sarah in nyc

 First of all, the wedding tallit in use as a chuppah. I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am. Yes, I love the tallit that I made, but I really love this couple and wish them many, many years of happiness together.  They were so kind to one another during the entire process of making this tallit. it bodes well for the two of them. There has been a whole lot going on around here, (not even including the rockets from Iran), so I haven't had the mental focus to post. So, prepare yourself for a hdge-podge of a post. Here goes: We have done a few local adventures, including going to Roosevelt Island. We hadn't been since Covid. there has been more development on the south end of the island. It is nice to get a different perspective of the East River. The day was beastly hot and muggywhich cut down on our exploring time. After we headed home on the tram we stopped off at a Japanese supermarket, because why not??? I liked howthese frozen treats didn't try to over-prom...

  We have had so many days in a row of cold damp and foggy weather that I have begun feeling like  Joe Btfsplk, Al Capp's hapless character who lives under a dark cloud. My husband always warns me not to stand under the pigeons' favorite roost. The new war  between Israel and Irandoesn't help my mood and just has me feeling anxious every moment of the day. Despite the darkness, there are a couple of bright spots. Yesterday, Ezra and his bride came to pick up the wedding tallit.   There were some tears when they first saw the tallit which made me feel like I had done my job. I am so happy that Ezra's mom can be part of the wedding , at least symbolically. Another bright spot is that our friend Steve is leading a series of Central Park walks.  The Best Central Park Walks Ever .  Be in touch with Steve if you want to join him on one of his themed walks. I have two meetings in a row tonight. I made this for the participants of the second meeting so we don't get...

 I spent one night this week with my cousin in Brooklyn. My cousin lives on a high floor. usually her view is this. It was incredibly foggy out so instead  we got this. There were moments whebn there was even less visibility. Now that the wedding tallit is completed, I am back to working on Nini's  Nova Scotia tallit.  This time I just chalked out the outlines of the letters and embroidered along that line. I have mostly finished adding to bulk up the letters. There is another half verse that will be sitting on the tree-line. Tonight we have been invited to a dear friend's  for Shabbat dinner.  I made bulgher wheat with walnuts and pomegranate molasses. I was inspired by a conversation my son had  with me about eating Georgian, that is Russian Georgian as opposed to American Georgian), food. They are deeply fond of the combination of walnuts and pomegrqnate.  I am not deepy fond of walnuts but the combination is pretty fabulous. I also made a batc...

The wedding tallit is just in need of pinot/ corner pieces .  So let me take you on a tour of the tallit.  All of the floral strips have been cut from the skirt of the dress that Ezra's mom wore to her 1986 wedding. (Ezra is our lovely groom.) The darker stripes are lined with blue silk noil. The lighter stripe was lined with white noil. I painted the irises  on the atara onto silk charmeuse . The sweet stuffed butterfly on the atara comes from the waistband of the dress. Hanae Mori who designed the dress loved butterflies and often featured them in her dresses. Ezra's mom is no longer living. While her physical self won't be at this wedding her presence will be there.

 Just a couple of photos of the wedding tallit... A Shabbat song sung by the wonderful Yehoram Gaon  and a hope for peace....sung by Geula Gil. and the same song in a charming choral setting. Shabbat Shalom!

 I have lots of thoughts in my head right now and I am trying to figure out how to turn them into a coherent post rather than feeling like a five year old's disjointed and incomprehensible description of a dream. Many of those ideas rolling around in my head are about nostalgia and my ties to the past, so let's try that on as an organizing idea for this post. Our friend, Charley, Shawna's husband, joined us for Shabbat dinner. He told us about  The Kadimah Movie  a movie made about the Young Judaea camp founded in Nova Scotia in 1943. My parents had often told me that the camp was founded so that Jewish kids from around the Maritimes would meet one another and form relationships and marry one another. Most jewish camps were founded post WWII. Camp Kadimah was founded during the Shoah. Many of the Jewish settlers of the Maritimes were all from one village, Dorbyan, Lithuania.  Typically in North America, particularly in the large cities Jews came from a wide array of...