New Page--New Day

another mile stone

There should be 364 or 5 entries in " It's never too late". I started writing my thoughts just about this time last year. I thought I would go back and recount, but I messed up some where , so I decided not to try that again.

 I still have a passion for making Aliyah. It isn't happening as quickly as I want, but we are still on track. It's 2013 and estimated departure date is 2014-2015. I've talked about it so much, I feel like " so go already".

We have a child who has fallen in love with Colorado. Maybe our 2 households will make our moves at the same time .They can move to Colorado and we can move to Israel. That would really work for us. Then the majority of our kids will be in the same  time zone.

I've purged our condo of " things" and I really haven't missed any of it. I encourage everyone to do that. This also gives you the opportunity to buy something to fill the space .

I do look forward . Forward to another year of accepting challenges. Another year of planning, another year of dreaming. I have to remind myself that the journey is the destination. It's never too late to keep my dream alive and just plod on . Some where I read that good things come to those who wait.I'm waiting.

Back on line

I am back on track. The Holidays are over, I think. My favorite egroup, NBN , is sending me hundreds of messages. I was having withdrawal symptoms because they were not sending messages during the Israeli celebrated Holidays. I'm not sure that it is in my best interest to be so hooked on this message board. Today, I read laments about the high prices to buy apartments in Jerusalem. Figures higher than I can comprehend. That's OK , because I am not going to live in Jerusalem. There are other places to live. It's like thinking Miami is Florida, when there is paradise on the west coast.

The entry I am interested in is from a woman who's 78 year old Mother is moving there from the US. Should she buy her travelers insurance. Even I can figure that one out .

There was one for a labradore dog. I guess he grew larger than the Israeli apartment and they want to find him a home. Poor baby. I am of that group that says giving away your pet is like giving away a kid. You don't. 

I read these entries because it makes me feel part of a messugnah family that has the same worries no matter where they are: shelter,health issues , and food.But don't forget ATM's and cell phones !

It's never too late to take your questions to your NBN family,because someone , like in all Jewish families,will have the answer for you.

 

cricket

Cricket has an appointment at her veterinarians this morning .  I haven't told her yet. I'll wait until she has had her walk. We haven't been on any road trips since we got her, so she associates the car with trips to the groomers or to the Vets. We should take her more places.

She loves to have the window opened and her face hanging out. I let her do this the last few minutes of a drive. I keep the leash tight because I think she would just fly out of the window if I didn't.

Once she accidently stepped on the thing that operates the window electronically. That scared both of us. I did buy a shoulder harness for another dog we had. He almost strangled himself in it. This was our problem child dog, Charlie Two. He loved our trips. He sat on Bob's lap for 900 miles.Both ways. Too bad he got a little motion sick. But ,so do some of our kids. He fit right in.

Cricket trembles violently when we start our car journeys. She is much better on the return trip. She knows she is going home. I hate to fool her into thinking she is going some place fun. I suspect that as soon as she realizes that we are going North on 41 and not South, she'll tremble even more. She'll know. Dogs are smart that way. 

it's never too late to make it up to her with a dish of ice cream. But after her weigh in.

Sun ,no rain

I decided that I feel much better when the sun comes out. And as an extra bonus, when I was taking Cricket for her first walk of the day, I saw a partial rainbow. It was just about a 1/4 of one and it evaporated in a short time, but it qualified. I know that there are cultures that do rain dances, and there are people who worship the sun, but is there an organization for rainbow lovers. I will go on Google and look this up.

You can find just about anything through Google. How can it know so much ?  Yesterday , I got a call fom some mysterious group that I felt I shouldn't have received. I know that I signed up for the do not call list. I wanted to make sure that I was indeed on the list, so I went to Google, put in do not call, etc, and there I was at its site. Amazing. However, I couldn't register because it said my email wasn't correct. I should know my own email. I guess my computer is having an identity crises. I'll straighten it out today. I do know the problem. It has to do with my first letter,l. It should be lower case and this iPad won't let me do that . I will have to go to my desk computer to log in. Isn't that crazy?

I want to check out storks when I get back to Google. After a month of rain with the golf course in front of my sliders looking like a shallow lake,  we have 2 storks  peeking away for grubs. They sure have long legs .I took some pictures of them, I am thinking they will be gone by the time the grass dries to its usual state.

It's never too late to appreciate any size rainbow that you see and when 2 stork join the view, it has to be noted as something special.

 

Point 8

I felt that Cricket was putting on weight , so I weighed her.10.8 lbs. That doesn't sound fat , but she looks fat. Maybe it's her hair. I'm letting it grow and she just looks so round , fluffy, and fat.She isn't a playful dog and that might be the problem. If I throw her a ball, she looks at me and then she looks at the ball. There is a disconnect some where about what a dog does when a ball is thrown in her direction. I have taken her to the doggie park, but she just sits on a bench and observes. 

She often doesn't eat for several meals and this is against every Jewish mother cell that is in my body.  I feel the need to make her scrambled eggs. One egg looks so little, that I make two. She has a sweet tooth, too. We often share a treat.

Maybe I am her problem. Point  8 is almost a pound .How hard will that be for her to slim down to.? With me as her Mom, probably hard.

She isn't alone in this fight to shed weight. The NYTimes has an article about fat farms for dogs. I think she would be a drop out. She doesn't swim laps and she probably would be afraid of the tread mill . If I could get her to walk ahead of me instead of my pulling her for a walk, that might help. I'll try the trick of holding a cookie in front of her to get her to at least walk next to me. For some reason I don't think this will help her get rid of point 8 th of a lb.

It's never too late to assure Cricket that we love her just the way she is and that she is just big boned. Right.

Maybe the rain can come again another day

It has been raining for 3 days without a break. It has been raining for over a month, a shower every day and then sunshine. But these last 3 days have been unrelenting rain. I now have a small pond to look out over as I sit and look at the golf course. I have been waiting for some ducks to find it.

There are still things that have to be done outdoors, so the rain doesn't change what we do. Except for Cricket. I am willing to walk her as I hold an umbrella , but she balks at getting wet.  She has poodle in her and I thought they liked water. I guess the pekeneese in her is more dominant.

It has been so wet here that I have a large snail making itself comfortable on a window. He's no fool. He is high and dry. I did see a red headed woodpecker yesterday  . That was a treat. I guess they have to eat , no matter the weather.

I cannot complain about our rain. It's not a hurricane, it isn't a destructive flood , it's just rain. When it is over, we will have lush lawns and our water supply will be where it shoud be. And Cricket  will willingly go for a walk. It's never too late to look to the sunny side of the street.

National holidays

I haven't been receiving my usual egroup info from my fav NBN. I just figured out why. Israel is celebrating Sukkot, Simcha Torah and the rest of the Jewish Holidays that come after Yom Kippur. My being more secular than religious, It took me a few days to figure this out. I had read in the Jerusalem Post that the government wanted to encourage store keepers who were not Jewish to close on Jewish Holidays. 

I can remember when we had " blue laws". Everything business stopped on Sunday. It was inconvenient, but we didn't know that at the time. 

I woder what it will feel like to live in a Jewish state.  I won't be more observant , but I will be more informed about what the holiday is for. That should help my learning curve. 

I did celebrate Sukkot as a kid. My very Orthodox Grandmother had a Sukkah in her yard, and we really did eat our meals in it.  I remember hot, muggy, and mesquitoes. And dark. I was more afraid of my Grandmother than the dark. I don't think that is what I was meant to remember though. 

I'll have to let you know how I feel about celebrating these holidays in Israel. It's never too late to think about actually being where my religious history started. Cool idea.

think it, do it

I am reading a book that some one recommended . It's " The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Dissappeared". The sub title is "It's Never Too Late To Start Over".

I guess my "it's never too late" is not  an original thought. If I needed an excuse, being  of a certain age  gives me a great opportunity to change . I'm a matriarch. I can do things and get away with it . It is a liberating feeling. I have no intentions of sky diving, or even scuba diving, but I might have a few more things that I want to start over , or to start fresh. That is an exciting thought.

My newest start over is that I want to get back to my running.  I need to be respectful of my body ,so  I have to scale down and just walk , fast. I did my first long , timed walk yesterday and I had to come home and take a nap. No matter, I did it. My goal is the Jerusalem Marathon , March 2014.

I like the line " the journey is the destination". I've always liked the training and planning for a race, so for me, if I don't actually get to the starting line, the journey to that goal is enough.

If I can think it, I can do it. Maybe along with " it's never too late," this can become my new mantra. 

it's never too late because I know I can do it.

Student Id

I am now a college student ! Our community orchestra is enrolled in a state college of Florida. We have a professional conductor, we have a practice room and we have sheet music. I was so concerned about this new adventure, but I can do it. I was as good as the two second violin players on either side of me.  What a relief. 

I even ordered a book from Amazon called " Violins for Dummies". it came today. That's how worried I was about this  new playing venue.

This  music adventure is good for my brain cells. And my self confidence. I meet new people who have the same interest as I do, I get to challenge myself, and in the end, I may even play beautiful music. It's what I want to do.

It's never too late to just jump in, even if it gives you a stomach ache until you see that you really can do it.

Desk tops and life

I am getting our second bedroom / home office ready for a daughters visit. Judging by the dust on the book shelves, it's been awhile since they got any attention. I also took this time to purge some books. I had to make several piles because I could see that I was being ruthless , and I wouldn't be able to carry this load in one trip to the rummage sale.

Then I attacked my desk top .It still had papers from the work I had been doing for the High Holidays. Those needed to be put away for next year, when someone else will be doing it. 

I have a friend who has a desk in their living room. He has a responsible volunteer job and is at his computer a lot. His desk is always clear of stuff. How does he do that ? It seems that I need to have things on my desk. There is the phone jack, my desk computer, the keyboard, a 2 drawer plastic unit that holds my stapler and things like that. I have a little pile of directories that I use a lot.And a 3 hole punch thing. I use these things. Then there are papers that I haven't filed yet. And I have a large calendar that usually has other things on top of it. No wonder my desk looks like this. In defense of myself,  I do know where everthing is.

I think my life is like my desk. full of things that I need, but needing a little bit of organization. I really don't mind my desk looking full, my life is like that too. It's never too late to take inventory of what is on my desk top  and in my life, but not be too concerned about the fullness of it. It's my desk and my life  and I can live with it all.

a real find

I was looking for my Jane Fonda cassette tape that I like to listen to when I walk. She plays music that matches my stride and she reminds me to stand staight, chest up and not to look down. Her nutritional advice that she throws into the mix isn't pertinent anymore, but I just let that slide by me.  I haven't seen that cassette around the house in awhile but I knew it was here some place. 

I made the find of the year ! I found 2 tapes , one made in 1974 by our family. I don't remember making them. One was our interviewing our daughter, who must have just returned from Israel.  The voice is so young. She was describing her run up Masada and how beautiful the sun rise was. The most beautiful she has ever seen.

The other tape was of our youngest child, learning to chant the 4 questions in Hebrew. First he read it. Then he chanted. Then  he got silly and his Dad had to say the Dad words, " OK Aron, that's enough".  Next on the tape ,the 2 middle kids were practicing  reading the Haftorah portion. THEN, I found it. it was our B'nai Mitzvot tape. We made our B'nai Mitzvot as a group of about 8 people, my 2 daughters and me, with three or four adult women and one  teen age boy. I couldn't make out the voices. Except for the two that belong to me, I can't remember their names. But the tape is of the whole service. I can hear Jeff Klepper, our then very young Cantor, The organ playing and because he was holding the recorder, I could hear Bob's strong voice, singing. I forgot how good he sounded, and strong. Then, it happened. it was my Bat Mitzvah speech that started out " it's never too late". but the tape has a lot of static and crinkly sounds, so I can't make out a lot of what I said. Never mind. I am going to take it to a soundplace, have them clean it up and put it on a disc.

I am so glad that I started race walking because one thing led to another thing and I found this lost tape. It's like the song we sing at Passover, "My father bought for one zuzum", one act leads to another act. Race walking to Jane Fonda to cassettes to finding the tape of family history.

it's never too late to sit on the couch and spend the next 120 minutes listening to a poor quality tape that brought back a high light in our family time line.

Medals and memories

I have downsized several times. I regularly contribute things that are gently worn, or in the case of books and kitchen items are no longer what I need . What I have trouble with are a bunch of medals that I have accumulated from my running days. They are made to look important ,with a red, white and blue ribbon for putting around your neck. They are hanging on the back of my closet door. I certainly don't wear them. What in my closet would go with a ribbon and a medallion .

But I seem not to be able to give them up. I can't downsize my memories of when running was so much a part of my life.

I was active in our Chicago running community. For several years I was a race director. I was responsible for some important races. I put together the course, involved the police for traffic control. I had the medics and ambulances stationed along the route. City permits, water and volunteers accounted for.And freebies. Everyone wants a " T" shirt and a goodie bag. The medallions were for special races, like a Marathon. 

I have met some athlete's that are special. I can name them if I wanted to name drop. The rewards of my running are hanging on the back of my closet door. I just can't part with them yet.It's never too late to open and close the closet door a few times and listen for the jingle that those medallions make as they swing on the hook. It makes me happy.

Not the way to start a day

I am an emotional reader. it can be the newspaper or my emails. It upsets me when I see an ad for a python snake purse for $5600.00. The article on the same page is about a young woman with MS who is concerned about losing her drug insurance. I get upset because neither is fair. 

Then I read my favorite NBN group email and see that to buy an apartment in Jerusalem is as much as buying an apartment in New York city. I don't want a python purse and I wasn't thinking about buying an apartment in Jerusalem, but it's depressing me to think that if  I wanted to, I couldn't .

If I had'nt read the paper this morning , I would be a happier person.I didn't  need to know about the snake, but I should know about the  health coverage.

I wish that I could go back to the days when reading the comics was what I did. I am not so sure that those were the good old days, but it's never too late to think about whatever happened to Brenda Starr? She's probably getting Medicade benefits and living in a homeless shelter.

 

Go Green

I have just walked from my living room to the master bathroom and I am realizing that I have left a wake of lights on. There is no reason for this. it is almost dawn.There is enough natural light for me to see, but I have flipped every switch that I met along the way, including, turning on the lamp in the bedroom. I also leave lights on when I am away in the evening.  I don't like a dark house. I think a happy , welcoming home has lights on, even when I'm not there.

After getting my latest power bill, I may change how I think about this. And it is not eco friendly. I am working, also, on turning off the water while I brush my teeth and not to let the water run while I straighten out the kitchen. these are bad, old habits that need to be addressed .

It's taken me awhile to learn how to separate my recyclables, but now, I am very diligent about that . I still think that the company that picks up my red bins of recycled stuff, just throws it all in the same truck. I hope I am wrong, but I am often out with Cricket when he comes and it looks like he just picks up my carefully separated paper from plastic and glass bins and throws. I even break down cardboard boxes. I am so good .

I learned these things by being shamed by my grandchildren. I want to make them proud, so I learned.

It's never to late to go with the flow and help with keeping things green. it's one of my favorite colors.

when dogs can read

I just started a new book. I bought it used from Amazon for 99 cents. It was $3.99 postage. the seller is Goodwill. I like to support good causes.

The book is "inside of a Dog". The cover says that it was on the New York Times Bestseller list. I am on page 16 this morning. I have another 351 to go before I find out why Cricket does the things that she does.

Why does she only bark when our car pulls into our car port.? Why does she get hysterical and demanding when I come home, but doesn't react like this when Bob comes home?  Why do I have to wake her up many mornings for her walk.? Why does she go directly to the only dinner guest who isn't particularly fond of dogs? and, why does she think that starring at me at 4:30 in the afternoon, will communicate to me that she needs to go out.?

I have a lot to learn by the time I finish the book.What I do know about Cricket is that she loves. She will go to anyone and demand to be loved back. If there is a choice of the person or the dog, she goes to the person. I also know that I am not a disciplinarian when it comes to her. I could do what the training books tell you to do when your dog goes crazy when you get home. Turn your back to them until they quiet themselves  and then they should sit down . And then you pet them or whatever. I do just the opposite .I encourage her to jump into my arms and I hug and tell her how wonderful she is. This is all wrong, but she's our dog and I can do this, if I want. I would never tolerate this kind of demanding behavior in our kids. No wonder they say that they want to come back as our pet. Me too.

It's never too late to get back to my book because the next chapter may have just the information that I need to know. Especially how she has trained us so well and she can't even read.

 

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Latest comments

01.12 | 14:15

Safe travels. See you soon. sally

04.07 | 12:10

I read the last page first too. It’s a family curse.

22.05 | 12:38

so glad youre here mom!

29.08 | 17:45

Don't quite know how this got to me but it was on the top line of my computer (not in email) But I really enjoyed it. I truly admire you.