Murphy's after me!

Usually Murphy visits, most annoyingly, when I've finished work in Beit El and I have to go to Jerusalem, rather than home to Shiloh. It's hard to get a ride to Shiloh, or even to Ofra which is on the way. The vast majority of rides from Beit El are to Jerusalem. But when I need to go to Jerusalem, yes, you guessed it. They're all to Shiloh, Ofra or further north.

Otherwise, bli eyin haraa, Murphy's pretty polite. Of course he only comes, when he does, uninvited, and I didn't invited him to today's family get-together. My Israeli kids and the grandkids, who still aren't the age to travel alone, are coming for candle-lighting, latkes and my famous vegetable soup. I also found a bag of ground fish in the freezer and made my easier than you would expect gefilte fish.

So last night, after I had wrapped all the gifts, for the big kids, too, of course, I suddenly noticed that the ceiling over the front hallway was wet. I've seen those sort of drops before... Yes, it means that the boiler is leaking. It was late at night, so I called the cellphone of our plumber, who doubles as the local synagogue's Ba'al Koreh, and was a childhood friend of my older girls... I figured I'd just let it ring a couple of times, in case he's sleeping... Good news, he answered quickly. Bad news, he's in the army, reserve duty. He promised to send someone over in the morning.

My husband decided to check it out in the attic. He climbed up and reported a small leak from the tank. How long could that have been going on? So he set up a pail underneath, and we went to sleep.

Good news, this morning, just over six hours later, it was only a third full.

And... more news when there is some...

Party's still on. Chanukah Sameach!

I'm Glad I'm On Vacation!

That means I'll have plenty of time to read all the great posts in Jack's Havel Havelim.

Enjoy!

Great News! You CAN Enjoy Your Latkes!

And have it with sour cream, apple sauce--all the trimmings!

This article, from The New York Times, says that the statistics for dying are worse for the skinnies.

And don't forget that if you don't eat enough cholesterol, your body will overproduce it. Don't forget to stay active, and I don't mean reaching for seconds, thirds and more.

Stress is also a killer, so if all the dieting is making you "nuts," it's not a healthy diet.

Now, after exercising to an anti-osteoporosis DVD, and too much sitting by the computer, I'm off for a walk, and I'll buy some sour cream for the latkes.

A healthy baby was always enough for me

When I had my first couple of kids, we never expected anyone in the delivery rooms with us besides the medical staff. In Israel, that meant a midwife. If an obstetrician showed up, you knew you were in trouble. They only were called when there were signs of complications.

The only presents were for the baby, besides flowers and hand cream if you were lucky. Before my third was born, I went shopping and bought myself a new hat and a bathrobe. Really, what else could I get myself in the middle of my tenth month?

It never occurred to me to expect or hint for fancy jewelry, like these mothers got. A healthy baby is sure worth more than all the diamonds in the world.

How do You Light Your Chanukah Menorah?

Growing up, we knew one way and one way only. No matter how religious or not your were, there were only those little, easily broken, colored candles. That's if your menorah was standard, because I have these vague memories of a small child-sized one, and for that we put in tiny candles, like from a birthday cake.

I must credit Lakewood Venter for starting me on this thread.

My husband still prefers the "no muss, no fuss" candles, but years ago, here in Israel, of course, I got hooked on olive oil.

One year my in-laws were visiting from New York, and we were also having other guests, and the kids were getting older, and I had to buy a slew of new Chanukiyot, so I took the plunge and bought a bunch of simple oil Chanukiyot. The first year was great fun, but the next year I had to replace some of the little glass holders, and the next year some more. Before I knew it we had every size and shape and many blackened with oily soot.

Some years we tried to save money and bought "special cheap light only olive oil. I should have been suspicious at the "not for food consumption" label. Well, I'd say that they shouldn't be lit either. The smell and black smoke, and bright green color all mean that there's something in there that didn't grow on a tree.

This is how it stands, about how I light:

I light real olive in oil and set a unraveling wick in a metallic-coated piece of cardboard, I have lots of oil pots, all different sizes, but some of the oil pots are too small, so I cut the cardboard, but if I cut the cardboard too small it sinks...

Chag Orim Sameach, Have a Light-Filled Holiday!

Last Night

Last night we saw the documentary, Refuseniks about the Soviet Jewry Movement and the unstoppable Soviet Jews. Thrilling, inspiring! What else can I say?

"E" is for Education and Eating

And "C" is for Carnivals, more specifically, the "B," Blogger Carnivals.

There's a great new edition for the Carnival of Education, worth reading the links, and don't forget to send me links for the Kosher Cooking Carnival, the more the merrier, as long as it's Kosher! And if you want to host one, please write to shilohmuse at gmail dot com. Thanks!

Really ought to go to sleep

Very busy day.
Usual busy morning, writing, laundry, a bissel cleaning--not my specialty.

Then work, proctored two long tests...
Will post pic's bli neder in the future.

Then a wedding, friends' first grandchild. They've entered another stage.
Will post pic's bli neder in the future.


Past my bedtime...

Panic!!!

Wow! Did I start to panic this morning.

While showering, I suddenly noticed that my grandmother's earring wasn't in my ear.

I have three holes for earrings. Two in one ear, and one in the other. My daughters had the third one done as a birthday present for me almost ten years ago. I love the lack of symmetry, and it's great for single remaining earrings, missing their partners. For the past few months, I've had my maternal grandmother's earring in the extra hole, and then I just add a matching pair in the other two holes.

When I discovered that it wasn't there, I was in no condition to run and look. I checked what I could in the bathroom and then calmed myself down. It's not a limb, an eye or anything dangerous to my health. It's not like I discovered someone close to me was dead or dying. Either I'd find it, or I won't.

I had my ears pierced when I was almost sixteen, after close to ten years of begging my mother for permission. A couple of weeks later, we were visiting my Aunt Sadie, and she presented me with two pairs of earrings, which had belonged to my grandmother. Why to me? I don't know. I'm not the oldest granddaughter, and two were born after me, and after her death when I was almost three, who are named after her. But for some reason my aunt, who had never married nor had any children of her own, decided that I should get the earrings. I wasn't yet religious, but I was very involved in Jewish youth activities, being at that time a regional officer in NCSY, but I don't know how aware the family was of my status. Even though the time, when I was told it would be safe to remove my first earrings hadn't passed, I quickly put them on. I've worn them a lot over the decades, like in this picture.

Being pretty sure I hadn't taken the earrings off the night before, I remembered that I had once found an earring, from my other grandmother, in bed. It had somehow opened up and fallen off when I was sleeping.

Just yesterday, when I was already in Shiloh, almost home, talking to a friend who had gotten the same ride, but she needed one direction and me the opposite. So we chatted. Then a neighbor who lives right near by stopped in his car to ask if I wanted to get in a go home. I did and told him that I was glad that they have a new car, big enough for the whole family. Those of us who have lived in Shiloh a long time are still, and will always be, traumatized by the terrible car accident of the Deutsch Family. The father, HaRav Shlomo, and half of their children were killed in a terrible accident. The whole family had been squeezed into a tiny car.

So how could I obsess over an earring, even my grandmother's earring? I'm sure that she would have been the first to tell me that health is most important.

I didn't rush into my room to check to see if it was in my jewelry box or on the sheet someplace. Yes, that's where it was. Easy to spot, right there on the sheet. I guess my grandmother wanted to remind me of what's really important.

Chag Orim Sameach
Have a Wonderful, Light-Filled, and Very Healthy Chanukah

"In America It's Sunday"

Funny, when I was lunching with my friend yesterday, and she was debating when to call the states, it took me a while to click about why 9am NY Time would be considered "early."

Yes, I've been in Israel a long time. In Hebrew, Sunday is called יום ראשון Yom Rishon, the First Day, since it's the first day of the working week. It's starts bright and early with post-weekend traffic jams.

It looks like Soccer Dad spent his day, not being a Sunday "soccer dad," but by being the premier jblogger and putting together the latest Havel Havelim. I guess one can say that HH is one of his "babies."

Thanks, Soccer Dad, for the great job and all the care to us jbloggers all over.

Beautiful and Inspiring!

Today I visited with one of my best friends, a true inspiration to me. She's a full generation older and is younger in so many ways. So when she told me that she had something special to show on her computer after lunch, I was very willing. Yes, she has a computer. Why not? I find that age doesn't hold people back from being computer savvy, but that's not the point of this post.

She opened a link and two dancers, a man and a woman, began dancing a ballet duet. Let me just say that they're not your typical dancers. They're both disabled. One disability is easy to spot, and the other, less so.

The name of their dance is "Hand in Hand," rather ironic in a sense. They won a dance contest, and the other contestants were not disabled. If you haven't done so yet, click here, watch and read about Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei.

Thank G-d, Better

As Shabbat began, I was bundled on the couch with a high fever. I had my husband cancel our Shabbat meal at neighbors. To make matters worse, I couldn't get the Shabbat "thing" into our fridge, meaning that the light and fan would go on if opened, so we couldn't use it. Good thing I wasn't hungry. Later he went to a neighbor and stored things in their fridge. Now I have to get the "service" to repair it.

But Baruch Hashem, thank G-d, I'm feeling better. The 24 hours have passed, and by tomorrow it'll be 48 and back to business.

Yuck!

I did not sleep well; I was waking up all the time feeling sick.

This morning I couldn't even drink my coffee.

Then I got "sicker" than I had been for decades. I hope that's it, and it's out of my system.

Trying to Get Fit

I gave up on Curves, too far from home.
I work the days the pool is open for women.
Keeping in shape, or just trying to keep the status quo isn't easy.
Typing on the comupter isn't recognized as an aerobic exercise, even if I type quickly.

So this morning, a friend and I got together to try to pull back the clock, or at least make time stand still.

We took a nice walk and then went to her house to exercise to some videos. She gave me some to do "homework." Please try to remind me! I can feel the muscles waking up. I hope they'll shrink.

And just perfect timing; my friend cl sent me this:

Very important, do not
delete......
I'm glad I found this
out.
How to weigh
yourself...

I can't
believe I was doing it wrong all
these years.
We must get the
word out.

Sunrise Sunset

This was much more gorgeous "in person."

How about, which is the sunrise and which is the sunset?

And where were the pictures taken?

Of all the nerve!

Well, now for the lowdown, the things I wouldn't write on Shiloh Musings about the elections.

When it comes to my blogging, I've surpassed anything I can blame on being a Gemini. It's more like suffering multiple-personalities syndrome.

I've lost track of the amount of times I've been on the election committee. I've even lost track of the amount of times I've been its chairman. And I'm not the only one. Every time, for countless years, when the yishuv calls a "general meeting" and has to choose an election committee, they ask me to volunteer. Actually this is an improvement. They used to just appoint me, and I'd find out a few days later.

Election Committee has its advantages. It's the Brigadoon committee, since it only lasts 21 days, with a possibility of 21 more. We have a relatively simple job. We have to announce that people should hand in applications to run for office, collect them, announce the candidates and then run the elections, including printing the ballots.

That usually involves a few hours of sitting in the office, saying hello to all the neighbors who come to vote, marking off their names on the list and then counting the votes.

It's fun, really!

The worst is that it sometimes reminds me of work, when people expect us to provide pens, just like some of my students. Isn't it enough that I print the ballots? A few years ago, there were two candidates named Moshe and two named Shlomo. Yes, you guessed it. There were voters who didn't indicate which, so their ballots were invalid. Now they're all typed with little check boxes. And who do you think types them, photocopies them and makes sure they're cut and ready?

Sometimes, ten people come in all at once, and we have to be pretty quick about marking the names, so I don't provide the pen I'm using.

So last night, all of a sudden, a neighbor grabbed the pen that was right in front of me. I let out a scream! He couldn't understand why I got angry. He didn't ask permission; he just grabbed.

He gave it back, but he didn't apologize.

Of all the nerve!

Okey Dokey, Bli Eyin Haraa

I'm just very busy with matters of state, Annapolis, elections, etc and am posting more on Shiloh Musings and The Eye of the Storm.

So visit there, please.

Don't worry. I'll be back.

My Favorite Phototgraphs

Ever since I got my digital camera, over a year ago, I've discovered that it takes great pictures of reflections.


Usually people look at me like I'm nuts when I take pictures of windows and all, but I think of them as works of art without all the fuss and bother.

A New Carnival, At Least for Me

I have a post in Blog Carnival of Observations on Life November 24 2007 .

Interesting carnival. Take a look!

Havel Havelim, Better than Ever!

Soccer Dad's Havel Havelim #142 is a great one!

There are some fascinating posts linked. Some from blogs I'm not familiar with.

Take a gander...