Rosh Chodesh

Last night I attended the virtual Rosh Chodesh celebration hosted by our Rebbitzin.  It is a spiritual, almost sacred, assembly of women only and is dedicated to renewal and sharing.  I love the mystical quality of the gathering and the fact that it is tied to the cycles of the moon.  It started with a quiet meditation, a lit candle and a short story, and moved on to a topic we could discuss - infusing spirituality into the most mundane of household chores.

This is one activity that is easier for me since the Coronavirus hit - it usually takes place with the ladies meeting in person.  I will miss it if they no longer use Zoom when the pandemic is over (soon I pray).

Home is in the Kitchen

My annual "Home is in the Kitchen" calendar arrived today.  It joins the other seven - 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020 - in my "collection".   I actually had no intention of amassing all these calendars (I just save the envelopes they came in - they have every month shown on the back).  I just needed something that would cover the big gray side of our stainless steel refrigerator and go nicely with our black, red and gold kitchen motif.  But now their cheerful monthly messages are a family tradition and the growing stack of the calendars' envelopes reminds me of how quickly time flies.

And of course, the artist is correct, home is indeed in the kitchen. Good Food!  Good Life!

They Persisted

I watched the four hour PBS series "The Vote", four hours that documented failure after failure, setback after setback, ridicule, beatings, arrests, and even torture that spanned seven decades.  Unbelievable.  A testament to incredible women who, one hundred years ago next month, gave the gift of liberty, democracy and power to half the population of the United States.

Women took The Vote less than thirty years before I was born.  Yet even as a child I believed I could do anything in life that I wanted.  I owe these women, many of whom did not live to see their dream fulfilled, an enormous debt of gratitude.

I will remember them when I proudly cast my vote in November.

Forgive Yourself

My horoscope today was about forgiveness although that word was never mentioned.  I am normally not a big proponent of forgiveness (not even on Yom Kippur) but luckily my rather short memory span allows me to forget a lot of things.  I believe the hardest thing for me, or anyone, is to forgive ourselves. So this little blurb in today's paper was most welcome.

I do have a few silly things I wish I hadn't done or said and I have many more things I wish I had said or done.  A top regret?  I wish I had asked my grandparents and parents for more stories about their lives.  

With a softened heart, I think I will try to forgive myself.

Death Takes A Holiday

Death Takes A Holiday - both the 1934 original and the 1971 remake - has always been one of my favorites.  But yesterday's Fourth of July version became my Number One when I saw the death tolls from the coronavirus top out at 254 (17 in Florida!).

I know you cannot just count on one day's tally but the death trend does seem to be stabilizing.  I will take any good news on the pandemic at this point.  

Did we not have the staff on duty to count all the bodies yesterday?  Does hydroxychloroquine actually work?  Or did Death really decide to give us a small break for the 4th?