Retirement... Yes, We're Officially Retired -Eeks!-

There are two real difficulties for me in being half of a "retired couple."

1. I need to have something to do to get me out of the house every single day.
2. It's really hard sometimes to remember not only my varying schedule but also my husband's.

I have gone through times of unemployment, when I had little to do and even less money to do it. But maybe it was because we, including the kids, were younger, I don't remember an almost depression on days when nothing was scheduled. What did I do then to keep myself busy and happy?  During those days, my husband would be at work everyday.

Now, neither of us have "jobs" which get us out on a regular basis. 

We are now officially "small businesses." We can both legally "work" at small jobs and give receipts. I guess I ought to make a blog post specifically about that. I still have to get receipts and cards printed. I guess they will be my very first business expense. If anyone would like to volunteer to help me with the graphics, I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Every week has a different schedule for us, especially for my husband. We generally help out with the grandkids on different days and attend different events. I study now twice a week in different places.

It is reasonably complicated for each of us to keep track of our own schedules, but sometimes we need to do something together. That's a bigger challenge. We scheduled an evening out with my cousin and her husband, and in the end my husband had to make changes to fit the enjoyable evening in. Today, for instance, I'll be going down later than planned to the Tefillat Chana in order to make time to tutor. 

Now that the local pool has closed until next summer, I really make a point of getting out to walk once or twice a day. אחרי החגים... Acharei hachaggim... After the Holidays, I'll make a decision as to what pool and fitness program I'll join. In the meantime walking is my chief fitness mode. Whether solitary or with friends, it's a nice way to see what's new in the neighborhood.

New Graphics on "Layout"

This morning when I finally got out for a morning walk, better late than never even if shorter than I need... I took a few pictures. I decided to let the "Layout" app on my phone turn them into a collage.

It seems that the app had updated automatically, and the page was a bissel different from before. That's a good way to "delay dementia," since it means getting used to something new. And the bonus is that there are more and nicer graphics and choices. This is what I put out on Instagram, twitter and facebook:

What do you think?

B"H, Found a Simple Cure

Very True Story

I had a real fright this morning in shul. Suddenly an awful headache, which I never get. The skin on part of my head felt numb. When I got home I got the veggies for the salad out and asked my husband to cut them and decided to rest. Suddenly I had an idea. I was wearing a new tichel, which stretches. I took it off and replaced it with a light hat, fancy from my son's wedding. Within a short time the headache lessened and disappeared.

B"H a miracle!

Next time I'll be tying the tichel much more loosely.

"Lifesaving" hat on the "guilty" tichel.

Thankful I Can Turn Off Irma

Florida and the cruel Irma are very far from here in Shiloh. CNN has been trying to give us a feel of what Floridians are suffering through.

It's crazy that the TV reporters are in the streets reporting that the public has been told not to call the police, since the police aren't to endanger themselves.

I'm thousands of miles away wondering if all my family and friends have managed to get to safe places.

Every place has its dangers.

When I visited my cousins in Florida a few years ago, I was very impressed by the vibrant and growing Jewish communities there. Rebuilding won't be simple. People in Houston, Texas are now returning to dangerously polluted homes and neighborhoods. The water that still floods there can cause major, long-lasting life-changing diseases.

And I get nervous thinking of the logistics and mess of redoing my kitchen...

Ariel "Greg" One of The Best

As you may remember, last week I visited the new mall in Ariel. Besides a very useful shopping in the Rami Levy, my friend and I had lunch at the "Greg Cafe" kosher dairy restaurant there. Nowadays I don't think there's a mall in all of Israel that doesn't have a branch of this restaurant chain. The food and service are generally pretty good

My friend told me that when this branch in Ariel first opened people were waiting on line to get in. The "competition" is a CafeCafe at the other end of Ariel, in the sports center next to the swimming pool. Greg has a perfect location in the mall with lots of space for tables outside. They were shaded by giant umbrellas, and I have no doubt that they'll be putting up some protected area in the winter, since the inside isn't all that large.

My friend and I both had salads, which as large as they were, we finished. I must admit that I ate the whole wheat bread which was absolutely delicious. For the sake of my diet, I did not finish every drop of the bread. Mine was called "Salad Yair," and it came with a hardboiled egg and excellent techina. My friend's salad had white cheese and croutons.

We didn't even look at the dessert menu. The salads were treats enough for us. Service was good, and the restaurant seemed clean, including the WC. I couldn't find a phone number for this branch.

At present it's the only restaurant in the mall, but I'm pretty sure I saw some signs on the upper level about one opening. There will be many more stores open in a few months. No doubt I must get to that Ariel Mall again. I really did have a wonderful day there.

"Handmade*" Cake

When I found myself with the grandkids on a Thursday afternoon, I decided to "kill two birds with one stone" and do some of my Shabbat preparations with them. I also loved the idea of baking in my daughter's nice big oven. So we made cakes.

I used my fantastically easy no-fail basic cake recipe to which I added chocolate chips.

The youngest of that crew was very enthusiastic about helping, so I took advantage of the opportunity. We also did some basic math in English, since there are lots of numbers when baking cakes:

"We need 10 half-cups of flour. Two were from the now finished bag of flour, so how many more do we add from the full bag of flour?"

Even though the Second Grade had started barely a week before, she could calculate it all in her head. NO FINGERS!

We made 4 1/2 cakes. And I guessed the temperature correctly. If there's a dial, cakes generally do well when the dial almost points directly down, just slightly cooler. The "display" showed it as 270 degrees centigrade. Then I double-checked by googling on my phone. The numbers on my oven haven't been visible for years.

When the cakes were finished, we served the small one as a treat to all the kids. I just had a couple of "crumbs" to sample. Calories! Even though, rather inexplicably, most of those grandkids aren't noshers, it's hard to resist a cake straight out of the oven.

Once the cakes had cooled sufficiently, I packed up three, leaving my daughter one for Shabbat. The grandkids reported that the visit was fun.

Why is this post titled "Handmade*" Cake? Very simple. My granddaughter had never heard of mixing a cake by hand before. She called it "handmade." My daughter uses a mixer, and I don't. Of course, you can certainly mix the cake batter with an electric mixer, but I haven't had a functioning mixer for decades. It's just another thing to wash after baking, so I'm not interested. This one-bowl cake comes out perfectly fine when mixed by hand.

Inspiring Morning Learning in Matan

Rachelle Fraenkel

Yael Liebowitz

Yesterday I joined the hundreds of women, and a few men, at a morning of Elul learning in Matan. There'll be more sessions next week in Hebrew and English, so if you're interested in attending, it's not too late.

You can pay for the day, the class or unlimited Hebrew and English lectures in the Elul program.

I attend classes in the Jerusalem branch, but Matan now exists in other cities, Beit Shemesh, Hashmonaim, Raanana and Rechovot.

Beading Fun

I wanted a necklace to go with this shirt. So I placed poured beads of "matching" colors on top of the shirt. 

And then I created this necklace.

What do you think?

New Ariel Mall Could be Anyplace in Israel

A version of this article was posted on Israel Blogger as  Rami Levy’s New Mall in Ariel has Major Chains.

For a couple of years we had watched the progress of the building of the "Rami Levy Mall" in Ariel, a gorgeous, up-to-date brand new mall at the "other end" of the very impressive Shomron city. I don't get to ride through Ariel all that often, which gave me a good perspective of the mall from a big road sign to a massive, impressive building. It began to seem very similar to the new mall Rami Levy built on the Kastel side of Mevaseret.

The biggest surprise was once the buildings were completed and the store signs began to go up. Unlike the old Rami Levy buildings where his iconic discount supermarket is flanked by Yafiz, Rami Levy Tikshoret (cellphone deal,) Rami Levy Pizza/Burger and other bargain stores, these two malls have branches of the same chains you'll find in Kfar Saba, Beersheba and Haifa.

FOX has their clothing store, like in the Pisgat Zeev Mall, but I really hope that they bring their HOME department, which I love. Kravitz has a lovely branch in Ariel. The health food chain Nitzat Haduduvan has a branch, too, but my friend and I didn't go in. We were put off by the fact that they had heat-sensitive products like whole wheat flour in displays in the sun outside the store. Obviously the manager, or is it a franchise owner, hasn't a clue about how to care for delicate foods.

escalator 

elevator

The mall only opened very recently, so not all of the shops are full. But we saw that the elevator is in use, as is the escalator. As you can see, there's lots of space, benches, etc. Some of the empty stores were being prepared for opening.

second floor

We wandered around and peeked into the stores. There were many customers including young mothers with babies. Our guess is that many of the customers are from the yishuvim, Jewish communities in the Shomron and northern Binyamin. For those of us in the Shiloh Bloc, this Ariel Mall is closer by car than Sha'ar Binyamin and offers a much wider variety of shopping options. The cellphone store, which is near the Halpern Opticians, is a Golan agent, not Rami Levy's own brand. Yes, Rami Levy has managed to go upscale here, as well as Mevaseret.

There's lots of parking in front of the mall, which is off of the main road that skirts Ariel. This makes it much easier for those coming "just to shop." No doubt it's harder for Ariel residents who don't have cars. And for people like myself, it seems almost impossible, unless I have a ride to and from.

My friend and I had a lovely lunch at Greg, which I'll blog about in a separate post, and then we shopped at Rami Levy. I had heard that it's humongous, especially for those used to the Sha'ar Binyamin branch. It is pretty big and I did have trouble finding things, but that always happens the first time at a new supermarket. There's a fresh fish department which was tempting, besides all the usual things I know from the Sha'ar Binyamin branch. I am happy with the prices I found there and bought more than expected. I even had to borrow a shopping bag from my friend who had bought less than she had planned. One thing I like much better in Sha'ar Binyamin branch is that the Kupah Rashit, where the management sits and you can redeem coupons etc. is next to the exit. In Ariel, it's at the other end of the cash registers, so you may have to walk the width of the floor to get your free calendar etc.

The Rami Levy is enormous.

I definitely enjoyed my shopping adventure in the Rami Levy Ariel Mall and hope to return, Gd willing.

Back to Mosaics

Last week our "senior citizens" crafts activities resumed after a short summer break. We are still doing more mosaics than anything else. I'd love to find someone to help us with beading. I don't know enough about the finishing and the clasps etc. I guess I'll just have to bead at home and hope that I finish my work better. Also, I'm not crazy about the beads I've found so far. I need better sources. 

I now have two more mosaic "hot plates" to give as gifts.

There are also tissue boxes, picture frames and jewelry/"treasure" boxes which can be covered with mosaics. But somehow I just keep on taking the boards. The boxes also need to be painted in order to be really finished nicely.

My mosaics are very different from everyone else's projects. I only do abstracts. I let the colors speak to me and control me. Yes, I admit it sounds very flaky, but that's what I enjoy.

Post-Pool Season Exercise

So far, I'm putting off joining a pool, probably in Ariel which includes all sorts of classes, until אחרי החגים acharay hachaggim, after the Holidays or until rain makes this new routine impossible. That should be about the same time.

This morning just after 8am I marched out the door with a Tanach/Bible shiur/class/lecture coming through my earphones and a sunhat on my head. I also had a small rag in my pocket for which I'll explain later. I decided to do what I would have done on a pool day and postpone breakfast until my return. So I just had water and coffee under my belt.

I walked two full circuits around my neighborhood, which is about 4,000 steps, 3 kilometers or 2 miles. Then I checked out the "exercise park," which is pretty much just across from my house. I brought the rag to wipe off seats, since they are usually wet.

This was dry, maybe dried by an earlier fitness wannabe, so I got some upper body workout on it.

I don't know if you can see, but it was too wet for my rag to dry it sufficiently to safely sit.

I don't know if you can see, but it was too wet for my rag to dry it sufficiently to safely sit.

I hope that I can stick to this morning routine. It is awfully boring walking alone.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #24 Horse Park WC Staff Horsing Around

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #23, #22, #21,#20, #19, #18, #17, #16,  #15a, #15,  #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1

This isn't my first post about the Public Toilets in the Gan Hasus, Horse Park. Maybe you read

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #9, Watch Out for Peep Holes! 

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #20, Gan Hasus, Horse Park, Like Russian Roulette

They did fix the peep holes not long after my post came out. That certainly makes it more pleasant considering that the location is extremely convenient for those of us who shop and do other errands in the center of Jerusalem. It's nearby a number of bus stops, so one can even get out for a quick "stop," if necessary.

It's usually clean and equipped with soap and toilet paper, but the other day when I stopped in not a single solitary stall had toiletpaper. I checked them all. Luckily I had a supply in my bag. Another woman came to use the facilities, and I told her her that there was no paper.

We could hear the staff talking in the supply room as we spoke, and we were very annoyed. The municipal worker finally walked out of her "office" carrying rolls of toilet paper as we were leaving. She was angry with us!

"You should have told me there was no paper." She yelled at us.
"You should be checking all the time." We replied.

Upkeep in the public toilets is rather unreliable. I've also found the new loo off of Jaffa Road near Rivlin to be "unstocked."

The obvious lesson is to always have a good supply of tissues with you, since it's too risky to trust the WC workers to keep them clean and stocked. Also, just because it was clean and there was plenty of paper one day doesn't mean that you can rely that the next visit will be as pleasant.

Last Pool Day of the Season- Where Now?

I'm still debating where to go to swim and try to preserve the fitness I achieved the past couple of months. None of the suggestions will be easy.

• Option 1 to get a "card" at retiree rate at the Neve Yaakov Pool and try to go every Monday for "female hours." 
• Option 2 is to take an annual membership in the Ariel Sports Club which includes lots of "mixed" pool time and all sorts of classes. Many neighbors go there and can give me rides besides just tremping there or taking a bus to and from. Six days a week.

Hmmm...

Suggestions? A vote?

Tasty Vegan Cafe in the Shuq

Yesterday I had a lunch date with my favorite vegan and decided to look for a very special venue. Of course, being that we were meeting in Machane Yehuda aka the Shuq/Shuk there were plenty of the usual Israeli falafel and hummus joints to choose from. But I wanted something that felt cleaner, more refreshing and even, if you'll excuse the expression,  female.

Suddenly I remembered that I had once heard that the Natural Choice Bakery on the corner of Agrippas and Shiloh Streets, which I had happily patronized before going "low carb," had opened a "coffee shop." I hadn't a clue of what the menu was or if it even still existed. So, I entered the bakery, looked around and didn't see any sign of a cafe. So I asked and was told that it was nextdoor. And then I found it, the Natural Choice Cafe.

It's a lovely cool, serene oasis in the hectic shuq. I chose a table and waited for my "date" to arrive. While waiting I read the menu. If you click the photos of the menu, you can enlarge them for easy reading. As you can see there's a large variety of foods and drinks to choose from.

When she arrived we ordered two of the salads, the Chopped and the Nourishing and shared them.

Both salads were delicious and very filling, even though they don't look all that big.

Since we had time and wanted the meal to be extra festive we also shared dessert. Of course it was all vegan, including the "milk" in the coffee and the "cheesecake" made with cashews.

The Natural Choice Cafe is located at 111 Agripas Street, right next door to the Natural Choice Bakery, 02-622-3229. Hours 7:30AM - 9:00PM.

You don't have to be vegan to enjoy the food served in the Natural Choice Cafe. You can take my word for it!