At the Starting Gate

In a sense, that's how you can describe where I'm holding now, concerning Pesach. The training/cleaning is finished. The meat/fish/poultry's all thawing on the counter, and I have to psyche myself up for the final race. The problem is that I feel like a tired, past-my-prime race horse.

This year, I did something very different. I bought heavy reusable oil cloth to cover the counters. I spent the same, or less, as I usually spend on contac paper, and if I had walked one more minute on Agripas Street, I would have spent less than half that much. The first store I priced wanted ns25 a meter (1.4 width), and I bought some for ns10. I got two patterns, two meters each. Then I passed a store offering the same basic material for ns3.99. At that price even the ugliest would have been gorgeous, but that's life.

All I really needed was one two meter piece, but I'm so used to the much, much narrower contact paper, that I misjudged the amount.

I used left over contac paper for our eating "peninsula." It's neither an "island," nor a table.

The stove is shiny, and I hope the aluminum foil coating lasts the week.

This should give you an idea of what I meant when I described my upper closet set up. The two stacked rows of kitchen cabinets, making Passover relatively easy.


I'm exhausted. I wonder how Ringo and Paul manage to perform so youthfully. I guess I'd do better, too, if I had such an enthusiastic audience.

Clap and cheer for me, please.