Our new stove still hasn't arrived, but our old one appears to be heating today, so I'm about to pop the food into the oven. We've got many, many choices, since we have very, very generous friends. There have been people coming by all day to add final bits of shabbat dinner -- challah, gefilte fish, soup (which was, amusingly, marked: "vegetable ( Read more... )

(checkin', checkin', checkin ( Read more... )

(Every time I type that subject line, I end up with a song from "The Simpsons" running through my head. My brain is an odd place ( Read more... )

Hi, all.

As anticipated, my Internet time is severely curtailed this week. I'm going to be trying to do one of these "checking in" posts each night.

Today was the first day of the shiva here at home. People have been wonderful, both with coming for the morning minyan and coming by to express their condolences during the shiva hours ( Read more... )

We're back in Boston now. I'm way too far behind to even consider trying to catch up, and I can't guarantee how regularly I'll be reading during mabfan's shiva, so please tell me here if there's anything important I've missed.

I also know I've missed a bunch of birthdays. I'll catch up with those, as well, once my schedule is somewhat more normal.

We're here in the home of chaos_wrangler and spouse-of-chaos_wrangler, in Queens. We've spent a quiet Shabbat here and at the house with family.

Some people have asked where the family has requested donations to be made. The charities they want donations to go to are:

-- Barnard College
-- The Joel Burstein Award Fund at Hunter College High School
-- The American Civil ( Read more... )

I just want to express, with what few words I have, just how grateful I am for all of you, my friends, and the caring and compassion you have all showed today. There just aren't the words I want to express. They're in my heart and in my brain, but I can't get them here onto the screen ( Read more... )

OK, so...

Suddenly, we've got to have a space to hold a shiva. And, unfortunately, our apartment is currently not in a state to hold such a thing (read, there's still lots of stuff in the living room that needs to be put away before we can have people come over).

But! We have a Cunning Plan.

The lovely and talented farwing agreed to help coordinate a ( Read more... )

The funeral arrangements have been made, and will be posted in a locked post that follows this one.

If you're locked out of the post and you want to know the details, please e-mail me at my @livejournal.com address.

We are blessed to have the friends we have; your outpouring of wishes is very much appreciated.

Michael's mother, Eleanor Mae Cohen Burstein, died this morning.

mabfan and I will be going to New York tomorrow morning; the funeral will be in New York on Sunday.