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Anna has chosen a name for her kitten and since last Wednesday the kitten is called Whisky. How do you like the name dear Atria? Anna's friends from work came up with many different ideas for a name for her kitten, like Sparkle, Marmalade, Ginger, Mumburak, Carot, Nefretete, Diver, Alf and many other names I cannot even remember. I wasn't particularly happy with any of them and if it was up to me I would possibly call her Cat, but when Anna decided to call her Whisky I quite liked the idea. Her colour actually is like a colour of Whisky. On Saturday we took Whisky to the vet for a health check and to vaccinate her against all the cats diseases. The vet listen to her tiny heart, checked her eyes, ears, paws, coat and said that it is perfectly healthy kitten, but it is not a girl but a BOY. We were absolutely speechless as the kitten was sold to Anna as a rare ginger female, Anna wanted to have a girl and she was searching for the perfect kitten for some time. Well, Anna already fell in love with this little creature and although he is not what she wanted, he is her kitten and she refused to take him back to the dishonest seller. So here he is - Mr Cat - Whisky - a boy!  Dear Atria
I wish you a happy Norooz 1390! Words do not do Justice when are summoned to deliver feelings. Events in life may separate two by distance, but distance shall not separate their hearts. With love - Your dad Farshid Norooz is not only the event to celebrate the start of the Persian New Year. Norooz is also to celebrate the start of a new season and birth of a new life cycle in nature as well as being an occasion for all the family members to put aside any and all their differences and unite in peace and harmony. Norooz is the balance point of nature, is an end to long, cold nights and a start to longer and warmer days. Traditionally for Norooz we prepare a spiritual table with items, each of which symbolizes a different aspect of life, around which all family members unite waiting for spring equinoxes and the beginning of a new year. Norooz celebration lasts for thirteen days, during which we visit and reunite with our family, relatives and friends. I look forward to the Norooz when we become reunited together. Happy Norooz 1390. PS. I have sent you a drawing kit for Norooz (photographs are in the 'Presents' section of this website). I posted it to your Mum's Friend, Mr Bekhradnia so you should receive it this week - I hope you will enjoy it my Dear Atria :-)  Yesterday Anna got a kitten. She always wanted to have one, so here is the new member of our family dear Atria :-) It is a girl. She looks very sweet and cute when she is asleep but it is a little monster. She runs around a lot, plays with her mouse and other toys or with our hair. She likes pulling them while sitting on my shoulder. She is a nice to play with and to cuddle, but also having a cat, or any pet brings responsibility. You need to take good care of your kitten - feed her regularly, make sure she always has a bowl of clean water, prepare comfortable place for her to sleep making sure she is worm and happy, take her to vet for health check up and for all the necessary vaccination cats need to protect them from diseases. You need to spend time with her, play with her, cuddle and pet her, so she feels loved and safe. It is responsibility to take care of your cat, so if you ever decide to have one remember that it is not only a cute little creature to cuddle, but it is a living being which needs your care and attention.    Dear Atria Today I would like to share with you a charming story about six magical hats. I like it very much and I hope you will like it as well. This story is based on 'Six thinking hats', a book by Edward de Bono, who is a leading authority in the world in the field of creative thinking. Thinking is one of the most important skills in life and this little story shows different ways of thinking and teaches us to look at things from all the possible angles considering other peoples' views. I hope you will enjoy it :) A long time ago, in a beautiful village with small straw houses, something happened which I'll tell you about. About a hundred people lived in that place. There was a bread maker, a locksmith, several miners, a teacher and many more men with different jobs. Each of them lived with his family - his wife, his children ... There were younger, middle aged and older children. Some of these children liked playing near a waterfall just outside the village. Of course their parents didn't like the idea at all because they thought this sort of fun was dangerous. Near, very near that waterfall, there were some little bushes. And right beside the bushes there were some small mushrooms. And beneath these mushrooms, lived Adao. Adao was a nice small gnome, who had a twin brother named Gabo. Adao was short and stout; so was Gabo. Adao had red hair and freckles; so did Gabo. Adao used a hat; so did Gabo. And both made their own clothes. Yes, with a small sewing machine that their mother had given them as a present just when they told her of their idea of living on their own, far from their father's home. Adao and Gabo were identical. So much so that anyone would be confused as to who was who. Well, they were identical on the outside, not on the inside. They had a very different heart. They behaved differently. They even behaved in almost opposite ways. Adao, for instance, was always thinking about how to help other people. Gabo, in turn, lived to have fun, and was capable of doing anything that would make him laugh, even if that behaviour got others into trouble.
One night, Adao had gone to bed early, and Gabo thought of a plan to have some fun. He went to their small "thread and needle workshop", where he and his brother had that sewing machine that their mother had given them. And once there, he started making more and more hats. He made one for each person in the village. But he only used six different colours: some hats were green as plants, others white as paper; still others, red like fire; he also made some blue as the sky, others yellow as the sun and, to end with, others black as the night. Apparently these were hats like any others, but the interesting thing about them was that they were invisible to the human eye. Only the gnomes, the fairies, the wizards, the witches and other fantasy beings could see them. But that was not all: what made them more special is that, using any of these hats, something very strange happened to anyone who was wearing it ... And it was this happening that made Gabo enjoy himself so much. Once he finished making all those hats and while everyone in the village was sleeping, Gabo paid a visit to each house, and placed a hat on each inhabitant's head. Each and every one of them was wearing a hat: the parents and the children, the grannies and also the babies. But as these hats were invisible, no one noticed. The next morning, when the villagers woke up, something very strange happened. Fermín, an adventurous boy, all of a sudden didn't want to come out of his home. When his friends came to invite him to play, he replied: "I'm not going out; it's very dangerous, I can fall in the river ...". Fermin's mother didn't understand what happened to her son as he usually was too daring and he was frequently in trouble. The usual thing was for him to invite other children to go to the dangerous waterfall ... The woman's attention turned to something else because right at that moment her neighbour, Dona Beatriz, came crying bitterly because she had burnt a cake that she was cooking for her husband. And she said: "I'm good for nothing; it'll be better if I'm left in the woods for bears to come and eat me". "My neighbour crying?", thought Fermin's mother. "She who never worries about anything?" Beatriz was such a balanced person, it even looked, sometimes, as if she didn't have feelings. She was never seen in anguish, or sad, or happy either. It looked as if she lived with a motto: "Everything is as it should be". But today, what was happening to her? It looked as if her feelings of sadness were pouring out and overwhelming her. That scene was also interrupted because an explosion was heard and Fermin, his mother, and Doña Beatriz ran to the place where they thought the noise had come from. Of course they found other villagers there. Many had come to that place, shocked, trying to find out what had happened. There they found Arturo. Arturo was known to all as a quiet, shy and lonely boy. He didn't seem to take an interest in anything that was happening around him. But today there was no trace of that personality. All of a sudden he had felt a curiosity to learn about the world and had started experimenting up to the point of causing an explosion. Arturo was covered in ashes, to such an extent that some didn't recognise him at first. One thing was certain: he was seen to have an urge to go on investigating more and more ... He didn't look worried about the mess he had created. Very near him was Rodrigo, his brother, a usually distracted and forgetful boy. Some said Rodrigo could even forget his own name. But not that day. There he was, near his brother, uttering the names of each and every one of the inhabitants of the village, and their birthdays, and then publicising the favourite dish of each one and also their favourite colour. Nobody could explain what was happening. It was simply obvious that something was happening. If they had paid a little more attention, maybe they would have discovered Gabo, behind the bushes, trying not to show he was laughing. Adao immediately knew what was happening. He could see the hats because they were not invisible to him. And he guessed at once that his brother was involved in the trouble. Adao knew very well how to help people. If they only knew they were wearing hats! Then they would know they could take them off. But Adao knew it was not easy for people to notice this, as people seldom see themselves. Adao thought he should act but didn't want to be seen by humans, so he decided to wait until nighttime. He stayed around in order to avoid further problems. Close to six o'clock in the afternoon, some miners were heard returning home, after a long day at work in the mine. There were Fermin's father and Doña Beatriz's husband. They came along singing happily and chatting about how wonderful it was to work in the mine ... Their wives couldn't believe what they were hearing as they had always complained about how dangerous and unpleasant it was to work there. Late at night, when everyone was sleeping, Adao went into each of the houses in the village. Whispering in each person's ear, he said to each: "You are wearing a hat - you must realise that". The next morning, when they woke up, before saying "Good morning", they were all repeating "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Even the babies - well, they couldn't speak, but they moved their little heads and half-sung a tune. Several people joined together in the central square of the village and, instead of saluting each other, they said at the same time: "you're wearing a hat - you must realise that". Just then, they put their hands on their heads and, at that very instant, the hats took shape and colour. People noticed each of the hats had something written on them: on the white hats the word "Information" was written. Rodrigo and many other villagers were wearing white hats. Arturo and other people were wearing a green hat with the word "Creativity" on it. The black hats said "Problems" and, for sure, Fermin had a hat of this colour. Fermin's mother had a blue hat with the name "Observer" on it. Her neighbour and other people were wearing a hat on which you could read "Emotion" and which was red. The miners and others had a yellow hat with the word "Optimistic" written on the front. Fermin's mother suggested they could all swap hats among themselves, but she decided to keep the blue one, in order to observe the others. Straight away it became obvious that people changed their behaviour as if controlled by the word on each hat. After making these changes several more times, they all decided on something important which changed their lives for ever. Right there and then, they made a huge coloured hat of clay. Then, with a hammer and a chisel they wrote something on a stone, which they left at the foot of such a monumental sculpture. On the stone you could read the following: "If you want to understand your neighbour, you should wear his hat" "And if you want to solve conflicts, you should control the hats" Since that day the villagers lived together happily, understanding each other and with the certainty that any situation can be understood if you look at it from different points of view. |
Farshid Shenassa
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I created this website with love and hope, out of desperation. I am writing to my dear daughter Atria Shenassa. I miss you and I hope one day you will contact me. Your dad Farshid Shenassa
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