40th Anniversary

What a lovely weekend this has been. David and I have celebrated our 40th Anniversary with most of our children with us. Unfortuantely Amy and Stephen were unable to join us, however, we know they were with us in spirit! The "youngins" sponsored the Kiddush at the synagogue, which was such a lovely surprise. There were many of the usual treats but what made it very special were the large bowls of cereal that were placed on the tables. This was definitely a novel treat and specially done for David who loves a bowl of cereal after services! David did the Haftorah and was superb! Then back to the house for soup and summer rolls, a definite "Jewish" tradition after synagogue! More details to follow! Saturday night we celebrated New Year's Eve early with Marlene, Mandeep, Matthew, Rachel, Grammie, Grandma, Rebecca, Steve and Talia. What fun; each person was given several letters of the alaphabet and asked to prepare food using those letters. Very delicious. Appetizers, Baby articchokes and carrot, swiss chard, hmm, I have forgotten D for the moment, edamame, fuiji apples, forgot G, hummus, Islandic Scotch, apricot jam cake, kugel, long grain rice, Matthew's rugelach, forgot N, O and P, quiona, red cabbage, salmon, Tofu stir fry (which we did not make because we had so much food!) no U or V, walnut pie with chocolate chips! We ignored the rest of the letters. It was a lot of fun! Lots of leftovers for the rest of the weekend!

GPS

Well those of you who know me well know that I have been kvetching (complaining) over getting a gps for months. I had purchased a system for my Palm realized I had to download maps, etc, basically it seemed like a major project. So, for my birthday David encouraged me to pick out the gps of my dreams! What a cool gift. Well, after reading many reviews I decided on the TomTom GO 920T. Talk about bells and whistles, for instance you can speak where you want to go into the unit and it will take you there rather than have to punch in the numbers. One of the major benefits of a gps system that is not part of the equipment of your car is that you can use it while you are driving. A definite benefit since there are times when I'm with David in his car and we want to see alternate routes and you can't put in the address you are looking for while the car is going. A safety standard I'm sure but frustrating when you are sure you're getting further and further from your destination! So, the activity for today will be to get familiar with the capabilities of this fun new device! I am totally psyched!

Snow No-Show Just Ice and Mess

Well, we have once again wasted a perfectly good snow storm. The media has been talking about nothing else for the past 2 days, 3-5" with sleet and freezing rain. Then it was 2-4" with sleet and freezing rain. Well, actually, in was about an inch, with lots of sleet and freezing rain. The accomplishment of the week was making room in the garage for my car AND the door closes! Wow, talk about miracles. Well it should give my car the opportunity to slide down the driveway so I can get out tomorrow. In our family the tradition is to cook or bake on a snowy day. I made stuffed cabbage however it is more like a casserole than actually stuffed cabbage. I was so concerned that Grammie would want to eat some tonight. I thought having dinner ready for tomorrow night would be a real plus. The good news is we did not eat it tonight. Well the weather report for the weekend is more snow so we'll see what happens with that storm! I haven't heard any numbers yet!

Birthday Celebrations

Well, today was another birthday with many special wishes from family and friends! The good wishes started with Amy and Marlene calling from London yesterday and then singing happy birthday...definitely a warm fuzzy! Today I awoke to kind wishes from David, a lovely tzedakah (Charity) box from Grammie with a Mah Jongg motif! So I think this means if I have a good day at Mah Jongg I should remember those who haven't and put some money in the box! There was an email from Mal and Tina with HB wishes! Minerva stopped by with a lovely scarf, friends left musical wishes on the phone, then dinner in a great, local Thai restaurant with David along with an anthirum plant. David's gift is a GPS, I just need to do the homework to figure out which one I should get. Any help on this topic would be appreciated! The evening ended with a voicemail from Phil and Kendra and a long conversation with Matt and Rachel! One of my best birthday's yet!

Superest Super Sunday Hits Stamford!

Super Sunday is the phone-a-thon day for the Stamford Jewish Federation! Hundreds of people are called starting at 9:15 in the morning and running until 9:00pm. When we got up this morning and saw snow on the ground we knew we were in for a great day. We were right, we raised over $360,000 in pledges, that is $100,000 over last year and 40,000 over the year before! Let me tell you, the phones were blazing! it was a wonderful feeling to be part of this dedicated community of volunteers dialing for dollars! Wow, how will we top this next year? Not to worry, we will!

Visit to the Musuem of the American Indian

Might not have the name of this musuem correct, however, I'm sure you get the picture! Not always easy to figure out a place to visit in DC that will prove interesting to all. One of the suggestions was the American Indian musuem so we decided to give it a try. The building was beautiful; inside was a display of women's outfits. Very beautiful decirated with beads, shark's teeth, etc. We were told that young men save the teeth from the sharks they have killed; when they decide to get married the future bride sews the teeth on her dress. Could look bad if he doesn't get enough. Also watched a native of Guatemla weave some of her stories. Very interesting and the finished product was beautiful.

Now we're up to Chanukah!

Ok, so now we're up to the Chanukah celebration. When everyone was living in Connecticut it was the tradition for everyone to pull a name and buy a gift for that person. Since we haven't been together we no longer did the tradtional. Due to this celebration it was time to pull out old customs! Even more difficult than the gifts was the decision of which day to celebrate Saturday afternoon was the final decision since Tracey wasn't working and Uncle Mal agreed to not leave to start the drive home until 3:00! Believe it or not everyone was so full from eating we did not plan a menu! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Indian food at M & M's

Well, after the 4th+ meal of turkey and the trimmings, it was a welcomed change to have some Indian food. Marlene and Mandeep made a mixture of cheese, peas and fresh skinned pureed tomatoes with a hint of cilantro, delicious! There was also dahl and wonderful rice. This was the most unusual Shabbat meal we had ever had!

Thanksgiving Visit

Well Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had the family from Virginia, DC, North Carolina, Georgia and Connecticut! And, if you count where Msrc goes to school, Massachusetts was represented as well! The dinner was at Matt and Rachel's with other meals at Marlene and Mandeep's. The turkeys were juicy and delicious and the sides were outstanding! I think David said there were 15 sides, I don't think there were quite that many. We had creamed corn, creamed onions, sweet potatoes with Indian spices and butter, another version for the vegans without the butter, sausage stuffing, vegan stuffing, applesauce, carrot ring with peas, squast with carrots, beets, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, hmmh that's all I can remember. I think if there were more I'd know since we ate leftovers for days! Not complaining it was great!

Friday night dinner

As I may have mentioned we have a chicken ban at our house. I think this might come from too much of a good thing! We seem to be in a unique situation in Stamford, CT in the kosher meat arena! We do not have a kosher butcher. Considering that 50 years ago we had 3 kosher butchers and the kosher population is up, not sure why this is happening. I'm guessing that the cost of buying wholesale kosher meat must be too high for the margin you can make on sales. The reason I tell you this is because the easiest kind of kosher "meat" I can buy is chicken or turkey. Well, you can imagine after eating poultry every Friday night for months at a time, a person can become weary! Another hint is when you start to sprout feathers and cluck! (Only joking about this part!) So coming up with interesting ideas for Shabbat dinner can become a challenge. Last night I tried a recipe from Wednesday, November 14th NY Times.Corn Bread and Broccoli Rabe Strata; comment from David: "What did you think of dinner tonight?" Me: "I liked it, what about you?" David: "Well the Broccoli Rabe thing was ok". What does this translate to? Don't make that Broccoli Rabe thing again! A strata usually has some kind of bread soaked in an egg and milk mixture to make the whole thing puff up. This recipe called for corn bread so I think it just got too doughy! Oh well, I made a Pea (green peas) Soup that I liked. Didn't discuss it specifically with David, not sure what the review is! Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

Fresh Pea Soup St. Germain Serves 2-3

butter or olive oil
2-3 shallots, minced
3 cups shelled fresh peas (from about 3 pounds of garden peas) or frozen peas
2-1/4 cups water or vegetable broth
3-4 Tbs whipping cream (optional)
salt
pepper
curry powder to taste
croutons for garnish

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the shallots and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peas and water and season with salt and little pepper and curry powder. Cover and simmer for about 12 minutes for young peas and up to 18 minutes for large or older peas, stirring occasionally. When the peas are tender allow them to cool and puree the soup in a food processor or use a submersible blender. Stir in the cream. Garnish with croutons.

The last part of the menu was supposed to be stuffing one of the pumpkins that Patty and Nolan bought for us when they were visiting. Frankly the thought of being up to my elbows in pumpkin gook just didn't turn me on so I used the recipe as a casserole instead and added diced butternut squash. Actually this one got rave reviews!
It is from a book called "Olive Trees and Honey". This is a treasury of vegetarian recipes from Jewish communities around the world. This recipe is from Uzbekistan.

Bukharan Stuffe Pumpkin

3 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/4 cups long-grain white rice
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
pinch of saffron or 1/4 tsp turmeric
1 Tbs hot water
1/4 cup dried currants or raisins
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
1 tart apple peeled, cored and coarsely chopped (optional)
1 quince, peeled, cored, and diced (optional)
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (optional)

1 small pumpkin 4 to 5 pounds

To make the stuffing: In a medium,heavy saucepan, heat the oil over med heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and saute until well coated, about 3 minutes. Add the stock, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still slightly underdone, about 15 minutes.

Dissolve the saffron in the hot water and stir into the rice. Add the currants, cilantro and any combination of chickpeas, apples and/or quince, if desired.

Cut out a disk from the stem end of the pumpkin about 4 inches in diameter. Scoop out and discard the seeds and loose fibers. Sprinkle the insides with sugar and salt.

Pack the stuffing into the pumpkin and put on the lid. Arrange a cabbage leaf, if using, in the bottom of a deep baking pan or large pot to prevent the bottom on the pumpkin from burning. Place the pumpkin in the pan and add enough water to reach about 1 inch up the sides. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, or bake in a preheated 375 oven until the pumpkin is tender, about 2 hours. Cut into wedges or scoop out the filling. Serve warm. I made the mixture in a casserole dish and baked it for 1 hour at 350. Also, for the rice I used the Trader Joe mixture of long rice. It was quite delicious!

Hats off to Andy Rooney

Just got this from a friend and had to share it! I think he has definitely figured out the male/female thing!


In case you missed it on 60 Minutes, this is what Andy Rooney thinks
about women over 40:

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are
just a few reasons why

*A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and
ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

*If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit
around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually
more interesting.
*Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming
match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of
course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
* Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know
what it's like to be unappreciated.
* Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins
to a woman over 40.
* Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier
than her younger counterpart.
* Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you
right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
* Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons.
Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart,
well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?",
here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Andy Rooney is a really smart guy!
forward to five fine, fun, fabulous, fancy-free female friends over 40.


"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't
matter, and those who matter don't mind!"
---Dr. Seuss

Mah Jongg

Well, last night Mom helped 4 of my friends relive the world of Mah Jongg! What a great time we all had! Gini seemed to have all the luck, all she did was pick jokers all night! Judie and Joyce were a hoot, they kept teasing each other about their playing and winning (or the lack thereof) and how they had no idea what they were doing. The important thing as per Judie's mother was to play quickly! What was really amusing about them was their mothers used to play in a regular game together. The 4th was Marilyn... I must not have been clear when I asked her to come she thought she was the only novice playing in a regular game! Well, we're on to play together again next week! What fun. And to think I used to make fun of people who played the game, now I'm addicted!

Block Party

Well, the weather is finally getting cooler so our neighborhood had a block party today! All things considered it was a very lovely day! We decided to have it be late in the afternoon so no one would think we were serving lunch or dinner! People went all out with snacks! We had so many cakes, squares, veggies and fruit it was amazing! With all the food we had it was interesting, very few doubles! One family brought their outdoor fireplace and all the ingredients for s'mores! You're right, that was the highlight! The kids had a real good time playing football on the lawns! What fun! The plan is to have next year's party in the Spring! A much better choice!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I can't believe there are only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving! Well, that calls for buying all the new magazines (Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Fine Cooking) to learn about the newest way to cook turkey! Actually that isn't the draw for me, I love the new ideas for vegetables and side dishes! Here's one that caught my eye; it's called "Port-Roasted Chestnuts with Grapes". What could be bad about that? I'm thinking this is a special suggestion for our family "ac cross the pond"! I like to buy the chestnuts in a jar, might be cheating but certainly makes my life easier...and isn't that what it's all about???

"Port-Roasted Chestnuts with Grapes"
3/4 cup low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup ruby Port
2 TBS butter, diced
2 1/4-inch strips orange peel (orange part only) (for those of you who may have just received a microplane, this would be a good time to use it!)
1 tsp sugar
2 7 to 8 ounce jars whole roasted chestnuts
2-1/2 cups seedless red grapes (about 14 ounces)
Coarse kosher salt
3 TBS chopped fresh Italian parsley

Combing broth, Port, butter, orange peel and sugar in large wide skillet. Bring to boil over med-high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil mixture until reduced and thickened enough to coat spoon, about 8 minutes. Add chestnuts and grapes; sprinkle with salt. Reduce heat to med and simmer until Port sauce is reduced to glaze and sauce coats chestnuts and grapes thickly, about 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl, sprinkle with parsley.

This recipe came from Bon Appetit, it can probably be found on their website www.bonappetit.com Last night I made two other recipes from the magazine: Smashed Rutabagas with Ginger-Roasted Pears (I added apples as well, my pears were not it great shape!) and Polenta Souffles with Mushroom Cream Sauce. In this recipe it calls for vegetable broth, I substituted Creamed Portebello Soup. The good thing about this souffle is that it doesn't rise that high so you don't have to worry about it falling!

More recipes for Thanksgiving to come as I continue to try them out!

The Fund Raising Presentation

Had an email from Amy this morning, she suggested that I post what I said at the meeting. Here it is. If you have any thoughts or comments, let me know. The other thing I want to mention is that what I said was actually about 90% of this. Without reading from a paper I was able to throw in some spontaneous comments!

Before I start I want to give credit to Dr. Misha Galperin,
Ex VP and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Washington. What I have to tell you is based on
Galperin’s Yom Kippur message entitled Jonah,
A Pair of Jeans and a Story of Jewish Peoplehood:
A Message for Yom Kippur 2007/5768.

Galperin talks about Jewish Peoplehood; “The story of
Peoplehood does not and should not come down to a
well-spread bagel. Peoplehood is the combination of
culture, religion, history and values under a Jewish
umbrella that gives us a profound feeling of being
connected to other Jews. In America we talk about
individual rights being a central and abiding feature
of being an American citizen. However, the American
story is not the Jewish story. The Jewish story is not
about rights it’s about responsibility” and that is what
I want to tell you about!

With this as our background; I want to talk to you about
dreams, however, I want you to consider 2 kinds of
dreams; first your own dreams and second those we
dream on behalf of the Jewish Community. For tonight’s purposes, let’s concentrate on the later!


It’s a warm sunny afternoon, our bus pulls up in front of a low, one story school building…could be any school in Stamford, however, we’re on a Women’s Division Mission in Afula our sister city in Israel.

We’ve come to hear about an afternoon program for children at risk called the SPACE program (Schooling Priorities and Community Empowerment; part of the Ethiopian National Project – in partnership with The Joint and Jewish Agency). This is a comprehensive and integrated package of programs aimed to advance the scholastic achievement of youth and empower the Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel.

What to expect? Who are these kids? Why are they at risk? We are met by someone from the Joint as well as a lovely young woman, I would guess to be in her 30’s , dressed in a Jeans jacket and pants, black turtle neck and a wide hair band holding back her curly hair. What’s different about her? She’s Black, with a red mark on her forehead and a small earring in her nose. She is the first Ethiopian woman we have met since arriving in Israel. Her name is Mahail.

Mahail is the coordinator of the SPACE program. She came to Israel when she was 9 and has been living here for 21 years; she is dedicated to this program because she wants to see her community succeed. She wants her kids (both her own and in the program) to have the same opportunities as other children in Israel. As you may or may not know to get ahead in Israel you have to be able to do well on tests (this includes both the Army and to go on to University). These are dreams we have for our kids; these families have the same dreams. There is, however, a major difference in the Ethiopian Community; the parents of these kids can’t help them. The majority of the parents cannot speak, read or write Hebrew. These immigrants are different from others that have come to Israel. With the Russians, for instance, they had to learn a new language; with the Ethiopians they know no other language. They cannot write at all, most of them have never even seen a pencil! The SPACE program was established to help these kids do better in school and it is working!

The most amazing part of the afternoon is meeting the kids! We split our group in half to make the experience even more intimate. We are introduced to 4 teens: Avitah with the beautiful smile; he loves to play soccer; he learned English in the 3rd grade, he has 2 sisters and 4 brothers, Chaim is also into computers and soccer, he tells us he doesn’t need help doing his homework he can do it himself, Hadassh whose parents came with Project Moses likes books and computers, and Gila who was born in Israel, her parents came with Project Moses. They tell us about the program, how they are doing much better at school and the wonderful personal attention they receive. Then we ask them about their dreams, and you know what, they are just like our kids:
Avitah wants to be a football player and own a Ferrari, not just any Ferrari, a blue one!
Chaim wants to be a bank manager
Hadassah wants to be Prime Minister (and why not!)
Gila is not sure what tomorrow will bring; she wants peace in Israel. She would like to be a journalist or a lawyer
We come away thinking that we can be dream makers; we can keep their dreams alive; just like we would for our kids; we have that responsibility, after all didn’t we bring them to Israel for that purpose???



So what am I telling you? We in this room, along with all the other givers to the Campaign, have a unique opportunity and responsibility. We can change the lives of these kids and thousands of other people in 60 countries throughout the world. We can give them the tools to make their dreams into realities! Join David and me, be dream makers, you will never feel better.



So, what do I want you to do…
if you have not yet pledged to the 2008 Campaign,
take out your pledge card now and join us, make a
commitment, be responsible. Keep in mind, there’s
a time to listen, a time to think and a time for action…
this is the time for action!

Fund Raising Debut

As some of you know, I am the 2008 Campaign Chair for UJF! Considering I've been on the committee for the past 2 years I didn't think this would add too much more stress to me life...WRONG! Two weeks ago I received an email from the staff person that handles the Campaing...it seems that the President of the organization is going to be out of town for the Major Gifts event so I will have to make The Pitch! Oh my, well not too big a problem, I can do that! David and I were fortunate to have attended a fund raising/talk giving workshop with a woman who taught Dale Carnegie classes, I can do this, no problem! Well, actually, one catch...per our teacher you are not to read to the people you are to talk to them! Oh my, this is a little different from what I've done in the past. You mean, just talk to them! Well, I worked on my topic, emailed it to the staff person and waited for the congradulations I would recieve because of the topic, how I presented it, etc. When I hadn't heard right back I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough I received a phone call (now you know that's serious) saying what I wrote sounded good, however, he didn't like the topic. The good news is he gave me an idea for the topic, the bad news...I was having a difficult time getting passionate about the new topic. Well, re-writing went on until this morning (the day of the event!). At 3:00 I finally got it together and now had to feel comfortable with it! Well according to the people that came up to me after my presentation, it was good! Now, I haven't counted how many told me it was good and how many left without saying anything! I think I'll just take it on good faith that it went well. Hopefully my next attempt will be a little easier!

A Little Bit of sugar...

Well, we all know the song that Mary Poppins made popular "A little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down"! A little bit, yeah, right! I can't believe how addictive sugar can be. Last night we had people over for desert after the Jewish Film Festival opening night. The deserts were great and I managed to get through the evening without eating or craving any. That was last night; tonight was a whole different story. Friends invited us over for dinner; very delicious! When we got home it was like the leftovers from last night were calling me from the refrigerator! I finally had a small piece of pie, that turned into a brownie followed by a piece of carrot cake. It was like I was another person watching what was going on! Then, of course, the guilt set in. Now I'm feeling nauceous...I have this yucky taste in my mouth! What is so frustrating to me is that I've not had sugar in over 3 weeks! Ok, can't beat myself up...got to get on with it! Just to get the devilish things away from my sight I've asked David to put them out in the garage. Hopefully he'll finish them up tomorrow!

Facebook

So, I was sitting in the chiropractor's office waiting for my mom to be "adjusted" when I saw an article in Newsweek about Facebook! Little did I know that when I went home there would be an invitation from a friend to join her circle of friends! Well, join I did and now I am slowly, very slowly, finding out what is going on! I know I can "poke" people, classify them as friends, join social events, send people cupcakes! there is no end to the fun! Now if I can add another few hours to my day to continue to play with this I'll be in very good shape!

True Confessions

Well, it's time to "fess" up and tell you first, the sukkah is down, the holiday is over and I didn't post the final picture! Sorry...well, there's always next year! Second, I have a thing for Mark Bittman of the NY Times food section. Just when I am sure that there is no variety to the food we eat; he comes up with something interesting! This past week David declared our home "Chicken Free"! He said he could finally understand why my Dad started to hate to eat the yellow things! Well, Mark had a recipe for a Zucchini-Pear Soup in this past week's paper that was great; it passed the test, no chicken in it! For those of you who might be interested:

3 TBS butter or extra virgin olive oil, or a combination
1 med carrot, peeled and diced
1 med onion, peeled and diced
1 med potato, preferably high-starch (russet or baking) peeled and diced
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, or a pinch of dried thyme
Sale and pepper
4 med zucchini, trimmed and diced
2 med ripe (but still firm) pears, peeled, cored and diced
4 cups chicken or veg stock, or use water (I used veg stock for obvious reasons!)
mint leaves for garnish

1. Put butter and/or oil in a large skillet over med heat; within butter melts or oil is hot, cook carrot, onion, potato and thyme with a healthy sprinkling of salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, adjusting heat so vegetables do not brown. When onion is softened, about 5 minutes, add zucchini and continue to cook until everything is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Add pear and cook until has softened, about 5 minutes more. Add liquid and bring to a boil; taste and adjust seasoning. Cook mixture, then puree. Serve cold or reheat and serve hot, garnished with mint, if desired. Serves 4

Well, this is definitely the season for this soup. It's the end of the zucchini season and the pears are wonderful!

Reflections on Life by Sylvia

Several years ago (2004 to be exact) I came up with the idea of interviewing my mom and hearing what her life was like when she was growing up. I had planned on doing a family history years before this with my mother's sisters and never did. Now many of those stories have disappeared because two of my aunts have died. I also wanted an understanding of my dad's side of the family, however, he cannot give me that information. So, Mom and I started on a warm afternoon in July, 2004. The stories were great. There were some that I knew, like how she and Grandma, Aunt Lil, Aunt Helen and Mom used to make flowers out of material that had to be formed by petal, then fastened together into flowers and finally attached to the back of vanity, hand held mirrors. They got paid by the piece for this work. Money was extremely tight and food was scarce.

Well, the project went on hold for 3 years, until yesterday! Earlier in the week I received an email from my cousin Shelly; she is Billy and Marilyn Wallach's younger daughter. She is in the process of putting together a book about mothers and daughters. Here is what she had to say: "...it occurred to me I really knew very little about her. I thought about what her favorite color was and I didn’t know. I didn’t know much about her childhood, her relationship with her mother, her siblings, who were her friends, did she have a boyfriend in high school, how she felt about her life, and so on.

I live in a community of women close to my age..mostly in the baby boomer generation whose mothers, if they’re still alive, are elderly. Most of them said they too knew very little about their mothers. I decided to write a book..a sort of resource guide to spark women to talk to their moms before they run out of time. I sent out a survey (I’m going to forward one to you) and got so many responses. I couldn't’t believe how many people sent back things they wanted to know about their mothers. The idea took on a life of its own"

Doesn't this sound fascinating and I appreciated that it got me back into the conversation with Mom. It is so amazing, we live this life as if the people we know and love will be here forever and that's not how it works. So, last night we continued the conversation we started in 2004. The stories were as wonderful as ever. When David came home he participated as well. We all had such a wonderful time. I taped Mom as she spoke so now I have to transcribe what we talked about.

So, I told you about the piece work, I'll give you some more stories as I get them written up. Now it would be fun to have Aunt Shirley and Mom together and see if they remember things differently! Also, I have to corner Uncle Paul the next time he comes to visit so we can get some of that Plotkin/Barkon history on paper as well!

Birds Feeding Frenzy

It is Fall here and the dogwood trees are covered with tiny red berries. The birds have located this buffet and can be heard during their feeding frenzy from early in the morning until sunset! Between the birds on the trees, the deer eating the crab apples off the tree in the front of the house (haven't been able to get a picture of them yet) and the bunnies running around it is like an annex to nature's classroom! We also seem to have a family of garden snakes, I try to stay out of their way!

I haven't posted the sukkah in its final stages as the cross branches have not been taken out of the woods yet! I'm sure this will be done by the end of the holiday, or not!

Sukkah Construction

Well, it is that time of year...Sukkot! Every year we go through the debate about whether or not to build a sukkah; this year David decided to bite the bullet and buy a "real" sukkah! The kit he bought had the sides and brackets to use to hold the whole thing together. You had a choice in construction; you could purchase everything from them or buy the wood yourself. David decided on the later option and he did a fantastic job of purchasing the lumber; cutting it and, eventually putting the whole thing together! As you will see from the final picture WE DID IT! It looks great! With less than 24 hours to go the only part left is to put the branches across the top and the decorations! Promise, a final picture when it is ALL done! The premise of the sukkah is to build a portable hut similar to what our ancestors used when they were traveling in the desert! There are some who sleep in their sukkah, not sure if we'll go that far! The other thing that was interesting about building the sukkah was that we worked on it for so long it was totally dark out, so, believe it or not David agreed to put the outside lights on! Wow!

Yom Kippur

Well, Yom Kippur is fast approaching (I think I have just made a pun by using the word fast!) Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement; it is the day we specifically repent for all the not good things we have done in the past year. There are two parts of this process, first we communicate with God and pray for his forgiveness. This is daunting itself, however, the part that can be just as threatening if not more so, is the process where you must go to all your contacts and ask for their forgiveness! Not an easy thing to do! Well the other part that is always stressful is getting to the synagogue the night before in time for the Kol Nidre prayer. This is a very emotional prayer sung by the cantor. The pressure is to finish eating and get to the synagogue for the start of the service. Sounds easy, however, is always a challenge. This year the service starts at 6:40 so we're planning on eating at 5:00; we'll see if that happens!

Putting together the menu requires careful thought. You don't want to eat anything spicy or salty since you can't drink or eat for the next 25 hours! Well the menu will be chicken, stuffed zucchini, salad, challah and pumpkin bread pudding. The bread pudding is an attempt to use up the leftover challah for the past few weeks!

Well, that's what's going on here!

Fresh Mint Tea

We have fresh mint growing like weeds in our garden; before we left for Scotland David did a major "de-minting". Well, what did we get served by the potful in the Highlands...you guessed it, pots of fresh mint tea! It was delicious and Amy and I were probably the best customers they ever had. So, starting Friday night I've been making fresh mint tea. Rather easy, however, my teapot has one of those "press" pieces. The first time I made the tea I pressed the leaves immediately, not a good idea. The tea just stayed watery. Now I know that you let the tea sit and steep and then press it. It is delicous. The chore today will be to pick as much mint as possible and freeze it! I picture fresh mint tea into the winter! I've also been putting a tad of mint into my green, Sancha tea, lovely!

Time out for Rosh Hashanna

Well, needed to spend two days in synagogue so now it's time to talk about the Scotland trip! There's lots to tell so it will probably take a few days to reflect on all of it!

We left from Newark airport and flew to Manchester...the plan was an hour layover in Manchester and then on to Edinburgh. Well, you know the best made plans...there was a medical emergency so we couldn't land in Manchester on schedule. That meant, of course, that we missed our connecting plane, so arrived in Edinburgh at 5:00 instead of the scheduled 10:00.

Jean and Craig (Stephen's parents) were our gracious hosts! By far the best B & B we've ever been to! After partaking in some delicious sandwiches and Jean's delicious gingerbread we took the local bus into old town and went to the musuem. The entryway to through the old part of the building was breathtaking! There was so much to see we felt certain you could go back many times and still find new things to see! Just to make sure you're always surprised by the exhibits they change them as well! I was surprised to see an artist that specialized in languages using Hebrew letters in his work! There was an Andy Warhol exhitib in another museum hence the Campbell soup motif!

The organ is from St Giles, in Old Town. What a lovely organ with pipes that reach to the ceiling! Very impressive!

Then the bus back to the Duncan's for a lovely dinner of Jean's special fish pie. Similiar to our Shepard's pie but with smoked Haddock. Very, very lovely!

Early to bed with a mid morning departure to the Highlands!

We're back!

Well, what a wonderful experience we had in Scotland...that is after you forget about the problem of coming into Manchester too late to make our connecting flight into Edinburgh! Well, the good news is it was the airlines problem, not ours! There was a medical alert and a plane had to land that kept us from coming in!

Rather than do a quick post now I will wait until the weekend to start a description of the trip. On another note, tonight I was able to figure out how to show our pictures on the tv. Jean Duncan showed us her pictures of their latest safari on the tv...it was such a pleasure to see the pictures in such a large size! Well, after umpteen attempts, I was finally able to get the pictures to play! The only bad part is that they are not edited! Oh well, still fun and the Grands definitely enjoyed them! Will start posting some of them in the next few days!

Lorraine

Leaving for Scotland tomorrow night!

Well, it is time to get our "kid fix"! We haven't seen Amy and Stephen in too long! So, we are flying to Edinburgh to meet them tomorrow night; arriving Friday morning. We will be going to the Highlands to do some hiking and fishing. Stephen and David will be doing some intense hiking while Amy and I will do "our thing"! Can't wait. So, it's 11:30pm and I've decided it's time to do some packing. Must do the packing tonight as I have two meeting tomorrow! This is usually the crunch time when I KNOW I'll forget something! Not a problem, either I'll do without whatever it is or I'll buy it there. Not sure if I'll be able to post while I'm away; if not I'll have lots to write about when we get back!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day; the day that marks the end of the summer! Bah! We wait so long for it to come, you turn around and it's gone! So the way to combat this issue is to plan as many things as possible for the weekend to make it seem longer! Sunday afternoon Grammie and I sat on the deck and enjoyed the perfect end of summer day! The sky was clear, not a cloud to be seem; the termpature was perfect...mid 70's and no humidity! So while sitting on the deck this little yellow and black bird came by for a dunk in the bath! Beautiful don't you think????

This afternoon, Monday, Labor Day we had Tracey and her husband Ethan over to lunch; then we were joined by Mimi and Saul and Grandma for dinner. Tracey and Ethan stayed as well; it was a lovely afternoon and evening. While we were sitting on the deck Grammie was telling us about the hummingbird that comes by every day at 4:30. I must admit I didn't believe it actually came at 4:30; well there he was buzzing around at 4:27! nature certainly is amazing! There was also a red tailed hawk circling from above! More and more like nature's classroom everyday!

Visit to Silverman's Farm

Phil (my younger brother) and his son Marc have come to visit from Atlanta. Marc is starting his Sophmore year at Wentworth College in Boston; Phil will be driving Marc to school and getting him settled. Actually, I think they want to check out some of the good food that would not normally be in Marc's price range! Well, they landed in Westchester on Thursday afternoon, we took my car and David's and started our drive to Silverman's Farm to visit with cousins Hal and Bess Wallach. (FYI, Bess Wallach is a Silverman) Well, what should have been a 20 minute ride took 2 and a half hours! It was definitely worth the trip. Irv (Bess's brother) and his wife, Nancy, live high on the hill overlooking the apple orchard. It was lovely! You could see all the way to Long Island! The apples looked lovely, however, we were not invited to pick any! Oh well, maybe next time. I just realized that I never explained why we were taking 2 cars to Easton, where the Silverman's Farm is. Easton is very close to Lake Zoar where we had a summer cabin when we were growing up. Phil and his friends bought the cabin from Grampie and Uncle Lenoard and fixed it up. It is beautiful! So, it was my thought that we would visit at the farm and then I would go back to Stamford for an 8:00pm meeting and the others could take a ride up the Lake. Considering we didn't get to the farm until 6:45 that plan didn't work. Needless to say, I did not go to my meeting!

Hal, Bess and their kids (the four men are their sons).

The US Open

We are so fortunate to have friends that have box seats to the US Open in NY. What a very special experience it is to not only see the matches but to spend the day with good friends. Yesterday was ladies day! We met in Riverside and drove in. The traffic was very agreeable so we made it in about 45 minutes! Parking was part of the deal; although we couldn't get our first preference on lots, we did just fine! The matches were wonderful. The highlight of the afternoon was Nadal playing Jones. Jones was a wild card and gave Nadal quite a run for his money! Nadal was suffering from tendinitis in his knees. The first set and half of the second were pretty difficult for Nadal; so he won the first, lost the second and came back to win the 3rd and 4th. Hope he has a day or two to rest up; hard to heal when you're busy playing! The weather was beautiful, sunny and, thankfully not humid. Even without the humidity it was hot! When I came home and took a shower I could feel my body temperature drop by what felt like 20 degrees!l What a lovely way to spend the day!

Summer flowers

This year we have had the most magnificent flowers on our deck every! Instead of planting the dahlias in the ground we put them in containers on the deck. This last few weeks, with the weather getting cooler they have gone wild! The colors are beautiful and one of them is so large it is falling over on the stem! And, not to forget the sweet peas with a little visitor!

Felting 101

Just had a wonderful relaxing weekend catching up on some knitting projects. Felting has become my new area of interest. The projects are relatively easy and the end results are always a surprise. Here are two pictures, a before and after (not of the same project). As you can see the original knitted item is loosely knit and rather oversized. The next step is to do what anyone who has ever washed a wool sweater is most concerned about...shrinkage. Well, in this methodology that is exactly what you want to have happen. You WANT the item to shrink. When it does that it has the look of felt. Rather interesting since you are not quite sure how the colors will mix and the denisity of the item you will end up with. So, the bluish project is done; the purple will be complete in the next few days. I'll post again when it is complete so you can see how it came out. These are going to be purses, still have to put on handles and zippers! After these are complete (one additional to make) I'm going to try and make slippers.

Well, here we go!

It's 8:30 in the morning and I'm doing my ritual check of my email! This is how I start everyday. It is the way I stay in contact with my kids; find out what meetings are going on and who has the latest joke to share! My commitments include being Campaign Chair for the 2008 Campaign of the Federation of my area. Today is the first meeting to plan the Major Gifts event for the year. This being Israel's 60 anniversary, we will make that the theme of the event. Now to plan an out of the ordinary and exciting event!

This past year I completed a family cookbook. I included as many family pictures as I had. It seems that people spend more time with the pictures than the recipes! I have now come up with the idea of publishing another book that is nothing but old pictures. What I plan to do is borrow family member's old pictures, identify them, copy them and then publish them divided by family groups. So, in affect, this will be a pictorial family tree. Wonder how long it will take me to do this one? The cookbook was only 2 years!