Our impromptu Nature Day picnic turned out nicer than we expected.Did you know that April Fool’s Day is celebrated in Iran too? Thirteen days after Persian New Year (our 1st day of Spring, which you saw us celebrating here and here and here), Persians stay out all day and play games. It’s Sizdah Be-dar (literally 13 Outdoor), also called Nature Day. One must dispel any potential bad luck from the number thirteen. Some people like to play innocent pranks on that day too!
Often that 13th day falls around Easter, filling local parks to double their capacity. So many people gather that folks will run into childhood friends, ones from other countries.
Sheltering, quarantine, house arrest, what’s in a name? Yes, it’s grim, but it also bespeaks of a hopeful world, one where everyone is pulling together (not counting the every-present handful of conspiracy theorists). (Here and here and here and here and here and here are a few more posts to cheer you through the crisis.)
Nature Day was an at-home workday for us. Half-heartedly, my husband and I set a modest picnic under the dwarf kumquat tree in our little front yard. Our sweet doggie joined us for a quick round of cards over tea and Persian cookies. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were having fun. Then we ran back indoors to return to our at-home work. Dinner involved more Persian deliciousness – see in this post that reveals how Persian food has something for everyone!
Get in close to smell Khashayar’s bubbling tomato-bean-potato stew.No, I don’t have a right to complain — not when people have suffered far worse and continue to do so. We’re all well here. This far, California seems to have evaded the tsunami of illness that’s still predicted to swell, probably thanks largely to our horrid mass transit that scares folks off from piling together into busses and subways.
Family in Iran, thank the heavens, is fine if we don’t count how the country has been walloped by the epidemic, amid a grossly hobbled infrastructure.
I’m rambling. Forgive me. This is what one does when one is cooped up for weeks, relegated to video chats and to regarding anything to do with life outdoors as if its all of it is radioactive waste, from people to food to petting — hands off! — each other’s dogs, and why aren’t you wearing a mask? Well, I thought outdoors…
Thank goodness for the arts. I’ve got this video-post about my enchantment with those who pursue arts and hobbies for no other compensation than inner glee.
A gift to you from Iran! Here’s some of my extended family there sharing fine musicianship — enjoy their classical Persian music performance of “Tak Derakt: Single Tree”…
With that loveliness in mind, here are a few photos from my dear husband’s visit to Tehran several years ago. (Here and here are more about that same trip.)…
The whole of Tehran turns green in Spring.
Even at night this Tehran bridge is colorful.
Flowers in Spring in Tehran.
Tehran’s spring-time snowy mountains.If you want a better idea of how a real Sizdah Bedar is meant to be, look here and feel here.
How are you fairing indoors, dear reader? Healthy and happy, I hope…
Discover more from Happiness Between Tales (and Tails) by da-AL
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The post was amazing. We are all suffering, some of us are handling it better since we are usually cooped up in the house.
LikeLiked by 2 people
yes – I go from moment to moment…
LikeLike
Beautiful post and some awesome photos you’ve taken. It’s really beautiful😊
LikeLiked by 3 people
thank you, Sanjana 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It looks like your weather is much better than mine! I can’t wait for it to get warmer so that we can soak up the sun and lie on the grass under the trees as well!
LikeLiked by 3 people
we are very fortunate for our nice weather here. that’s what everyone moves here for, & then complains about everything else, namely traffic…
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is possible to enjoy yourself, even during lock down. I am also trying to make the most of things. It is the on-going underlying anxiety that is hardest, especially about the economy, but individuals can do nothing about it except plod on and do our bit. I am glad your family in Iran is doing okay, Iran certainly has had a very hard time with this virus. Stay well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
thank you, Roberta – I worry about the economy too… but we humans are pretty ingenious, so I’m hoping for the best…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup, me too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning and thank you very much for this nice, uplifting article, dear da-Al. No, you are not rambling, dear. You are expressing the great anxiety we are all suffering for this terrible pandemic that affects us all. We have to keep our mental sanity in this forced social isolation, for which a little picnic in your garden seems like a perfect idea. Let me tell you that your hubby’s face is a little more rounded that the last time I saw him. That delicious Persian food must be the answer as I assume he is cooking in earnest right now. But tell him that you like him just like this so you can pinch his cheek more easily. A los tipos le gustan los piropos tambien che. If you can, please read and comment the post I put up today where I compare this pandemic to the Great Plague of 1348 and how it will change our world (like it did to theirs) Keep up the good spirits and keep using your pen for our delight. Happy Easter. Un baccione.
LikeLiked by 2 people