sarah in nyc

  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...

So text that has been running in my head for the last several days will have to suffice during this emotionally complicated time. Three settings of the same text.                   וְיֵשׁ־תִּקְוָ֥ה לְאַחֲרִיתֵ֖ךְ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֑ה וְשָׁ֥בוּ בָנִ֖ים לִגְבוּלָֽם׃   And there is hope for your future —declares G OD : Your children shall return to their country.                                                  Jeremiah 31:17  

 Like everyone else I am awaiting the return of the hostages. I am not 100% sure that this will take place, so in my anxiety I am listening to various settings of this 17th century prayer. Maybe if I keep reciting the words over and over again they will indeed be free and as the prayer says they will merit life. Shabbat Shalom...and hoping that all of the words of this prayer get fulfilled נוסח הפיוט המלא: נוסח הפיוט המלא (21 בתים): אלוהים אשאלה יוצר מאורים / יגלה קץ עדתו הפזורים וניקבץ לתוך ציון בשמחה / ונהיה שם בכל מועד חברים והכהן שהוא גדול באחיו / יהא לובש כליל אורים ותומים ומי מקטיר ומי מדליק מנורה / ומי ישא לכל דשן וירים בכל יום יעמידו בפְּיָסוֹת / ומכל מום ונזק הם שמורים ומשיח יהא שופט בצדק / והכהן והוא יהיו חגורים ביום כִּפור עבודתו מרובה / וייכנס לתוך חדרֵי חדרִים וישמע קול אלוהים עת ידבר / כמו דיבר עשרת הדברים תחילתן אני האל יְיֹיָ / ואין אחר כמותי ביצורים ולא יסור לבבך משמוע / ולא יהיה לך אלוהים אחרים ולא תזכור שמי שלא לצורך / ולא תרגיל לשונך בשקרִים והזהר בסוד שבת בראשי...

 I truly love the holiday season. And yet, it's a lot. After Rosh haShanah I thought that I had done a pretty good job of keeping up with all of the tablecloths and napkins that get used for holiday meals but by the time Yom Kippur was over I was drowning under  a stack of ironing that needed to get done. This was part of the stack that I tackled yesterday. The cloth with the pink cross stitched flowers also needed a fair amount of mending which I did by hand because I just couldn't manage the thought of taking out my sewing machine. The hand mending is essentially creating a bit of needle weaving. Sorry no photos taken of the mending but I no longer have two large matching constellations of holes on the left and right of the cloth. There was a large stack of napkins that needed to be tended to as well. There are probably more napkins hiding away only to be discovered in a few weeks or months. Sukkot begins tonight, so a holiday meal tonight followed by another one tomorrow ni...

Yesterday, at some point during services my husband, out of deep seated kindness, suggested that I shouldn't set up the meal we eat after the fast until we get home from synagogue. He said that he thought that cutting up vegetables and preparing food platters in the middle of the fast when we are not allowed to eat sounded like torture to him. I thought about what he was suggesting.I also know that setting out a meal for a group of ravenously hungry people as they wait for me to slice and platter cucumbers, and peppers, and tomatoes  and smoked salmon and Cholesterol Death kugel while everyone is waiting to be fed seemed like an entirely stressful operation to be doing while I am dying to eat myself. I assured my husband that dealing with food while I am fasting is actually not torture. I mentioned this conversation to a wise friend. She said that she always felt that setting up for that post Yom Kippur meal felt like  doing the work of the priests in the temple.  My husb...