboliserer velstand

SIR - hvidløg; symboliserer medicin 

SEKKEH - mønter, som symboliserer rigdom

Other things you may like to have on your Haft Seen table: the Koran. A book of poems by Hafez. Candles. A mirror. Flowers. Decorated eggs. And GOLD FISH!!

Du kan også dekorere dit Haft Seen bord med: en bog (typisk Koranen, eller en bog af Irans nationaldigter Hafez). Stearinlys. Et spejl. Blomster. Malede eller pyntede æg (påskeæg :-).  Og naturligvis GULDFISK.

Hvis guldfiskene fra sidste nytår er døde, kan du nok få fat i en ny. I hvert fald hvis du bor i Iran.

And don't worry if last year's goldfish didn't make it (they usually don't).  It's quite easy to get hold of a new one:

Humans of Iran

Hold da op. Det er næsten 2 uger siden jeg kom hjem fra ferie - hvor blev tiden lige af? Hvad har jeg lavet?  (Den sidste er nem. Jeg har arbejdet. Og hygget mig)   Har I det godt?

Jeg har også siddet og kigget billeder. Pyh, der er mange - kan I huske dengang man havde filmruller og virkelig var nøjeregnende med de billeder man tog?  Efter digitalkameraets indtog er det ligesom sket lidt med det...  Men deles skal de, i hvert fald nogle stykker.

@ N ~ I can't believe it's been two weeks since I came home.  I very much have an I-hit-the-ground-running feeling - it's all good but a bit non-stop.  How are you??

I've been going through all the pics I took. Gosh - there are many. Remember when we had cameras that used film rolls, and how we (or I, at least) were really careful with how many pictures we took? That sort of went out the window for me when I got my first digital camera ...

One of the very best things about Iran is actually not all the popular tourist sights (of which I didn't see that many on this trip - that is for next time). It's not even the food. It's the people.  I've been to a few different countries around the globe and Iranians are hands down some of the most welcoming people I've ever come across. I swear, if hospitality was a competition in the Olympics they would win gold every time.

I'll try and get a few more blog posts with pictures up over the next few days. Enjoy the faces :-)

Too obvious perhaps?

I dag gav jeg flødeboller på kontoret.

I vores biks er det en uofficiel regel, at graviditeter annonceres ved at den kommende moder/fader giver flødeboller. Jeg syntes det var en genial ting at diske op med 1. april.

Lige nøjagtig 4 mennesker hoppede på den.  Er muligvis ikke helt skruk-agtig nok til at kunne slippe afsted med lige netop dén aprilsnar. Bedre held næste år, Tine.

@ N ~ at our office, the unofficial rule of how to announce a pregnancy is treating everyone to a special Danish sweet which is a sort of chocolate covered meringue puff-ish thingy.  Whenever an e-mail is sent round with that in the subject line, congratulations abound.

I thought it would be a great April Fool's joke.  So I brought "flodeboller" to the office and sent out the e-mail.

4 people fell for it. Four.  Am obviously not the kind of girl who can get away with that particular joke. Now have 12 months to think of similar non-successful prank :-)

I am not pregnant.

But I can eat just about as many of these

as you care to throw at me.