Shana Tova -- Happy New Year

I lost my tickets.

Every year our high holy day tickets arrive a month or so in advance of the holiday. I am always very careful to put them somewhere safe.

Well, not always. At least not this year.

Long story short -- I sent an email to the appropriate person and there will be replacements waiting at the door tomorrow night.

***

Now for the long story that is going through my head and keeping me awake. Let's call it ...

Remembrances of High Holy Days before and after ... or ... Missing Mom

Mom (my mother-in-law in this story) has been gone for four full years now. This will be the fifth set of High Holy days since her demise.

I still miss her.

When Mike and I started living together, we also started worshiping together. (Or at least going to services together.)

While I was not a member of our synagogue until after our marriage, I always managed to get in to High Holy day services with Mike and Mom on their extra tickets. Since my brother-in-law was still in school and Mike was in graduate school, Mom qualified for "student" tickets for them. I went on my brother-in-law's ticket. (They don't check names and he was out of town.)

We'd always get there early because Mom liked to be able to "see." She had to be able to view the action on the bemah to be happy. We'd joke about it and tease her about having to stand on line for 45 minutes in order to get the good seats in the sanctuary. After a period of years, we wore her down and convinced her that the balcony was just fine and, that if she got an aisle seat, she could see just fine.

It was a compromise that worked well for several years -- except for the year that we discovered the second row of the balcony. This row, for some strange reason, has at least 2 inches less leg room then the other rows. I have long legs. Very long legs. In the other aisles my knees rubbed up against the back of the seats in front of me. In the second aisle ... let's just say that I made Mom switch seats with me during one of the standing bits so that I could put my feet into the aisle. I had bruises on my knees for a few days after.

---

Once the kids were born, Mike and I worshiped in shifts. He'd go with Mom on Rosh Hashanah evening and I'd go in the morning. The other person stayed at Mom's apartment with the kid(s). For Yom Kippor, we reversed it because he "should say Yiskor* for his father." (In quotes because that was how Mom felt and not what Mike felt.)

Then the kids got older and could come with us and go to the children's programs that ran in the classrooms upstairs in the synagogue.

That's when Mike stopped going to High Holy day services. He's an adult and can make up his own mind. He'd kept going for all of those years to keep his Mom company. Now that the child care issues were over, he allowed me to take that role. Since I wanted to go anyway, it worked. By then, Mom had mostly come to terms with Mike's feelinga about the whole organized religion thing and. as long as she had me, she was essentially o.k. with it.

---

So Mom and I went and after one or two times together, we discovered that if we arrived just as the line was letting into the synagogue, then we could usually find seats in one of the tiny pews at the back of the sanctuary -- the two seaters.

And we were happy.

We'll forget the year that I bit off the head of the temple administrator after I could not find the kids in the rooms that I left them in ...

Then Mom left us.

My vague recollections of that first set of holidays, coming after a summer of packing up her apartment, include Mike joining me, at least for Yom Kippor morning. Because he should say Yiskor for his mother.

That was the only year I asked him to join me though he still asks, every year, if I want him to go wth me.

The next year, I went, essentially, alone. The kids were in their parallel program having a good time. And I had no one to shmooze with before services or to nod with in agreement (or disagreement) during the sermon. Or to compare notes with afterwards.

I joined friends in the auditorium that year for Yom Kippor and discovered great sightlines. When I wondered to Mike, why Mom had never tried it, he said that she hated the chatty atmosphere that went with those wonderful sightlines.

After another set of services there, I understood why. It didn't help that my friends are of the late arriving sort, so I still had no one to shmooze with before services began.

Then, two years ago I was invited to usher ... and the rest is history. I LOVE ushering. The hustle and bustle and movement. While I do not get the quiet, contemplative time that I associate with worship -- hey, I wasn't really getting it anyway. And that's what late nights are for -- like tonight when everyone is asleep and I can think deep thoughts. And share them with you.

---

I had no intentions of going to evening services tomorrow. I figured we'd have a nice family dinner together and the kids and I would go in the morning -- we are ushering. But then I lost the tickets and now I feel that I have to go, just to justify the late email asking for help (I probably could have talked my way in on Saturday since we are on the ushering list).

In a strange way I am glad my hand was forced. I'm kind of looking forward to this now ... Squidette may or may not join me. Little Squid is taking a pass. I'm going to volunteer my services as an expert usher (they thought about upgrading my carnation color last year!) but, if I am not needed, I will ...

Shmooze before the services with my daughter.

Nod sagely with her during the sermon (or laugh discretely).

And truly understand why Mom wanted someone with her. And why Mike went for all those years -- and then always offered to go with me afterwards.

It's about more than the religion. It's about a shared experience and being with those you love during something that is important to you.

***

Shana Tova -- May this year be a good and sweet one and may you be inscribed in the book of life for another year.


*Yiskor: memorial service for the departed

One More Year

As I sit here and try to compose an appropriate birthday post, I find myself at a loss for words. Instead, tears of happiness and joy cloud my eyes as I try to write down just what about my son makes him so very special to me.

Is it how he always knows when I need a hug?

Or how much he infuriates his dad -- for making the same mistakes that Mike did at that age?

Is it how he constantly takes me by surprise with his talents and his interests?

Or how he is so very like my dad.

Maybe it is because he is so much like his sister, and yet so very, very different.

Or that he is just himself. Our Monster. Our Little Squid.

Happy Birthday, Little Squid.

May you have many, many more!

Just a few more days ...

Summer is over and in a few more days I will have just one more year of being a mother of a pre-teen. Pretty scary. I mean, where did the time go? I swear it was just yesterday that I was holding him and thinking about the true meaning of window-guards. [It was 3 a.m. As an infant, Little Squid was NOT a good sleeper.]

Fortunately, little ones are made cute for a reason -- so that their parents don't kill them in infancy -- and he survived. And in a few short days, he'll be 12.

On Wednesday he goes back to school. For the first time he will be totally responsible for getting himself to and from school. No more big sister to lean on. And no more mom to come running at a moments notice when he gets a mid-morning migraine. He'll have to wait until 11:00 (by which time the migraine may have gone away). I'll be teaching.

Yup. I'm returning to the classroom on Wednesday morning. It's not a new job, just a part time return to my roots. The rest of the day I will still be an Assistant Principal. Actually, I'll be one all day, just one who teaches. I'm nervous and excited. It's been far too long since I had my own class and I miss it. I just hope I have not lost my touch. I'm starting with the egg-in-a-bottle "trick." Wish me luck!

Pittsburgh!

Following our adventure on the Great Allegheny Trail, we spent the weekend in Pittsburgh with my brother and his lovely wife.

They took us all over town and we sampled much of what Steel City has to offer, starting with a visit to the Heinz History Center. (Yes, they have a display of ketchup, why do you ask?)
(Interestingly enough, the new Heinz ketchup pin that Little Squid is sport on his hat did not come from here but was given to him a week later at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strausburg. Heinz has a lot of history with the railroads, including special cars to ship their products.)

We wandered around the museum for quite a while and hit what my brother considers to be the high point, an exhibit which explains the "Pittsburgh" dialect. Very educational.
Moving on, we strolled the Strip, discovering that Nothing happened in one location,

and having great fried fish in another (no, not at this church).
We finished it up with an over the top dinner for Josh's Birthday. (I was mostly off line for the entire trip, hence not birthday post for my youngest brother.) Don't they look cute!
Taking the dog for a walk, in an attempt to tire him and Little Squid out, we passed a street devoted to garages. I kid you not. It was not a back alley but a real street type street but all the houses fronted on other streets with their garages on this one.
As you can see, the tiring walk only lasted for so long ...
On the last day of our visit we got a tour of Carnegie Mellon University with it's Sky Walk
and painted fence. Apparently the paint is rarely dry on this fence, students keep repainting it. It used to be much thinner ...
CMU has sculpture scattered randomly around the campus. Little Squid particularly liked this one. It made him feel cool on a 90 degree day.
Then, off to the University of Pittsburg's Cathedral of Learning with its historically themed classrooms.





These are supposed to be true-to-life recreations of classrooms in other countries at other times but I suspect that the desktops were added for the convenience of the students who take classes in these rooms. Yes, they are really used for classes.









Josh's favorite is the Israel room with its white board hidden behind the mosaics below.


The common room. Can you imagine this full of students?

After visiting all of the open historical rooms we hiked back, had some lunch and hit the road. More adventures have followed and I promise to share some of them with you soon.

Squid on Wheels: The Great Allegheny Passage ... Day 1

Several days ago we set out on a little adventure. Our goal was to ride a portion of the Great Allegheny Passage. The Passage is a rail-trail that connects Cumberland, MD with Pittsburgh, PA. The passage is incomplete at the Pittsburgh end so you can only get as close as Boston, PA without riding on any roads.

Driving first to Pittsburgh, we spent the night with my brother and his lovely wife (and cat and dog) before setting out.

Starting in Mckeesport, PA, about 10 miles north of Boston, we immediately discovered the first challenge as we unloaded and set up the bikes--two flat tires.

The tubes in Little Squid's rear wheel and in Mike's front wheel were quickly swapped out and we took to the road to meet our second challenge:
a tree across the trail. We found a way around it and continued on down the trail until it ran out and continued down a road for a bit until the trail began again. The trail from this point until Boston is not very pleasant. It alternates between asphalt and rough gravel over and over again--with some asphalt areas spanning only a quarter mile or less. It really did not make sense! We were begining to think that maybe this was not such a good idea when, after a few miles, the trail turned to a consistently packed limestone and stayed that way.


We were traveling relatively lightly compared to a family that we met a few days later. They are doing a cross country trek and are fully loaded with both kids pulling their fair share. We had with us 5 paniers and a handle-bar bag. Each adult carried 2 paniers and Squidette carried the 5th. Little Squid was in charge of the snacks in the handle-bar bag.
For the first couple of days we were really conscious of how much we were drinking and being really careful to stay properly fueled and hydrated. We've adopted a new sports drink--Nuun-- and it seems to do the job just fine without giving Little Squid a stomach-ache (an unfortunate side effect of our old sports drink, Accelerade), it also has minimal calories so Mike and I were comfortable guzzling it, something I am not good about with plain water.

See our water source? Just a suggestion, if you ride this trail, make sure to fill up your bottles in the towns and avoid the pumps if you can. The water from the pumps is sulfury and not pleasant to drink straight. The Nuun helped but I still had to force it the liquid down.
The pump above is the one at the Dravo Cemetery and Campground. Nope. Not kidding. The boy scouts built and maintain a primitive biker-hiker campground here. Nice place, actually, and there is a toilet of sorts. (One step above a porta-potty but without the flush of a "real" toilet.) Not bad when given the options.
We passed several creeks and waterfalls. This one looked like it was frozen. I'm thinking that it is due to calcite or limestone in the water. Very neat looking.
Then there is this one, the famous Red Waterfall. The red is due to the iron oxide seeping out of the old coal mines. Basically, pollution. Neat but sad. So much damage was done to the area during the coal and iron mining days. There are piles of mine tailings all over the region just waiting to be cleaned up.
Despite the environmental damage, the trail is lovely. It is mostly surrounded by trees and runs alongside the river for most of it's length. We passed bridge after bridge after bridge. Some, the remnants of the old railroads, others, still in service as automobile or pedestrian bridges over the Youghiogheny River.

After riding for more than two hours, we finally stopped at West Newton which has the distinction of having the best bathrooms on the trail. Or so we were told. Not having tried all of them, we can't really say. But ... they were really good bathrooms! Clean, automatic and ... air conditioned!

Right across the road / trail from these wonders of modern plumbing was the Trailside Cafe where we had a very nice, filling lunch before moving on. And on. And on.

At the end of the day, about 4:15, we rolled into Connellsville, PA and, after asking directions, pedaled about a mile, up hill, to the Melody Motor Inn.

It was clean, reasonably sized and the proprietress was very nice. It was also a distance from any food. The diner behind it closed at 3 and we started to worry that we would have to resort to sandwiches from the Walmart across the highway (or really busy street, one of the two). The motel owner did tell us where there was an ice cream and beer distributership a little bit up the road (on the same side as the motel) and that they served sandwiches. We decided to give that a try before resorting to Walmart. Good thinking! They had hoagies on the menu and, I've got to say, those were the best hoagies I've ever had. Homemade roast beef, real turkey, right off the bird and honest to goodness ham. Yum! And we washed them down with milk shakes. Hey, we'd just ridden 45 miles!

Back to the motel for a round of Quiddler, and one of Uno then some reading and off to bed.

***

Tune tomorrow in for day 2

A Squidly July 4th

For this year's 4th we put our own spin on patriotism. We rode our bikes and had a picnic breakfast at the Harlem Fairway ...
Mike and Little Squid continued learning how to play a symbol of American folk music ...

We all got excited at the prospect of a fire works barge visible from our apartment ...
Mama played her Little Sis in Wii tennis ... (finally, someone I can beat!)
We watched a lovely sunset as the barge floated in and out of view ...

And finally, we enjoyed a spectacular fireworks display on the Hudson River.

(There was also some shopping (Mama Squid, Little Sis, Squidette and Grandma Squid), some show-going (Grandpa Squid and Little Squid) and some computer repair (Papa Squid). All in all, a good day!

The Price of Happiness

I left work at 6:00 today. And 6:30 yesterday. I get to work at 7:30 in the morning. And yet ... I am not upset. As a matter of fact, I am quite happy and very mellow about it all.

Compare this to last year when I was working my contractual day (7 hours and 50 minutes) and miserable. All day. Every day.

Boy, what a difference a year and a school makes.

(Oh, and I managed to hit my head on the bottom of a fire extinguisher today. Ouch!)

(Squidette thinks she did well on the Earth Science Regents. On to Algebra on Friday.)

Need Some Cereal?

So yesterday, I open my email to find the following missive from my father. I sat here reading and, as I choked back my laughter, got strange looks from my son. After reading it through once, I reread it, aloud, to Little Squid to much the same reaction. When Mike came out and asked why we were laughing, all I could say was "my parents are up to it again."

"Ya Gotta Believe,"
as told by my father, Larry Centor.

Kids mine --

So we take one of these little walks that end up in ...

How did you guess?

Waldbaum's!

Where there is a General Mills sale.

You buy 2 8.9 0z. boxes of Cheerios for $4.00 [4X (because with a $16.00 GM purchase of selected products, of which aforementioned Cheerios is one, you get a $4.00 coupon good for your next store purchase of ANYTHING)].

Now for the good part. Inside random boxes [1 out of every 10], there is a Discover card good for $5.00, $10.00 or $25.00.

So Mom thinks it would be great to buy 8 boxes, because with the $4.00 coupon it nets out to $12.00.

But wait, while on line she finds a $2.00 Cheerios coupon, so it nets out to $10.00.

But wait, there's more.

Opening boxes frantically, Mom finds a $5.00 Discover card.

Out net for the 8 box is $5.00.

'Great!' you say.

But wait.

'We have to go back to Waldbaum's.'

Can I argue?

So we return -- and buy another 8 boxes, and get another $8.00 coupon.

And go home. The end! Right? Wrong!

Ripping open Cheerios boxes like a raccoon at a garbage fest, Mom finds -- are you ready? -- another $5.00 Discover card, not once, but twice.

Yes, another $10.00, after the $4.00 coupon, making the net on this batch $2.00.

Can you keep up with the math?

Yes, you're right!

16 8.9 oz. boxes of Cheerios for $7.00.

Life is good. No, life is g-r-r-r-reat!

Springtime for Squid

I know it's been a while since I posted. Let's just say that the Zombies ate my brains and let it be at that.

Unlike past springs, we have done very little biking. The reasons are simple and few -- too many other obligations, too little sleep (making for sloth-like squid) and too much rain. We are thinking, however of ways to extend the rides home from camp next month.

We have, however, done a fair amount of geocaching and managed to push our finds up from 65 to 92 in little more than a month of searching. Little Squid is going to try to capture a few more today with some friends. (NYC elementary and middle schools have a half day.)

Not only have we not been biking but very little shopping has been done. That said, we are now in an almost desperate state for several commodities that we tend to keep in large amounts. Tissues (purchased in 8 packs and down to half a box ... and I have a cold), dishwasher detergent (actually ran out of this one and had to send a squidling for more), laundry detergent (purchased in 5 gallon buckets, down to a few loads worth), chocolate covered raisins (purchased by the gallon and now gone) and most importantly, toilet paper.

We are down to the equivalent of three-quarters of a roll. Split between two bathrooms.

I won't even use it to blow my nose in any more.

Fortunately we are down one child right now and the one remaining child uses less of the stuff due to biological factors. And the other child is due back at ... 8:30 PM tomorrow night. Earliest. By which time I intend to have gone to Costco and restocked.

Got to do something to kill the hours between work and picking her up.

(I could work longer but keep in mind that I actually do not even intend to leave work until 5:00 or so. And I get to work at 7:30.)

The other child is also leaving us -- but we get no benefit from it as he is leaving Wednesday morning and she comes back Wednesday evening. He returns on Friday, a day on which I get to run to his school, pick him up, drive both of them home (silly to make one take the subway when the other is getting a lift), and then turn around and go back to work for the 8th grade prom. Which will come close to ending this spring's roller coaster. Which started 2 weeks ago with ...
a wedding (on Tuesday), a retirement dinner (on Wednesday), a Squidling (both) concert (on Thursday) and my school's senior Prom (on Thursday).

A week "off" followed. Kind of. It ended with both kids being inducted into Arista on Friday night and Little Squid playing a duet on Saturday.

This week we have ... Squidette Drop-off (6:30 am, Monday), Freshman orientation (my school, tonight), Squidette Pick-up and Costco run (tomorrow evening and night), dinner and a show with Little Sister Squid (Thursday -- can't wait!), Little Squid pick-up and 8th grade prom (my school) on Friday.

Next week ... a late meeting for me on Thursday and a possible awards ceremony for Squidette in the same evening and on Friday ... Squidette's 8th grade cruise. For which I have volunteered my home for female primping and shuttle service to and from the docks. (We live near by.)

Oh, and Squidette turns 14 that Sunday. And Mike is being honored the next evening. And Squidette graduates the day after that.

Eek! June 30th can't come too soon!

Thump, Thump, Thump ...

... goes my heart as I listen to this man play. He's no Joshua Bell but he's all mine!

Presenting ...

For the first time ...

On stage, at Carnegie Hall ...


Following a nice, filling dinner at Carnegie Deli ...


Performing with the New York Pops ... (and possibly the shortest instrumentalist on the stage) ...

Little Squid!!!

Can a mother be any prouder?

Oh, and he did great! He was one of only 6 flutists total -- and only three were pros. The other three, Little Squid included, were Junior High School kids. And one of the pieces the kids played in was flute heavy.

February Break

It's mid-winter recess here in NYC and your friendly family Squid has been busy.

I desperately needed a break with the usual and so dragged my family up to New England to visit my sister for a few days. The last time we went there during the winter, my spouse came to realize, all by himself, just how close we pass to WEBS. At that time he promised that we could stop the next time we passed that way.

Fast forward two years ...

Oh, and we also played in the snow ...

And in the evenings, some quiet reading time ...

o m

Synchronicity

Squidette: "That's a reason I shouldn't go to Stuy. You'll just come up to me and randomly bother me."

Mike and Me simultaneously: "It won't be random!"

She's still floating. Had to tie a string to her ankle to keep her on the ground.

2013

First there was Zedda Squid, Bronx High School of Science, Class of 1955.

Then there was Aunt Squid the Eldest, Hunter College High School, Class of 1980.

Then there were Mama and Papa Squid, Stuyvesant High School, Class of 1984.

Sibling followed sibling ...
Uncle Squid the Elder, Stuyvesant 1987
Uncle Squid the Next, Stuyvesant 1989
Uncle Squid the Third, Hunter 2000
Aunt Squid the Younger, Stuyvesant 2005

and now ...

presenting ...

for the Stuyvesant High School Class of 2013 ...


SQUIDETTE!!!


(She also made it into LaGuardia!!!)

All Sewn Up

Her first quilt.

Ta Da!

Poke, Poke ...

There's been some poking going on here today.

We went fabric shopping today at City Quilter (I needed to make pillow cases for the couch pillows) and Little Squid became entranced with the needle felting kits. So ... I bought him one. No, it was not a Squid.

It was ...

A Penguin!

Which, after Squidette saw how quickly it was made ...

was joined by a second penguin!


And ... a Squid! Of his own design.
I think I have an addict on my hands. He now wants to try his hand at a dolphin and an elephant. My fiber stash is in danger ...

Squidette, meanwhile, made some more progress on her quilt after acquiring an edging and backing fabric. She intends to finish it this weekend.

Me? I did some work while they were all at a violin recital rehearsal. These socks? I finished them a couple of days ago. The top one shows the true color. The bottom one shows just how badly I screwed up the pattern at one point.
They've been keeping my feet toasty warm all day but were made very large with the idea that I would full them in the washer and have extra warm socks for riding. I think that for now I will wear them as it and hand wash until they get accidentally felted by Maria. Meanwhile, another pair is in the works.

Yarn is home spun corriedale. 48 stitches around on size 2 lace-addi turbos. Which get really cold when you knit with them outdoors in 30 or so degree weather.