sarah in nyc

 In preparation for Pesach, our old kitchen curtain was taken down, hand washed and is now hanging to dry in our back bathroom. Our new curtain arrangement is made out of an old linen tablecloth with drawn thread work and a large wear hole that I had mended a few years back. The linen in this cloth feels particularly unrefined and is a greyish white. I am sure that there is a name for this quality of linen.  I know that some of my readers will have a name for this type of linen. The centerpiece of this particular curtain arrangement is the "My hearth is my pride" cabinet curtain that first showed up on this blog as a schmatta mystery. The valance is made up of the self valance of the "My hearth is my pride" curtain and two 1950s embroidered placemats. The motifs on the placemats don't match but they are similar work in similar colors from the same era.    This particular curtain sits on the fence right between charming and weird. Perhaps it is exactly the right ...

 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 wou...