Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Friday at Kim's

I have just returned from a long weekend in Durham, North Carolina, where my youngest cousin Alaina was Bat Mitzvah'ed. My mom has 2 younger sisters, and between the 3 of them, they have 5 daughters. We are a heavily female-centric family, and we love it! All of the aunts and cousins were present, along with their husbands (my uncles) and my grandfather Poppa. A special treat was the presence of our other "family," headed by Claire, my grandma Annie's good friend. Claire and her daughters Elisa and Sheryl flew down with Elisa's husband Brian and Sheryl's 15-year-old son Casey. My mom and aunts grew up with Elisa and Sheryl, so there is much talk of the old Albany days, as well as teasing about old boyfriends and behaviors. Claire's family is just as loud and inclined to tease as my family is, so there is an exponential increase in teasing, laughing, shouting and slightly crude humor when all of us are combined. It was a most excellent weekend.

Friday, I drove the 5 easy hours down to Durham--it seriously was the 5 easiest hours I've ever driven. Everyone had lunch in Kim's spacious living room. We had several lengthy discussions about H1N1 flu vaccination.

Molly (17) and Aunt Kim (Alaina's mom)
Poppa catching up with Claire.
Casey and Sheryl in Kim's chair that is just perfect for snuggling.

Friday evening saw us at the hotel, giving the waitstaff a difficult time over dinner. This also was the first appearance of the beef tenderloin, which has apparently been cooked several days earlier and left to dry in the sun. In the end, everyone had plenty to eat and there was much laughter.

Friday night services brought a welcome pause to breathe. The rabbi spoke about Women of the Wall--great d'var. She also spoke about Alaina's Hebrew name: Chana Esther. Alaina is named after my great grandmother Grandma Stanger (whose first name was Ann) and a dear friend of my grandma, Elaine. The rabbi talked about the biblical Chana and Esther (she focused on the strength and courage of each, not on the less savory parts of those stories). A nice connect.

When we returned to the hotel, we found that Kim's Durham friends had been parked at the hotel bar since we left. We joined them and listened to some crazy stories full of double entendres. We learned about "sweet spots" on the head (in terms of hair styling), and saw a reenactment of a story using a chicken finger as a cell phone. Good times, good times.

Weekend in Northampton: Friday

On Friday morning it was sunny and fairly warm. We woke up on the early side and headed to The Green Bean, a local, mostly vegetarian place that opened up my senior year. They serve awesome breakfast and lunch in a sunny spot.
I had Green Eggs and... which I had with this sort of smoked tempeh that I just love. Don't get me wrong, I usually find tempeh about as appealing as, well, fermented soybeans, but there is something about the Green Bean's that is so tasty! They also use it on their V-BLAT (vegan bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich with homemade vegannaise). Anyways, my breakfast was a scramble of chopped up kale, eggs, cheddar cheese and spices. With the tempeh on the side. Sarah got the monumental and delicious huevos green beanos.
It has kale, black beans, homemade salsa, scrambled eggs, tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, and sour cream in a delectable heap. We watched an adorable 2 1/2 year old flirt with the table next to her. We smiled incessantly at eachother, so joyful to be at the same table in the sun.

We spent some time poking around a few shops in Northampton. I replaced my rainbow bumper sticker at Pride Connection. The warm colors had faded away on the old, and I was left with green, blue and purple. Pride Connection had done some re-decorating. I like it.
We stopped in CVS for some drugs, and saw this on the pharmacy counter.
Click on the photo to read the list. Apparently this basic surgical mask protects against HIV, Hepatitis (all 3 kinds!), and Ebola, in addition to H1N1 flu. This is nothing short of miraculous, as HIV, Hep and Ebola are NOT spread by droplet or air transmission. Bottom line: don't pay 3 bucks for a surgical mask that makes outrageous anti-infection promises. And go the CDC flu website if you have questions about H1N1 flu.

We had lunch with Rabbi Bruce at KCZ (Kosher Cutter Ziskind. I helped coin this acronym, I might add). Nothing like Michelle's matzah ball soup. Headed to the chapel afterwords and visited with Maureen and Kim, the chapel's wonderful admin staff. Unfortunately, Jennifer was home sick, but I did get to take this photo as we walked back to Wesley.

Also this one, which resulted when I tried one too many times to get a nice photo of Sarah. This is known as the hairy eyeball.

At Chris W-Z's suggestion, we checked out Ford Hall, Smith's brand new (Gorgeous!) science and engineering building.

The biochemistry and molecular biosciences departments/labs moved over there along with the engineering program and computer science. The labs are so nice! Chris has a wonderful new space, with a huge area for RNA work. And the SAW lab (where I did STRIDE for 2 years) has offices for all of its adult staff, as well as a great lab facility. I am so happy for everyone that they now have this updated and spacious facility.

One of the things we did on Friday was admire the fall foliage around Smith campus. We took pictures of eachother, and then Celeste appeared and offered to play photographer.


In lieu of tea in Wesley, Sarah and I sat in Haymarket with lattes and a dark-chocolate chunk cookie. We have our best conversations at a table over food. Sarah told me all about her thesis. I am continually amazed by how good she is at Torah study and critical analysis. It is wonderful to hear how excited she is by this research and writing process.

On our way back to Wesley, Celeste again materialized to photograph us before we changed for Shabbat.I led Shabbat services, from our new and spectacular siddur (Sbolts you rock my socks!) We started making this siddur in the spring of 2006, gathering poems and readings from other siddurim and books of poetry. And now it is real. Leading services in Dewey common room, in the small circle of friends felt like home. I missed the tunes, the willingness to do an alternative reading instead of a mumble-version of a prayer, the laughing and ease. And we even got to sing "Shabbat Feeling." It felt like Shabbat.

It was my first time at the Kosher K (for more than 10 minutes) since I graduated. I felt removed, but not freaked out. It felt really strange to be there without Nora and Sbolts, my constants every Friday for 4 years (Dane, I missed you too).

After dinner, we headed home just as the Haven-Wesley haunted house was wrapping up. We forced Rosie to wash the make-up off her face and ate chocolate mints from Trader Joe's while sitting on the couch by the door. I missed the Haven couches dearly. After Rosie left, Sarah read me Harriet the Spy for ages while I curled up in her lap. It was wonderful.

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.

Through Friday

I guess it's been a whole week since I last posted. There have been some changes in my life in the last week. Monday was Yom Kippur, which I did not feel as ready for as in years past. I managed to take from the day what I could, and finished it with a break fast with the Nice Jewish Girls. I got to chat with my friend Becca about life and curly hair. I was happy to see her before she left for Israel for a short trip. In taking pictures, we also re-created a certain pose taken while we were acting in a certain play named after a certain part of the female anatomy. I will not post that here, but suffice it to say that it is not the sign for "pizza."

The week at work was quite busy. There have been daily changes in dates for something important we are waiting for, and it has involved a lot of time on the phone. I spent several days calling school nurses and principals (not all private schools have nurses) and asking them how flu season was treating them. Saying the same thing to everyone who answered the phone (hi, this is Abby calling from the PW Health District. I wanted to speak to someone about H1N1 flu. Who would be a good person to talk to?) for a total of 54 schools got old after a while. And our office is finally clean again! I think we are all happier for it.

My living situation has changed, and I am living solo for the month of November in the same apartment. I am slowly redecorating and rearranging a bit to accomodate the reduction in furniture. In some ways, I feel like I am starting over.

This weekend, my mom came to visit! My dad was in Australia, so it was just us girls. We had a wonderful and very full weekend!! On Friday we went downtown in Bethesda to Mon Ami Gabi. Going out for dinner in that part of Bethesda on a weekend night feels glamorous to me, somehow. Maybe because I so often walk past other people dining there. The food was certainly something to talk about! Mom and I both had mussels in a white wine and cream sauce with onions. I love moules, and there is nothing better than sopping up that flavorful sauce with crusty baguette (or eating it with a spoon, for that matter). As a side, I had whipped cauliflower, which was fluffy, and probably made so delicious by some combination of cream, butter, cheese (maybe) and definitely some sort of animal fat (chicken stock? bacon fat?). I did not ask, just spooned it up with happy moans. I was too busy eating to photograph, but here is someone else's delectable photo of moules marinieres.

Rosh Hashanah and a New Hair Cut

Even though it's been a few days, I'm going to pick up where I left off with my weekend. Still on Friday the 18th. Although I have lived in Bethesda for over a year (15 months!) and have several doctors, a bank and a shoppers club card locally, I still prefer to get my hair cut in Rochester. As I drove to the salon, Rochester weather graced me with some blue skies and puffy clouds.
As always, I had a grand time at the hair salon. My stylist Toni and I talk about everything from European travel to relationships to G-d to singing and back to G-d. Toni is active in her own faith, and has some really close Jewish friends. In fact, the first time I walked into the shop one March, she asked me what I did to celebrate Purim. She's so much fun to talk to. And I always come out with a great haircut.
It's a lot shorter than it was, and Toni blow-dried it. I took this picture while stuck in Pittsford traffic, which held its own quite nicely, even after driving around DC for a while.

I met my parents at our family friends' house for Erev Rosh Hashana dinner. I arrived at the same time as one of my rabbis. As I got out of my car in my jeans, dress in hand, he said, "nice Rosh Hashana outfit," with a smile. I changed into my new dress (thank you Miriam for helping me pick it out) and emerged down the stairs, feeling like a real grown-up. I was even wearing heels. Although the rabbi said he liked the other outfit better (he was joking), more than one person did not recognize me with my new haircut and outfit. My mom looked great in her new dress--we were sort of matching. Here is a picture of my little fur family.
Dad likes to take the picture before he counts all the way to 3, but sometimes it works out.
Erev Rosh Hashana services were excellent. The choir sang, and for a few prayers a bassist played along, bowing his bass like a cello. So beautiful. Rabbi A. (the other one) gave a great d'var about awe and dread. She really makes us think and is so smart. I talked to so many people I know! And now that I have this job I love, I have something to say to the same questions I get over and over. My family was in a Chavurah (group of Jewish families) that met for years every month or so when we were all kids. The Chavurah formed when I was in first or second grade and continued until I graduated high school. The adults still get together sometimes. Over Rosh Hashana I got to see some other kids from the Chavurah I hadn't seen in about 3 or 4 years. One of them used to seem so much older than me, but now we are in the same age bracket.

Saturday, September 19: On Rosh Hashana (the day of) my parents and Jill's family and I went to the family service, led by Rabbi A. Great music again, and a d'var that started by having kids list all of the things they would want a visitor from another planet to see on Earth. The time went quickly in this service, although I definitely missed the full Unetaneh Tokef and surrounding prayers. On the upside, we blew shofar even though it was Shabbat.

After services, we went over to Gloria and Irv's for lunch. They are friends of my parents who are a good deal older than my parents. They met through the homeless project my mother leads. Irv, my dad, and my uncle Mike (my mom's brother-in-law) have a great rapport that involves much teasing and shouting. At this moment, I believe someone was being razzed about the movie selection the last time they had all seen a "manly movie."
Sunday, September 20: We had a Rosh Hashanah second day brunch at Jill and Mike's. Lox, kugel, cauliflower pie (Jill's famous), and some delicious apple crisp (and I don't usually use those words together, but this was excellent). You can see that I am wearing my new haircut curly--I am excited that it does that.

My cousin Molly and me. She's 17 and a senior in high school. After we took a few bad pictures, I ambush-hugged her and we got this good one.
The Rochester cousins: Molly, me and Lindsey, who's 20 and a junior at Hobart and William Smith College. The nice short photos I wanted of us quickly turned into a photo-session that finally ended when we all started yelling at Uncle Mike and walking away. It was mostly good natured.
Poppa, my grandfather, usually eats at 6:00 sharp. But on this day, we didn't sit down until nearly 8:00. He figured no one would believe that he ate dinner at that hour without photographic evidence.
Monday, September 21: Had a relaxing morning at home, a quick lunch at a restaurant, and then was dropped off at the airport.

I was so glad to be home, but I was also happy when I returned to my apartment here in Bethesda. Being away reminds me that I like it here too. That's my Rochester weekend in a big nutshell. L'shana tova to everyone!

Apple Picking and Rosh Hashana Prep

I am back from Rochester, where I've been since Thursday evening. I had a wonderful weekend at home, and was glad I was able to be with my family for Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are the most important Jewish holidays, known as the High Holidays, or even the High Holy Holidays (I don't know if anyone other than me calls them that--Jewish readers?). This is going to be a wicked long post, so I suggest a hot beverage while you read.

Thursday, September 17: Dulles Airport is located really close to my office, so getting to the airport was a snap. Getting from the Economy parking lot to the gate was not. I made my flight, thankfully, and was picked up at the other end by Dad. My parents and I went out for Thai food at our favorite restaurant. When I got in the backseat of Mom's car, this was sitting beside me:
In case you can't tell, it's the Torah blessings--the prayers recited before and after the reading of the Torah. My temple keeps a copy of them on the podium so anyone with an Aliyah (being called to the Torah to say these blessings) won't choke and forget the words. And they were in my mother's car, along with the Shabbat and Yom Tov candles. Temple Sinai holds its high holiday services at the JCC, and my mother is in charge of the move. That means she directs a team who counts chairs, stacks prayer books, and makes sure the Torahs are in the arks. You see now that I come by my propensity for being in charge honestly.

Friday, September 18: Mom and I started the day with a trip to the JCC to ensure that everything was in place. I got to carry a Torah in from someone's car. I chaneled Sbolts, leaning my cheek on the cover, savoring its history and trying to radiate my respect. After I handed it to a volunteer to place it in the ark, we discovered that I had been carrying it upsidedown. So much for that.

I spent a little bit poking around the JCC, where I spent much of my early youth. I took every manner of class at the J, from ballet to pottery, and went to nursery school and camp there. This staircase struck me as an emblem of my childhood there. I think that groups of children did not go down these stairs; there was another set that they led us down. But when my mom came to pick me up we used these stairs. I remember eating lunch at some chairs at the bottom of these stairs; tuna fish sandwiches out a rigid lunchbox shaped like Mickey Mouse's head. And playing on the stairs while mothers chatted. Like many things from youth, they don't look like much now.
We then headed to one of my dearest places in Rochester: The Apple Farm. My family has been going apple picking there for almost 20 years. We have taken visitors from all of the world to The Apple Farm for picking, fresh cider, and homemade cinnamon cider donuts.
On weekends this lawn is full of families. I used to roll down that slope, parents yelling when we got too close to the road. This place symbolizes fall to me. Mom and I headed into the orchard to pick some Macintoshes. They aren't nearly as red as the apples pictured, but these not-yet-ripe Red Delicious made a better photo.
The view from the orchard always takes our breath away. It is just an elevated view of the surrounding farmland, but there is just something about it that feels vast and free. I have always felt this way, and just learned that my mom does too (and so does the son of the owner of the farm). Mom was a little chilly here.
The family rule of apple picking is as follows: one must eat an apple upon arrival in the orchard. I am about to bite into my first apple. New York apples taste the best, in my opinion, and there is nothing like a piece of fruit that was attached to a plant a moment before.

The cider donut was as good as ever, and we left with a bag of Cortlands as well as Macs. Cortlands are crisper than Macs and really white on the inside. They are my favorite kinds, in addition to Empires, which come out later in the season. A mutual love of apples was something that connected Sarah and me early my senior year. I enjoy living further south sometimes, but fall makes me remember that I am an upstate New York girl at heart.

The Last Few Days

Friday August 28: A fairly low-key day with a trip to the grocery store. There we happened upon this gem of a cake. It's always appropriate to present your 3-year-old with Elmo's Road Rage. The only reason I even look at the grocery store cakes is this website. This woman collects images of professionally-decorated cakes gone horribly wrong, and shares the love with the internet. Good for some serious laughs.
Saturday, August 29: We started the morning off with a trip downtown (in Bethesda) to our favorite bagel place. They make real bagels--chewy, crusty, absolutely delicious. We picked up some toasted everythings with homemade chive cream cheese and headed next door to get some locally roasted coffee. Quartermaine doesn't mind if you eat your bagel with your coffee. Bethesda is hopping on a Saturday morning--families, joggers, dogs. Also on Saturday we went downtown to Natural History to the Ocean Hall, which was kind of disappointing. Although, I really do like marine life. Reading about them on giant placards, not so much. And going to the Mall on weekends makes me want to tear my hair out--lots of whiny touristy families. So we went to the Old Post Office and rode the elevator up for a view of the whole city. It was cool to see how much I could recognize just from my knowledge of where things are and what they look like. Sometimes I feel like I belong to this city.

Sunday, August 30: Nora was in town for a bit, so Sarah and I met up with her for Dim Sum. Nora and I managed to dress the same, so we thought we'd get some nice photos. But I couldn't resist tickling her, so we also got one of these:
Apparently, the National Hillel chose Chinatown for its home, which resulted in this awesome sign:

In other news, I am starting my new job tomorrow. AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I will be the H1N1 Specialist in Prince William County, in Virginia. Basically I'll be their swine flu go-to girl. I think it will be really cool, and what an opportunity!!! I will have a long commute in my car, so I am taking any and all suggestions for books on CD, including but not limited to juvenile and young adult titles.