Buttons and Beads and Neighbors, Too

I spent some time this afternoon with a neighbor.  It was sort of like an old-fashioned quilting bee, a knitting party or sewing circle etc.

She did some complicated embroidery or needlepoint, too small and exact for my old eyes and tendency to ignore tiny details.  I brought over a hat, a very simple one, which I had just finished crocheting.  I had bought some beads to add, and she gave me some old buttons.

I made an "approximate" arrangement, to give me a general idea of where to add them all.  She also donated the needle and thread.  We chatted and did our crafts together.

Here and there, she made some good suggestions and encouraged me to just sew:

"Each one is sewn in separately, so if it doesn't look right, it's no big deal to take it out and move it."

How nice to have neighbors...

Reading Comprehension, When You Can't Understand The Language

A few years ago, I was part of an EFL remedial program called, Successo.  Its aim was to teach "survival-like" reading comprehension skills to Israeli high school students, so they would pass the "Bagrut," national finals.

I enjoyed the program very much for three reasons:

1. A good friend was mentoring me.
2. I had an assistant who was fantastic, a better teacher than myself, but since she was the student, I was the head teacher.
3. The program is excellent.

The introduction/first lesson consisted of showing a couple of writing samples to the group.  They were written in letters we didn't know/recognize.  From the grapics, we had to guess what was written.

One was an envelope and the second a wedding invitation.  We had to train ourselves to "think out of the box" and stop trying to figure out the words, just the general message.  It wasn't that hard.  There are internationally accepted customs of where you write the "to" and "from" on an envelope.  And a classic wedding invitation is also pretty easy to pick out the names of the bride, groom, parents, the date, time etc without being able to read anything.

Why this post?  Well, I'm on Twoozer, the Jewish Twitter, and I'm having trouble with the bilingual log-in.  All the Hebrew appears gibberish.  I have to "guess" where my username and password go when I sign in, just like that Successo lesson.

I give up!

I went crazy trying to set this blog up in a new template.  I really liked the template, the wider post area and clean, whiteness.  But I couldn't fit anything on it from my "extra" stuff.  But the good news is, that at least for now, I have the new blogger toolbar as a souvenier.

OOPS!  One problem.  I can't find the spellcheck, and I can't spell to save my life.

Help!

I've been trying to fix up this template, but I can't get any of my regular stuff like the webads or the counter or the twitter or anything.  I had no problem with my old template.

Information Overload, My Computer and I

My PC isn't very pc. Yes, that's another thing we share. The first is Information Overload.

It's a constant battle to make sure I don't overfill the limited memories, both the computer's and mine. I must start relating it to my diet coaching. If I can lose over 30 pounds (about 15 kilo,) still dropping, I can learn to delete unnecessary data and only ingest the most important.

I can update my wardrobe by wearing things in different ways (and having my trusty friend alter to my new size. And I don't have to update the computer every time a nudgy reminder jumps on my screen.

Never having had been a slave to fashion, not having been built "the build" and never rich enough to follow the crowds, I'm perfectly happy to look at my old bulky computer and tv screens. That is, as long as they cooperate and light up when switched on.

West Bank Mama's Before Dawn, Super-Early Havel Havelim

I was expecting to find the latest Havel Havelim tomorrow, Sunday, but by chance I noticed that one of my posts was linked someplace else. Low and behold, in the dark before the dawn West Bank Mama's get to school on time Havel Havelim!

There are some great and tempting posts for your reading pleasure! Get a head start and enjoy!

Finally, An Efficient Use of Time

For over a week, I've been embarrassed by the sorry state of my chipped purple nail polish. It looked great a couple of weeks ago, when I gussied up to go to a wedding, but nail polish doesn't last forever. I kept planning:

"Today, I'm going to do my nails."

Then it would be the next day and the day after and my nails just looked worse and worse. And Sunday, meaning tomorrow, I have the big pre-school year staff meeting where I'll be subbing. I just can't go looking so unkempt.

Tonight, once Shabbat was "out," I turned on the computer and then had to wait and wait until the Ol' trusty, bli eyin haraa, got all lit up and ready to type. Suddenly, I had a great idea. I ran to the closet, took out the nail polish remover and some cotton. Then I got to work on my nails. By the time my husband came in and called me for Havdala, I could barely hold the candle because of my wet nails.

At least I had something to do while waiting...

Ping Ponging Twitter

WEJEW - Twoozer has helped me ping to Twitter. So if you check out my sidebars, you'll see that I effortlessly ping my blog posts to Twitter.

Thanks Shlomo

Even Though I Didn't -- I Still Had a Busy Day

I was given an assignment by my coach to get back on track and be ready to teach. Do three things each day as preparation. Yes, sounds reasonable. Teaching is a new routine. I haven't had to deal with all the preparation, not just actual teaching and traveling time, for a long time.

Teaching isn't just something you turn on when you walk into the classroom. It's like serving a meal. The food doesn't appear instantly. You have to plan and shop and cook and clean up and decide what to do with the left-overs.

The other day, I caught the head of my teachers union on the news being grilled by the ever-obnoxious news show host.

"You get such long vacations!"

He tried to explain how much work teaching is and how physically and emotionally draining. He should have told the woman that here in Israel we teachers are the most underpaid academics. We're well-educated, must constantly take courses to keep up with all the hyper-active curriculum changes, and even working what's officially a "full-time job" must supplement it with more, since the salary isn't enough to survive on.

I've done a few things to prepare, and there's just under a week to go before I meet my students for our first day of classes. So I wrote her a very sorry-sounding excuse:

"I had a busy day and did nothing to prepare for work. But I did cook for Shabbat and take an unexpected guest to the Tel for a tour and went to a wedding later at the Tel and went to the pool and went shopping and..." (Not quite in that order)

Will my students dare make such excuses when not completing their homework?

End of Summer Neighborhood CookOut

Shiloh's rather heterogeneous, OK, very heterogeneous. There are lots of different types of people here and different social circles.

When we moved here 28 years ago, there wasn't an "anglo" crowd. Not even half a dozen families used English at home. I don't think there were more than four. Now there are many English speakers, even though we're not known as one of the English speaking yishuvim. In my neighborhood there a re a few people who aren't even passably fluent in Hebrew. My husband and I actually are bilingual, but I guess because we're so culturally "foreign," our social life is primarily with the other Anglos.

The Movie Club is in English, but the Shiur Nashim, Shabbat Torah Class is in Hebrew. I can easily switch between languages, but I'm most comfortable with my international group of friends, where English is heard. And it's not because of the language issue.

The other night some of us got together for an end of summer cookout.

It was a lot of fun, and as you can see the food was great! And the company even more so.

Chana's Debut Kosher Cooking Carnival!

Without a doubt, I consider ourselves, the KCC fans, very lucky that Chana of Healthy Kosher Eating, agreed to host this month's Kosher Cooking Carnival.

She did a wonderful and professional job. If nobody else volunteers, I'll be hosting it next month.

Please send in your kosher cooking posts as soon as they're posted. There's no need to delay, since it's an ongoing, monthly blog carnival, and you don't want to miss out. KCC includes everything anyone would want to know about kosher food, from recipes, to Jewish Law (halacha,) customs, restaurants and book reviews.

If you'd like to host an edition, please contact me at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com

Carnival-Like Mall or Why Not Some Fresh Air?

Nowadays, school vacation treats are generally indoors, like going to the mall. Having spent my school vacations and all-year free time playing outside with friends, I have no doubt that the international modern time-bomb epidemic of juvenile obesity can be traced to indoor activities, like going to the mall.


Bouncing on these blow-up toys just doesn't compare to the hours and hours my friends and I spent outside on our bikes and rollerskates. Nobody drove us any place, because when I was growing up, the few cars were generally used by our fathers to go to work. The large (then they were too large for the neighborhood's needs) parking lots in Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, NY, were mostly empty during the day, so we had lots of space for jumping rope, skating and biking.

Instead of colorful balloons floating up high, we ran with kites.

I chose to live in a yishuv, small community here in Israel to reproduce as much as my childhood for my own kids. Now in Israel, some kids are kept indoors, which is a terrible shame and a endangers their future health.

Which JBlogger Deserves To Be Sent To The Convention?

I nominated my choice here. I was thinking of nominating more than one, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that one was enough. The minute I'd start with more it would be hard to hold it to two. So just one!

Jerusalem Food in Kfar Saba

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin and I went to a gorgeous mall in Kfar Saba. Most malls here in Israel have a core of the same stores, and some of those stores can be found in other parts of the world, since they're of international chains, like Toys R Us.



This mall had a choice of familiar eateries, the same ones you can find in downtown Jerusalem and the Malcha Mall. The big advantage for me was that, unlike some malls in the Kfar Saba-Hod Hasharon area, I had a choice of kosher restaurants.


Yes, that's Cafe` Hillel. We treated ourselves to the quiche and side salad, a full meal.

Maybe Just One...

I had decided not to have coffee this morning. My back's hurting, and I thought being sans coffee may help. But I'm just so tired, terribly tired. I didn't sleep enough.

So, maybe I'll just have one mug instead of two...

Another Great Movie!

Our movie club saw a Scent of A Woman tonight. It was a great success. There were times you could literally hear a pin drop or a heart beat. Al Pacino plays a blind war veteran, and he got the Oscar for it. But if anything, his costar, Chris O'Donnell, was even better.




We take turns picking out the movies. Considering the prices of DVD's nowadays, it's a real waste to go to the theater. We just meet as friends. It's not a money thing.

Butter's Better Than Margarine

The big food and publishing talk in the States has been about the increased, massively increased sales of Julia Child's cookbooks, since the movie "Julie & Julia" came out. Many people, who never quite knew what classic French Cooking was all about are in shock over the ingredients, especially butter.

Most of us were raised on margarine and those younger than me on egg whites, so they haven't a clue about real food.

Butter is healthier than margarine, and whole eggs are healthier than egg whites. Fresh fruit is a healthier snack than granola bars, and small plates are better than large. In fancy restaurants, where meals consist of many courses, you'll find lots of emptiness on the plates. The food is sparsely and artistically arranged.

The zoftickly full plate, and the "Empty Plate Club" are the twin causes of overweight in today's world. Don't show love with food, either.

Julia Child lived to ninety-one. I'm sure she tasted, not stuffed herself silly with the food she made.

I Twooze, If That's The Term

I not only WEJEW, even though it doesn't like my blogs, now I'm Twoozing, if that's the correct term for it. From what I understand, the WEJEW, people aim to establish safe Jewish alternatives to all of the "social media" services, or whatever they're known as.

I guess Twoozer is a combination of Twitter and shmooze. I'm pretty much ignored on Twitter and am curious if I'll be a more popular Twoozer. And no, I'm not going to do all this by phone!

And re: my avatar, profile picture. Yes, it's old. It's from my high school days in Great Neck North, not quite the hot bed of Jewish Life, though I did my best. I was in NCSY, SSSJ and attended YU Seminars. Yes, there was anti-Semitism in my Great Neck Public School. The sewing teacher downgraded me an entire mark, from A to B, because I refused to appear in the fashion show on Shabbat.

That's it for now, before the virus scan clicks in and slows this computer to an unbearable/unbloggable speed.

Annoying Problem With Explorer 8

In some ways, Explorer 8 is like Firefox. I've had to train my eyes to see the tabs on top of the page, instead of on the bottom. Yes, tabs, since they use less power than new pages.

On Firefox when I click a link I get a tab usually, not a new page. But on Explorer 8, I get a new page, so what's the point? In order to get a tab, I have to "right click" and choose "new tab." It's an extra double-step.

My computer is old and slow. The maiven added an extra memory piece, but it's like someone with severe heart problems getting a pacemaker, or a politician/executive with a bad memory having an assistant whispering crucial information like people's names in his/her ear all the time.

A few years ago, we tried firefox on this computer and wasn't pleased with it. I guess it's improved, since it's fine on the other one, or the other one is newer and suits it better. OK, newer by us is old by anyone else's standards. But, bli eyin haraa, as long as they still work, we'll save the money we don't have.

First Lesson, On Track

I'm back in the saddle, as they say. I just got up from the other computer after writing up what will probably be my first lesson of the year.

I have an idea for an additional "first," and after those two, I'll be teaching from the books, more rather than less.

I love making up my own lessons like this. That's the fun of teaching, being creative. The girls in the school are very different than the boys I had taught. I'll also be having more weekly hours than I had with the boys. That gives me more of a chance to get things done. I'll be teaching all levels, which is interesting.

It's funny that I was schlepping around in my slipper-shoes and feeling very schleppy. So I took them off and changed into more energetic sandals and the energy really began to flow.

HH, Worth More Than 10 Agaroth!

I've been checking in anxiously to see Ya'aqov's latest Havel Havelim, and it's a truly great one. It has all the elements a good jblog carnival should have, including mentions of JPIX and KCC.

Hurry over to click in and enjoy the great variety of posts he has gathered for your jblogging pleasure!

Fish Out

Last week my husband and I had evening plans which didn't include dinner and even if we did order dinner there, was after our usual eating time. So we met in the Ramat Eshkol (Jerusalem) Shopping Center, where there was lots of activity going on. See the last picture.

After checking out all the food options, we settled on a small dairy restaurant, which I think is called "Nina."

We were both very hungry and ordered the salmon, which didn't cost much more than their salad plates. It came with two side dishes. I chose a double order of salad, and the plate was full, as you can see. I was surprisingly pleased with the food.

My husband had salad and grilled vegetables, which according to his report was similar to mine.


Everything tasted good. We sat inside, because it was very noisy outdoors with all the kids running around and playing on the "blow-up" toys.

Keep Celebrating!

Baruch Hashem, thank G-d, my friends are seeing to it that I'm still celebrating my 60th Birthday. Here's the location, RYU Asian Kitchen, on Jerusalem's Emek Refa'im, of the latest lunch out, a treat by a good friend. There's such a great variety of reasonably priced kosher restaurants in Jerusalem!

The food was delicious and the business lunch a bargain. It cost less than a tuna salad plate in most dairy restaurants.

Here's my friend's main course:

Mine had chicken breast and vegetables with a great sweet-sour sauce with lots of ginger.

My friend's first course:

I started with a salad, just perfect.

We were both very satisfied with the selections and the portions. I barely picked at the accompanying brown rice. I just had a spoon to sample. The meal was very filling. And the waitress even wiped the table between courses!!!

Peacefully Summer

I can't believe that summer is ending. It's dark when I wake up in the morning. Just a couple of months ago, I didn't have to turn on the kitchen light to make my morning coffee.

We have a very short pool season, just three months.

Yes, that means that it will be closing soon, emptying out and I won't be able to have a convenient "swim" four mornings a week.

Young Builder

I don't know why this picture was placed sideways, but...

My grandson is enamoured with building, construction, repairs etc. His other grandmother told my daughter that his father loved to watch building when he was little.

It's fun to see how personality and talents etc show from the youngest age. At barely a year, he easily built block towers with four and five blocks.

I'll Have to Blog About It Tomorrow, Or The Day After or Sometime After That

Today was busy, very busy, and it's past my bedtime, so I'm not going to tell you about the great new restaurant my friend took me to in order to celebrate my 60th, nor will I blog about the trip to Kever Rachel or anything else including the siyata d'shmaya etc... etc... etc...

Tomorrow is another day!

I Don't Think They Did The "Mizinka," But...

For the second time in just over a week, I was at a "last wedding" in a family which means that all the children are married.

The first set of parents don't have too much Ashkenaz (European Jewish) blood, and I think that the "Mizinka" is an Ashkenaz custom. In the second, one of the sets of parents is divorced, so I can't imagine their having sat together for such a dance. But it's always possible that it happened after we had left.

Both weddings were suitably joyous and beautiful and different. I attended most of the weddings of both the families and wish them all mazaltov, good health and many blessings and smachot, joyous occasions.

Custom-Fitted Affordable Earplugs

I just noticed that this is the 3,8001h post on this blog. It boggles the mind, or should I say "bloggle?"

"Regular" readers may remember my rant about that DJ noise we suffered when we were trying to celebrate. A friend came to the rescue with his "Custom-Fitted Affordable Earplugs."

I was extra-lucky, since they even matched my outfit. The earplugs were easy to make. He took some soft bread, rolled it around in his fingers, until they felt like clay. I put them in my ears, and they dulled the sound a bit, enough so I could stay in the room.

"...And While I'm At It..."

Last night we were, thank G-d, may there be many more happy couples, at yet another wedding. (Illustrative picture is from a different one--busy season!)

A few minutes before the ceremony started, when the sun was still brightening the lawn where the bride was receiving her guests and near where the chupah (wedding canopy) was set up, a neighbor came up to me:

"I was looking at who's here and trying to figure out who must have a Safer T'hillim, Book of Psalms. You have. Don't you?"

"Here, take it."

"And while I'm at it, may I also borrow your reading glasses?"

Yes, we're full-service helpers here in Shiloh.

This is a neighbor who helps others so much more than I ever have, so I was so happy to do something for her.

There's so much going on that people are hardly aware of, so many more serious issues than lending reading glasses and a T'hillim. I find living in Shiloh such a great privilege and treat. Thank G-d for my neighbors.

Letters of ... Havel Havelim

Mordechai has presented a wonderful, though san pictures, Havel Havelim.

Of course, it's more than worth the visit!

And just a reminder, please send your kosher food links for Chana's debut Kosher Cooking Carnival and your jpix for... jpix!

Email Update

Earlier I had ranted/kvetched a bit that our netvision emails were not uploading at all. We could send but not receive. It started when I turned on the computer Saturday night after Shabbat, and there was no improvement Sunday morning.

So yesterday, as if I had nothing else to do and no place to go, I called netvision service customer support to complain/consult.

"Tmichat technit," customer service specialist #1 took the whole story, checked out our account and confirmed that there was a backlog since Friday evening. None of the mail was large enough to have caused a "traffic jam." Finally she announced:
"You need to speak to a superior/higher ranking customer service specialist."

She (yes, for the first time in all these years I've dealt with females) gave me my "complaint file number" and transferred my call. Another female technician was on the line, re-asked a few questions and a few new ones, too. Then she told me that it would be a good experiment to try the computer's Outlook Express, rather than Mozilla Thunderbird, which we had been using.

Then she coached me through the sign in process, and I clicked send/receive.... and forty or so (I could have written forty odd, but I didn't want to offend any of the senders) emails entered the inbox.

An added bonus is that the computer is working very quickly, bli eyin haraa, this morning, as it was when we returned from our London Betar Reunion... but that's another story.

PS Apparently there's a problem with mozilla.

Seven Things I Love (by Risa)

OK, Batya tagged me and now you can read it here.

Like Frozen Molasses*

That's the best description I can find for my computer this morning. I just logged out of facebook and took it off the window or whatever. At least this post is typing/appearing more quickly. Could fb be the guilty party? How much power does it drain?

In a few seconds, my virus check will start and it's really time to get ready to go to the pool. I must get more clothes on first and doven/pray.

I just heard the scan click on, and I can feel the slowdown.

Time to speed myself up by jumping into the cold water.

*as "slow as molasses" isn't slow enough as a description

Email Blues

We expect things to always work. And for many of us today, our email is our lifeline. But things aren't always as we wish or expect.

The other day I got a very peculiar email from a good friend. The subject was about a robbery, but as soon as I read the letter, I knew it was a scam/spam. I sent a note to another of their addresses. Apparently someone hacked into her yahoo. My friend was later able to contact the company, prove her identity and set a new password.

Tonight our computer isn't accepting netivision emails, though we can send them, I think, and we do have internet. I guess I ought to send to my yahoo as a check. I did, and I can send mail. Maybe it'll be all better tomorrow... or a too large message is stuck. I'll call them later.

And another peculiar thing. I'm part of a "group site" where we network and reminisce. OK, honestly, the bulk of the posting is by people who grew up together. I'm of another generation. Like facebook and twitter, you can "friend" someone. For the first time, I was sent notice that someone wanted to "friend" me. I tried to remember who that person could be by the name. Finally I read the message... you guessed it, spam had gotten into the group site. So I started a "discussion" and asked the "owner" to delete that name.

Maybe I should just put on a dvd and not waste my time on this norishkeit.

Getting "More Real"

I had no warning before the call came from the nearby girls high school. Over a month before, I had sent the English coordinator an email asking if they could recommend me as tutor, but there never was a reply.

Suddenly, I was asked to substitute for a teacher going on maternity leave. In the end, I'll be doing a bit more than that, which is great.

This past week I met with the coordinator in her home to get an idea of how things work and what's expected of me. The school is very different from my previous one. It'll be quite a challenge. But considering that I began my teaching career without any real training, and now I have eleven years experience as an EFL teacher...

Yesterday I hiked to and from Shvut Rachel, which actually isn't far, just through the valley across the street from my house. I visited the teacher I'm subbing for and got some instructions from her.

Last night, I picked up the package of textbooks sent by ECB, from our local "post office." The woman in charge opened it specially for me, since I couldn't get to the regular hours. She's flexible, since the set hours are very limited. And Thursday night the super-grocers is open for pre-Shabbat shopping. Afterwards, we both went to shop, and she saw another neighbor and told him that he had a registered letter. They went to her "office" to get it.

So, now after two meetings and receiving that new supply of books, teaching is looking and feeling closer than ever!

Strange Week

For some peculiar reason, which I can't figure out, I just didn't get some minimal cleaning and straightening out this week. All of a sudden, tonight, I realized that I hadn't cleaned out the little glass things that hold the Shabbat candles.

It's Thursday night and I was planning on going to be early, but it's already late. I just finished that chore.

I'm very tired. I almost fell asleep trying to get my grandson in the sleeping mood for a nap. He wasn't interested.

I had a couple of meetings for the subbing job, but I still have to find all my certificates so my pay could be calculated as high as possible.

Shabbat is in less than 24 hours. Read or not, yes, if I'm ready or not, it will come.

Freezing Tofu

I had once heard that it ruins the tofu to freeze it. I have a friend who boils it before freezing. Generally I cut a block of tofu into four pieces, start cooking one with vegetables for myself and the others go into a glass jar with water. The water should be changed every day or so. Generally I finish off the block within a week. And, no, I don't get tofu every single week.

Today, my husband brought home a kilo of tofu, and I ran to google for a consultation. Apparently tofu freezes fine, although the texture changes. The changed texture is more suitable for my tofu-vegetable meals. So I cut up the tofu into serving sizes, since I generally only cook it for myself. Each piece was placed into a plastic bag which was then tied shut, and they were all placed in a larger bag and that in the freezer.

Here are instructions from my friend:

When you defrost your frozen tofu, you will need to squeeze it out in order to get rid of excess water that somehow accumulates. It gets a "meatier" texture after being frozen; some people like it better that way, some less. I find it better for cooking after it has been frozen.

Actually, the excess water may be good, since otherwise I find that I have to be very careful about burning.

I'll let you know how they taste/cook as I use them.

I'm Really Enjoying Those Compliments!

Public Diet Update

True I haven't recently written much about the new me. As expected, my weight loss isn't going on forever, and I may have reached close to what I'll be if I don't change my changes into something more extreme. Honestly, I have no desire to do such a thing.

I don't see the point in adopting eating rules I can't live with, because then I'll only backslide/cheat and end up gaining much more than the weight I am now.

One big accomplishment is that I'm much too thin for the fat lady stores. I wear regular sizes, not the skinny ones, but not the bigger ones either.

According to the charts, I'm still overweight, and I still weigh more than I used to between pregnancies, before that strange weight gain. But I have lost weight, more than half of what had been added somehow.

This month I've eaten more than I would normally eat, because we've been to a number of weddings. I've easily succeeded in staying away from carbohydrates, but I certainly had more protein than recommended. The interesting thing is that on the day following, after eating double or triple the protein recommended for one meal, my appetite is reduced. There's an important message there:

Hunger, cravings, binging are probably

the results of insufficient protein.

If you eat enough, your body won't demand extra food!

I'll see how my weight is after a few days of "normal eating" to see if I resume weight loss.

In a couple of weeks, I'll have a new challenge, since I was asked to substitute teach in a nearby high school. I'll have very little control over my schedule, so I'll have to find solutions to how to eat the right foods frequently and without stress. The job will add a lot of stress to my life, but it should also be very stimulating in a positive way. I still see Life Coaching, with a specialty in Diet Coaching, as my next career. Teaching and Coaching are related.

They Say Nothing About Getting Paid

The Jerusalem Post ahas a new scheme it seems, unless my reading comprehension skills are failing, for filling its pages without paying the writers. Here's the deal:

The Jerusalem Post offers you a chance to gain exposure! Tell us what's on your mind, whether it's making headlines or not.

Here's how it works, in a nutshell:

Users rate posts
written by other users. The higher the scores an entry gets, the better location
it receives. After a week, the top-rated entry gets published in The Jerusalem
Post online and print editions!

Click here to submit

Did I miss anything? Is anything written about paying those who win the contest?

I think I'll just stick to my blogs.

Can You Hear Me? No Fun, At Least For Me.

Last night we were at a lovely wedding, except for one thing, the noise. They had the DJ with the loudest sound system. He must be in cahoots with the hearing aid business. We were put in the tables furthest from the action, and we kept escaping out the doors.

I was walking around with my fingers in my ears, not very suitable for a 60 year old grandmother, but no choice. Then a friend told me of a technique. He took the soft part of the bread, squished it into two small balls and told me to stuff them in my ears. I did it. OK, it wasn't as effective as my fingers, but at least I had use of my hands and I didn't look like some total nut case. I could still hear people talking to me.

It really should be against the law to have such noise.

Considering that the wedding was absolutely gorgeous, the food was delicious, the couple radiant, our friend overjoyed that her son was getting married, why ruin it, ruin the guests' health, and there were babies there too, with dangerously loud noise?

Please Help Bring Amichai Home!

As you can read in the poster, Amichai Steinmetz, of Ma'ale Levona, has disappeared in India. There's more information and recent pictures of him on the Hebrew site.

Money and prayers are needed. The search is very expensive. Bank details are on the above poster.

Please pray for the soon and safe return of Amichai Steinmetz:

Amichai ben Dvora

Thank You

Promo For the Upcoming Woodstock Film?

No, I wasn't at Woodstock. The music and lifestyle weren't my thing at all. The summer of 1969 I was getting ready to go to Israel for the year at Machon Greenberg. I was very into Zionism, Betar style, and seriously dating my then future husband.

Recently, there are lots of "forty years ago" articles about Woodstock. Besides the obvious that it really did happen forty years ago, there's a definite commercial aspect to the publicity.

Taking Woodstock must be the movie we've been hearing about. Oh, why are we hearing about this movie? A recently married into the family relative is one of the actors in it.

The Attraction of Modesty

Actually, I had never heard of this Mayim Bialik, the writer of a very interesting essay on modesty. But you can't go by me, since living in Israel and not having real TV reception, my knowledge of the stars, like who they are and the shows they're in is pretty sparse. I admit to having read magazines like "People," until I realized that I was totally unfamiliar with 90% of the subject matter.

The last time I saw a movie at the movies was when the Andy Kaufman movie, Man on the Moon was new. I only went to it, because Andy and I had studied together in high school. If you count documentaries in the Cinamateque, then The Refuseniks.

Back to modesty. The old movies, which kept you guessing and concentrated on the "longing" rather than anatomy were much sexier.

I wish Mayim Bialik all the best.

Thank G-d, Another Wedding

I think that this is a first for our community. My neighbors married off the last of their children last night. Next week, the same, G-d willing will be for a different family. There are a few with only one more to go.

May they be blessed with good health and joy.

מזל טוב!!

MAZAL TOV!

Have I A Coach For You!

Yehudit, my coach, will be coaching a group business course next year. Here are the details:

"Following the chagim,
I will B'E'H, be offering a 1 hour a week,
coaching group for women entrepreneurs, small business owners,
and those interested in launching a small business.
The group will be conducted by phone, via conference line.
You will learn how to set up a business plan and do marketing.
Space will be limited to 8 participants.
The group will run 8 weeks with an option to extend.
For further details contact Yehudit:
coachingwithflair@gmail.com
054-771-8442"

If you need assistance on the road to success, I'm sure that Yehudit can help you!

Baila's "Early Bird" Havel Havelim!

Baila calls it the Modi'in Edition of Havel Havelim, but since she posted it before the sun rose here in the Holy Land, I'm giving it a suitable nickname.

It's such a pleasure to start the week with an HH early Sunday morning. Jbloggers on the western coast of the Americas would consider this a Motzei Shabbat, Saturday night edition.

Baila has included a great variety of posts from all over including from Rutimizrachi who was here in Shiloh at a Bar Mitzvah, and I'll take this opportunity to remind you that there are two other jblog carnivals, The Kosher Cooking Carnival and JPIX. Please send your suitable posts to both of them, posting details in the linked carnivals or on my sidebar. Thanks! And if you'd like to host a KCC, please let me know at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com

And don't forget, there's a great opportunity in just over a month to f2f at the Second International Jewish Bloggers Convention.

re: Explorer 8

As I had written in the previous post, I took the plunge and upgraded. Actually, I felt very brave and daring doing it, since I'm no expert in playing around with these things. Whether I did it correctly or not things have changed.

The 8 is like firefox which I use on the other computer, something I think I read, but it's not exactly the same. Both have the multiple tabs on the internet, which is supposed to use less whatever than opening a new window. Firefox automatically opens new tabs, such as when a yahoo letter refers to a blog or site, but explorer 8 opens a new window. That's annoying. I have to remember not to "click right," but the "click left" and choose "new tab."

There are all sorts of icons to click on top for various sites and services. The one I'd like, an online dictionary/spellcheck isn't there, though I can always use the google window.

But just this morning I noticed something good. Next to the newest tab box on top, there's a little unlabeled one. Click it and choose whatever site you want.

My mind keeps flitting to something else, but I can't get a handle on it to write about it.

When A Boy is A Boy

Our sons were born after their three sisters, and our grandson has two older sisters. Our elder son's first sentence was:

"Auto zoom zooom zoooom."

And yesterday our grandson took a few of his sisters' pretty hair pins, lined them up, began moving them:

"Toot! Toot!"

As far as he was concerned, he had made a train.

Back With The Veil

It suddenly hit, that I had better return to the veil of discretion about work. I'll be substituting, and it'll be so easy for fellow workers, students, parents etc to read my blogs.

In my previous teaching job a student told me that his mother read my blogs. Now, I'll be teaching girls who know English well enough to be readers.

There's more than my own reputation to worry about. According to Jewish Law, "lashon haraa," bad tongue, refers to nice things said about others, not just nasty gossip.

I'll write about the job, but I'll have to think very carefully about what I should say.

Statistics Prove...

My Shiloh Musings readers seem to go for the more hard-hitting politics. I blogged about other things the past few days, and my numbers took a nose-dive.

As I thought about it, Carol Burnett's voice singing Little Girls, in Annie, filled my ears.



[MISS HANNIGAN]
Little girls
Little girls
Everywhere I turn I can see them
Little girls
Little girls

Night and day
I eat, sleep and breathe them
I'm an ordinary woman
With feelings
I'd like a man to nibble on my ear
But I'll admit no man has bit
So how come I'm the mother of the year?

Little cheeks
Little teeth
Everything around me is little
If I wring
Little necks
Surely I will get an acquittal

Some women are dripping with diamonds
Some women are dripping with pearls
Lucky me! Lucky me!
Look at what I'm dripping with

Little girls
How I hate
Little shoes
Little socks
And each little bloomer
I'd have cracked
Years ago
If it weren't for my
Sense of humor
Some day
I'll step on their freckles
Some night
I'll straighten their curls
Send a flood
Send the flu
Anything that You can do
To little girls
Some day I'll land in the nut house
With all the nuts and the squirrels
There I'll stay
Until the prohibition of
Little girls.

It's So Much Better To Serve Less

I've always had an appetite problem, or call it a satiation problem. That "full" feeling is rare. So, if there's food in front of me, I'm hungry, regardless of how much I've already eaten.

Some foods actually make me hungry the more I eat them. In my "new way of eating" I've eliminated them and don't even start. That has contributed greatly to my weight loss.

Events, like weddings, are real challenges for me. The "require" eating three meals plus within a few hours.

1. The reception, with deceptively "small" tastes, you can end up filling up on double the calorie count of a normal meal.
2. The first course of salads, made with lots of salt and oil, plus the plate of fish or doughy delight filled with liver or vegetables.
3. The main course, which we eat, even though we've already eaten two days worth of food.

Last night at the wedding I didn't overeat. First of all, I missed the reception. We arrived seconds before the ceremony. And since this was a wedding "designed" for maximum guests, there was no "first course." The salads, side dishes and a choice of poultry and beef were set up on buffet tables. We took what we wanted and that was the meal.

Nobody was hungry. We left before dessert.

How Could I Have Forgotten It?

I can't remember the last time it happened. I actually left my house to go to a wedding without my camera. I always take pictures as an extra gift.

I had been dealing with the camera all day, because of the Bar Mitzvah I photographed. The memory card was wiped clean, because I had already burned the cd's.

For some strange reason I just didn't put it next to the gift so I'd remember to take it. It wouldn't have been a big deal if I had forgotten the gift, because the young couple will be here for Shabbat. But the camera! I can only take wedding pictures at the wedding.

Oh, well, actually, considering the lighting... the pictures wouldn't have come out very well.

Bus Blues

There's a lot of construction going on in Shiloh, especially at the entrance, because the school is being added to. A couple of weeks ago, after the bus stop/shelter was removed, temporarily they say, people were waiting on the other side of the road, in the shad of a tree. So, surprise, the bus stopped there, and passengers got off and on.


Then I videoed it to show how long the new roundabout takes. There were people waiting to get on the bus at the regular spot, but the bus driver ignored them.

Contrasting Images

I'm always surprised by what I see when wandering about.

The other day, I had to go through downtown Jerusalem to get a ride to a wedding. I walked up Ben Yehuda Street and was amazed at the carnival atmosphere.

That's right. I didn't have time to stop and record the music, but I think the picture says it all.

Unfortunately, I'm sometimes saddened by what I see. Here are the remains of a building project in Shiloh. I hope they find a more suitable place for dumping than the side of the road.



And that road is not an out of the way spot, it's just across the street from homes, homes with young children and the elderly.