Hello!
I agree with Colleen and Elaine, Linda - I think that you should definitely start encouraging Jackie to let you tag along if they go to WDW in '06! In addition to "selling" your "grandma-tour-guide / babysitter" skills, you could package it as a "Magical Gathering" and maybe wind up actually reserving the trip as a package for the whole family, that might even yield some good discounts, too! It would be so great if you could all go down there together! Or maybe you and Tom could surprise them, the way that Colleen's Dad surprised her family at the Poly!
I hope that that works out for all of you - I'm sure that you would all have a great time down there together!
And it would be wonderful if your parents decided to retire in Florida, Colleen! Hurricanes notwithstanding (heck, they're not too much different from the nor'easters that we get here, so it wouldn't be that different!), I'm sure that they would feel much more comfortable down there, not having to deal with the nasty winters, and being able to enjoy the sunshine and outdoors all year long! And it would provide lots of great excuses for you all to go down there and visit, as you said! I hope that that works out for them! As you said, I've read about many great new retirement communities that are being established, down there!
I loved your joke about the Priest and seeing Jesus's shadow! That was very cute!
You're right - this past holiday that we just celebrated, Yom Kippur, is The Day of Atonement (that's what "Yom Kippur" means in Hebrew). It always immediately follows Rosh Hashana, which was the week before. Rosh Hashana (literally translated from Hebrew: "Head of the Year") marks the New Year on the Jewish calendar (which is a lunar calendar). On Rosh Hashana we celebrate the New Year and start to reflect on the past year, how we conduct our lives, etc. There are no real traditional foods associated with the holiday, Linda, with the exception of sweet things - particularly apples dipped in honey - to signify wishing everyone a "sweet New Year". We go to synagogue on Rosh Hashana for a special service that includes a reading from the Torah (the Old Testament) and listening to someone blow the shofar (a ram's horn) which heralds the coming of the New Year. It is said that on Rosh Hashana, God opens the Book of Life and reviews how everyone has conducted their lives over the past year. The week in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is called "The Days of Awe". During that time, we're supposed to reflect and think about things that we did wrong, over the past year, and how we can be better in the upcoming year. On Yom Kippur, we attend synagogue and atone for our sins of the past year in the hopes of "wiping the slate clean". It's said that on Yom Kippur, God inscribes those who will live for the next year in the Book of Life and then closes the Book: "On Rosh Hashana it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed". So some people greet eachother at this time of year with "May you be inscribed for a good and healthy year", or something like that. Yom Kippur is traditionally a fast day - one must completely fast (not even any water!) from sundown the night before 'til sundown the night of the holiday. My family never really did that, though I did when I was a child and attending religious school. My theory is that one doesn't need to fast in order to meditate upon their lives and what they want to do better - the fasting is just symbolic of taking something away so that one can concentrate on atoning for their sins, etc. I've found that fasting only makes me think "gee, I'd really like to have a Diet Coke!", rather than what I'm supposed to be thinking about, so I don't do it any more! But we still have a traditional "break-fast" dinner on the night of Yom Kippur, even though none of us actually fast! That dinner is traditionally light foods, since it's assumed that this is the first meal that one is eating in 24 hours. So we have bagels, lox, whitefish, tuna salad, etc. And we just had my immediate family over, Linda, since all of our cousins live so far away. It was just Frank, my father, my uncle, and me for both holidays, and my sister-in-law came on Rosh Hashana, too. I think that the best part for me was just having everyone together............and eating lots of great food!
Also, it's fun using our dining room, which we only really use when we entertain. My favorite of the Jewish holidays has always been Passover, because it falls in the spring (with hopes of summer and nice weather to follow!) and because of the traditional foods and customs that go along with that holiday and the customary things that we do at the meals ("seders").
There are actually 2 more Jewish holidays that immediately follow Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We don't really observe them, but I'm very familiar with them from religious school and there are special synagogue services that honor them. They sort of continue the story of Passover (which we're all familiar with from our various religious schools.........or from watching the movie "The Ten Commandments!"). After the Children of Israel were freed from slavery by the Egyptians (Passover), they wandered through the desert for 40 years. During that time, they built little temporary huts to stay in, that had thatched roofs so that they could see the stars through them. At this time of year, very observant Jewish people commemorate that time by building little huts behind their homes and eating all their meals in them (some people even sleep in them, if the weather permits!). The holiday is called "Sukkot" (literal translation: "tabernacles" - "Sukkot" is the plural of "sukkah", or "tabernacle"). It's neat - when I was in religious school, we would walk from the school to local classmates' homes and eat in their family's sukkot. They are usually decorated with artificial fruit hanging from the bamboo roof, to symbolize the fall harvest. And every family decorates their sukkah with something that is personal to them. It's sort of like a little "clubhouse" with a table and chairs inside. 2 of my father's observant neighbors have invited him to have dinner in their sukkot, over the next 2 nights, which is very nice (I just hope that the post-Jeanne-wind dies down before tonight, or else they'll be having a very windy dinner!)
Sukkot lasts until October 8th. Then immediately after that comes the last holiday of the season, "Simchat Torah" (literal translation: "Happiness about the Torah"). After the children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years with Moses as their leader, they proved that they were devoted to God, would not worship idols, and would accept God's laws (the 10 Commandments) and honor them. So then God bestowed upon them the Torah (which is the Old Testament - which obviously had not fully been written at the time - so I interpret it as God gave them the 10 Commandments at that time), and the people rejoiced. This holiday is celebrated by going to synagogue, and then after the service the streets around temples are usually closed off, and the Rabbi's take the actual Torah scrolls out into the street and everyone dances outside and rejoices and holds up the Torah, etc. (They have to be very careful, though, because if one drops a Torah scroll, the custom is that s/he has to fast for 40 days!) It's a very nice holiday, but it's one that's usually observed by more observant people than we.
OK - now that I've bored you all to death with the "Jewish Fall Holiday Lesson"...............! Hope that I didn't ramble on for too long!
ANYWAY...........so your grandson is thinking about marriage at 13, Linda?? Very advanced fellow!
I'm sure that he will follow the great examples set by you and Tom and his parents and that he has wonderful values and priorities. He'll just grow into his responsibilities, that's all! He's coming into that crazy adolescent age, which always tends to be a bit turbulent, but I'm sure that he'll come out of it with a great sense of direction and purpose!
I can't believe that your trip is coming up so soon!!! Just a little over a week away!!!! I was watching some of the video footage from our last trip, last night............we have just 7.5 more months to go, until we return to WDW /
DCL!
Thank you both for your kind words! I just like to send little things that I think you may find amusing or sentimental, to let you know that I am thinking of you, every now and again!
And I'm sure that Indiana is a very exciting and beautiful place!
Hi Elaine! How are you, Luis, and the kitties doing, out there?
I think that you're right, Linda - an external drive might be the way to go. We actually have 2 hard drives in our computer, now. I moved most of my pictures onto the "secondary" one..........and now I can't access it at all! UGH. I do have many of the pictures saved on CD (I've been too lazy to do a "back up" recently - plus, for some reason, our CD writer tends to stop in the middle of saving pictures, claiming that it doesn't "recognize" some of them as valid files, so then I wind up having to save some individually, which takes forever............). Anyway, I think that our problem is that Windows and Verizon keep sending us updates that eat up our memory when we download them. It seems like overnight, our computer got much slower and all of a sudden we barely have any memory! As soon as we have this memory issue rectified, I will bother you for your entire recipe file!
OK, now that I've probably completely put everyone here to sleep........time to go and get some things done, around here! Hope that all is well with all of you and hope that you're having a nice day!
Have a great week!
