I just had to post a good morning message. It's now 7:25 and I got out of bed at 6:45 to see *snow*. Not too much to make it hard going, but just enough mixed in with a light rain to be pretty and to fall outside my window. Yesterday I went for the first long walk in over a month, and picked up some beautiful fall leaves and pressed them between two sheets of waxed paper. I had to do this before going to bed last night, as they were drying out quickly. It is just a concrete series of happenings to remind me to truly enjoy each of the wonders of nature that Hashem has blessed us with. The fact that I was able to walk yesterday, to see the leaves, to bend down and pick them up, to hold them all the way home, to put them down, to rest and then daven and then make dinner. To have a wonderful family and friends to share my leaves with in notes, and to be able to do the complex physical, mental, and emotional tasks involved in these simple acts - from one who has had times when I couldn't do these things- makes me truly grateful to Hashem for the abilities I have and also, especially, for the family and friends with whom I can share my happiness. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Happy happy anniversary to one of the most genteel and gentle couples I know. May the years go by with pleasure and my your love grow every day. Your wedding was beautiful, and the picture reminded me of that lovely day. Mazal tov from Abba and me.

Please imagine your most beautiful scene and have that as our image to you. Elka Tova's flowers were beautiful, but I don't know how to get something nice like that to you both.

Love and brachot for health, happiness, and long life, surrounded by your wonderful children.

lcNlc

Abba and I hope you had a wonderful day. May each day of the coming year bring you sunshine in your life. G-d bless you and your family. Love and hugs,

lcNlc

This rambles because it is 3:41 AM and I am usually asleep long ago. I couldn't sleep, and had been listening to Thomas M DeFrank's "Write it when I'm Gone" about Gerald Ford. Remarkable Off the Record conversations with him that he collected over many years, and only published a couple of years ago. It represents 32 years of interviews. Ford was an honest, upright man, and worthy of following in his footsteps, I think, particularly regarding his ability to put world events in perspective. He lived into his 90's and swam laps twice a day. A wonderful example.

Usually I do not post after 9 PM but tonight was different. The story started on thursday, when Lucretia borgia and gideon and sam and jacob came and I played a very very happy savta. Sabba was holding down the fort and making sure everything went well, but left the latke cooking with the kids and the snow fort modifications to Lucretia and me, and our opponents the males, alpha and others. It was lots of fun, and I thought it ironic that my medication styrofoam coolers in which Caremark ships my injections that are worth over 1000 dollars a month were used as molds for snow to make crenallations for the fort. Jen was terribly outnumbered, and the boys were delighted to shower me with snow. I had poor and and pitching strength - would have been great for the Celtics or the Bruins, but the Bruins are too violent. Anyway, I enjoyed so much the kids drawing dragons, playing with toys, etc, and the fact that they and their mom are great at leaving the house in relative neatness. But it took 2 days to recover. G-d knew what he was doing when he gave the children to the young. I had wonderful memories whenever I came to something I'd neglected to put away, and have a major new set of decorations on my fridge.

Fortunately, shabbat dinner was already prepared, except for an easy crock pot cholent which used a cut of meat called a Kalke, which my friend Dora Katzeff, a"s, told me about, and for which I used a spice called "Baharat", which I knew nothing about except that it is Israeli and is sold in the Butcherie.( Nomi will say that sentence has to be taken out andd shor or shortened) The cholent had three kinds of beans, a large can of tomato sauce, and nothing else except water and the spice - about a tablespoon or two. It was really nice. Well, after reading Gerald Ford's story, and learning how he wound down his activity to match his energy level, it gave me good advice. By resting on Shabbat, and taking "menuchah" seriously, and going with what my body wanted me to do, I was able to lie in bed and read this great CD and rest. G-d bless, my hands were not numb, no matter what position I lay in, and though it is late, and I have to get up for a 9AM PT appointment, I'm really happy.

Abba and I spent some time today with out Chavurah, and then had a great time going to Nomi and Michael's new place to see it and help them out a very little bit. I even got to see Jick and Richie for a cameo appearance. I'd spoken to Becky earlier today from New Hampshire, and Aaron last night. We look forward to seeing them later in the week. G-d is in His Heaven and all is right with the world. Some days are just to savor and place in your memory to take out to look at when you need a lift or a sweet thougt.

May the pleasures of the season come to you all, and may you have peace and light in your life. Abba is asleep, so I'd better close now before he wakes up. I'll read some Torah, as it always puts me in a calm mood to fall asleep. Love to all.

I just woke and finished morning prayers. Abba is asleep and I've decided that I'll log in as frequently as I can each morning, just to say "hi" to my friends. Ir's windy and relatively warm by the standards of the fluttering of our neighbor's American flag on his flagpole and by the rhododendron leaves that are flat and not turned in on themsleves, as if scrunching down to retain heat. The squirrel who is fat and happy and the only squirrel who is a regular on our porch is enjoying the crackers I threw out the night before last. We are occasionally plagued by grain moths, and when I see seeds suspended from a package from a delicate thread, I say, "Oh, well, they're back again." We appeal to their strong instincts for preservation of the species and use sex attractant lures that we get in our local Ace hardware store. Meanwhile, we discard all the crackers, cereals, etc. they have infested and thus our squirrel and many birds enjoy the silver lining in our cloud.

But since we know this can happen, we do not keep a large stash of the things the moths and their larvae like in the cabinets, but in our freezer. We also keep two or three traps in the cabinet. They are non toxic and just attract this one type of lowlife. But not there are 6 birds onthe table eating all the grain from the feeders that the swuirrel shook out. My friend, Nomi Waldman, gove me a good perspective on the "pests" eating what they may. You see, they can't go into the grocery store to buy more strawberries, etc. so you have to plant enough for you and the animals or buy enough seeds, etc for the desired and the undesirables, who also have a right to live. Now Mr. Blue Jay put in an appearance. The cardinals, Mr. and Mrs., and the goldfinches are the aristocracy of the feeders, in that those cause remarks to others to see them.

I'm looking forward to lucrecia borgia and Gideon, Sam and Jacab coming sometime this morning. All chores will wait while I indulge my basic self that likes to have fun and play and enjoy the moment. I look forward to hearing from Gnomi some time this morning, and will now go up to shower and dress.

I hope all of you are doing well. Gnomi will send me lcNlc-friendly instructions on how to do the "read more" thing so those of you who are not interested in Backyard Birdie Theater, as Gnomi dubbed it, can skip over this.

Basically, I am so thankful to G-d that I could sleep last night and weke up this morning and had all systems working as well as can be expected given "age and stage", a phrase from a friend with 5 children, that I look forward to the day with happiness. I hope you all have a good day today, and can find reasons to smile, someone to talk to that you care for, and especially good health to enjoy.

Hi, all. I'm back after a lengthy hiatus.Hooray.
After breaking my wrist, having surgery therefrom and the surgery flaring up my MS, having the cast taken off, going to Maryland with Abbamoose to help out beckyfeld and osewalrus and our precious grandson,then returning to Massaachusetts to recover our energy, preparing for Pesach and now beginning to deconstruct therefrom, I have enough time and energy to log on. Gnomi will say this sentence has to be taken out for alterations.

But hooray, I'm starting to feel good. Both Abba and I love to be with family, and have much enjoyed that part of the past few months. We are so happy that beckyfeld and osewalrus and precious grandson were able to get back into their hectic but happy lives, and that we had a wonderful visit with gnomi and mabfan for the Shabbat and the first two days of Pesach. We got almost all of the food pre-prepared, and were able to have a first seder with a total of 10 including us. A company called A Perfect Taste had a "traditional seder for 10" menu, which we ordered, and we were quite happy with it. Other things we bought from gordon and alperin. Abba performed the role of "schleperello", and between my wonderful housecleaner and dear friends who shopped for us, we did fine. gnomi and mabfan did their customary helping with serving and setting up, and even our friends who were guests pitched in. Thus, I did not suffer from too much fatigue and can truly say that I loved Pesach. The seder and the company was buoying to my spirits, and not having company for the second seder let me relax a bit more and let abba wear his alligator hat longer. Lucretia borgia and sethg_prime and their three musketeers graced our sunshiny backyard and brought it to life during chol ha moed, with the boys digging holes and finding worms. meanwhile lucretia borgia repaired our eruv. I smile every time i look at it and at the fluorescent orange streamers hanging from it so noone bumps into it.
look forward to catching up with all of you and getting back into the swing of things. I'll still have to rest every day as I recover from the ms flare up, but will use lj as a part of the rest time, G-d willing. We're off to Maryland next week for grandparents day at precious grandson's school, and will look forward to spending the week, including mother's day, with beckyfeld, osewalrus,precious grandson and all the wonderful folks in silver spring. See you later. Now I'm off to make an appointment for PT to help something called "thoracic outlet syndrome", which is apparently causing the numbness in my hand and is a complication from the broken wrist. It sounds like something I'd need an electrician for. Then it's off to bed to rest with abbamoose, who describes his state of energy as washed out. He had to get up at 4:30 am to drive me to my neurologist in boston, who'd added me onto her schedule at 8am. With G-d's help we made it in time, and I was glad to have him there. I am doing local driving, and am looking very forward to doing some of the driving on the trip to Maryland next week, if possible. lots of love and good wishes to all.

well, the year got off to a good start,generally. the attorney general's office is going to send me a report on a company we're considering for waterproofing our basement. before the holidays the clerk in the a.g.'s office was most discouraging of my ever getting a report, and said it could be very expenseve. this was jacob marley personified. today, helpful harry was on duty. i should be able to hear w/in 2 weeks if all goes well.

second good thing was getting in touch with the service chief at the car dealership from which i bought my new toyota camry, and having her take action that resulted in the dealership sending down a team to start my car acd bring it to the shop and put in a new battery and identify a flaw in the remote start system. If you use the remote start and for some reason do not get into the car before the engine turns off, the headlights that turned on if the car was left on "auto" do not turn off. they completely drain the battery. The nice men from the dealership used a jump-start device that was about 12 x 15 or a bit bigger, and it made the engine turn over when a jump from abba's car didn't.

abba had a good visit with his internist today, and that was good.

now the thing that didn't go so well today had to do with my new mantra: i hate the ice. we got home from errands and the driveway was - right - a sheet of ice, despite abba's having put on some deicer pellets before we went. i was so frustrated that i couldn't just go out myself and put more on. one broken wrist was enough. abba was tired. i lost it when i let my fear for my friend's falling when she came to bring us supper overpower my natural thoughtfulness for abba's fatigue from a taxing doctor's visit. I called a young neighbor who helps us take out our trash and asked him to come over and spread the de-icer. because abba didn't have the containers full when they were coming, i grumped at him and tried to hurry him. When the young neighbor arrived with the sweet girl next door who also came to help us, i was so overwhelmed and relieved i cried.

the fact that my arm had been hurting more since the orthopedist manipulated it yesterday didn't help my composure. i fell going upstairs to the second floor because i was wearing abba's slippers, and i banged my cast on the wall. well, finally, after the kids left, and i'd spoken to the nice orthopedic resident covering for my doctor and gotten lots of questions answered, we calmed down and had dinner. but first abba got a phone call from his brother. because i had grumped at abba, he grumped at his brother more than his brother's behavior deserved. so though we all apologized to each other, it would have all been better if i'd kept my cool. well, tomorrow is another day. time to try again.

Well I just started the New Year on a positive note, with this post. I'll try to keep in touch with all my lj friends and not just lurk.

i will beg your indulgence by writing mostly in lower case, as did archie and mehitabel, the cartoon characters of several decades ago. they were fleas, who jumped from key to key. I broke my right wrist thursday when i fell on the ice in my driveway while getting my mail, which i never got. i saw a colleague of my hand doctor at new england baptist yesterday. the baptist is now affiliated with beth israel. i hope that all the pieces if my radius and ulna will heal just as seamlessly as these two wonderful institutions have melded services. ecuminism in action. with the wonderful help of G-d and my most dedicated family and friends i am doing fine. of course i have to kvetch now and then, but basically i hope that i will finally learn to take it slow and be careful. Some of us are quick learners, or have inborn tendencies in those directions,----but i needed a definite reminder. but this will help me simplify life. happy new year to all.

saw lots of lj friends over the weekend at osewalrus' folks' anniversary party, and look forward to seeing and hearing from them and others as the year goes by.

my husband is the best helper in the world, and my kids - all of them-wonderfully supportive. one friend is also cooking soup for us and another will come friday and cook for shabbat. we are truly blessed. we will try to actuall visit friends we havev't seen when we can.

any prayers area appreciated, and my hebrew name is etta rivka bat pesha raizel. because the radius is in 7 pieces and the other bone of the forearm also has a break, the doctor said there's a 35% chance it will heal without surgery. but we're trying to beat the odds. besides, laughter is the best medicine, and most of my family and friends are very funny.i'd appreciate suggestions for funny videos i can get from the library or funny websites that are not too time intensive.

o

time to get ready for thanksgiving - both the holiday and also for finally being free of prednisone withdrawal symptoms. some stuff still remaining from the flare, but some improvement still when I am smart enough not to overdo. tonight is one of the times. I had planned to go to a lecture by Rabbi Gedalia Fleer but I listened to my body and am missing it. does anyone have any recommendations of a book he has authored that would be a good starting point to his works? tomorrow is bake the brisket day, and as my recipe has lots of garlic we will keep the town of burlington free of vampires - I expect it works like an eruv. Best regards to all.

Just a few lines. It's late, but I want to thank those who have kept in touch. I'm at the end of the treatment for my latest MS attack - last pill tomorrow - and I just wanted to say that I am very grateful for what I have. I'm feeling like myself for a while every day, and that's just wonderful. To be able to see, to be able to talk, to be able to walk and stand and write and read - wonderful. To have manageable pain and to be able to think one's own thoughts and keep them in mind - a blessing from Hashem. And to be able to go out to a social event and enjoy it - frosting on the cake.

I appreciate your all posting, cause that's how I can keep in touch with those I don't reach by phone. It keeps me from feeling isolated. Please understand that I haven't been able to comment very much.

Life goes on, and up or down, it's precious. Every minute is a gift from Hashem. Family and friends - those are riches. Money is a medium of exchange. Shalom.

I note that the last time I updated was 7 weeks ago. Ouch. Life has been busy, and I don't always get a chance to log on. I really miss reading friends' pages. Gnomi keeps me informed though, fortunately. I try not to stay up late on-line but I had to just say that life has handed me both gifts and challenges during that time.I'll try to update more frequently . After a wonderful week sharing out super 9 year old grandchild with his other grandparents, osewalrus's folks, life got back to its busy time. Then,out to the blue I had an MS attack. It's mild, thank G-d, but I have run smack dab into a major vacation time - week before Labor Day - that coincides with changes of hospital house staff in July. As my neurologist is on vacation, and her covering physician just went on vacation yesterday, I'll wait til day after Labor day to decide on whether I take steroid IV's. No jokes about pitching better. Cheers to all.

I love Fridays in the summer. It seems that you have soooooo much time before Shabbat frenzy. So you do all sorts of other things - especially if you have leftovers from last week for Shabbat lunch. And especially if for some reason you were expecting guests and they had to cancel.

I went from thinking of menus and recipes and how to make my guests comfortable to having this larger block of time that comes from having Shabbat only with family.

So I started to get to work on the horizontal paper covering for my table - in the kitchen it leaves only a small space for Abba's glasses and the keys he must now leave on the table because the Smart Key to my car gets nervous near computers. In the dining room it is quarantined to a smaller space because we have to eat there, and because the laptop and the printer take up more of the table. Thanks to Hashem for Shabbat, because this forces the "clean the table" program to initiate.

But I did get lots done - especially some writing of a letter of memories for a woman whose father I used to treat and whose mom is turning 60. I thank MABFAN for his post on how he writes for giving me the idea of writing bits at a time. I did a whole page and am really happy that I started.

The power is low. Love to all. Shabbat Shalom.

Nomi came with us to celebrate the 36th Father's day of her life.( Read more... )It's wonderful to have your kid show you how to use something as cool as LJ. I'm celebrating choosing the best man in the world to father my children, and also having the nicest, most helpful and understanding progeny in the world.

 Took my tai chi class at the senior center today. The class was a good example of the adage that "you should be deliberate in judgement" from Pirke Avot, Ethics of the Fathers. I had just about given up on having a class that met my needs - careful, repetitive instruction with good separation of  the parts of the form, and the ability to see the instructor or his helpers or even well trained students no matter which way you turn during the exercise. Well, I said to myself, "Self, give it one more try. You haven't been to class for about 8 weeks. If it isn't good you can always find a class that is less convenient and more expensive, or go for private instruction." Well, as I said this was great. Tai Chi is really good for many people with both physical or concentration or stress problems, and this one is now great. Just a word for persistence and hope. My grandmother said that G-d lets a person have whatever amount of money is planned for him - saving on tai chi is one way He has been delivering on our parnassah. Please forgive run-on sentences - the chi is just flowing. ;-)
Cheers to all.

The sites I referenced are the following (without spaces this time, so you can just click on them):
http://daughtersoftorah.org   and http://lettherebelightbook.com

Thanks

Well, it's been a busy 2 weeks. My sweet SO (I don't know if you can use names or titles on LJ) had some Moh's surgery (Larry and Curly had their own) to take off a couple of basal cell carcinomas, and he did very well. He looked like a Cyborg for a while, with dressing down one side of his nose, and is now looking just fine. I've finally finished our part of the taxes, and am looking forward to talking with the accountant to be sure it's OK to send off to him. As we got the extension filed last year in September, we're doing OK. If only I can get accustomed to entering the deductible stuff in a data base or Quicken when it happens.

I heard two very good speakers recently, both through a group called Bnot Torah, which is a" Jewish learning forum that used ancient Biblical texts to shed light on modern day dilemmas". You can visit their website at http://www.Daughters of Torah.org. I don't know how to get this so you can just click on it, but it's a wonderful group out here in the hinterlands, and draws people  from the greater Boston area.
Anyway the first lecture was by Dr. Howard Smith, who is a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian center in Cambridge, and who did cool things such as chair  the astronomy dept. at the Air and Space Museum in DC and helped make an IMAX film called something like Cosmic Voyage. He spoke on B'reishit and the Big Bang, and has written a very easily read book called Let There Be Light, modern cosmology and kabbalh - a new conversation between Science and Religion. He is a master at making difficult science understandable to the intelligent layman - or woman.His website is lettherebelightbook.com.

 Today's talk was by Rabbi Norbert Weinberg of the Adams Street Shul in Newton, and he spoke about the difference between the concepts of Tzedek (Justice) and Chesed (Lovingkindness) - and the difference between a Tzaadik or Tzadiket and a Chasid or Chasida. If anyone is interested I have some of his references, and a couple of extra handouts.

I feel a great lack in not being within a frum community here in Burlington, and lectures such as these help fill  the void. We're (I'm) working on getting rid of non-essential stuff at home(read :stuff we don't use and haven't for years) and some of the really want to keep but can't justify moving when we do. My goal is to get the house ready to sell in the wink of an eye for when we finally can find something we'd like to buy. Gnomi says it's like having a waffle and a glacier decide on a course of action for moving, but G-d willing we'll do it.   We've already started to get the house ready for sale by painting some interior rooms. Still *many* things to do both in and out. I'll appreciate any hints about how to go about downsizing from a 6 room house with an attic and cellar and 42 years worth of stuff in it, to a smaller place that may be a ranch house, a condo or a town house. A woman called The Mess Fairy is giving a talk in the Burlington Library and I hope to get there on Thursday.

Gnomi is going to show me how to cut this on Father's day, so I hope to not bore people with too long a post. Shavuah tov - have a good week. BTW, the librarian who was teaching about the Databases in the Library thought LJ was maybe similar to Facebook for adults. I hope to get more people I know on LJ. A great concept. thanks to Gnomi and Osewalrus for getting me on, and to beckyfeld for getting me to start me with IM, my first chat experience. Great to learn from progeny.

Had a very nice rest over Shavuot and Shabbat.  Had some friends as guests for each. Now ready to take on what had been relegated to the back burner (off for yom tov and shabbat).There is a virtual mountain of things that "could" or "should" be done, but rather than my usual feelings of having these in the back of my mind and goading me  on, I am turning over  a new leaf. I always learned that one should be positive, and state that one is now doing some quality or habit one wants to acquire not trying to do. As Yoda said, there is no 'try' there is just "do".

Anyway, I spent 1hour and 20 min on LJ and enjoyed the whole time - some learning, some actually using. Have already walked with Linda for an hour and showered and eaten brunch. Still lots to do - whoops, fell into the pit again - no, I've already accomplished a lot and now will go to priority 2 - working on the taxes.
I decided to take a leaf from the book of patriotic sayings that have survived. My priorities should be life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in that order. First life : stayed in bed extra 1/2 hour to be rested. without life, what is there in this world; liberty - exercised to stay well so I can be independent in ADL's (activities of daily living, for the non PT's)   and have done LJ to pursue happiness, as well as talked John and Becky.

Well, priority  one of the day is to work on the taxes so we can get our refund back. Just got a call from osewalrus' mom - they'll stop over after a shiva call in Lexington. Gil Garber was niftar just before Shavuot. 

Now to keep on target. Looking forward to seeing the family.

Just a few lines to catch you up on our wonderful week with Becky, Harold and Aaron. My new car, "07 Camry, went on its maiden road trip and was most successful at it's job of being a comfortable, safe, reliable car - for which I first started to search 7 years ago. When we arrived Aaron helped unload the gear - he is incredibly strong for an 8 year old, and personifies the term z'rizut (doing something with zeal and eagerness).It was one of the midot (attributes) his class worked on in grade 2, and he certainly has absorbed it to the spinal cord level ( reflex action). It was so wonderful to be with Becky, Harold and Aaron in person, and to enjoy Grandparents Day at MJBHA . Davening next to your grandson, and participating with the class when he chooses a bracha for you to lead his class in - naches from kinder in spades. (Nomi would say that this sentence has to be taken to the tailor for alteration.)

John enjoyed being there, and watching Aaron in his class and the performance of the grades up to grade 4. Aaron was an apple in the skit about good nutrition. Lunch with Aaron was fun, and we met a number of Boston area grandparents - notable among which were Rabbi and Rebbitzen Halbfinger.I enjoyed the book fair - smart thing to have at GP day, so you can buy the kids what they like and find good, wholesome yet fun books.

Shmuel and Sheri and KalaivYehudah were wonderful hosts, and the food was served in Feld style - multiple courses, all delicious, and king size portions. What was extra nice was that we could rest after Grandparents Day til Aaron came home. Harold was meanwhile simultaneously cooking, working on the computer and fielding multiple cell phone and land line calls. I got to do my favorite thing for helping with Shabbat lunch - cook vegetables with nothing else on my mind, so they came out just right. Harold did the meat and Becky the salads. I love cooking with my family, and look forward to doing it again. Alida, Ian and Avi came from shul for lunch, and Aaron and Avi played well - Aaron loves to show big kid games to the little kids. After lunch was nap time or quiet play for Aaron - he has been thoroughly taught that Daddy's nap time is to be treated with great respect. Osewalruses roar when disturbed.

This LJ thing is a time sucker, and I have to go to bed. Must mention that Karen was looking very maternal and was her usual friendly and hospitable self, though she is 3 times more tired than anyone. I loved the magazines she showed me about superkids. Hope to post earlier next time. I love reading the friends' comments in the other blogs. thanks for the wonderful welcomes.

Hi all. Osewalrus just got me onto the livejournal with great instruction. I'll read your journals and hope you read mine. Lots of love to share.