New Page-------New Day

There are some "things" adhering to our screens. They look like caterpillar pupa's. They don't do much, but hang on the screens and on a few of the sliders. I was about to hose them off, when I could see something emerging from one. I watched for awhile and I could see a nondescript head and movement in the rest of the pupa's body. The movement is what caught my eye. Then I had to leave to do something in the kitchen and I missed what happened next. But there is no trace of anything on that space. What is it. What was it. We have a number of gecko's around our place. I would estimate 100's. I've been waiting for them to eat these things. Obviously ,they are not programed to do this. Now I can't hose these "things" off. Since I I know that something is alive in the cocoons, I have to let nature take over. Bummer. Maybe they will all "birth" at the same time and leave my sliders. I wonder what it's predator is. I don't see any beautiful butterflies floating nearby, so that isn't what they become. The next time I see movement from one of these "things", I'm going to stay until something comes out. I hope it is something beneficial to our environment. It's never too late to put one in a jar and see what happens. That's what we did when we were kids and inquisitive. Hope I didn't lose that joy.

Something unheard of has happened to me. I seem to have developed an allergy to-----Chocolate. I can hardly believe it, but it is true. I noticed that I was very itchy. I noticed that I had been eating the brownies that I made. I noticed that when I stopped eating the brownies, I noticed that I stopped itching.There seems to be a direct correlation here. I do have a recipe for blondie brownies , so maybe I can go to them. I never did like chocolate chips, so I won't miss chocolate chip cookies, And I am not an ice cream fan, so when I do go for ice cream, I get coffee ice cream. I will miss my Hershey Bars. But come to think of it, I haven't eaten one in a long time. I just didn't have a taste for them. Maybe my brain knew that chocolate was going to make me itch and then slowly,I finally realized it. I guess that I was the last to know. What can I substitute for chocolate. There is no substitute for chocolate. Maybe I'll outgrow this itchy stuff. It's never too late to stay calm and not panic. I can always take a Benadryl before I eat a chocolate brownie.

I had a chat today with a person of interest. She and her husband flew with two dogs to Singapore. I have met her before, she works at my favorite doggie boutique store. Today, I met one of her dogs who made the journey. I learned about potty stops on a long trip. How the dogs just went to sleep in their travel bags and slept under the seat in front of them for most of the trip. This reassured me, because on one hand I want Cricket to come for our one month odyssey and on the other hand, taking care of Bob might be all that I can do. Decisions, Decisions. And who would rent to a person bringing their pet.
This person who is coaching me on traveling with a dog has a special travel bag with wheels that she used and which meets the airline requirements. She may sell it to me. If I bought it from her, I would be committed to bringing Cricket. Buyer beware. I haven't talked to Cricket yet about this. I have a feeling that she will just vote to go stay with her friend Lucky, and Lucky's people. I have a lot more thinking to do with this . I'll have to be sure and communicate with Cricket about it. She doesn't communicate well. I may have to make this decision for her. It's never too late to get a second opinion.

When I was a really young child, we lived for a short time with my Grandmother. Every week we went to the movies on a Wednesday night. That was the night that there was live entertainment. A dance school would perform, or some amateur magician. Not too sophisticated, but I thought it was wonderful. And, and this is important,they gave out dishes and glassware with the price of admission. If you went every week, you could get a whole set of each over time. I can't remember if I qualified as a paying customer, so I don't remember if I also got the premium. I do remember that I paid a nickel for admission. The name of the movie house was Isis. It isn't a coincidence to have me bring up this memory, just now. Every time I hear that word on the news, I have a flash back to going to the movie house on Rampart Street. Isis ,I think, was a Greek muse. Totally different from the Isis that scares us today.
My Grandmother did not speak English. I've said before that she never talked to me, either. I wonder what she got from seeing a movie, in English. I know she probably went for the dishes. Maybe she even picked up a few words in English.
The crazy thing now is that I am watching movies every week, in Hebrew, so I can develop my ear to the language. Maybe Grandma was onto a learning tool.
It's never too late to reconsider how forward thinking my Russian Grandma was.And not let a group of thugs take a happy word from me.

I bought another Cook Book. This time I put it onto my Kindle. I did this so that when we go to Israel, I will have a few cook books with me. I save space and the books are in English. The one I just got is "Olive Trees and Honey" by Gil Marks. The title sounded good enough to eat, so I got it. One disadvantage is that I don't have color pictures, or any pictures and I can't just browse. I can go directly to a recipe, but otherwise ,I go frame by frame.
But that's not so bad because I get to read a lot of history as I do this. Gil did his homework and I am learning as I get hungrier and hungrier.
In New Orleans, and I guess a lot of Southern cities, we would have black eyed peas for the New Year. They would be cooked with a few coins to signify that the coming year should be profitable for the household. Well, I just learned a lot about chickpeas. They too, have a history. Their round shape is said to symbolize cycles of life and in some cultures, you find them served at celebration of birth. Jews serve them at Rosh Hashanah to wish for a well rounded year. I did not know this. I never heard of chickpeas until I latched on to hummus, and later falafel. Where have I been. I know so much about chickpeas that I will be more respectful of them. According to Gil,my new best friend now,they were so intertwined with Sephardim that during the Spanish Inquisition,it was considered a sign of Jewish cooking and if you were making a chickpea dish,you could be arrested. How about that, as my Mother use to say.
It's never too late to open a can of chickpeas and declare my Jewishness.

Does it feel a little more like autumn to you.? I am thinking that it does. I don't miss the changing of colors as much as I miss that first fall day when you need to put a sweater on and the world looked bright and crisp.
I use to love the smell of leaves burning. The last few years that we had our cottage, the county banned leaf burning. It was too dry and it pollutes the environment. Did you ever wonder how you get rid of bag after bag of leaves when you don't live where there is a garbage pick up. We are so spoiled with conveniences of city living. You put the bag after bag in your car and drive to a dump. We even took bags home with us after a week end at our cottage. Country living isn't always pretty. We used some leaves for mulch, but there is a limit to how much mulch you can have. It was fun for awhile to rake leaves. Then you got all snifflely from the dust and your back started to hurt, then you got a blister where the rake rubbed. Soon you decided to just go in and have a cup of coffee and hope that a great big wind would blow your leaves to your neighbors yard. He had a tractor that did the job in a few hours. It was never too late to think about paying a kid to do the leaf raking. That's what kids are for. Right?

At my Grandsons's wedding, after the official party time, some of the young guys changed from the clothes they were expected to wear , into what they wanted to wear. T shirts and cut offs or jeans. One of the T shirts caught my eye. It said,"It is what it is, or is it". I have a friend who often will say"It is what it is". Now I can answer,""or is it".
Since some things are never as we perceive them, because we just can't get out of our comfort level, "or is it" opens up a challenge.
I'm pretty certain, that the kid who wore this T shirt,didn't expect me to ponder on the meaning of the thought. I just like the expression. I was sitting at a table with my brother in law, who is a psychiatrist
and he liked the expression too. I wonder what that will lead him to say to his next patient when they are deep in discussion of how the patient sees himself in his world. It's amazing how one faded T shirt , at the end of a beautiful wedding can lead to a philosophical discussion.
You just have to gather your thoughts where you find them and this T shirt spoke to me. It's never too late to to ask"or is it".I hope it isn't.

Last week at my Grandson's wedding, I wore what we in our family call "our happy tie". I hand made and embroidered this tie about 25 or so years ago. It has a happy sun with rays ,embroidered in happy colors. Bob has worn this tie to our children's weddings, to Bris's , to Bar Mitzvahs ,Bat Mitzvahs, to all happy events. This tie is in our second round of weddings and generational family simchas now that our Grandchildren are adults .
Since Bob did not attend this wedding, I was asked to bring the tie and to wear it at the wedding. I did. I wore my party dress and this happy tie. Here is the strange thing. No one in the other family, asked me why I was wearing a man's happy tie. You'd think someone would find it odd that a woman of my age would wear a happy , colorful tie to a wedding. Our family got a laugh out of this. What were the other family thinking. That maybe I was some kind of an old hippy, did I get dressed in a closet, was I a closet dresser,was I a cross dresser. Were they afraid to ask, but really wanted to know ? What kind of family is the Bride marrying into, is probably what they were concerned about.
This tie has a history. I was proud to wear it. It made Bob there is spirit and it made the Groom happy. I wished that I could have shared the good times that that tie represents with the other family.
It's never too late to just keep wearing the happy tie to all family occasions. Maybe the next time will a bris. Who knows?

Everyone has one dish that is there's. My husband does a mean coffee and an asked for oatmeal. He is famous among his Grandson's for his oatmeal. I don't get out of bed until I have had his coffee. I've offered a sip to Cricket, but she alway refuses it.
I ,on the other hand, make the perfect hard boiled egg. Actually, it is a hard cooked egg. There is a distinction. It does not boil. Ever.
I am not an egg friendly person. Poached eggs look great on a piece of toast, but I can't eat one. Yes, I know that I swallow oysters raw, but I can't do a poached egg, or a soft boiled one.A scrambled egg has to be cooked so dry, that it should have been made hard boiled. I do like a warm hard boiled egg. The egg, salt and a piece of good bread and real butter is perfect any time of the day.
I don't have time to fix eggs my way ,a lot. I think about cooking one when I am walking Cricket in the morning, but I don't always have time to do it right, so I skip it. The secret is to bring the egg and water just up to the boiling point, slap a cover on the pot and take it off of the heat. Set the timer for15 minutes. Run eggs under cold water, and there you have my secret to the perfect hard cooked egg. Never boiled.
It's never too late to have one speciality and this, the hard boiled egg, it seems, is mine.

I was having a conversation with a daughter who said that she was going to Dubai on business. I voiced concern for her safety and she reminded me that I was going to Israel. I guess I had nothing more to say .
I am not concerned for my safety when I go to Israel. I don't plan to be anywhere I shouldn't be .I take my life in my hands when I drive through the West side of Chicago. There are streets in Chicago that you don't want to be on. I suspect that is true in any big city.
I have contacted an agent in Jerusalem to find us a short term, vacation rental. I have a number of "filters" as they call requirements. I want a kitchen. Most of the rentals have a hot plate, a toaster oven and a microwave. What kind of kitchen is that for someone who wants to go to the market and cook Israeli ?
I also don't want stairs. I've gotten spoiled here in Paradise. I don't do stairs anymore. Sorry. Then I don't need A/C. It'll be February or March, so I don't think A/C is necessary. Also, some apartments come with a flower garden. I'm not sure what will be blooming when I am there, but a garden isn't high on my list. I want a one bedroom apartment, with a bathroom and a kitchen. What more would I need. Maybe a sharp knife and hot water, now that I think about it. And a walk in shower. Maybe wifi. My list grows much too long. I really need a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom. All the rest is commentary.
It's never too late to be realistic and not ask for more than I can afford .

I knew that my Grandsons were above average, as are everyones Grandchildren. But now, I really know this is a truism. My youngest grandson fixed the window on the passager side of our car. For months , I assumed the window was broken. I couldn't get it to operate. Fortunately, it was in a closed position when it stopped working. I was putting off fixing it until I had a few more things wrong with the car. I figured it was an electronic blip. There are those electronics again to haunt me. But ,our brilliant Grandson did some thing to the car and the window now works. He doesn't know what he did, but we have an operative window in our cars. Our car has a lot of electronics in it. This wasn't my choice. It came this way. The doors open and close with a remote. The windows now open and close with a remote. The seats drop down into a well. I can remove the head rests. The drivers seat goes up and down and front and back. It even tells me the temperature. That panel does other things, but I haven't figured out what. It also uses a lot of gas.
But my youngest grandson is the star . He fixed the window. What other wonderful things can he fix for us.
It's never too late, or too early for another Grandson to realize that I am electronically challenged , and still love me.

Can you be punished for eating a few pieces of bacon? Who knew? Who reported me to the Kosher cops. If those things didn't happen, why did I crack a tooth while eating my third piece of bacon. ? I couldn't resist the smell of bacon frying at the B&B that I was staying in, at my Grandson's wedding.Nothing smells better than bacon frying. I really like bacon, but I don't cook it at home because I don't like the splattering. Silly reason, I know.
There is a hole in the wall lunch place here in paradise, and I always order a BLT when I go there. I will definitely be more careful the next time I order my favorite sandwich .
This bacon that I had in Maryland, is going to be an expensive piece of pork. The dentist came in especially for me on a holiday. I wonder if he charges double on a holiday, like a union person. I am afraid to ask.
I do know they sell pork in Israel, but I don't know about bacon, specifically . I may have to get my fill here before I plan on going. Or I can go and make a project of finding bacon there. The last time I was in Israel, I spent time photographing doors. Now I will have a new quest. I will look for bacon.How do you say in Hebrew,"You have bacon on the menu ?" I thought that all of the food that I ate in Israel would be considered Kosher. I found it to be otherwise. If you want a Kosher meal, you have to check before you sit down. I didn't care,but my traveling companions did.
It's never too late to just eat for enjoyment and let the dentist send me a bill.

As I sat at a table of our grandson's,at one of their weddings, I realized that most of this generation were in professions that did not exist when we were graduating from college. They deal in electric futures ?, international relations ?, IT specialists ??, producers of web sites ?. They do good work, save our environment,are creative , and work at things that I don't understand . I noticed that none of them were going to law school or into medicine or social work, or teaching. What happened to those professions. Has the tide turned for these professions. Who gets a degree in English Literature ? Someone must, but with high student loans to pay off, I am guessing that these kids are focused on a job after graduating that helps pay them back.
It's an education for me when I talk with these Grandchildren. They know so much. I tell them the problems with my electronics, how I have such a stupid phone, how when they visit they can fix all of my electronic problems. As it is, one of them adjusted my iPad while I was sitting at the table. It seems I make them feel very protective of me because I am always in a jam with these electronics. It's never too late to be appreciated for my lack of technical know how. I don't mind being the Grandma that can't program her electronics. I don't need to when I have five above average Grandsons and two beautiful Grand daughters in law. Lucky me, again.

I gave my Kitchen Aide mixer to my daughter when we broke up our "big house" and down sized. I should have asked her to sIgn an agreement to not give it away. I just learned, as we sat around the kitchen table that she is sorry she gave it to a friend.What ! !!!! I would have taken it back. But then I quickly reconsidered. Where would I keep it and why would I want it. And I know the family she gave it too. Secretly, I have a long term hope that down the road , my 9 year old grandson and their daughter may become really good friends, leading to the union of our families. Wouldn't that be a hoot? I have known this little girl since both kids were in strollers and I really like her parents. Do they still have arranged marriages?
I did not share this thought with my daughter. But about the Kitchen Aide mixer. I have often thought that I was sorry to give it up. Now I guess it is a moot point. Which brings me to Grandma's silver. I just gave the place settings for 12 to a grandson, who got married last year. It was because of the same reason as the mixer. Why do I need so much. But I got smarter. I told them that if they want to give it to a friend, they have to give it back to me. I am a quick learner, when it comes to important things ,like mixers and silver.
It's never too late to smarten up and only give when you can receive if it doesn't work out.