Otto Farkas died two days ago and was buried this afternoon. It is a beautiful day, not too hot today, with a breeze. His family was able to be at the grave-side, and the shul set up Zoom so others could attend. He was a Holocaust survivor, who found his brother and mother after being in the camps (not sure which one) and was able to come with ( Read more... )

I took a lunch-time trip to the store with the kosher section today, to get other stuff actually, and was greeted at the front by the Kosher for Passover section! Egads! I did not prepare a shopping list for this section! I passed by the regular kosher section and the guy who takes care of that area was there, and I commented "yup, it's after ( Read more... )

This is why I keep my phone on and by the bed. I have honestly been expecting a phone call of my G'ma Shirley's death for years; as the eldeet member of the immediate family, that was the expected call. (I'm not wishing her dead, of course, but it's the only call that's expected.) Other people get sick or injured but that wouldn't necessitate a ( Read more... )

First of all, I appreciate the meme that indicates the Coronavirus is all a product of Zoom - they sure are the right answer to the self-isolating problem, better than many others out there (though not the only solution for all ( Read more... )

Important note: it is really critical that I eat before opening Christmas presents with the two boys. Once present-opening starts, it'll take a while, and then there is the playing, and dealing with the mess, and then it's been an hour or more and I will still have not eaten after a late night and I am incapable of maintaining a good mood with ( Read more... )

You know, I am a mom, I am a wife, I live in a house that I've lived in for many years, but still, being with my parents is still "going home." I never lived in their current house with them: they moved into this place maybe 15 years ago. Doesn't matter ( Read more... )

The guest list, from Saturday through Tuesday, included: Mom, Abba, Hemda, Udi (Hemda's son), Eliana (no longer residing at home but at college in NYC!), Ilan, Gadi, Jenna, Lila, Sam, Ada, me, Rick, Benito, Zohar and Michal, Udi (Abba's oldest grandchild) and Valentina and 9-month-old Noam! That's a total of 21 people for Saturday, Sunday and ( Read more... )

This was a chock-full family visit, in Overland Park, Kansas, and I cannot begin to write it down because I have to prepare for my part in leading the final bit of Yom Kippur services. I am at work, working, but aside from that I need to be practicing. Call this a place-holder to remind myself to write it all down after YK is over ( Read more... )

TL; DR: the three of us in my immediate family are going to Tahl's for Rosh Hashana, to celebrate my abba's 80th birthday with Mom and Abba and maybe others ( Read more... )

At shul today, someone told me about something that happened last week, and I thought back to last week and realized that the memory slot for last Saturday was completely missing. To recount it will take serious effort. I recall parts of the week before this one, and should probably write some of it down just for my own sanity. Have I mentioned ( Read more... )