The Chronicles of Narineh

Goodbye Metsmam. thank you for being a cool grandma when I was little. you let me stay up late when i'd come spend the night at your place on Fridays. i didn't like going over to your place after pre-school because I preferred to drink my juice with my lunch, and for some reason your policy was that we would get our beverage at the end of the meal. i actually complained to mom and dad about this. of course, over the years I've come to prefer drinking after my meal, or at least towards the end. i remember how happy you were when you found out I'd started my period. It was like a big deal for you. i was mortified that you knew. i didn't understand why you were happy. i'm sorry i didn't give you any great-grandchildren. One of the last times you were hospitalized you asked me 'when are you going to have a baby?' I'm sorry. i hope you knew I love you. I know I wasn't the best at showing it.

Tie #4 Originally uploaded by The Chronicles of Narineh Every year my Mom, aunt and cousins and I get together to color eggs. In addition to the usual store-bought coloring kits, we use silk. We mostly use old silk ties. Husbands and fathers donate the ones that they don't want anymore, and we also find some at thrift stores. One year, I donated a silk skirt of mine that I'd worn so much it was falling apart. It was made of dozens of silk rectangles. All with different patterns. Some of the skirt pieces were still around for this year and I have a great specimen of one of them in my flickr set. We tightly wrap an uncooked egg in a piece of silk, sewing the ends & edges closed. Then we steam cook them by the dozens in big pots. The pattern transfers to the egg, and voila, the coolest looking eggs ever! This one is my favorite from this year. I don't know who's tie it is from, but it looks like a Miro or Picasso to me. The white finger-like patterns on the bottom of ...

Downtown LA with Griffith Observatory Originally uploaded by The Chronicles of Narineh There's a peak on Mt. Lee that a single tree sticks out from. This tree is visible from the street. From my apartment. From many places in Burbank. I have had my eye on this tree for a long time. I wanted to hike up and picnic under this tree. So when I found out that there was a trail on Mt. Lee, I was esctatic. I was certain it would lead me to this tree because the descriptions of the trail all said it goes all the way to the top. I decided that my birthday would be the perfect day for this hike. We got a late start, so I didn't pack a picnic, just some snacks and lots of water and we were off! The name of the trail is the Hollyridge Trail. I learned about it from a book called Day HIkes Around Los Angeles . It was a beautiful day for a hike, we had a break in the rain and the air was crisp and the skies were clear, so we had gorgeous views of the city, all the way to the ocean, and of th...

Please enjoy a photo of our President's home state of Hawaii and reflect on the wonder that is today. This photo was taken on August 28, 2008 on Kauai, Hawaii. The sun was setting as we walked along Ha'ena Beach towards Ke'e Beach on Kauai's North shore.

fireworks Originally uploaded by The Chronicles of Narineh June 23, 2007. A year ago today, I was in Luxembourg. It was the National Holiday . The day they celebrate the Duke, the Duchy and all that entails. There were various ceremonies & celebrations scheduled throughout the day, parades, speeches etc. There was a huge televised mass at the Notre Dame cathedral at midday. And finally, at night, over the Petrusse Valley, fireworks! We rushed to get there on time as Joe had been delayed at work. It took a long time for us to find parking, but we finally did. Then we ran all the way over to Ponte Adolphe, thinking we'd miss the show. But we ended up waiting for an hour or so. I think they were waiting for the winds to die down? I don't know. But the show finally started. It lasted a good 30-45 minutes. It was awesome. I took photos of the fireworks, and a few of the crowd. People were drinking, singing, waving Luxembourg flags. The wind sometimes carried the embers over to ...

Eight months ago when I posted last, I really thought things were going to settle down in my life. I don't know why I thought this. I had no reason to expect anything of the sort. At the time, we had just completed a harried search for an apartment and moved in. Joe was scheduled to leave for Toronto in September. We had no plan for how we were going to deal with yet another 8 months of separation. I don't think I had even fully adjusted to being back in the States. Anyway, I think that's why in my last post I sounded so certain that I'd be able to post more often. Things didn't quite work out that way. A year ago this weekend, I was in Luxembourg. We were all excited to check out the Fête de Printemps . This year, I am in Toronto. Getting ready to fly back to LA after a week's visit with Joe. It wasn't exactly a vacation. I was working all week. But we were able to have our life together back for a week, to revel in the mundane domestic tasks because we we...

So, it has been about 5 weeks since I got back. I arrived July 9th. We're finally settled, sorta. We found an apartment and are in the midst of unpacking our stuff. I have been thinking about Luxembourg constantly, wondering how life is moving along over there, and with the friends we left behind. It has been a crazy 4 weeks here, with the hurried apartment hunting and moving and whatnot. Now that things are settling, I'm looking forward to writing more frequently and documenting our last couple of weeks in Europe. We were able to squeeze some traveling in at the end there. I've got loads of pictures to annotate and post to flickr. So stay tuned. I'll be back with more.