New Page--------New Day

To make our way fom Brooklyn to New Paltz for my Grandson's wedding , we  had to cross several bridges. We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge. I've walked over this bridge several times. I consider the walk a highlight of many trips. From this bridge, I could see the Washington Bridge. I've walked over this one, too.It leads us to a favorite Chinese restuarant. that's the reward for the walk.

This bridge led me to think about all of the bridges I've driven over and in the case of the Verrazno Bridge, run over. The New York Marathon starts on the other side of this bridge and before you finish the race, you cross at least 4 more.

To get to New Orleans, you skim over some Marshy waters and the Pontchartrain River Bridge. This may be the longest bridge in the states.25 miles. Then there is my favorite bridge, the Sunshine Bridge here in Florida.This is certainly the most beautiful bridge I've been on. Other bridges have gotten me across the Mississippi River ,the Ohio River. The Rio Grand, which was a trickle  when We crossed  it.The highest bridge that I have been on is the Huey P.Long Bridge. In Louisiana.I don't remember where we were going on this bridge. But I remember my Daddy driving us on it in our old Chevey.Huey Long was the first crook that i remember hearing about.He was a racist and any thing bad that you could say about a politition. he was revered by his constituents in Louisiana.He was governer for years. I think he was assassinated.

It's never too late to just relax while I sit in a Friday traffic jam in N.Y and reminisce about all of the brides that I've crossed in my life.

I did something yesterday that can only be done one place in the universe. I sat on a stoop in Brooklyn and watched kids play ball.. What was so fascinating was that the kids had their street smart version of the all American game of baseball that adapted to the flow of people,dogs and cars. people coming--don't throw the ball, car coming, watch that the little kids don't run into the path. Concrete and cars just about every where, but who cared.

It was wonderful to be in a city again. I loved the noise and the movement. The women looked so chic.( I use this word so seldom that I had to spell it 3 times to get it right) They all wore New York black. I did see all ages of people, but for the most part, everyone was young and moving with a purpose.

There must be a fire house near by, because I heard and saw many of the engines rushing around. How the driver navigated making a turn off of Amsterdam onto this street was pure finess. I went to sleep with the sounds of sirens and horns and I loved every blast of both. it's never too late to admit that you miss the energy that was just vibrating around me. New York, what a wonderful town.

I haven't had cleaning help since we moved to Florida. I decided that it would be OK for me to have some. I have always justified having cleaning help by my working.

I like to clean. Especially when something really needs it. I like to see the after. My Mother in law never cleaned. Once I asked her what she did all day. I was very young then. I didn't know that running the beautiful, gracious home that she did, required many skills. Knowing how to train someone to keep her standards required finess and tact . Her kind of life style hardly exists today. Can you imagine having a woman come in to just wash and iron the clothes. Or to have a "nurse maid" for the children and a cook ! I grew up with help, but I remember my Mother doing the wash sometimes and some of the cooking. A different time .

But I, in having decided to have someone come in to help with the cleaning, meant that I had to get ready for this. I straightened the closets. I cleaned the refrigerator and put the pots and pans in order.I rearranged the whole pantry. I put the books in a straight row, with sizes going from short to taller. I should have made the decision to have a helper a long time ago. The house looked really good before my helper came. Then I looked up at the ceiling fan in the guest room. The blades were really dusty. You could see that just by looking up. I was relieved to have something for my cleaning person to do. I won't be so hyper about having help the next time she comes, but It is never too late to enjoy seeing the whole house get so much attention.

Last week I stated my intentions to the universe and followed through by saying that a sign for my intention coming to fruition would be to see a Blue jay. I just happened to make this declaration on a dreary , rainy day. Not the best time for Blue Jays to be flying around. Now today, I saw a Blue Jay. Do you think that still counts? I am not so sure, but my intentions are still out there, waiting for something to happen. Intentions are easy to make ,making things happen, not so easy. When things aren't easy does that make it more worth working toward .I wouldn't mind having things easy. If intentions came true,I would intent every day.

And speaking of intentions, I am wearing my spouse down,I think. He is not so anxious to travel to Israel, but we have been watching You Tube videos of people who want to share their trips to Israel. He is getting more curious and I enjoy watching the sites, some of which ,I also experienced. My success with intentions isn't going so well, but I am optimistic. It's never too late to keep my thoughts positive and keep looking for more Blue jays.

I was looking for a new supply of cosmetics. I usually go to a department store and have some make up person sell me products that I end up not using.This time I decided to go to a discount store and just browse and see what appeals to me. I found the perfect foundation. It was an age reversal foundation. I just stood there in awe. How fantastic. I didn't know this was a possibility. What age would I choose to be. I know this isn't going to reverse my aging process, and I am not even sure that I would want that. But how much fun I had trying to come up with the right age to become. There is nothing wrong with being my age. I don't feel old . I sometimes startle myself when I remember my chronological age. I should feel older. For some mysterious reason, between my sister and me, I got the better genes . My sister was prone to upper respiratory problems, she had trouble with balance. She never rode a bike. She didn't learn to drive until she was 50 something and then she drove so fast, that I was afraid to get in a car with her. She smoked for years. Thank God she didn't drink. Her idea of exercise was a walk around the block with the fat dog. I was a tom boy. I never smoked. I rode bikes, I drove at 16. I was different. I think we came from the same parents. I know this because when I look in the mirror, I see my Mother. How did that happen. It's never too late to know that you can't change somethings, but makeup is a good way to start.

Today, because my neighbors were away, I took in their Sunday paper . It is a local paper, not one I read regularly. There was over a pound of inserts in it. I can't remember if there was any news . I know that there was a section for automobiles and, I think, real estate.There was an obituary section. I always like that one. It's something that I can relate to. I like obituaries and I like the pages that have wedding announcements in it.This paper didn't have any weddings today. Too bad. I have been encouraged to subscribe to the local paper. I am often tempted to, but, I can't. If I did, I would know what is going on in my community. That is a problem. I have to rely on the kindness of my friends to steer me to things going on. I appreciate their effort. I will just go my way, reading my Monday through Friday New York Times. What would my Republican friends have to kid me about if I changed now ? It's never too late not to be embarrassed by being labeled a liberal.

I just thought of another reason why I like Shabbat. We don"t get a newspaper. I am not upset by all of the news, some of which, really isn't fit to print. We only get the paper Monday through Friday. I am unaware of what is going on until Monday rolls around again. Since I am not a day time TV watcher, I don't hear the news until Sunday evening. Whatever was horrific in the world during this news respite will wait until Sunday. So far,if I am remembering correctly, all newsworthy news, comes Monday through Friday. Major events in history, maybe with the exception of December 7' ,which was a Sunday, and I am just guessing on this, didn't happen on a weekend.

The Boston Marathon was on a Monday, JFK was assinated mid week, Martin Luther King was murdered during the week ,9/11 was a business day, Oklahoma tornado was a school day. it just seems to be this way.

It's never too late to score extra points for observing the Shabbat. It makes the world safer for all of us.

Even in the haphazard way that I observe Shabbat, I really do look forward to Friday, where I have a routine that gets me ready for the next 25 hours. Today, I watched a few segments on YouTube of Shabbat in Israel. On one, I was horrified by the size of the Israeli kitchen, where they were preparing food for Shabbat. It was the size of a small closet and there wasn't a real oven. They were baking Challah in a toaster oven ! And the burners for the pots--were a 2 ring hot plate. Makes me ashamed of the space that I have and I still want

not to cook sometimes.The next segment that I watched made my mouth water. The hosts were meandering around a mall where vendors had set up tables with all of this fantastic kinds of food that I love to eat. The theory is that you just choose all of the foods that you want to eat over the next 25 hours and bring it home. I would buy the eggplant, the humus. the fresh pita,the stuffed cabbage, more, more ,more. I don't know about sanitation or if they are licensed, but who am I to complain. Just let me at it.

When we lived in Evanston, our Temple had services at 8 o'clock.I think that was to let the people who worked in Chicago get home and have dinner. It worked. We always had a traditional Shabbat dinner and then went to services.If the weather was good, we could even walk.

It's never too late to stop comparing what we used to do with what we do now. What we do now works just fine.

I think we just experienced our first Tropical storm that included Tornado warnings. In the midwest, we often went to our basement when the sirens went off as a tornado warning. I guess they don't sound sirens here, or if they did, we didn't hear it. I can't remember a time when we weren't all home when there was a warning siren. Didn't they happen when the kids weren't home ? I just seem to remember all of us going down to the basement with flashlights, just in case the electricity went off. We were lucky. Nothing serious happened to our suburban area.

This afternoon, we drove down to the gulf to see the waves. They were big. There were a lot of people doing the same thing. There is something both wild and calm about those waves. They were hugh,wild,hitting the jetty. But they also had a rhythem to them that could be calming. It wasn't raining, but when I licked my lips, they were salty.That was cool.

Cricket has added one more thing to her list of things she doesn't like. Besides the heat, cold, rain, sand, hot sidewalks, wet grass, she is adding wind. As far as she is concerned, there is no place like a temperature controlled, wind free, air conditioned home.

It's never too late to be vigilent, prepare for the bad weather and listen to the weather channel.

I read, where if you wanted something to happen, you have to state your intention to the universe and then ask for a sign.! So , I tried it. I declared, while I was walking Cricket, that I wanted to go to Israel. And for a sign, I picked a Blue Jay. I choose the Blue Jay because I had seen a few, lately, flying around a tree in front of our lania. I figured this would be a sure thing. My planning wasn't so great. I didn't take the weather into account. Birds are smarter than I gave them credit. You don't see a lot of birds flying around when it is raining, and it has been sorta raining for a few days. Some rain, some humidity, some greyness,no birds.Really dreary.

I should have been more practical and chosen a white convertable or a golf cart as my sign. Now I will have to wait for the next sunny day to again state my intention and ask for a sign. I'll do the Blue Jay sign again. I feel that I want to be consistant because my desire to go to Israel is consistant. That Blue Jay is out there some place just waiting for the sun to come out. It's never too late to look for signs, I'm good at that.

It happened again. A few months ago I had a really brilliant idea for my blog, and then I forget what it was I wanted to write. Several days later,I did remember, but it was scary to think I couldn't remember something. Well today I had another brilliant thought and I told myself to write it down. The other voice in me said, ''you'll remember''. Well, I can't remember my brilliance. I sat myself down on the couch where I had had my moment. I thought of what I might have been doing that made me think of my blog . Was I on my iPad? was I looking at my new cookbook ?(yes, I bought another one), was Cricket on my lap? Was Lucky , our doggie house guest on my lap.? I know that Bob wasn't on my lap.He was taking his walk.

Nothing came up .I am thinking now that I might have been on my iPad. I will work on relaxing because that is supposed to help when you have a block, a mental block. Nothing. I'm relaxing. Maybe tomarrow it will pop up. In the meantime, it is never too late not to get upset about loosing my capacity to remember. It'll come to me. I just hope that the thought was worth my efforts.

I have a new favorite word. Conflicted. I find that it fits so well in my vocabularily and in my life right now. I am conflict. Conflicted sounds better than" she can't make up her mind." It makes it sound like there is some thoughtfullness in not being able to make a decision. Not as if it is a character flaw. It's thoughtfulness. There are a number of things I can't make up my mind about. I some times go to Subway for sandwhiches. I am given a number of choices of what to put on my sandwich. I get conflicted. I went to a coffee shop and ordered an iced tea. I had to decide between 3 types of tea, then what kind of sweetener I wanted. I was so conflicted that I wish I had just asked for a Lipton's tea and a spoonful of sugar.

Seriously, I am conflicted about wanting to make Aliyah. It's a monumental decision and I like the fact that I am conflicted, That means that when I do go, I will have weighed all of the reasons why I want to be there and all of the decisions about how hard it will be to leave the nice life that I have here. It's never too late to be serious, be conflicted, be thoughtful , and then make the right decision for the rest of my life.

I was having a discussion with some friends about what makes a strong woman. What are the traits of a strong woman ? Would they be different than a man would have? We went around our group and asked if we thought of ourself as a strong woman and what trait did we see in ourself that qualified us as strong. As for me, I see myself as someone not afraid to take a chance. I don't know where this trait came from. I was pretty much sheltered as a child. I was protected from "They" You know the expression, "what would they think". I grew up with that. If I bought into that philosophy, I would have never taken a chance. I took a chance and married very young. And not someone from my dating bank. I took a chance and moved from New Orleans to an Air Force Base , then to Chicago. Risk taking is a trait of a strong woman.

A strong woman speaks her mind. She meets challenges. She takes on responsibilities. These were some of the traits we decided makes a strong woman. To give men equal opportunity, these are universal traits of strength. Discussions like this make me focus on me. Sometimes my life gets wrapped up in being a caretaker. It's never too late to remember the me in the room.

In trying to understand and prepare myself for living in Israel, I read the Jerusalem Post's on line edition. I don't know how I feel about todays lead story. The Prime Minister has allocated 350 million dollars to give everyone who lives in Israel a gas mask. I have not spent any time before this declaration thinking about gas masks. I did know about safe rooms in new construction. Those are rooms that are extra reeforced, where you would go during a missile attack. It is a way of life in the middle east. It is for real. It is something I would have to get used to.

When I was a kid, we had air raid practice at school. We were all issued dog tags with name and address. They were on those chains like you see on ceiling fans or the flush thing in toilets. When there was a planned exercise, we would get under desks or next to the wall by a stair case.We had to be quiet, but none of us were too worried. It was just a fun interuption from a class.

I don't know how I will feel,when it is not just a school exercise. Scared for sure. Would it make me want to leave? I don't think so. Absolutely it would it make me feel like a real Israeli .

I like to visualize experiences, so for me, it is never too late to think about my reaction to living in a country that is under threat every day of her life.I can make a go of it if she can.