A day in the life

My mornings begin these days with morning minyan.

I usually take my camera with me because I like to capture a bit of something that appeals to my eye. In retrospect I realize that what I have chosen to photograph makes my neighborhood look far lusher and more beautiful than it might to most people walking down Broadway.

I was in love with the quality of the light. I love the thin translucent  leaves of spring.


The health food store leases it’s sidewalk space to the flower vendor.

By yesterday, we had come to the end of the challot I had baked for Shavuot.
I made bagels.

A couple of years ago a cousin had eaten some of my bread and asked it if baking it required complicated equipment.

This is all you need beyond a cup, spoon, bowl, and baking sheet for making bagels.

You use the spatula to lift the boiled bagels from the boiling water ( with added brown sugar).

The baked bagels need to be tested by my sons to see if they taste good.

This batch passed the taste test.
I made this batch with about 1/2 a cup of semolina flour because I had it in the pantry and wanted to use it up. I can’t tell if you if the semolina made an actual difference in the end product but the bagels were yummy.


I also made myself a dress. A friend had given me a length of Guatemalan and loomed cotton to see what I would make out of it.

The weather has gotten really warm all of a sudden. Because I need to wear heavy duty old lady support stockings I wanted to make a dress that would be cool to wear.


I have been reading over the years about simple “chemise cut” dresses. that is the sort of clothing worn traditionally in Europe as an under dress. think nightgown or Kurta. The dress is made out of rectangles and wedges.

Step 1

The dotted lines are the cutting lines.
Step 2
You then take the triangular sections that you cut away, turn them over and sew then to create more width at the bottom of the dress.

You get a better sweep for the skirt if you do this, and you end up with no wasted fabric.

Stitch those triangles to the dress from armpit to hem. if your triangles are wide, you may just want to add the width to the front of the dress. I was using narrow fabric and wanted a full skirt, so I added triangles both front and back

Step 3
I cut a slit at the center front so I wouldn't need an actual closure. I also decided that the dress would look more attractive with no sleeves.

My fancy drawing with the indicated neck slit. My fancy drawing also roughly indicates how I cut the sleeves away.

The dress is basically a big wide tent. I am wearing it with a belt.

The neckline and the hem were edged with blue ribbon because I had it around and it was a quicker edge than self fabric cut on the bias. I could tie the neck closed if I chose too.




The making took less time than the explaining.

You will see variations on this sort of simple cut of dress in nearly every culture. It takes nearly no measuring. There is no waste of fabric and it is easy to adapt to variations in size or even use. this basic shape can become a blouse or a coat or a jacket. a peasant fabric made into a simple peasant shape.