Just one more

We had a lovely weekend. Friday night we (mostly I) cooked dinner and ate with Dina and Aaron and the children. We were planning to serve it in our apartment but it was better for Julia’s schedule to be home, so we took the food over there. We spent Sabbath afternoon with three couples, friends who have lived in Sharon and we have known since the late 1980s. It was a splendid afternoon, with good food and terrific conversation.

When we were leaving the Synagogue to go to lunch, Barry went to the coat room to retrieve our coats. He took a while returning and I figured he had run into someone and was chatting. That would have been a nice reason. But instead, he came out and told me he could not find my coat. He found a coat very similar to mine but it had a name written on the inside label that was not mine. It turns out it was the identical LLBean Ultrawarm Coat, Long, item # TA227262 size M in black. I bought the coat last year. The reason Barry knew the one in the coat room was not mine was that the label had a name written on it. I knew immediately that it was not mine because I had taken the hood off of mine, choosing to wear a dorky looking but very warm hat (LLBean Ultrawarm Bomber hat in wine, a color they no longer seem to offer) instead. The name on the label was familiar to me although I could not have identified the owner, and by that time she had surely left for home. So after Sabbath I found her phone number and called her. She said she was a bit suspicious about the missing hood but figured she had taken it off to wash the coat and forgotten to put it back on. She even found the piece of Kleenex I had left in the pocket and, although she had no recollection of leaving it there, figured that she had. She was going out to pick up one of her children and she stopped by and we made the swap.

This whole episode brought to mind an incident that occurred when we lived in Sharon in the late 1980s. A new family had moved to town. They had two daughters, one Simmie’s age and another a bit older. They were new to living a more traditional Jewish life, and really enjoyed the warm welcome they received from the Sharon community, which to this day remains a key asset of its key assets. One Sabbath, when they went to the coat rack, the wife’s coat was gone. This was long before the internet and e-mail and Facebook, so there were repeated announcements at services during the weeks that followed asking everyone to check their closets to make sure they had not inadvertently taken the wrong coat. No one ever came forward, and the family has long since moved away. I can only hope that eventually she recovered from the disappointment that the loss of that coat represented for her.

We had a full day on Sunday. For the first time ever, Barry and I took the three big girls (not Julia) for an outing. We have never taken more than two children at a time. With my limited mobility it has just always seemed too daunting. But they are older, and we were headed to a safe, enclosed place: Launch. I wrote about this place back in February, it is essentially a huge room filled with different sorts of trampolines. The children love that place! But I am concerned that we may need to enlist the help of “Amusements Anonymous” to get past what happens every time we go to such places. Barry tells the children that they can each buy a $5 card (forget tickets, it is all electronic now) and that once they spend that, they are finished. But inevitably, they end up wanting just one more game, “please, please, please, just one more game, I promise!” is their rallying cry. We did give them each another $1 and guess what? When that was spent, they wanted more! When we reminded them that we might not have time to stop for ice cream, they finally got past it.

We then headed over to JP Licks for ice cream. You are probably wondering what happened to lunch. Ah, the benefits of being grandparents!

We returned to our apartment where Barry and Joshua had a date to watch Saturday night’s World Series game, which Barry had recorded on our DVR. Both boys had pledged NOT to read or watch the sports news in the morning so they would not know who was going to win, and they had a great time watching the game.

We all gathered for a barbeque at Dina’s house, complete with protein and vegetables to compensate for that ice cream lunch. It really was a grandchild-focused day, and life does not get better than that.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Rebecca

Very funny and creative

John Oliver is a comedian who used to appear regularly on John Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” When Mr. Stewart took an extended leave last year to film a motion picture, Mr. Oliver took over as host of the show, and did a fine job. Not long after Mr. Stewart’s return, it was announced that Mr. Oliver would have a new show of his own on HBO, “Last Week Tonight.”

We just watched last Sunday’s show, and I simply could not resist sharing this part with all of you. This is both funny and creative, and we can all use a good laugh now and then.

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Rebecca 

Bragging rights

Please indulge me here this morning. When I saw the first of these two items I thought about sharing it here, but then I saw the second and I knew I could not resist.

The first is a picture drawn by our first grade granddaughter, Maya, 6 years old. The picture depicts the recent holiday of Simchat Torah, which is the annual celebration of the end and beginning of the cycle of reading the Torah, the five books of Moses. In traditional Jewish settings, men and women dance separately. Some more progressive synagogues provide the women as well as the men with a Torah scroll for the festivities. To Maya, this is quite a routine sight, and that is part of the beauty of the picture. She does not think she has drawn anything all that unusual, but for many of us who remember the earlier days of such ideas, it is heartwarming to see it coming so naturally to her.

The second item is a short video compiled by our grandchildren’s school to advertise an upcoming event. At 1 minute and 13 seconds in, Ella is the second from the left in the first row. At 1 minute and 23 seconds, Maya (in the red sweater) is with her friend ‘Becca. I have watched this about a dozen times already!  

Guilty as charged: I guess I am one of those grandmothers!

Love,

Rebecca

A delicious little girl!

I could not resist sharing this.

Nice ending, new beginning

Sukkot was quite enjoyable. The eleven of us (we are no longer just ten) had the first evening together. For the first few meals we alternated between our daughters’ homes. On the second day was an annual group lunch hosted by friends. The weather was very nice and the crowd was a bit smaller than previous years so I felt I had a good chance to chat with everyone there. On Sabbath we were supposed to eat in the Sukkah of friends who live on “our old block,” Brook Road, over a mile from our apartment. Unfortunately, it was absolutely pouring the entire day. Before the holiday started, we had heard the forecast and told them we might not make it: we do not drive on Jewish holidays and between my pulmonary problems and Barry’s arthritis, a long walk in the rain is a bit risky.

We were especially cautious because Barry had to leave on Saturday night after Sabbath to attend a meeting in Europe. Normally he would not travel during the holiday but this was a notable exception that could not be avoided. He arrived home on Wednesday about two hours before the final round of holidays began. The children were in school while he was away, so I had a restful time during those few days, and our daughters fed me very well each evening. The final two days were also holidays. We had a lovely lunch with the whole family at Simmie’s house along with her husbands’ parents who were in town for the holiday. The Sukkot holiday is followed by Simchat Torah, a day that is a celebration of the Torah (Five Books of Moses). The Torah is read each year in a cycle that completes on this holiday with the final verses of Deuteronomy and starts again in Genesis with “In the beginning….”, accompanied by singing, dancing, and a bit too much sugar.

First thing Sunday morning we packed up and left to head back to New York, where a very large pile of mail, much of it junk, had accumulated through the mail slot in our front door. I spent the better part of the afternoon weeding through that.

A new opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” based on the 1985 Palestinian terrorist hijacking of a cruise ship (the Achille Lauro) and murder of a disabled Jewish-American passenger (Leon Klinghoffer) is opening today at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  Rabbi Avi Weiss was interviewed by the FOX TV New York affiliate. I cannot possibly express these thoughts more eloquently than he has.

Protests over Klinghoffer production at Met - New York News

“Hogan’s Heroes” was a CBS television situation comedy set in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II that ran 168 episodes from 1965 to 1971. It featured an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations Unit from the camp who were easily able to get things past the incompetent commandant and inept sergeant-of-the-guard. Even as a young teenager I was puzzled by the idea of a comedy based on such a dark period. But there was no question of which side represented good and which represented evil. Although I have not seen, nor do I intend to see, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” and I am sympathetic to the suffering of people on both sides of the Middle East Conflict, this particular act of cold blooded murder seems unequivocally heinous to me, every bit as heinous as the recent beheadings carried out by ISIS in Syria. Although I am unable to go into Manhattan and join the protests in front of the Met today, my heart is very much with those who are taking the time to make this important statement.

As we begin this new year and celebrate so much of what is good in the world, may we move speedily towards peace and get back to curing disease. 

Love,

Rebecca 

Little rain, no bees

This week is the holiday of Sukkot. For one week we leave the comfort of our homes to conduct at least some of our daily activities, such as eating and socializing, in a temporary structure known as a Sukkah. In New England this is not ordinarily a time of year when dining al fresco is popular, which sometimes adds to the festive mood and sometimes detracts from it. We hope for weather that is cool enough to discourage bees, but warm enough for a bowl of soup to remain hot. And of course we hope for bright sunny days and clear moonlit nights. The holidays follow the Jewish calendar, which is based on a lunar calendar, and Sukkot begins on the 15^th day (half way through the month) of the month of Tishrei, so there is always a full moon at the start of the holiday. Since there are not many bright lights in Sharon, the moon is quite beautiful on clear evenings.

We are now in the fourth day of the holiday, and at least three out of four bright sunny days isn’t bad. The first two days were quite perfect. There was not a single bee to be seen, even with honey on the table as is traditional this time of year, but it was not so cold to necessitate full winter outerwear. We were disappointed that we woke up to torrential rain yesterday, but we cannot complain. Today was another delightful day.

We always constructed a Sukkah on the patio of our house in New York. But we cannot do so in the Sharon apartment complex, so we eat all of our meals with our children or our friends. On the second day, friends whom we have known since our Dallas days who later moved to Sharon host an annual pot luck luncheon in their Sukkah. We were having such a nice time that we were among the last to leave.  

A graduate school friend recently posted a link to a t-shirt on her Facebook page. The shirt is red and in bright white letters it reads

I majored in Statistics.

To save time, let’s just assume
that I’m always right.

I couldn’t resist ordering one and it arrived here just before the holiday. At least now my daughters know why they have always been expected to make that assumption with their mom.

Have a great week.

Love,

Rebecca 

Beware of a phone scam

Being home full time has been an interesting experience. But this morning it has been rather unsettling.

We have Caller ID on our phone, and when I do not know who is calling (either by recognizing the name, the number, or our one friend who comes up as “Private Caller”) I do not answer. I figure that if the caller really wants to reach me she or he will leave a message, and I can call back.

This morning there were two calls, about an hour apart, from “Out of area.” Both times a recorded message was left claiming to be from the US Treasury and “intending my serious attention.” Ignoring this would be a second offense requiring a hearing before a magistrate or jury for a criminal offense. I must “cooperate with” the caller in order to “help (them) help me.”

There must be a flood of such calls because I found the following in one quick Google search:

http://shar.es/1m3drY

Just thought I would pass this along.

May you and your money stay safely where it belongs!

Love,

Rebecca