Sukkot, Yogurt, and More of those green plant balls

I'm at my kitchen table right now, after a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond that left me feeling less than enthusiastic about my home improvement plans (namely, buying an iron and some bowls). But, I am now happily eating whole-milk yogurt from the Blue Ridge Dairy, purchased at the Dupont Farmer's Market with honey from the Shenandoah Valley, purchased at the Manassas Farmer's Market. Local bliss. This has done much to improve my mood.

Monday, October 5: Miriam and I made plans to meet up after work. She had had a hellish day, so I gathered a small present for her, which I stashed in my purse so it would be a surprise.
Miriam was appropriately grateful.

The lovely vegetation gift did not accompany us to dinner at Nest, a cozy new restaurant off the beaten path in Bethesda. Relaxed atmosphere and a menu with many tempting choices. Afterwords, Miriam and I strolled in the fall night air, savoring the comfortable quiet that comes with knowing someone for about 13 years.

Tuesday, October 6: Work Monday and Tuesday was extremely busy. My phone never stopped ringing, and every time I got off the phone, I had a new message waiting. It's a different kind of productive on these types of days, measured more by the number of people who have gotten off the phone with their questions answered and feeling better about something than by letters written or emails sent. On Tuesday I also gave 2 presentations to the employees of the county landfill. I was pleased with the presentations, and got good questions. These questions brought up points I had missed, or things I forgot that most people don't know. I talk about flu so much that I sometimes forget what most people think of when they think of H1N1. I also got to take a tour of the landfill, which was really cool. The views from the top of the carefully-constructed mountain were quite scenic--trees and hills as far as the eye could see.

In the evening on Tuesday, I went to Sushi in the Sukkah, put on by the local Chabad women's group. The sukkah was decked out!
In addition to the artistically arranged food here (including kosher sushi from New York), we rolled our own sushi and discussed the connections between sushi and the holiday of Sukkot. Both involve wrapping. On Sukkot you wrap yourself in the sukkah, one of two mitzvot involving wrapping (our host N. cited the other one as being immersion in the mikvah, but I wonder about laying T'fillin or wrapping oneself in a tallis. Since it was a women's group and Chabad women do neither of these things, I kept my questions to myself). Also, the lulav and etrog bring together the "4 species" in one group, which you then shake in all directions (east, south, west, north, up, down--in that order) to show that G-d is everywhere. When rolling sushi, different foods--rice, avocado, fish, etc--are brought together. Soooo, not a super-intellectual comparison, but it works.
It was a fun evening, but I missed the "outside" feeling that most sukkahs have. This one, while spacious and well-lit, had canvas sides and tightly spaced bamboo skak (the roof, which must be made of natural materials and leave space to see the stars). The sukkahs in Rochester have corn-stalk roofs, and most have wooden sides. A very different feel. Even though I technically fulfilled the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah, I don't feel like I did.

Wednesday, October 7: I drove behind this truck on my way to work this morning and it made me smile back.
Work was fairly low key today, a welcome break. It certainly feels like fall in the office, as we have candy corn in our candy dish (everyone digs for the candy pumpkins), hand-picked apples at the ready, and gourd decorations.