aelred
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Items from my past
Amanico was gracious enough in my intro post to ask to know more about me. By way of sharing, I'll dig up some, perchance interesting photos (maybe).
As a youth, my father worked for Westinghouse. That took us to Iran during the time of the Shah, and after a few weeks in Tehran for his corporate orientation, we wound up living in Shiraz where I attended an international school.
Living in Iran was, *ahem* interesting as a red-headed youth. Redheads are "good luck" and my parents were constantly having to fend off offers to purchase me! Other than that, Persepolis was not far away. I was able to walk where Alexander and Darius once rode. Walk through the Gate of All Nations, and climb the hill to the tomb of Artaxerxes II. They used to have a light show in the evening, if you ever saw the Bond movie Moonraker with the scene at the Pyramids, that was very similar with the narration.
We also visited Isfahan/Esfahan, a very cosmopolitan city with amazing architecture and it was a tourist destination even in the 70s. Many famous mosques, but memory fades and I can't name them. One, you could climb the minarets, shake it, and the other minaret would shake with it. Now I'm older and a semi-retired engineer and the safety aspect of that scares me!
These next two items are small paintings on pieces of ivory. They are done with one bristle brushes. I have a third that is packed away as my mother had loaned it to someone and the frame was damaged.
A small brass pitcher.
A stamped blanket. I have a stamp, although not the same stamp used for this blanket. They are charred blocks of wood the craftsmen strap to their hand with strips of cloth, then they repeatedly stamp the pattern onto the cloth before the dyers apply the color.
And last, front and back of a mounted "Pahlavi", the standard gold coin of the time. I have no idea whose face is on the current generation of coin. But I'm sure many of you are aware of the region having the usual gold dinar and/or silver durham that are minted by various countries that are Islamic. Albeit, the Iranians used the Real at the time as their unit of currency. In any case, it was the 70s and disco medallions were a thing. I do have some well preserved paper currency around as well with both the then-Shah and his son, the now Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on it. I "tweeted" at him when the recent events kicked off but he never responded.
Items from my past
Amanico was gracious enough in my intro post to ask to know more about me. By way of sharing, I'll dig up some, perchance interesting photos (maybe). As a youth, my father worked for Westinghouse. That took us to Iran during the time of the Shah, and afte...
Oh, I'm "euro mutt" for sure.
But as Connor MacCloud said in Highlander when asked where he was from, "Lots of different places."
Definitely an exciting history and series of pictures!
To have experienced Iran during the time of the Shah must have been amazing. One thing that hasn’t changed is that Persian rugs are the best…that is something I remember learning and appreciating from a young age.👍🏽
Funny story about the rugs...
We had them professionally cleaned a few years ago by a company owned by a company owned by a Persian expat, we have a pretty large community in the Washington DC area. Upon intake the poor owner almost had a coronary when he realized he couldn't put a do...
Thanks a lot for sharing some of your past and
these personal items. Very interesting. Best, Emmanuel
No (this was before my PhD in criminality) spent the better part of five years . . .
, , , between '64 and '69 in Iran. A few months in Gach Saran, a year in Ahwaz, then four in Masjed-i-Suleiman. (No pere was a petroleum engineer on loan from Standard Oil to the IOEPC.) I went to a school established by Brits, with teachers from America ...
Amazing!
It's rare to find somebody to share something in common with like this! Playing darts became a major pastime for us due to the heavy British expat population there. At an early age I learned how to balance and lean wayyyyy over that line.
Reminds me of the time Jeff Southwick punctured his leg with a dart . . .
. . . at the golf club. 1966. Yes, we had an eighteen-hole course in M-i-S . . . all rocky soil, the greens were covered with oil-soaked heavy sand. The groundskeepers used brooms to sweep the greens. I wonder what happened to Jeff. He was a year or two o...
Son of a gun, everything's on the internet! . . .
. . . Jeff turned out to be an engineer/scientist . . . . . . specializing in oil extraction. 🫨 ...
Rocky golf courses...
Reminds me of playing once at GITMO. (Yes, that GITMO) Fairways all dirt and rocks, I had a couple of holes where I managed not to hit my horrible Jackie Mason (Caddyshack 2) slice and somehow hit a rock resulting in my ball caroming 90 degrees off to the...
