Sunday, April 6, 2008

Hi All!

So, today is the first day of the rest of my blogs. It was a great day that is the culmination of a terrific long weekend. Ari decided to stay with us this past week while waiting to hear if and when his new job would begin. When they told him he was hired a few days ago, he told them he would start on Monday. We are all very excited because working for a startup company, not only will he be guaranteed a salary as good as the last, but he will have an opportunity to share in the profits for the hours he will be billing--a unique opportunity!

On Friday, Ari and I were able to join Saul on a bus trip taking his global studies class from Chestnut Hill College to the United Nations building in New York. I was there last with an elementary school class when the building was all shiny and new and the last word in modern up-to-date architecture and furnishings. It was amazing how tired and outdated a building can become in 50 years. I hope I don't look that tired and outdated. It was just as I remembered it, but shabby. Ari had never been there before. We had the standard tour plus a special meeting with some officials in one of the conference rooms. Most of  the  speakers were very dry and rah-rah this is the generation that can meet the challenges of creating peace and eliminating world hunger. There was a speaker named Bettina from Germany that did put a little spark into the proceedings by talking about the work of celebrity good-will ambassadors and mentioning the brilliance of the gotrice.com website for feeding the hungry.

We had prepared Shabbat dinner the day before—black bean soup, tilapia lamaize, vegetable lasagna and vanilla custard sauce to go with the giant strawberries that the Wieder and Wittenberg families had sent to mom for her birthday. We also found these delicious pomegranate ice cream bars at Costco. Beth and Larry came over early while we were on the bus and set the table and warmed everything up. We arrived home from the trip about 6:15 p.m. just as Jessica had arrived with Sami and  Izzy from Baltimore. She drove our SUV up with coolers in the back to pick up a huge meat order for Passover and for Aaron and Stacy and Matt and Naomi. Alex brought a USY group to Philadelphia by bus this weekend to tour colleges. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him at all. We had left the SUV down in Baltimore last weekend while we were in Washington for the Cherry Blossom and Kite Festival--which, btw, was a gorgeous day weather-wise, cherry blossom-wise, and kite-wise. The only problem was almost no wind, which made it very difficult to fly our hand-painted, home-made dragon kite for the requisite 5 minutes. There are pictures of it flying, though. (See above.) Faith Rubin joined us at 7:00 and we had a warm and beautiful Shabbat dinner together. I was actually less tired than usual because instead of the usual Friday afternoon rush to get dinner on the table, I had a long bus ride. The girls were tucked cozily into their beds and we all went to bed at a reasonable hour.

One of the reasons why we left the SUV in Baltimore was that we were supposed to look at an apartment in Ocean City, NJ, last Sunday on our way home from Washington. Ari drove with us to help us decide so we did not need to pick it up and drive it home from Baltimore. We have finally given up on the plan to go to Israel this summer because the prices are just too high. The airfares at that time would be a small fortune for all of us, and the apartments are as expensive as they are here. The shekel is very strong right now and the dollar very weak. Great for Israel, but not so good for us. It is good to see the prosperity there, finally, though. On past trips, everyone was trying to deal with runaway inflation. I fear that it is now our turn.

Anyway, we decided on a vacation closer to home and found a nice apartment at 16th and Asbury. We will stay there for two weeks from July 12 until the 26. Ari will try  to  join us for a few days, and Beth said she would try to arrange to bring Brenna. We all have great memories of Ocean City from years past (except maybe Ari, who was just a baby when we bought the house in the Poconos and started vacationing there together). Whatever happened to those home movies of our little girls trying on Aunt Sarah's bras?

Saturday, we laid around most of the day, enjoying it immensely. The girls went next door to Beth's to play on the swings and brought her back over to have leftovers for lunch. We napped, talked about our plans for the summer and for the next few weeks, and watched old movies.

Sunday, today, we set up this blog so that I can continue writing at my convenience. I have written quite a bit this past year which has been well received by a women's writing group that I joined with my blast-from-the-past friend, Roxy. That is another story. Lately, I have been so busy with work and just plain enjoying life, that I haven't had time to write anymore and have stopped attending the twice-monthly classes for a few months. 

I have sent Ari most of my stories, but then Jessica complains that I didn't send them to her. Perhaps I will post them here. Anyway, I can write just a few lines or a whole Megillah this way and share my thoughts with you.

We all met Maury and Elaine in the Northeast to have a delectable vegetarian Indian lunch at a place called Taj India that Jess and Ari found on the internet. They all continued over to Simon's to pick up the meat order. They took the SUV, fully-loaded, back to Baltimore and on to Washington with Ari. We got to keep the Prius because the order would not have fit. We hope to switch back at Jamie and Andy's housewarming party next weekend.

Despite the gray weather this weekend, it was absolutely beautiful to have everyone together and happy.

Hope this coming week will be great for you!