My Sweetest Little Boogie

Thank god mothers have instilled in them the maternal instinct. We love our babies so much no matter what.  This afternoon I wanted to get supper prepped meanwhile Eddie was kvetching away.  He just fell asleep in my arms after waking up from a 8 minute nap in the crib.  I hope this means a good nap at home.

And I gotta say I love his tiny boogies.  Just love 'em.  And I can see one right now from my vantage point.  Unfortunately my finger isn't small enough to fit into his tiny nostril to get it out and play with it like a little toy from Woolworth (ok I have entered the 21st Century.  Target.  Ya happy now?).  Not even my pinkie works. But ahh the satisfaction of getting out that boogie is bar none. 

Is this not the cutest boogie? Ok ok I admit I am the mother and if anyone is gonna think this is cute, it is me. I remember seeing a photo of my brother Uncle Goalie from around this age (10 weeks) and thinking he wasn't all that cute.  But I will bet my mom thought he was.

Recently people have been mistaking Eddie for a girl. I'm good with that. Maybe it is his luscious lashes. Here is a more flattering photo that features this ocular accent. 

What a blessing to have this sweet angel of a sleeping baby!  Now maybe I will prep my shirt for the upcoming Hazon Philly Food Festival on Sunday. Forget about prepping supper.

Introducing my Baby...Eddie

For the first time ever, I introduce to you my baby Eddie*.  Here he is, about 10 1/2 weeks old.  We arrived home yesterday to Stango playing guitar out on the front stoop.  And supper was all warmed up, too!  Made it a lot easier getting home at 6pm.  Thanks, Stango!




(yes I gotta take the videos horizontal not vertical:  I keep forgetting!)

*Eddie's name has been changed to protect his identity.  Short little story on how he got this name:  My sister Reba thought he looks a little bit Filipino.  So, Concealed Light quickly looked up what Filipino children  looked like in her book of International families called Children Just Like Me, complete with photos of the families (it's a great Unicef/DK Publishing collaboration of a book).  She quickly surmised he was definitely not as dark as the brothers featured with the family.  But there could be a resemblance.  The boys names are Edgar and Edwin.  So I said let's call him Eddie for Whole Phamily.

Purge mode

Part of why I love this blog is that it helps me be ok with purging sentimental items. I just found this pillow my Grandma Martha made for me somewhere around 1980 or so.  It was all smooshed inside my closet. Not like I was using it   I even asked Reba if she wanted it.  Her reply was , "aw too bad it has a hole in it."  

I value my sister's opinion about stuff like this.

And I am not even putting it in a giveaway bag.

Straight into the garbage it shall go.

Thanks Grandma Martha, I really loved making my bed with the heart pillow right in the middle!

Got Brothers? I've Got Chills!

You're thinking I'm all spoofin' the Got Milk? campaign.

Nope.

More like the Gat Brothers.  Arye and Gil Gat to be specific.  The guys who I spotted, like many others, back in the spring, and was searching for them to resurface.

The Nunever, praised be he and thank you for the kesher as always, sent me the link to the other day's post referencing the Gat's recent Jerusalem street performances of Pink Floyd's "Shine on you Crazy Diamond" and Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven."

And now we see then surface on the Israel reality tv show "Rising Star" ("Kochav haBa") which I guess must be similar to American Idol, just a few days ago.  Currently this YouTube video is at 20,404 hits.




My prediction?

The Gats go Viral.

However my other prediction didn't come true so I don't think I would trust my predictions.  I'm kinda like The Mighty Wind of predictions.  Meaning it's not coming true.  Shoot, this whole blog could be a Christopher Guest/Harry Shearer mockublog.  Not.  Best In Show this is not.

Remember!  Like 'em?  Email 'em at BreslevBrothers@gmail.com

My girl friend here I will for all intents and purposes call Blondie (not her real name, but it really fits for so many reasons) saw the link of the Gats and she told me she had "chills." upon watching it.  I consider her opinion highly because she knows good music.

And so I thought of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in a seminal movie from my childhood.

Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Jerusalem style

Ever since I first saw these guys perform a Beatles tune this year, I have been curious if they had anything else in them.

Well, it's clear they do.  Roger Waters, Syd Barrett:  look out.  Here are two Breslovers covering Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" in the heart of Jerusalem.  Zion Square, affectionately know in Hebrew as Kikar Tzion, has never looked this shiny, and, dare I say it, sanitized!  With the light rail that passes by on Jaffa Road, you'd think this was a shmancy European city. What I want to know is where is the Kent Stand we all used to visit to exchange currency?

What a wild, wacky, beautiful sight. Just love the motley of people surrounding Reb Arye and Reb Gil, young to old, secular to religious, male, female, and who knows maybe something in between. Just people listening to great tunes in the holy city, albeit the new part.

We need to check our preconceived notions at the door in case you thought "what are these payos-clad guys doing singing these beautiful tunes."  Good music is good music.

If you love 'em so much, email 'em and let 'em know!
BreslevBrothers@gmail.com

Just last night I wore my Cream t-shirt (also my brother's recommendation) to an Amy Helm show, the daughter of Levon Helm, who has already been gone for a year and half.

And now I see that the brothers performed a classic Clapton Tune "Tears in Heaven."  (for those not musically-literate, just Google the band Cream and you'll see the connection).





As Dustin Hoffman said in Tootsie, "Joy. Sheer joy."

Here's Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers from last night







Buried at the bottom:

Here's my little Floyd story.  They are my brother's favorite band, so in high school he suggested some tapes of theirs I should get. "Dark Side of the Moon," the album on which "Shine On" appears, ended up being one of the few I did actually buy. Probably at Sam Goody or Record World (where I bought tapes not records) in the mall.  Being a suburban kid we didn't have Tower Records...my visits there in 1988 and '89 in Manhattan are a whole other story that involved skipping the Columbus Day journalism seminars at Columbia University. Maybe if I didn't skip those seminars I would actually know how to write instead of my gabbable run-ons.

I brought my Floyd tapes on my teen tour, and one of the girls on the trip was excited to see I listened to them. I liked the music:  who doesn't relate to the lyric "two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year?"  But I knew nothing of the band itself.  So when she started waxing poetic over Roger Waters I felt like a real poseur and shied away.

I have learned a bit more about modern rock since then, but I imagine kids these days wouldn't have that type of experience since we live in a wiki, Googled out society. Surely it was a more innocent time. I miss my Sony Walkman and looking out onto the Montana landscape while dozing off to the sounds of cash registers churning and falling bricks in a wall.

Thanksgivukkah...It's Chocolate Lollipop Time

Other than Rainbow Loom, I guess all the rage in the next month among people I know is the once in a lifetime convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

It also happens to be both my Jewish and Secular birthdays as well as wedding anniversary.  Take that for putting private info out there.  Do you think I really care?  It isn't like I'm putting my social security number out there.  Do the numbers 329-29-1127 mean anything to you, anyway?

As if that's REALLY my social security number. C'mon, what do you think I am...an irresponsible person?

Anyway...lots of articles are out there about Thanksgivukkah.

Personally I'm getting in my order for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah lollipops, like I have done many years over.

Rainbow Loom. When will the madness stop?

I think it's safe to say that every parent of an elementary-school aged child in America knows by now about the Rainbow Loom.  The kids who were really on the ball knew about it this summer.  Who knows, maybe some kids knew about it in the spring.  For sure if you were at the beach or camp in the Northeast this summer, the rainbow loom loomed large.  To say it's all the rage is an understatement.  It's everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  You can even get knock offs of the elastics from Michael's and probably every local dollar store.

Concealed Light, The Wolfman and The Wolfman's Brother received their first Rainbow Loom as a gift when Eddie was born.  I hadn't heard of it, but our friends, who joined us late in the summer at Sesame Place, told us it's the thing to have.  Within that one week I heard it mentioned numerous times, and now that school is in full swing pretty much all the kids (and many teachers) are wearing the bracelets.


My children started off wearing just one bracelet made of the "original" stitch.  Now they are increasing exponentially up their wrists.  They've got fishtail, triple single, and probably a lot of other stitches we don't know yet.  Kids are learning how do it on YouTube.  There's a special way to roll off the bracelets.

When will it end?  Then again, better they loom than zone out on the iPad, right?

My guess is this craze will outlast Silly Bandz, which were just bracelets you bought.  Here, you're actually making something.  So it's somewhat redeeming.  Kind of reminds me of the ribbon barrettes we used to make in the early 80s with the beads at the end.  In the beginning it was so hard to find the special Goody brand barrettes and particular width satin ribbon needed to make the barrettes.  The way to make them was a carefully-guarded secret:  even a family friend wouldn't teach me because she was in the business of selling the barrettes.  But now with the Internet nothing is sacred and all kids are created Rainbow Loomingly equal.

It's pretty easy to find out the "creator" of the Rainbow Loom, though Concealed Light said the loom is nothing more than a glorified finger knitter.  Still, the gentleman from Michigan, Choon Ng, who created this product is to credit.

I wonder if there is a pot of gold at the end of Mr. Ng's rainbow (loom).

Anah el Nah: Jonah Adels

My main memory of Jonah Adels, who passed away last week due to injuries sustained in a tragic car accident, was that he planted the beginnings of a fruit orchard in Putnam County, New York..

Jonah worked at Concealed Light's camp.  Neither of us actually knew his name until recently.  But we totally "knew" him.  He seemed so sweet and kind.  I don't know why things like this happen, but here is a video that some of Jonah's friends put together a few months ago when they were praying for his healing.

The chant in this video is "anah el nah refah na la":  Answer us, please, God, heal us please, God.  I have never heard this particular melody of this classic Jewish prayer but it is so amazingly beautiful.  When I played it today for Concealed Light she said, "oh, yes, we sing that at camp."  Like it was just so familiar to her.   Then she was like, "wait?  The video is 14 minutes?  We don't sing it that long at camp."

I am so glad to learn that she knows this melody.  It took Jonah's accident for me to learn that my daughter knows a most gorgeous melody to this important tefilah.

Concealed Light saw some of the photos in the video and recognized Jonah.  "Oh, yeah I know him."  Sadness with a mama and her 10 year old daughter.

She didn't know what the additional images in the video were doing there, but I told her they are there to help people get to a place of healing through prayer.  Something like that.  It's hard.

Jonah planted a fruit orchard that will continue for years to come.  What bittersweetness.  All is meant to be.  Children at Concealed Light's camp will bear Jonah's fruit.  How do things like this happen?

From what I was told, Jonah's car accident happened because his car was trying to avoid hitting an animal in the road.  They didn't hit the animal but their own car swerved and crashed.  What kindness, what bittersweet kindness.

It was Rebbe Nachman's yahrtzeit a few weeks ago during Sukkot when  I learned that Jonah was journeying from this world into the next.  His friends were coming that exact shabbes to gather at a friend's home where a woman was about to bring a new life into the world.  I want to believe that Rebbe Nachman was there, holding Jonah by the hand, dancing and rejoicing with him in all that he contributed to the world, and leading him personally into the next world.

Baruch Dayan haEmet.

Nursing is a Great Hobby

Check out how nursing is portrayed in Mister Rogers.  No way would such a natural, normal part of life be on tv like that today.  How sad.

Anyway, I am really enjoying nursing my little baby, the Wolfman's Brother's brother.  I haven't come up with a name to call him yet on this blog.  Truth be told, I don't really mind putting up real names here.  Pretty easy to find that out anyway with a quick Google search.

Nursing is one of my favorite things to do in life and I am blessed with a 4th opportunity.  So far I am enjoying it all, despite the spit up, crying, and sleepless nights.

Making the cut into your school's annual report

Wow: the Wolfman is featured prominently in our school's annual report.  He is playing violin and the photo is placed apropos in the extracurricular section.  Of course I would have loved to see a photo also of Concealed Light on flute, and that would have actually been more appropriate because  she actually takes her lessons after school on-site, whereas the Wolfman went last year to an off-site music school.

Still, I am grateful that their school provided a forum through which my children could express their musical skills.  And I am proud that my child enhances their report.  All the shlepping I did last year for violin which he said he disliked is worth it just for the annual directory photo!  The board of directors did a very nice job with the publication, too.  It must be so much work. 

And now that I have a digital image of the photo, into the recycling the whole glossy publication goes.  Actually no.  I will wait for Stango to return from Copenhagen so he can check it out in hard copy.  Like he will have the time?  That doc has his brain buried in brain research and is either reading brainy stuff or Torah stuff.