Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Break out the masks--it's Purim in August: COVID 2.0

My husband was sniffling and losing his voice, so he gave himself a rapid test last night, and it came out positive.  Oy.  This is his second round of COVID (not counting the "Paxlovid backlash" after the first round last January).  He spent last night quarantined in our bedroom while I moved out to "Camp COVID" in the living-room.  This morning's "official" COVID test at our friendly local urgent-care medical drop-in center didn't turn out any better, I'm sorry to say.  It's gonna be a dull Labor Day weekend. 

For those keeping score at home, we've already had to postpone our apartment painting twice.  At this point, I don't think there's any chance that it'll get done before Simchat Torah.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

"(spiritually-supportive) page calling"

For those who have access to Facebook, here's a helpful post from Jewish educator, baalat tefillah/prayer-leader, and singer-songwriter Eliana Light.  For everyone, here's a link to the text, without the video.

It's Elul, the beginning of Psalm 27 time

It's Elul, time for reciting Psalm 27 morning and evening. So I'm posting links to some songs based on that psalm.

Here's Chava Mirel's "Achat Sha'alti."

Here's a video of Eliana Light's "Koli Ekra."  She included this song on her new album, "ORAH HI." 

(Eliana also posted what I think she would call a learning guide to "Koli Ekra" here.)

Also, you might want to check out Eliana's "If Only" (Lulei).  Here's the audio-only link--it's #6.

And many thanks to  Cantor Jacqueline Rafii and Josh Goldberg for this Mizrachi/Ashkenazi mash-up of "Achat Sha'alti."

As if these goodies aren't enough, here's Elana Arian singing her version of "Koli Ekra."

And here's a link to Aly Halpert's "Achat Sha'alti," along with some good High Holiday resources from the Hadar Institute.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

just for symmetry?

found scratches on right knee, too.  washed them w soap, applied Neosporin ointment.  they turned bright red.  washed off the neosporin.  guess they'll hav 2 heal by themselves.  cld b worse.

How about that Trump indictment?  Go, Georgia!

Sunday, August 13, 2023

ms. klutz takes a tumble . . . again

I tripped on a step in an inconspicuous place & landed on my left knee & forearm.  my forearm's in a splint & my knee's in an ace bandage, but nothing's broken.  typing with 1 hand.  great timing, 2 wks b4 an apt. painting, but could b worse.  sorry my husband is stuck with all the work.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Israeli politics, from both sides (see video links)

Many thanks to Daniel Gordis for sharing this video.

Friday, August 11, 2023

"One man's trash is another man's treasure. . . " Or not

Silver?  Says who?

We have a silver tea set--teapot, coffee pot, sugar bowl, cream pitcher--that was a wedding gift to us from a group of friends.  Someone else gave us a silver tray for our wedding.  We also have a serving "holder" consisting of a lidded silver container designed to hold a rectangular baking dish, and, among our Passover dishes, a little serving bowl.  While we were delighted to receive these gifts, our current entertainment style is much less formal.  None of these pieces has a silversmith's mark, so I assume that they're all silverplate rather than sterling silver.  I've checked online, and, as far as I can determine, no one is buying silverplate.  I'm not sure that we can even give these away, much less sell them.  Any ideas would be appreciated--we have only about two weeks until our apartment painting, and would love to get items that we haven't used in decades into better hands.

"I love you, a bushel and a peck . . . "

I doubt that anyone under 50 has ever even heard that song, and most folks of that age probably don't know what it means.  A bushel and a peck are volumes of measurement--if memory serves me correctly, a bushel is larger.  I currently have a bushel basket  (a what?) of items that I can only describe as "buffet dishes" on a shelf in a closet.  They're dinner plates with an indentation in them for the included matching teacups, presumably used to enable people to hold both their food and their coffee in one hand.  I inherited these from my grandparents, but have never actually seen them in use.  Does anyone serve food this way anymore?  What am I supposed to do with these things?

So long, CDs

I had ripped almost all them to my computer years ago, so almost all of them went to the basement for recycling.  After all, they're only plastic.

Ah, the joys of prepping to have one's apartment painted (quoth she sarcastically).

Monday, August 07, 2023

Good news, bad news (cleaning-for-the-painter edition)

The good news is that I was able to throw away all of my American Sign Language Dictionaries because learning signs from videos is *much* better than learning them from still photos or drawings!  Here's a sample online ASL dictionary.

The bad news is that, in throwing out a copy of Susan Faludi's "Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women" that was too worn out to donate to the library, I noticed that the hardcover version of this book was published in 1991.  It's now over 30 years later.  Is there ever a time when there *isn't* an undeclared war against American women?  😢

Sunday, August 06, 2023

On preparing our apartment for painting (heaven help us)

My husband started first, complaining, as he thinned out his tax and accounting documents and his accounting textbooks (from teaching and tutoring at a local college) following his retirement in 2021, that he was "throwing my life away."  Now, he's undertaken an even bigger project--he's ditching all tax-client records more than seven years old, since he's not required by law to keep them.  He--and, especially our son--did so much shredding that they broke the shedder, so my husband has hired a shredding company to finish the job later this week.

Now it's my turn.  I'm in the process of throwing out my entire collection of French books, dating back to when I was studying for my B.A. in French, because they're over 50 years old and not in good enough condition to donate.  😥 It ain't easy to "throw my life away."  (Sigh.)

For your amusement:  I was trying to figure how I got a whole row of French books into the back of the top shelf of my bookcase where I can barely reach them when it occurred to me that I was four inches taller when I first put them there.  😀  (Note to self:  Call that endocrinologist again--time to start that osteoporosis treatment!)

Thursday, August 03, 2023

Public Service Announcements (or more fun with dentist & diet)

Dental Alert

If you bite anything and feel or taste something weird or hard on your tongue, *DON'T* swallow it!!!  Spit it out onto your hand and have a good look--I've caught broken teeth and dislodged crowns that way.

 

"Breaded" french fries:  a warning for gluten-free folks

A server at Holy Schnitzel was kind enough to tell me that their french fries were wheat-coated.  I've heard this before--some restaurants coat (dip?, dredge?, spray?) their fries (regular or sweet-potato) in wheat to make them more crispy.

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