As I sit down to write this post, Blogger tells me I have had 19,947 page views, just 53 short of 20,000. In the blogosphere that is a paltry number. But I am more interested in quality than quantity, and the warmth and support in those nearly 20,000 visits to this blog are far more valuable than any number with more zeroes in it could possibly be.
It has been an incredibly busy few days! First, the weather
was beyond spectacular: warm but not hot, with low humidity and abundant
sunshine. Anyone who planned an outdoor gathering this weekend was quite
fortunate indeed. We arrived in Sharon early Friday afternoon and picked up
Maya, who was coming to spend some time with us while the rest of her family
was otherwise engaged. We then joined Dina and family for lunch outside on
their newly completed deck, a terrific new addition to their house that blends
in so well that it is difficult to remember what the back looked like when it
was not there. Here is a picture of Ella and Maya with a friend enjoying a
snack on the new deck.
After playing with the children for a while, we headed over
to a local camera store where we had in early May left a box containing our old
Super 8 videotapes to be transferred to DVD. Barry and I were only able to
watch a couple of minutes of the DVD before Sabbath but were surprised with the
results. The images are somewhat grainy but that is to be expected. The sound
is surprisingly good, although the speed seems somewhat excessive so that my talking,
never slow to begin with, sounds very fast and the pitch a bit high. Unfortunately,
most of the videotapes were not labelled, so the 3-minute segments are in no
particular order. My next project is to go through and put them in order – all 27
of them – so that Aaron can burn us a new DVD.
I do not know why this never occurred to me before, either
when I found the box of videos or when we took them to be transferred, but here
is a quiz:
Identify the source of this line
They took twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy
photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us.
Ella joined Barry and me for Sabbath lunch. While gathering the whole family is nice, we especially enjoy spending time with the children one at a time. We made a lunch we were sure she would enjoy. She is a bit of a particular eater but she does have a list of foods she will pretty much always eat: macaroni and cheese, cheese lasagna, blintz soufflé, and one that does not quite fit with the others, gefilte fish. We had the last two on that list, and I had made a blueberry pie for dessert. We built the newest Lego Friends kit we had given her for her birthday, played a few other games, and it was 5 pm before we knew it. We headed back over to Ella’s house and Barry played ball with Joshua for a while before we returned to our apartment for some much-needed rest.
Sunday was another beautiful day. In the morning, Barry and I took Joshua and Ella to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, our first of what I am sure will be many visits this summer. We came back to Sharon around 2 as Simmie was leaving with Eliana to attend an open house at the camp she is attending this summer, and we spent more time with Maya. We suggested going out for either ice cream or frozen yogurt, and, in typical Maya fashion, she gave us a long explanation of all the times she had been at the frozen yogurt shop and not found the flavors to her liking, so we headed to Crescent Ridge Dairy, where we sat outside and chatted while eating our ice cream. I had the camera in my purse but of course forgot to use it.
The day ended when we all gathered for a barbeque at Simmie and Ronen’s house to celebrate Barry’s recent birthday. We drove back to New York on Monday morning, and I am still trying to play catch-up.
Yesterday, New York City Mayor De Blasio signed 11 bills into law, including Intro 171-A — “Cooper’s Law” — which will allow the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission to act against hack licenses of cab drivers who injure and kill pedestrians while breaking traffic laws, and Intro 238-A, which makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way. It is at least a start.
Have a great week!
Love,
Rebecca
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