Random bits of life

 Monday was Tu B'shvat, the Jewish new year for the trees. When I went to Orthodox day school each student got a baggie filled with a piece of dried carob, a mini box of raisins and a tangerine. Inside the bag was a label identifying that this bag was a gift from the Leaf family in memory of  Clara Leaf.

Being kids, we were often less than gracious about this annual gift. Most kids hated the carob and tossed it around the room. I loved the carob, there was something so cool about being able to put something that felt like wood into your mouth and have it be something to eat. I remember a tangerine fight in eighth grade that had a really messy ending. Each year we blacked out our teeth with the raisins.

Decades later I realize that Clara Leaf's yahrzit was probably on Tu B'shvat. My mother used to mark her own mother's yahrzeit on Tu B'shbat. It was probably actually a day or two before or after. Every year on the Shabbat closest to Tu B'shvat my mother would bring a big fruit heavy, beautifully arranged  kiddush in honor of her mother.

A couple of years ago I began making marmalade with etrogim/citrons left over from Sukkot. I had learned somewhere recently that there is a custom to eat some of that marmalade on Tu B'shvat. We had a full jar left.

I honor of the day I baked bread with figs.

I ate this for dessert. I only had two etrogim this year so I filled out my marmalade with a variety of citrus peels.

Now that Tu B'shvat has passed Passover can't be too far behind. So it was time to get started on some of the Spring cleaning . As part of that effort I took down my kitchen curtain which I had assembled out of my mother's linen oval tablecloth and a sweet embroidered piece.  I have no idea what the original use of these valanced embroidered pieces were. I have about half a dozen of them.

I had liked this curtain arrangement but it had become dusty so it was time to put up a new curtain.

All of the elements  here were made in Europe.  The linen table cloth behind had belonged to my cousin's mother-in-law, Rose Stein.

This was part of her trousseau for her wedding in Vienna. Rose may have designed this monogram herself, she was pretty artistic. This monogram was embroidered on all of her linens, tablecloths, sheets, pillow cases ans napkins.

Rose then married and had a new last name. Her linens belonged to her-- that is in case of divorce or the death of her husband, they belonged fully to her. In this age of Bed Bath and Beyond that might not seem like a whole lot, but until a couple of hundred years ago, linens were  counted as real wealth along with household furnishings, real estate, cash and  jewels.   These textiles were embroidered with her initials of origin. I don't live the kind of elegant life that Rose lived, but her tablecloth graces my window.

The red embroidered fruit basket is one of the many treasured pieces of linen I had inherited from my friend Vivian. Her mother and grandmother treasured fine linens. The pretty red napkins that form the valance are linen and are over a century old. All of the curtain bits are stapled onto the wooden header of a rice paper shade that fell apart years ago. You can cut a piece of wood trim to size, add a couple of D-rings to the top and screw a couple of hooks into your window frame.I have marked the center of the wood frame and press a fold into the center of each of the linens so making the curtain even doesn't take terribly much advanced thinking. I stapled the black tape to the top of the wood frame so it can be used to tie up the curtain.ironing and starching the linens took more time than the assembling.

One of my great nieces is turning two. She loves dolls. I decided to make her a little cloth doll. The last time I had made such a doll was for my oldest  when I was pregnant with her younger brother. We had visited the American craft Museum together and she had fallen in love with a cloth doll in the gift shop. My daughter was right, that gift -shop doll was beautiful. It was however, hand made and far out of our budget. I asked my daughter if she would accept a home made doll instead. She was willing to accept my hand work. I was feeling guilty about how my daughter's life would change with the arrival of a new baby. i put a great deal of effort into the doll that I had completely hand stitched.

My daughter did like the doll I had made and the arrival of a new brother, while initially traumatic ended up being a good thing in her life.

 This is the doll that my great-niece is getting.  The dress is a little bit over the top.

This doll gets packed up today  and will be shipped tomorrow.