An Exquisite Day in Shemshak

9/8/07

Once in a while the most unexpected happens and life brings you a mixture of joy, peace and fun. Last week out of the blue we received a call from Manneli, the daughter of Tehran's most important and well known modern woman painter Ms Farideh Lashai and we got invited to a lovely lunch in Shemshak. I had not been out of the city for nearly a month and this was a great time to get away and soothe my soul. Shemshak is about one hour north east of Tehran in the mountains and has famous ski slopes.

The drive which I used to take many years ago on a weekly basis to take me to Dizin for a few hours of skiing before I headed back home to shower, change and go to work every Thursday seemed most unfamiliar and strange now. But once we found her lovely villa near the Shemshak ski slopes and breathed the lovely fresh air and the joy of meeting old friends and especially our lovely hostess, everything was divine and sweet as the water that was in the garden pool where some water bottles and melons were being cooled for later that day.

We were served a most delicious lunch, all great wonders of Shomal where Ms Lashai originally is from and is very proud of. We enjoyed most delicious mirzaghassemi, baghallighatoug, plain kateh (rice), and unbelievable fresh fried fish caught from the river earlier that morning. Everything was authentic and casual as much as it was wonderfully cool and friendly. We were shown Ms Lashai's new huge studio where we saw some great works coming to life. We love her paintings and collect them and before we left she graciously gave us one of her small paintings as a belated wedding gift which we shall treasure like no other. We were very impressed with the villa-cottage which had taken her many years of hard work and effort to restore but it was done with such excellent taste and very worth while and we almost envied her for being able to wake up to such serene surroundings and the magnificent sound of nature.

Jaye shoma khali and a few pictures from that lovely day to share with you

http://www.elahe.net/artist.php?folder=Lashaei

http://www.dideh.com/art09/bioe.html

http://www.persepolis.com/programs/artists/gallery.asp?AID=50