I’m writing this story for my sister, Ellen Lumsden, in her voice. Steve and I recently had new carpet installed throughout our house. Before they started, the workmen instructed us to unplug all electronics including the cable box. When the workers were finished, Steve plugged everything back in and went […]
Am I a country bumpkinBecause I don’t like pumpkin? A squash that’s now a spice.Sorry, that taste isn’t so nice. The hype begins in early OctoberPumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin over and over. In muffins, coffee, donuts and cakesIt’s everywhere, for goodness sakes! Peanuts’ Linus sits in the patchWaiting for the Great […]
Getting out of bed isn’t worth the effort some days. Today, Tuesday, is one of those days. Background About one month ago, during Rosh Hashanah, my husband came down with a stuffy nose, sneezing and lots of coughing. Fortunately, his COVID-19 test was negative. He even vomited a couple of […]
Once You were God’s neighborhood Hickory, Oak, Maple making homes for robins, wrens and their four-footed friends. Once you stood tall, proud sometimes glistening green with azure cloak; other times blanketed in white or wearing icy diamonds. Now Gaia is ravaged, slain her brave soldiers mercilessly attacked. Giant trunks split […]
Image: chabad.org My wedding day was September 7, 1970. Rosh Hashanah was September 25th that year. I was truly a new bride (think honeymoon). We were married in New York City. Most people didn’t live together in those days before marriage. We moved to Washington, D.C. where my husband was […]
If we were friends I’d give you my heart we’d dance and sing and play and do art We’d skip through the creek paddle down the riverrun as fast as we can we’d laugh and we’d holler We’d dress up for funclimb mountains highwe’d swing from the branchesreach for the sky But I’m getting olderI can’t […]
I was very pregnant with my first child when the High Holy Days were approaching. Rosh Hashanah began at sundown on September 22nd, and Yom Kippur began eight days later on the 30th ending on October 1st. Needless to say, I was very excited, eager, and yes, a bit scared. […]
Warsaw, Poland 1943 I am three years old, living in Warsaw with my mother under false identity as a Catholic trying to survive the hunt for Jews by the German occupiers. We have a one-room apartment, which serves as bedroom, dining room and living room. When the weather is nice, […]
Honey cake is to Ashkenazi Jews at Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) what fruit cake is to Christians at Christmas. Mention these cakes, and one is sure to see wrinkled noses and some serious eye rolling. Fruit cake is often the butt of comedians’ jokes. “The worst gift is […]