sarah in nyc

 Our son is letting dear friends from Israel stay in his apartment for several days. Our son is currently in Amarillo. We won't be here while his friends are here so we handed off the keys today to their daughter. We walked across Central Park on a perfect fall day. As we walked East we could hear the cheers for the marathon runners. We needed to get to the other side of Fifth Avenue. I held onto my husband's jacket and when he decided it was safe to dash across the street without hurting any runners.We made our move .We ran across the street and didn't harm anyone.We kept walking east and then did the key hand off. We had to repeat the operation of dashing in front of the marathon runners on our way back home. We walked home back through the park. Because we weren't having to meet someone at a particular time, I could take the time to take pictures of the foliage. I don't know what these papery pods are called but they are beautiful It's hard to believe that we...

 First a tiny bit of business. I began this blog in 2011. I just discovered this week  that I have passed a million page views. I started this blog because the child of dear friends strongly suggested that I should. The great heyday of blogs and blogging seems to have passed, nevertheless there are usually a couple of hundred of you who stop by every day. Thank you.  Some blogs are very focused on one topic. I write about my work creating Judaica in fabric, the process of sewing both my commission work and clothing ( mostly for myself), I usually post about cooking for Shabbat. I often post about living here in New York I also post about Jewish issues that I have been thinking about. There probably aren't any readers that are interested in everything I write about and that's fine. Some of you are people I have known for most of my life. There are people here who know me from the neighborhood and my synagogue. There are other readers who I have known virtually through the ...

 I am on the board of my building. Each of us on the board takes on various tasks to keep the building working well. One of the things that I do is take on the job of decorating the lobby for Halloween. Before I was on the board the decorations were a riot of dollar store decorations. Each year I come up with a theme with some of the kids. The decorations are usually made with stuff people have around the house.  I  never know who will be joining me in the lobby to make the decorations. Will it be just toddlers who can't manage scissors?  Will I be joined with lovely kids all of whom have issues with their fine motor skills? Will there be at least one adult in the mix who is comfortable climbing a ladder? I also need to be aware that the decorations need to evoke the spookiness of Halloween but not terrify the small children who come in and out of the lobby on their way  to and from home. My older son refused to go trick or treating in our building for several y...

  I borrowed pillow inserts from my couch so you can see what the pillow covers that i made for my son wil look like. This probably is of no interest to any of you.  Ans since we are on the subject of follow-ups. The skirt I made this summer out of a tube of Ikea fabric with ties attached at either end of the tube has made a nice transition to autumn wear. I like that something that is so stupid easy to construct manages to be a wearable garment. The skirt even received shouted compliments from people  passing me on Broadway. This is a nice way to use up fabric. Today I cooked the last lone chicken hiding out in our freezer. I cooked on a bed of leeks carrots and yellow pepper. We had a couple of mostly used bottles of red wine left over from Rosh Hashanah which I poured over the chicken. The house smelled amazing as the chicken cooked. This is what we are eating tonight. A pot of kasha with mushrooms is steaming away in the oven. I baked our first post-holiday challot. T...

The High Holiday season is filled with weeks where each week is filled with the prep of the equivalent two or three Thanksgiving dinners in a week plus three days each week where all work is forbidden. So for a month each day of the week feels like a Friday, a Shabbat or a Sunday. My husband and I kept asking on another what day it was. My sister was in the hospital, (she is OK now, thank you for asking), and needed someone to escort her home and help her transition to home. I took the train. It was my first time in the new Moynihan train station, (the former post office building on 8th Avenue across from Penn Station).  I hadn't taken the train to Boston in several years. It is just so much more civilized than taking the bus. I love seeing Manhattan recede from view. We passed Costco! I have often stopped before I do my shopping to admire the view of the railroad bridge and the approach ramps of the Triboro bridge. I loved looking back at my usual point of view. One of the best th...