sarah in nyc

 I have been in touch with friends and family in Israel. There have been exchanges of darkly funny memes that are impossible to translate into English and I think that they have kept all of us going. There is much to be said for dark humor during dark times. I baked this bread two days ago. I just learned that bread looks prettier if you score the crust when you form the loaf, and not just before the bread goes into the oven. And in the spirit of honesty, here is a less pretty view of the loaf. I  think I hadn't let rise quite long enough for the second rise. My husband isn't one to spread butter on bread .Lately he has deemed some of my loaved worthy of being embellished with a bit of butter. This loaf is one of those loaves.  I got the upper part of Tim's atara done. The lettering is completed. All of those letters have been couched with heavy gold cord stitched down with blue silk thread. I also couched hand dyed silk embroidery floss to the ends of the atara. Yes, the...

 The title for this post is a phrase familiar to Jews who are used to praying daily.  for those who don't fall into that category עַל הַנִּסִּים וְעַל הַפֻּרְקָן וְעַל הַגְּבוּרות וְעַל הַתְּשׁוּעות וְעַל הַמִּלְחָמות שֶׁעָשיתָ לַאֲבותֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בִּזְּמַן הַזֶּה: for the miracles and the saving and the great brave deeds and the victories and the wars which You performed for our ancestors in those days at this time of year--( but I could argue that it can also read and now --at this historical moment as well.) We recite this introduction to a longer prayer at Chanukah and also on Purim.  On Purim of 1991 Iraq was at war with the United States. For a periods of several weeks Iraq  sent a nightly barrage of Scud missiles into Israel. Every night just in time for the 11:00 pm news in New York we watched missiles raining down on Israel with Iraq additionally promising to send missiles with poison gas. We heard from family and friends huddled in sealed rooms al...

 Sorry folks, lots of topics to be covered in this post. I hope that I can keep it all coherent. If it isn't  coherent I'm sorry. Today is my mother's 11th Yahrzeit. This is my favorite photo of my mother. I found it in her college-era wallet after she died. My mother is leaning against her dear friend Devorah  who I cropped so I could just focus on my mother's face. I don't know of another photo where my mother looks so completely at ease and joyful. I remember the camelhair coat from my earliest childhood. I am posting more photos of snow for the benefit of my relatives and friends in Israel or in other warm weather places. I love the snow on the fire escapes. Luckily the fire escapes weren't needed while the snow was deep on the metalwork.   I loved seeing how deep the snow was on the tree branches. During the worst of the storm people were walking in the middle of Broadway. By the next day that was no longer possible. I just noticed that traffic is travellin...

 The snow began slowly this morning. Unlike the weather people, I thought that this would be a big nothing. Now it is evening and I declare this to be a real snow. We have enough food for the next several days. I spent the day taking care of household chores and also working on Tim's atara. The air conditioner that is at my left shoulder now is nicely capped in snow. Stay warm. it's good weather to drink hot cocoa. My father had a bad back. Growing up, snow shoveling fell to my my mother, my sisters and me. After we had cleared the snow off of the back steps, the car, the driveway, the side walk, the front walk and front steps we would comeback into the house. My father would have a pitcher of cocoa waiting for us. This wasn't an envelope of Swiss Miss but Drostes Cocoa simmered on the stovetop with milk, sugar and vanilla.  The cocoa was always served in this hand thrown Italian ceramic pitcher. I can't look at this pitcher and not remember the feeling of filling my co...