Just Life| Library Fines

I pay library fines left and right. I know, I know, I work in the library and I should keep track of my books better. You see, the reality is, I forget time to time to renew my own books.

So I was curious to find out how much I have paid in the past few years in overdue fines.

Are you ready?

Don't tell this to my daughter but since 2012, I have paid more than $80 for 117 overdue items. 

Oops!

But the way I see it, that was a great bargain. If I wanted to purchase those 117 books from a bookstore. Those 117 books would be costing me almost $3000. 

You see, it was a bargain. I read 117 books for the price of $80. If I was a bit more diligent, those 117 books would have cost me $0.00.

My old reading corner at home

Every time I pay library fine, I tell myself that the money goes to a good cause. 

That brings me to another point. I wish we all remind ourselves to donate money to our local libraries. 

When you donate money to your library, you would receive a receipt for your donation and your money would be used to purchase more books for the entire community to enjoy.

This book is one of my favorite non-fiction books.

Let's all be literacy superheros and fund libraries in our community.

Library has books for everyone.

The way I see it, an educated community is a much better community to live in.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life | Spring & Persian New Year

Spring is right around the corner and for millions of Iranians, it is the start of a new calendar year.

The Persian New Year or Nowruz, has been celebrated in Iran for thousands of years and it has its origin in the ancient Zoroastrian religion.

Spring is a time of celebration for the Iranians all around the world.

The first day of Spring is the start of a new year in Iran. The first month in the Persian Calendar is the month of "Farvardine".

A heavy dose of Spring cleaning is the rite of passage to the Persian New Year.

As a kid, Spring cleaning was my least favorite thing about the New Year celebration.

Imagine being forced to clean every nook and cranny of your house for two weeks straight. It was exhausting. 

You see, the Spring cleaning is a necessary evil because for twelve days straight after the New Year celebration, a great many people would come to visit and you want your house to be in top notch shape. 

An important part of the New Year celebration is setting up a beautiful table called "Haft Sin".

Can you imagine Christmas without a Christmas tree? We can't have a Persian New Year without the Haft Sin table.

There are some very specific items that are placed on this table year after year.

New Year table at Roya's house

On the Haft sin table, there should be seven items which starts with letter "C" in Persian.

Here are these items:

• Sib (Apple)
• Sir (Garlic)
• Sekeh (Coins)
• Sabzeh (Germinated wheat or lentil. They look like grass)
• Serkeh (Vinegar)
• Samano (A special sweet paste made from wheat)
• Sonbol (Hyacinth)
• Senjed (Fruit from lotus tree)
• Saat (Clock)

Each of these items have special meanings, but this blog isn't long enough to explain them all and to be honest, I am far from being an expert on this topic.

Haft Sin at my house last year

In Iran, schools and universities are closed for two weeks and on the thirteenth day of the New Year, everyone leaves their house to have a picnic with family and friends. It is called "Siz Da Bedar".

Haft sin table setting at my house a few years ago

In Stockton, around 100 Iranians get together at Oak Grove Regional Park to celebrate Siz Da Bedar every year.

This year, the Persian New Year falls on Saturday, March 19th at 9:30 pm.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Stockton in Bloom

Stockton is blooming. It is gorgeous out there. Have you looked around Stockton in the past few weeks. There are beautiful flowers everywhere. I love this weather and we are blessed to have it. 

Stockton is blooming 

Spring is right around the corner, it is time to get back to gardening. 

Although, I am pretty clueless about gardening, I can still get some flowers to spruce up the front of our house.

Flowers from the garden

If you would like to learn a bit about gardening, please visit your local library to browse our vast gardening section. If you are an avid gardener, we have got serious gardening books for you as well. 

At Chavez library, at the reference desk, you can also get seeds for your flower garden or your vegetable garden free of charge.

 Free Seed library at Chavez Library

Here are a few gardening books from your library, you can click on any of these titles to place it on hold to pickup from your local library in a couple of days free of charge.

• Sunset western garden book of landscaping : the complete guide to designing beautiful paths, patios, plantings and more

• The flower garden : a practical guide to planning & planting

• Summer-blooming bulbs : scores of spectacular bloomers for your summer garden

Vincent Shalvey Academy parking lot

Happy gardening.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Eat a Rainbow Today

It has been said that to have a long & healthy life, one should choose to eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.

 Lets see what each color represents:

• Red fruits and vegetables:  improve your heart and blood health. Eat Tomatoes, Red bell peppers, Red apples and Watermelon.

• Orange fruits and vegetables: prevent cancer. Eat Oranges, Yams, and Cantaloupes.

Cantaloupe and Rosewater and sugar. A staple of Persian Table.

• Yellow fruits and vegetables: help with vision, your digestive system, and your immune system. Eat Pears, Bananas, Mangoes, and Pineapple.

• Green fruits and vegetables: have powerful detoxers to fight the free radicals in your body. Eat Kale, Broccoli, and cucumber. These darn free radicals pump things into your body and can cause major havoc.

• Blue fruits and vegetables: improve the absorption of minerals in your body and have power anti-oxidants. So eat Blueberries.

• White fruits and vegetables: reduce your cancer risk and activate the natural killers in your body to protect you. So eat Garlic, Mushrooms, Cauliflower, and White Onion.

So you see, we should all eat a rainbow for a healthier life.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Panteha discovers the Goodwin Art Gallery

Last Wednesday on my lunch break, I stumbled inside Goodwin's art gallery for the very first time and I ended up having a wonderful conversations with a couple of artists. 

The walls of the Goodwin gallery were covered by beautiful art pieces. 

One of these paintings was called the " Carousel". The painting looked familiar and I remembered seeing it in the paper a while back. 

Picture from the Stockton Art League website  

So I am admiring this painting and the lady behind the desk tells me that the artist, Richard Atchison is the man who is standing in front of the counter. So I told this artist that I love his carousel painting and we started talking for a while.

I found out that he is a retired illustrator and I invited him to visit the Troke library.

Any way, it feels good to venture out to discover new places and to re-energize. 

A tiny painting that I found at Goodwin Gallery

If you would like to learn more about the Elsie May Goodwin Gallery (Stockton Art League), please visit its website at:

http://www.stocktonartleague.org

If you would like to check out art books, please visit your local library.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| The Butterfly Effect

I accidentally came across this very short book," The Butterfly Effect" by Andy Andrews and decided to read it during my lunch break.

Here is the book's message:

Everything you do has an effect on the world as a whole.

The majority of the book is about Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. 

During The Civil War, Chamberlain, who was a teacher by trade, became a Colonel in the Union Army. Chamberlain and his men were on a hill near Gettysburg Pennsylvania. 

His commanding officer, told him: " Whatever you do, you can't let them come through here."

So Chamberlain and his men, stationed on top of a hill did their best to hold their ground until they ran out of ammunition. Chamberlain knew there was very little hope of getting out of that place alive and he had a choice to make. 

Instead of retreating, Chamberlain ordered his soldiers to "fix your bayonets now" and the school teacher from Maine, roared "CHARGE"! Bravely, he started running towards the enemy and his men followed him. 

When the confederate soldiers saw Chamberlain charging towards them, they were surprised. "A beaten regiment would not charge", they thought.  

The Confederate soldiers thought that Chamberlain's reinforcements had arrived. So many Confederate soldiers chose to retreat rather than fight Chamberlain and his men.

Within 5 minutes, Chamberlain and his army of 80 soldiers, captured 4000 Confederate soldiers.

Historians believe that if the Confederate soldiers had won the Battle of Gettysburg, The South would have won the war.

Many believe that if the South won the war, it would have been the end of the United States of America.

You see, the actions and bravery of one man, saved an entire country.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Children at the Stockton Symphony

The other day, I had the privilege of accompanying my daughter's Fifth Grade class to the Stockton Symphony. The kids were asked to dress up in their Sunday best for the occasion and they all obliged gracefully.

We arrived at Delta College where the Stockton Symphony is based and were seated to the left of the stage. The auditorium was full of children coming from all over San Joaquin. There were at least a few thousands kids in the auditorium that day.

Then, the Stockton Symphony's director Mr. Peter Jaffe, came to the stage and asked the children to sing the National Anthem. The children were so good that I got chills from listening to them.

Next, the Symphony started to play. The music was based on William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  The pieces was written by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn when was only 17 years old.

Mr. Jaffe took every chance to educate the children about music throughout the one hour program. 

I am so thankful to all the teachers and administrators that made it possible for so many kids to attend the Stockton Symphony that day. 

As Friedrich Nietzsche once said: "Without music, life would be a mistake." and I agree. Without music, life would be flavorless.

So, if you would like to attend any of the Stockton Symphony's programs, please visit its website at:

http://stocktonsymphony.org

Peter Jaffe. Picture from Stockton Symphony website.

And let's not forget the Stockton Chorale.  Here is their website:  (p.s. my kid and my co-worker both sing in the Stockton Chorale and they are both wonderful).

http://www.stocktonchorale.org

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha