Austin and Anniversary

Pictures, in reverse order from how they happened, of course.  For full albums, check out my Facebook page (but you have to "friend" me to see it).  In any case, the bottom picture is from my day at the Norwich Spa, when I relaxed and my hair did too.  Then some highlights from my trip to Austin, TX, when I visited Shira and Nathaniel.  It was very cool to be at the Whole Foods Headquarters and nice to eat at restaurants where I felt the food was really gluten-free.  The top two pics are from our anniversary - Adam and I just got back from Newport, RI.  We stayed at a lovely B&B where the room was nice, very warm, and the innkeeper was nice, very warm, and a bit of a helicopter chef (as in, she hovered on top of us while we ate breakfast!). But that's OK b/c she made good food and understood my GF needs so that's good.  On Monday night we walked around and found a nice restaurant right on the water. Turns out it was restaurant week in Newport so there were great deals! The first day we sat at breakfast until almost 11 AM because there was a nice couple from New York and we were just chatting forever. But I managed to get through the entire time there without letting anyone know what I do for a living - that made the conversations much easier!   We started our big day of touring on Tuesday by trying to go to the Touro Synagogue only to find out that they had just closed it the day before for months of construction! Oh well, next time I guess.  We spent the morning walking around the shops etc, and then went to the Breakers for a tour (of course realizing we left the free tickets at home in Hartford!). The Breakers tour was nice but the guide was rather boring and uninterested.  That's OK. We were still impressed with the magnitude and beauty of it all.  We went back to wandering around downtown and then went to the Opera House for an afternoon movie.  We saw "Rachel Getting Married" which we thought would be cool to watch on our anniversary. Let me make this very clear: it was the worst movie we'd ever seen!  Only watch it if you really enjoy being seasick.  It was so disturbing and actually made me want to puke!  Actually, the shaky camera aside, it was...........no, it was horrible! If you've seen it, I'd love to hear your opinion. I don't need every movie to have a happy ending - just SOME ENDING. It was lame. But it got us really talking about life and resolution, and how even if the resolution is bad, at least there's something. This movie just turned over a million stones but didn't follow any of them through.  Everything, and I mean everything, was left up in the air. It could have gone in a lot of wonderful directions, instead it just went down the drain. But anyway, as you can see, I'm not too annoyed that I spent several hours in an unheated slanting opera house watching the world through a shaky camera. :)

Tuesday night we wandered for a long time before finding dinner.  We finally ended up at a diner-type place that served amazing fish. Wednesday we took a beautiful walk on the Cliff Walk and then drove home. It was just so wonderful to be away!  Happy Anniversary to us!  Tonight we watched about 25 minutes of our wedding DVD (just the highlights, none of the embarrassing moments) and soon we'll eat our wedding chocolate (we didn't have a wedding cake, but we gave out chocolates, so we've been saving some for our anniversary, but were too stuffed last night).  Looking forward to the next many, many anniversaries!

Sukkot

Our sukkah began as 12 boards, each weighing 50 lbs, that Adam and I dragged from Boston.  So here we are with our friend, David, with the boards lying around the picnic table Adam built, contemplating how to build this thing.

Then we were joined by our friends: David, Ray and Craig, and Adam from across the street.  After an hour, the sukkah was built!  It's beautiful and was a great way to spend sukkot with family and friends. 

And a final word of relief that I'm finally learning how to post on this blog and get the words and pictures in order! Barukh Hashem!

Adam and I went to Boston to pick up the accordion that supposedly belonged to my father z"l one day (and maybe another relative before then).  I couldn't believe how Adam just picked up that instrument and already knew how to play it! He's amazing.  We also loaded the sukkah onto a 10 foot truck (that I drove) and brought it to West Hartford.  Enjoy some pics!  Not sure why the type is underlined, but I just came home from a women's retreat (that I ran, for my shul) so I'm too tired to write more!

Simchas!

Yaffa and Ravid's L'Chayim (otherwise known as the night the Garber Girls all wore black and white) was a lot of fun.  Nice people, nice food, nice to be together.  Visited Becky and baby Talia - so cute and so much hair!  Then Adam and I went to Rochester for Marette and Jared's wedding.  More fun, dancing, and good times.  We are exhausted! So no more words, just pictures! Worth a lot, they say. Enjoy!

Fun at Ramah

Some pics from our visit to Camp Ramah New England.  Adam playing with Tikvah.  Adam playing with Yehuda (Rosh Mishlachat).  A beautiful guest house, a wonderful time.  Happy kids.  Very nice.

Red Sox game 2 and lots of fishies!

Adam and I went to the aquarium on July 28 and enjoyed the fishes.  Then we went to the Red Sox again for one of Manny's last days.  Sadly, we lost.  Hence my sad face and Adam trying hard not to laugh at me!

We also saw Pearl H. who balances food and drinks on her head!  Amazing!

Our Trip to Israel - July 2008

B'chol zot heeganu lamrot hakol! - We arrived, in spite of it all!  The journey to Israel was OK.  Following a great win of our beloved Boston Red Sox (curse reversed!) against the Twins, we drove from Boston to JFK for our flight.  Some guys asked Adam to join them for Mincha – thank goodness for my blackberry b/c that’s what he used to daven!  It looked like there weren’t going to be a lot of people on the flight, but now we realize they just must have been hiding somewhere.  Anyway, our seats were right in front of the bathroom, which meant they didn’t go back all the way.  That was annoying. Then a religious woman came and was supposed to sit in our row.  The only way that could happen is if Adam and I sat in the middle 2 seats (we were in the row of 4 in the middle) so that there was a nice guy next to him (who was making aliyah) and this woman next to me.  She was nice and it was fine, but I was annoyed of course.  I really wanted to tell her that the great act of kindness she had been paid (by me) was by a Conservative female rabbi.  But I held back.  She probably figured it out.  My favorite moment of the trip was when she went to the bathroom and took off her hair. J We landed, found our luggage, and found a sherut to Jerusalem (which we had to be the last stop, to our great luck! OY.  But it was a great free tour of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods!).  Our hotel (Dan Pan) is fine.  Our view is of Mapu Street – where I stayed with my family a few years ago!  Our first night we went to Ben Yehuda Street, where Adam had a schwarma and I had a felafel.  A great welcome to Israel! 

Friday - first day of touring

Friday began with a delicious Israeli breakfast.  Then we went to Yad Vashem, the redone Holocaust Memorial.  It was very crowded but of course very important to see.  We ran into cousins Stacy and Matthew there!  Adam and I explored the grounds of Vad Vashem, all of the extra memorials, but somehow we got off the path and found ourselves on the main road, trying to get back to the entrance building where we had left our bag.  We had to walk a whole lot, even an Israeli guard thought we should find transportation, but we made it and while we had to walk through the outside gate again (that’s how far away we were), we got back.  I ran into Cindy F from JTS (now in Chicago) and Eran R who was an Israeli mishlachat with me at Camp Ramah in Canada years ago.  He was Cindy’s tour guide for her program – small world, only in Israel!  After Yad Vashem we walked up to Har Herzl and found the graves of the leaders like Rabin and Teddy Koleck, the soldiers, etc.  Then we took a cab to Machaneh Yehudah where we bought challot and of course rugulach for Shabbat (and great desserts for our Shabbat meals).  There we met cousins Stacy, Michael, Matthew, and Audrey.  We took them on a “5 minute” (Israeli style, so a bit longer) walk to The Village Green for a delicious lunch.  Then we said goodbye to them and walked down Jaffa to find the new Mamilla Mall.  Not easy to find – we almost gave up.  But we found it, walked around a bit, and wondered who would really shop there.  I guess rich Israelis because I think foreigners can get these things for cheaper at home.  Still, it was very cool to see these stores and then see the Old City in the background.  Adam is standing in front of a store called Reuma – Marette’s Hebrew name – so we thought that was neat.  After a rest, we went to Shira Chadasha, the modern Orthodox shul, for Friday night services.  There we saw tons of Conservative rabbis I know, but I couldn’t say hi because they were on the other side of the mechitza!  Sarah A was there – great to see her.  Luciana and Alon and Sima (her mother) and Beni (their son) were there.  I stood in the back with Lu – so much fun to watch Beni play.  At one point someone in charge of the minyan came up to me and asked if I was the official greeter of the night!  I said no, just a guest.  We decided I must just have that look!  Shabbat dinner was fantastic.  We connected with Jimmy and Miriam, Alan’s cousin, and were treated to a family, relaxed Shabbat time.  There were many languages spoken at this dinner – English, Hebrew, and French.  It was quite international!  Adam loved the kubeh – a Moroccan dumpling.  We had a beautiful walk home on Emek Refaim.  Shabbat Shalom, Yerushalayim.

First Shabbat in Jerusalem

Early wakeup, quick breakfast (where we met people on a tour from the shul in Glastonbury, CT), and then a long walk to Kol Haneshama, the Reform center.  Yes, a Reform shul – we wanted to try it!  We were there at 8:55 AM because we thought it started at 9.  It starts at 9:15.  While we waited, someone came up to me and started to ask me questions about the shul – again, I guess I have that look!  Shul was interesting.  Adam and I used one of their creative/alternative siddurim and also our own Rinat Yisrael.  The shul does great things.  While I didn’t love seeing people in jeans, men without kippot and tallitot on the bima, and we both thought the group aliyot were strange (all grandparents, then all aunts/uncles, then all cousins, then all friends, all new students, all guests, then the parents of the bat mitzvah), it was truly a mitzvah for these secular Israelis to have the opportunity to mark the special occasion.  So we experienced it, sang “Kol Haneshama” with all our hearts, and I noted as the Torah came around in the procession that I hadn’t been on that side of the procession in a while!  And it was a Reform service – but all in Hebrew!  We walked with Luciana and Sima and Beni to their apartment in the beautiful new buildings in Talpiyot.  Very cool.  Beni and I became friends – so did Beni and Adam.  Beni is adorable – it was so much fun.  Lunch was great – this time the languages were English, Hebrew, and Portuguese!  We had a lot of fun, then went home to take a quick nap before going up to our pool.  That was about 3:30 PM.  By 8 PM we woke up!  Ooops!  I guess the jet lag and exhaustion from the flight caught up with us.  Saturday night we ate a delicious dinner at Café Rimon in the center of the city (onion soup there is the best) and walked around a lot, shopping, looking.  Of course, we stopped in to visit the Kippah Man, who immediately remembered me (with our code, “Abba Gabba”). We ran into Rami and Lu and Alon. We enjoyed frozen yogurt with fruit and chocolate mushed in (more than mushed – crushed into oblivion).  A wonderful day.

Sunday - single-handedly saving Israel's economy

Due to our late night Saturday, we slept in on Sunday.  Eventually we had breakfast at Cup-a-Joe and then went to Pomerantz booksellers.  Boy, did we have fun there!  They are so wonderful, so helpful, so giving.  Oh – on the way to Pomerantz, someone tapped my shoulder.  Turns out she remembers me from high school and USY and says I haven’t changed.  Weird!  Anyway, we had a lot to carry, so we schlepped back to the hotel with our goods then took a cab to the Old City (it is close, but we were tired – ok, I was lazy).  We walked through the Christian quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  It was beautiful and very crowded.  Then we found our way to the Cardo, did some shopping there (Adam bought me a beautiful necklace!) and then to the Kotel, where we ran into Martha and Larry from Beth El, and I had another encounter with someone who remembered me, Sarah B and her husband Rabbi Josh.  Crazy – and again, only in Israel!  We went right to the Kotel tunnel tour.  There were some very cool parts of this tour – seeing an interactive model of the Kotel plaza, seeing the Western Wall at a deeper point, and being near the Kodesh haKodashim.  But the rest of it was a bit long, claustrophobic, and boring (that’s because I’m not so into archeology).  The weirdest part of the tour was the end when we emerged from the tunnels, deep in the Muslim quarter, and we were escorted by armed guards back to the Kotel.  Personally, I have been lost in that area many times and have lived to tell the tale, so I’m not scared to be there (once I practiced my Arabic – shukran!), but it was embarrassing to stand there with guards and guns (the guy had his hand on the trigger the whole time).  In my mind, the message was one of distrust, and it was not friendly.  Sarah says it’s the government’s way of saying we have the right to be here and to protect ourselves.  Interesting.  I’m sure we can all discuss that at some point!  So we made it back to the Kotel, where Adam and I parted, each davened mincha, placed notes, prayed, etc.  I’m always torn – is it a holy place or just a brick wall?  In any case, the day continued with a visit to Rhea, our kippah lady.  She just turned 89 and is so precious.  We bought beautiful kippot, saw pictures from her granddaughter’s wedding, her daughter’s trip to India, and met her grandson.  We told her to get ready for the women of Beth El – she’s very excited for our trip.  Then we went on a very long walk (mostly because the ATMs in Rhea’s area didn’t accept our foreign credit cards so we had very little money!), we stopped at Beit Nativ for pictures, and then made it to Burgers Bar on Emek Refaim for a delicious and huge burger.  Sarah met us there for a bit.  We walked home, full and exhausted from a very long day.