Three Peas in a Pod X & XI

by Julianna Squicciarini

Friday was a steamroller of a day, heading full speed toward Shabbat that evening. We started with a walk and shopping in downtown Paducah, featuring antique stores, artsy places, and a renowned bakery. Then, non-stop to the next event, we all piled into the car and honored Cole, the Hackett’s eldest, at his graduation awards ceremony. He received the Gamma Beta Phi Leadership Award.

Afterwards, we stopped by a dairy farm, which was quite the experience for us suburbanites. I’ve never been that close to a cow in my life. We were introduced to the ins and outs – quite literally – of cow caretaking and milking duties. Farms smell funny.

We finished up Shabbat prep at the Hackett’s home, entering in that night with much joy and gladness (it’s been a long week).

Today was a quiet, relaxing Shabbat. We visited the Hackett’s grandfather, who lives a stone’s throw away from them…actually on their property. He is quite the gem.

We danced and sang the afternoon away, finishing things up with a fine dinner and what is shaping up to be a good evening of bonding time.

We will be sorry to leave tomorrow – we’ve had a blast with the Hacketts.

Three Peas in a Pod IX

by Julianna Squicciarini

From Lexington, we pointed our toes (or, steered our car) toward Paducah, KY, where we have friends with whom we plan to stay the weekend.

We made a bit of detour to experience some of the local flavor, but arrived intact, safe and sound, at the Hackett farm, around 2:30pm yesterday.

Things immediately took off, starting with a horse getting new shoes, a lamb being bottle-fed, and talk of how to get sheep from one pen to another. Things are…quite different out here. Especially after having visited big cities, like New York and Boston. Oh, this is the sticks.

For dinner, we were taken to Patti’s Place, a beautiful landscape with animals and water wheels. We ate a delicious dinner, bought fudge on our way out, and finished the evening driving through downtown Paducah. There is a whole street’s-length of murals, telling the history of the town, which were quite impressive.

We are so grateful for a place to stay that didn’t cost us almost $100/night, as well as the blessing of spending a weekend with familiar faces and other people with whom to converse. We are interested in and excited about expanding our suburban horizons in this rural piece of real estate, and above all, so happy to have a place for Shabbat with like-minded believers.

Can’t believe the trip is coming to and end – we’ll be home the day after tomorrow!

Three Peas in a Pod IV

by Julianna Squicciarini

The fourth day of our journey (yesterday), was the Sabbath. It was a chilly, wet day, complete with gray sky and drizzle. Very New York. Not to stereotype…

Anyway, we prayed, we read together, we took a little drive over to Northport and walked the docks, we rested. The day ended with the lighting of our Fresh Linen candle (an emergency purchase by Peter prior to our first night in that hotel, due to the unsavory odor) and dinner at Friendly’s, a diner made famous in our household by stories from our parents.

While I’m glad we visited New York, and wouldn’t have missed it for the world, there is some slight disappointment in the things we were unable to do because of the constraints of time or money. Like shopping Chinatown or the diamond district. Walking Central Park. Buying a hot dog from a street vendor. Riding the subway. Actually seeing the Empire State Building (where was it??). We have agreed that our next trip to the Big Apple should be with someone who knows the ropes and can show us what to do with our car and where everything famous is located.

I’m also glad, even with the unfortunate hotel room, that we stayed in Smithtown. I feel like I got a taste of my father’s younger days, and that’s always good.

Stay tuned for another post this evening, where I’ll fill you in on what we did today.

Three Peas in a Pod III

by Julianna Squicciarini

We drove to New York City today.

We spent an inordinate amount of money on tolls.

We spent even more on a single hour of parking.

We folded and all bought NYC sweatshirts, because we were cold.

We walked around as much of the city as we could in that one hour of parking.

We drove the rest of the city, including Central Park, because there was no place to park.

We decided to leave NYC and go to Smithtown, where free parking grows on trees.

We checked into our non-smoking room, and it smells like smoke. <yuck>

We are content, because we have a refrigerator, microwave, & free WI-Fi.

We are all more than ready for the Sabbath tonight.

Shabbat shalom!

Blind Flyer – Oil and Wine

new found loves:
- painting!
- large groups of people doing the same thing. I feel like we’re in it together.
- Audrey, our art teacher, and her assistant from Germany. (*love* that accent!)
- the readily available coffee at every turn. Not bad…
- the rush I get being walked out on the dancefloor.
- dancing
- Lucy at our table. Dear, dear woman.

what i found interesting:
- forget turpentine. The newest way to get oil paint off is with Listerine.
- how did i get paint on my hands, arms, elbows, and face?
- got asked no less than four times whether I was going to college or not. I think my answer was surprising to most, but I enjoyed explaining my mindset. I’m starting to get this down.
- live music – really, really loud, and doesn’t sound so great from an adjoining room.
- watching all these old people (no offense) dancing to Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling”. Wow. I will never unsee that.
- the beauty but complete uselessness of a lobster’s shell.
- hearing Poppop describe what a mussel tastes like. Interesting…

things i disliked:
- realizing I can’t bring my painting back home because it won’t fit in my bag.
- missing Scott’s birthday party – my one other chance to see my Florida family.
- being, I think, the only one not eating the famed lobster at the Spring Fling.
- large table + loud band = not easy to make conversation.
- having to leave. I was having fun.
- not being able to make havdalah with my family. I did wish Poppop and Nana a good week, though.
- that time is passing WAY too quickly here. I leave on Monday!

I’m going to miss all this. Good thing I’m taking lots of pictures so I remember it all!
Keep it real -
M.fs

Blind Flyer – Gone Fishing!

Friday:

• Continued new routine of coffee and devotions with Poppop in his office. I’m learning, being encouraged, and practicing praying spontaneously. It’s fun and worthy! Win win.
• Did some writing while eating my banana and peanut butter. Poppop reads the paper after breakfast, but when he was done we did the best thing…are you ready?
• We went fishing! I could have left a note on the counter that said, “Gone fishing”, but forgot…Anyway it was amazing. We fished right on the beach, casting our lines into the ocean – well, Poppop did most of the casting because I don’t exactly have a knack for it yet. We even used live shrimp as bait, which made it feel really authentic. Watching Poppop in action as he masterfully baits a hook, plants the pole stand, casts a line, or deftly reels it in is amazing. I just wanted to take a million pictures of him – unfortunately, I was having too much fun to pick up my camera until the end when we packed up. Oh well.

For the record, we did not catch anything.
Woman at the club: “Did you catch anything?”
Poppop: “No, we went fishing, not catching.”
The woman looked amused and confused, but I was cracking up. Classic Poppop.

• Ran errands with Nana after we got back and had some lunch. We picked up a few gifts, hit Kilwin’s for some killer ice cream (salted caramel – yes please!) and awesome oldie’s music outside. When we were done we visited Uncle Adam at his office. I haven’t seen him in forever, much less had a decent conversation with him, which made it really special. He is so much fun! Unfortunately, we didn’t have long to stay, but the time we did spend with him was well worth the drive. I hope he comes up to visit sometime soon.
• When we got home I jumped in the pool! Singing underwater is a lot harder than it sounds…
• Took a nap, read a little of my book, and joined Poppop on the couch as we watched an episode of Law and Order. I’ve never seen a whole episode before, but it was really interesting! Nana made salmon, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a green salad for dinner. We sat down to a lovely Erev Shabbat dinner, and I got to explain a little of what we do each week. It was special that, at the same time, I knew my family back in Charlotte was entering into Shabbat as well.

Shavuah tov (good week)!
Keep it real -
M.fs

Requiescat ad infinitum

Today, June 27 2009, has been christened L’Olam Shabbat, a Hebrew phrase coined to distinguish this day as having the most daylight hours of Shabbat. It means Forever Shabbat, or the Shabbat that goes on… and on… and on. To give you an idea of the length we’re talking about, when we got up this morning – despite sleeping in (no alarm clocks on Shabbat) – there were nearly 12 remaining hours of Shabbat… 12 hours to rest, pray, read, study, eat, sleep, swim, talk, and laugh. By way of comparison, the shortest Shabbat in the year (or the one with least daylight hours) is about 8 to 8.5 hours long.

On one hand, 12 hours of Shabbat - wow, that’s amazing! You can get a lot done in so much time. It sounds like bliss. (But on the other hand, wow… that’s a long time.) If you haven’t ever spent 12 full hours (minus maybe one or two for a nap) in the close company of your immediate family, then you probably don’t have any idea what this day was like!

Disclaimer: although this post was written tongue in cheek, the day was truly pleasant, restful, and a delight – everything Shabbat should be.

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Day 8

Today is the last day of unleavened bread, which is a Shabbat, so we’re sitting around eating ‘matzo’ for the last time this year (although it’s kind of like Thanksgiving: left-over matzo lasts for another week, and you end up with and extra box or two… anyway, we’re sick of it.) and feeling just a tad nostalgic. The Traveler is spending her last day in Texas today <sounds of parties dying… on our end>, and spending her last hours “taking pictures of everyone” so we can match names with faces, as she related to us in a phone call tonight. We asked her to get a picture of her with the dogs, since she’s apparently “buddy-buddy” with them now. Or maybe not, since she still says (and I quote) “I don’t touch dogs!” so… not even a friendly pet or pat from Country Princess goes to the dogs which surround her. <sigh>. Oh well, her loss.

Back at The Residence we got a phone call (as I mentioned before) from TX, which assured us that everything is still going as great as before, and she misses us… she sounded homesick… for ME! Anyway, we’re all excited about tomorrow and praying that her flight home goes smoothly (our family has some… let’s say “interesting” airport stories) and safely.

Safe travels, Country Princess!

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Day 4

By Christine Squicciarini

Wow. What an INCREDIBLE Sabbath!

I know we’re all still in Passover mode, so you’re probably thinking like I am, “What made this Sabbath different from all other Sabbaths?” Let me tell you. THIS was Bella Torah’s first Meetup publicized event since our move to Meetup.com on March 23 of this year! What a success! We had a healthy turn out for Shacarit morning prayers, and how encouraging to see some new faces! There was some wonderful discussion over the weekly Torah portion… another blessing. ;-)

After prayers, a delicious oneg gave everyone a chance to meet everyone else… the house was filled with laughter and conversation, and more guests arrived for Dad’s class Animal Sacrifices and How They Apply to Us. You’ll have to get on www.bellatorah.com to hear the class, ’cause that’s another post. Obviously Dad has a gift for presenting material in a clear light! It’s always a phenomenal learning experience to sit under his teaching. I got rave reviews all afternoon about how great the class was!  

Class ended and people stuck around to debrief with us, which was awesome. It’s so neat having a a congregation of like-minded believers, why didn’t we Meetup sooner?  I do need to mention that in Morgan’s absence, I took over working the coffee bar. Very nifty. I’m gonna have to do that more often. :-D I got to talk with like EVERYONE, but I stayed in one place… definitely a new experience…:-)

Speaking of Morgan, we didn’t hear a peep out of The Traveler, but that was to be expected since it was  the Sabbath. We have since found out that she enjoyed some very tasty vegetarian sushi… and she is adjusting very well to the numerous dogs (so she says ).

Well, that’s it. It was an INCREDIBLE Sabbath! And now you know why.

Saturday at The Residence

Stillness pervades our house through the early hours. The alarm clock doesn’t go off, the radio isn’t on… the only sounds are cars driving past outside. Sometimes the silence is broken by my brother softly playing his guitar, as everyone slowly wakes up. Eventually my father requests our presence downstairs (wink wink), and we spend about an hour at the breakfast table, usually having an informative discussion about current events. The recent trend has been international political figures.

I know, this sounds like a Norman Rockwell painting. Welcome to our life.

No matter how crazy the previous week has been, Saturday anchors us as a family. During the winter, we curl up in the family room and spend the day reading and studying together. Weather permitting, we take a walk through the neighborhood. The mood is tranquil, punctuated by occasional laughter or enthusiastic piano playing (courtesy of Peter). At some point during the day, we pray as a family.

Over the summer, we head outside mid-morning and spend most of the day around the pool. We listen to audio classes using our outdoor speakers while everyone enjoys the chance for repose and relaxation.

The goal for our Saturdays is peace. To accomplish that goal, we keep outside interference to a minimum… putting our phone on DND, taking a much-needed break from cell phones and email. This is our day of worship, and we set it apart by putting aside typical daily activities. Business is one topic we try not to talk about.

We have a sense of the inevitable when Saturday comes to an end… and as the sun sets, we recognize that our day of rest is over. There’s usually a stampede to the study, with shouts of “I have to turn off my auto-responder!!!” (a well-known euphemism for catching up on email and avoiding chores).