Around The World

My new friend Addy is going on a World Cruise for four months. Wow!  Even more wow, she and her partner Marty go on a four month cruise every year.

The idea of a World Cruise never entered my conscious thought before but now it is entrenched in some corner of my brain and it keeps popping up. I'm thinking hmmm maybe this is a wonderful way to celebrate a lifetime of achievement and also an easy way to see the parts of the world I've never been to. No way am I flying halfway around the world and sitting for long stretches in airports and cramped seats (except maybe to Israel again). But I guarantee this (if it ever happens) would be a once-in-a-lifetime celebration and not an every year occurence!

So I am checking out the offerings of the cruise lines. If we're going to go for three or four months why not for six months? As I said, it's once-in-a-lifetime, right?

Oh those faraway places with strange sounding names! I have no idea where half of them are.

And the logistics! What happens to the mail for six months? Will the house still be standing? How much dust will be on the furniture? Will the cars still work? What if we need a dentist in Nawiliwili or we run out of deordorant in Togo? Or I need a mascara in Sihanoukville?

Ah daydreaming. It's free and I don't even have to pack a toothbrush...

;-)

Postcards From God

I added a new album to my phone picture gallery called "Scenery". I was saving so many gorgeous pictures (taken by others) of The Villages that I had to give them their own space. The little images to the left here do not do the pictures - or the real scenes - justice.

My friend June calls these "Postcards from God". They are indeed.

;-)

5775

Tonight kicks off Rosh Hashonah and 5775 and I am happy that we will be spending it at the home of special new friends. I already saw their beautiful table set up for dinner and it reminded me of the wonderful holiday memories of years gone by.

I am eagerly awaiting the second year in my new home. We are settled in and my past life feels like it was quite a long time ago.

But this morning I received an email that reminded me that although I had a wonderful 5774 (marred only by hubby's awful bout with Prednisone), the World did not have such a great year.

War in Israel. Sixty-five beautiful IDF soldiers and several Israeli civilians cut down in their prime (and one in his infancy). Upheaval in the Middle East and the worst terrorism since 2001. Public beheadings and executions. Crucifixions!  Ebola. Russian aggression. Anti-Semitism - the worst since the Holocaust.

But I believe there is cause for hope if one looks deep enough. The world seems to be united in condemning terrorism and evil and is willing to do something about it. Israel and Jews will survive. Ebola will be conquered or contained in the same way AIDs has been mitigated. Miracles will still occur.

And every day can bring us joy. I interrupted my writing this post to dash out with a bag of garbage when I heard the garbage truck outside. Whoops! Garbage day is tomorrow, not today - today is only for green waste. No matter, the nice garbage man insisted on taking my bag anyway. Smile :-) 

I'm reminded once again how sweet life is.

Welcome 5775!

It's That Time Again

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! No not Christmas or even Chanukah. It's Fall TV Time!

This is a truly magical couple of months where new shows are there for you to embrace or reject with just a click of your remote. Imagine, YOU are finally totally in control of something!

This is so exciting, I may have to devote several blog posts to it ;-)

First up: New Shows that I have committed to big time by actually setting my DVR to record the entire series (I can always cancel later hahaha). Here's my first-string lineup of "must watch" new shows:

The Mysteries of Laura. I already saw last week's premiere episode and it was OK, meaning I have not yet deleted the series recording and will give it another shot this week.

Forever. This starts tonight and since I was probably the only person in the world that was totally bummed when New Amsterdam was cancelled several years ago, I am counting on liking this show with almost the exact same premise.

NCIS New Orleans. It's strange but I have never watched NCIS (I think there are more than one) but I love New Orleans and am going to give this one a shot.

How To Get Away With Murder. Hey it has murder in the title which is a sure hook for me.

Then there's Transparent. I just learned about this one. It's a play on words, get it? TRANS PARENT. It's about a father who is transitioning to a woman. I will be happy to give it a shot if I can figure out how to stream Amazon...

;-)

Selichot, Havdallah and Beginning Again

A new experience.  Last night, under indoor "stars", we went with friends to my first Havdallah service and also my first Selichot service. Truth be told, I never even heard of Havdallah until cousin Harvey bought two Havdallah sets when we went to Israel in 2011.

Selichot kicks off the Jewish New Year with the blowing of the shofar, a lovely call for Jews everywhere to gather. Both services were beautiful (and accompanied by a fantastic oneg). If I had to summarize their meaning quickly I would say they are are both about starting anew, a new week and a new year and a new chance for improvement.

The beauty of every sunrise is that no matter how old you are or how much you have screwed up in the past, each new day offers the opportunity for a do-over. And every do-over starts with an honest assessment of where you went wrong and a vow to make amends and do better. And so the service started with probing questions about how well one did the past year.

I think I passed, it was a very good year...

L' Shanah Tovah!

Ten Annoying Questions

Jews News published "Ten Annoying Questions That Almost Every Jew Has Been Asked Before".  Hardly anyone has ever asked me anything about being Jewish (although I do get questions on the meaning of some of my jewelry and the mezuzas on our walls) mainly because they are too polite or feel uncomfortable. As the only Jewish family in our neighborhood of Church going folks who have had little previous exposure to Jews, I'm sure they wonder about us a bit.

Here's my answers to the questions which, I must admit, I would NOT find "annoying" at all should someone ask.

1. Are both your parents Jewish? YES

2. Are your circumcised? NO, BUT HUBBY IS.

3. Do you celebrate Christmas? NO

4. Can you speak Jewish?  
I CAN'T SPEAK EITHER HEBREW OR YIDDISH BUT I KNOW LOTS OF YIDDISH WORDS TO MIX IN WITH MY ENGLISH.

5. Is there a Jewish Church here? 
YES BUT WE CALL THEM EITHER TEMPLES OR SYNAGOGUES.
 
6. So what do you think about ___ going on in Israel? 
WHATEVER _____IS GOING ON IN ISRAEL, I SUPPORT ISRAEL WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING.

7. So what do you believe about Jesus? 
THE CENTRAL AND MOST IMPORTANT PREMISE OF JUDAISM IS THAT THERE IS ONE GOD AND ONE GOD ONLY. THEREFORE I BELIEVE WHOEVER OR WHATEVER JESUS WAS, HE IS/WAS NOT DIVINE.

8. How do you get that little hat to stay on your head? 
MANY MEN WITH THINNING HAIR OR ACTIVE LIVES USE BOBBY PINS OR HAIR CLIPS.

9.Did any of your family die in the Holocaust? 
YES, MY AUNT GITTEL, HER HUSBAND AND THEIR DAUGHTER, MY FIRST COUSIN, RIVKA, AND MANY MORE DISTANT RELATIVES. MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.

10. So you can't eat pork?
 I CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO BECAUSE I AM A REFORM, NOT ORTHODOX, JEW. BUT IT IS NOT WHAT I BUY, ORDER FROM A MENU, OR CHOOSE FROM THE BUFFET LINE.

These were easy. Now ask me something harder!

;-)

The Best of Me

SPOILER ALERT!

I was in the mood for a little light reading to take my mind off recent world events and decided on Nicholas Sparks' The Best of Me. 

Sparks is a master of Chick Lit and his books are constantly being made into high grossing Chick Flicks.  His premises are always reliable: impossibly gorgeous couple who are both too-kind-and-wonderful-to-be-true are In Love. Trouble is, both are shlepping enormous baggage and additionally, someone-is-out-to-get-them.

I was counting on a happy ending which is usually a forgone conclusion with Sparks, but The Best of Me had a bit of a plot twist and a bittersweet ending. It actually resulted in my lying up in bed pondering the meaning-of-it-all which was certainly not the outcome I wanted from a frothy one-day "beach read" that I thought could easily be flipped through the boring parts to a satisfying conclusion.

Since today is my birthday and a day when I ponder My Life So Far, I asked myself what the best part of Me might be?  I didn't have to ponder long to remember that the best part of all of us is the impact we've made on other people. Same "lesson" as in the book. Sleep soon followed.

The next time I want some light reading I think I'll pick up a Harlequin romance...

;-)

Master Chef

Here's another of my guilty pleasures - watching Master Chef!  It started because Master Chef was followed by the recently concluded "24 Live Another Day" and in my anxious zeal for Jack Bauer I turned on Fox TV a little early and got hooked.

Normally I would not watch Gordon Ramsey or competition reality shows and I rarely check out a food show unless truly desperate. But somehow this combination of characters are super interesting and the "challenges" are incredible.

I must admit I am cheering for Leslie, the wealthy Malibu stay-at-home Dad with seven kids and five grandchildren and a bread-winning wife. He's really adorable and has the cocky can-do attitude that comes with age, experience and enough wealth to not give a damn. But that Courtney! She sure can cook but oy, what a personality! It's worse whenever she tries to be "sincere".  If she wins I'm not watching next season that's for sure!

;-)

Fran and Me Part Two

One of my first blog posts was about Fran Drescher:

 

How super prophetic of me! 'Cause today I learned she is married again to a super smart, good looking Hindu man, a PhD with a plethora of accolades and the distinction of being dubbed "the father of eMail" when he was a mere teenager. Mazel Tov!

 

I saw some snarly comments under the story about the wedding and they made me sad.  Fran is so talented, so smart, so real and she has been through so much - breast cancer and a 21 year marriage to a gay man - that I know she deserves all the happiness in the world.

 

That said, I still wish the TV Nanny and the real-life Fran would have married a nice Jewish boy!

 

;-)

The Third Third

About 25 years ago I heard an interesting statistic. I'm not sure where it came from or even if it's true but it does kind of ring true: one out of three people do not make it to age 65! That bit of not-so-good-news has haunted me and I'm reminded again of it because I will reach that magic milestone in a matter of days.

It's a big number, that's for sure. And I do not take for granted how lucky I am to reach it in good health, with a healthy and loving husband, with a comfortable home and financial well-being, with accomplishments and friends, and with a joyful heart and optimism that the best is yet to be.

In good moments I muse that I am still vibrant and attractive, smart and funny, a good conversationalist and an asset to any social circle. In bad moments I wonder why I am moving so slowly (sciatica acting up?) and why I forgot to do something and where the heck are my reading glasses? There is no denying that 65 is O-L-D  and that I well deserve my Medicare card (Part A only thanks to great employee health benefits!) and the senior discount at the Golden Corral early bird buffet.

The Sun Sentinel used to publish a column called "The Third Third" written by a nice senior lady about topics that seemed a long way off to me. I was much more interested at the time in career problems and building financial security than in her more genteel pursuits.
Not so anymore.

Old Age???  Bring It On!  I'm ready for you!

;-)

Goodbye Joan

I really don't like mean humor (but she was funny and usually right on target) and I would hate my choices being critiqued by Fashion Police but I can't help but feel sad about the passing of Joan Rivers yesterday. She was truly one of a kind.

She was a proud Jew, and the perfect manifestation of Jewish Motherhood. She loved Israel and was not afraid of any political incorrectness blow back. And guess what? I actually admired her attempts to stay as young looking and as beautiful as possible even as she aged. I think looking good and feeling good go hand-in-hand. And I think because Joan Rivers felt beautiful and vibrant she was able to keep up with her demanding schedule. I marvelled at her ability to cheat Father Time for awhile with her tousled streaked blond hair and impeccable make-up.

If you would have asked me last week if I'd miss Joan Rivers I would have said "no way". I guess you really don't know what you have 'til it's gone...

RIP Joan.  The world is a little less funny today.

:'-(

Silver Gloves

One of the best things about living in The Villages is the wealth of recreation and entertainment options. Even if you are an old fuddy-duddy and prefer to stay home with the TV (nothing wrong with that) you are sure to find one or two things to entice you off the sofa. I'm told such activities expand our horizons and keep us old fogeys "thinking young".

So I am looking forward to Saturday night and a fun night out with friends at the Silver Gloves senior boxing exhibition right here at the beautiful Savannah Center. Of course we will be eating out first hahaha. I've never been to a live boxing match but I remember how much Grandpa (Mom's Dad) used to love "the fights".

OK, so I may be a smidge apprehensive about a bunch of old guys slugging it out in the ring and I'm a little leery of seeing so many shirtless golden-agers. Yikes!

;-)

Reckless

It's been going pretty well lately, I can't complain. I've got new friends and my social calendar is chock full of fun things to look forward to. Israel is free from rocket fire and it looks like the world is finally waking up to terrorism threats and putting together some kind of plan to address them. I got a new pair of great jeans yesterday off the Ross clearance rack and with the 10% senior discount they were only $6.24. The chicken was a little dry but otherwise my little dinner party last night came off great. So what more do I need to make me happy? I want one of my new favorite shows, Reckless, to get renewed! I read it is almost certain to be cancelled, boo-hoo.

Reckless has endearing and believable characters, a fully contained legal drama in every episode and a compelling ongoing major story arc. It is set in a gorgeous town - Charleston - and it oozes with that Old South ambiance that I love. There's a sweet developing love story and sexual tension, and I have empathy for every single supporting character.

Don't you hate it when your favorite TV shows get cancelled? Can you believe that the rest of the world cannot appreciate your own great taste in television? Doesn't it feel like friends that you spend an hour with every week have suddenly left you without a word of good-bye?

C'mon CBS, be a little reckless and renew Reckless for a second season! Pleeeeze?

:-/