More from The Land of Purge

They make everything look neat, tidy, and current.

But do they know of the Whole Phamily? Nope. In the land of nod it's the whole family.  In the land of purge we are the Whole Phamily. 

A few weeks ago I got rid of 10 bags of unnecessary stuff, and yet the stuff keeps coming.  Aside from the fact that we might move later this year, I prefer to keep things minimal. I loathe when things pile up. I learned well from my mom  get rid of stuff you don't use.  I wish I could do better.  I admire friends who really do live minimally.  Less is more is powerful  Extra stuff isn't good for one's feng shui (wow, now that's a blast from the past!)

A tip of the hat to my blog title post

Goodbye to the following:  

I tried teaching Nistar how to make these classic barrettes from my childhood.  Ixnay on that one.

This is a kippah Nistar made at camp. Nice effort.  Stango wore it a few times.  She agreed to get rid of it. 

This is a wallhanging Nistar made for me.  Complete with an original baby picture of me she cut!  No, she didn't ask!  Don't have the heart to throw away yet.

This silly hat was sitting in the boy's kippa box for years.  It is now relegated to its proper spot:  the dress up box.  Which only gets used these days when we have preschoolers over.  

The hat maker is some famous company.   It is from my husband's youth.  Note the old school handwriting inside the hat, identifying my DH as its rightful owner.  As if other kids brought this type of thing to camp.  I guess Stango was long-outside the box.  

This isn't my house but our friend's where we recently visited.  Love this minimal, clutter-free room.  An

inspiration.  

Totally inspired now to finally get rid of my high school and college papers.  Over the years I have been whittling them down but it is finally the time to recycle it all.  Considering I was a poor writer in college, there is zero reason to save that junk.  Maybe I will keep one or two papers.  That is it!  

Boy that's gonna be an awesome feeling! 

Thank you Mrs Hollinger! And belated Happy Hanukkah

The best art teacher ever.  Hands down. My mom saved this for years.  And now I have saved it for years.  And now I put my 2nd or 1st or 3rd grade project in the garbage.  Wait wait. Maybe my children will say, "why don't I have some of mama's original artwork from when she was a kid,"

Nope.  Just asked the 10 year old.  "Yeah mama, put it on your blog. Perfect solution."

We Built This City...

On rock and roll, you hum?  No!  On compost.  Kudos, congrats, kol hakavod to New York City for running a pilot city compost program.

While visiting my sister Reba this week I saw the bins along her street.  Naturally the neighborhood is the perfect place to try it out:  she lives in a part of Brooklyn where you have a lot of organic food pushers.  So glad NYC is moving along with this.

Further to my music reference above, I am happy to report that my end of year visit to Manhattan was wonderful all around.  It was fueled by the music that I love best.  I saw friends and family both at the shows and in the times in between. We went to museums, consumed many a brunch, walked through Central Park with the kinderlach, and hung with the cousins. Levi did well with his mama out two nights in a row and I was grateful to my sister and brother in law for facilitating that.  Sadly I didn't allow my children to watch a movie on New Year's Eve, and that was a break with their tradition.  My children were acting way overtired so I just made them to to bed by 10.   Why I couldn't get it together for them to be sitting at a movie by 8 I don't know why.  Oh right I have a baby.  But what about my Stango help?  Obviously I failed in delegating and giving him some guidance.  Gotta work on that. 

While I would love to wax poetic about how Madison Square Garden is the most festive, fun, youthful, for-kids-of-all-ages-perhaps-15-and-over celebration in all of New York City, I gotta get dressed and make school lunches.

And just because you should see the greatness of what New Year's Eve could look like


 And here's to 30 years of Phish (didn't see it yet as I didn't go to the New Year's show)



If it was the secular New Year that means that Chinese New Year is coming up which means it's time to make Marci's "chinese New Year's cookies!"  I have had the ingredients for a while now.

Oh, so much to do...
And just because

Blues Brothers On New Year's Eve Would be Fun!

So many people were disappointed that Phish didn't cover a whole album, as has been their custom for the past many years, on Halloween this year in Atlantic City.   Well, why not stay broken from tradition and make up for this on New Year's Eve as part of their annual "prank?"

And do a cover of the Blues Brothers soundtrack?




At the gym today I listened to it, and yep, it could totally fly!

Maybe they should do an abridged format.

But I can just picture it:  bring out the Giant Country Horns



Who would cover Aretha, though?





If Clapton and Jeff Beck already covered Shake Your Moneymaker, why can't Phish?





And how about Shake a Tail Feather...the ultimate!



I mean, pulease!  Isn't that just custom-made for Fish?

Phish is My Church, With Some Sweat To Boot!

That's a line I have heard so many times over at shows.
Said mostly by people who don't go to church.
At least regularly.

Not the choice of words I would use, but I like to be provocative.
You actually thought I would say that?

But you could fill in other words, too.

Phish is My Zen.
Phish is My Temple.
Phish is My Services.
Phish is My Child's Pose.
Phish is My Creme Brulee.
Phish is My Monastery.
Phish is My 30 Foot Yacht.
Phish is My Minaret.
Phish is My Delicious Dish.

For those who go or don't go to houses of worship, one thing that those who see Phish repeatedly over the years have in common with prayer services is a set liturgy.  We know the songs, we love the music, we know the words (or don't, and just hum along).  It is a familiar feeling of coming home, a sense of happiness and elevation to a more meaningful level of life that draws us again and again to see this great band.

And for the newbies, the uninitiated among us, that first show can also be a sense of homeyness, comfort, joy.

And this is one of many reasons why I am so grateful for Phish.  I plan to run the Midnight Run (um...Just learned the fee is $65!  Fer realz!?!?  I could get to a show for just a little bit more $!  Alas, I really am looking forward to running in Central Park.  It's been a long time)  next week on New Year's eve (no NYE Phish show for me; but I'll be there for some shows earlier in the NYE run).

I haven't run a 5K in a while.  So at the gym just now I gave it a test run.  I played some Live Bait and I was set.  All I needed was a Wilson, Tweezer and YEM and I got there with minimal pain, and maximum gain.  So happy to listen to my favorite music and do a leisurely 5k on the treadmill.

And if you caught my SNL reference above, check out Mr. Alec Baldwin.  'Tis the season, after all.





I imagine that link won't last long. Lorne, I hear ya on protecting your Intellectual Property, but can you give this mama a break?

My Husband Finally Watched Netflix!

There is limited time to devote to a show or movie, but I enjoy kicking back and watching something good.  Lately, it is "Freaks and Geeks."  How embarrased would I be if I met Judd Apatow and Paul Feig, the creators of that show, and was like, um yeah 14 years later I am watching your show and it's totally rad; you guys are da bomb; I wanna be from Lake Winnipesaukee and tell you that you're wicked cool.  Good thing I have no meeting set in the near future at my local Coffee Bean to chat with Judd. 

 My husband is more selective. He rarely watches anything. He misses the good old Eddie Murphy comedies, he says. Most evenings he is at the computer reading a research article on the brain.  I guess I have it ok.  Better that then action movies or ball games.  Stango loves his work in the field of Neurology and doesn't stop learning after-hours.

So you might imagine my excitement when I saw the Netflix screen opened to something new!  Here's what I saw:

Seriously?  A brain talk?

I hope my husband enjoyed what he saw, and I hope it not only contributed towards his bettering the world but also, ultimately, our bank account!

Don't Pretzel My Buttons

And don't think I'm so clever, either: it's the name of the OPI nail polish I just got.  Kudos to the witty nail polish color writers.  Takes on a whole new definition of Hallmark card writer.  It was Concealed Light, Levi and I at the nail salon.

CL was such a great helper with the baby and reminded me of Miriam in this week's Torah portion, Exodus (Shnmot in Hebrew) who was a midwife and helped out her own mother as well.  Okay okay my daughter isn't quite catching babies as they exit the womb, but she did hold my baby while I was getting the mani.  

Coco, the ever chic Korean proprietor of my nail salon, questioned if it was ok that my 10 year old was holding him.  Clearly she didn't know that Jewish girls (and boys in my home) are employed at a young age to assist in childcare!  Let me give credit where credit is due and say that Coco was also an awesome helper.  She held Levi while I was getting my pedi and Concealed Light was getting her manicure.

Ultimately it was because of Miriam's prophecy that she and her mother Yocheved cared for, in secret, the Jewish baby boys, and saved the entire Jewish people.

Go girl power right from the start.

Like the color?

What's a Whole Phamily blog post without some music.  So, enjoy Bob Marley's Exodus," have a great Shabbes and enjoy your manicure if you got one this week!

Bottega Veneta can be Hippy Chic

Or, in Case You Thought I Was a Card-Carrying Hippy Chick...

My mother has good taste.  She told me about Bottega Veneta when I was a young girl, and when their store opened in our mall she told me that it was a fine place to shop for handbags.  I am so grateful to my mother for planting the seeds of the finest of taste.

Only recently have I learned about the company's history and the workmanship that goes into each piece.  That's what you get for reading The New Yorker.  No, I can't post a link to the great article, as Conde Nast is highly protective of their Intellectual Property.  Ya know what, good for them!

Bottega's classic butter-soft leather woven bags have a distinctive look which has been copied many times over.  You know the look, but you just don't know that it's Bottega.  These bags are the ultimate understated elegance.  One need simply only to say Bottega and nothing else.  No flashy labels, no flashy logos, no flashy nothing.  Their artisans, working out of a small town in Italy, are trained and apprenticed to hand-craft their bags.

Indeed, their company motto is "When your own initials are enough."

I don't want a Kelly bag.
I don't want a classic quilted Chanel bag.
Louis Vuitton totes?  So passe!
One day I would love a big ole Bottega.

Advertisement from back of  a recent New York Magazine 

 I was blown away to see the above ad.  Just as my 5th grade teacher taught me, if the ad is on the back of the magazine you know it's important.  Check out how they are making home furnishings now.  And look at that pillow.  I'd take just the pillow alone!

Last spring I had the opportunity to visit their Manhattan store on 5th Avenue.  What a lovely ambience.  Some older women were in there buying Bottega luggage.  As if!

Take a guess as to who now owns the Bottega company?

Gucci.

How Bout Dem Apples?

Earlier this fall I went into Ezra's class to do a taste test of various types of apples with the first graders.  I brought in Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji and Braeburn (note my executive decision to capitalize the Names of the Apples).  I got the idea because in a conversation with Ezra, the Wolfman's Brother, I realized he didn't know that there were different kinds of apples.  Plus I wanted to find a reason to do something in his class.  It's good when your mama comes into your class to do something.  In 1982 or so my friend Rachel's mother came in to my 3rd grade class to make something called moon bars.  It coincided with a Space Shuttle launch.  They were yummy and chocolatey.  And then my classmate Marlene's mother came and made what was called ambrosia.  It coincided with nothing.  It was coconutty with oranges and marshmallows.  It was gross.

Surprisingly the kids chose Granny Smith as their overall favorite. I thought it would be Honeycrisp.  A little boy named David, one of Ezra's friends with a huge head of black curly hair, was wearing green that day.  He kept wanting more Granny Smith.  He was even wearing a green kipa.  It was so funny!  Coincidence or not?  Who knows.

  And now I can declutter by posting a photo of the lovely thank you note from the class.  I especially love how Nate, a soft spoken boy with light brown curly hair, signed his name.  First grade is so sweet and Ezra is fortunate to have Mrs. Laytin as his teacher. 

We had fun on Thanksgivukkah

Here's a little recap.

We visited the Museum of Natural History the day before Thanksgiving.

Went to a favorite spot, the Astor Turret.

Note the special occasion chairs set up.
That was for the next day's VIPs who had access to the museum for coffee and bonbons.

The kids were mesmerized by the window washers.

Next day was the Parade.
Thank you to my brother in law for the prime spot.

Though I must say , and my bro in law agrees with me, that I was instrumental in making  this year's spot happen as well.

Just leave it to us clowns to find the opening, the opportunity to make the morning a success for our family.

We hung out with the cousins

And with Nana and Zady

We lit Hanukkah candles

We had Grammy's famous apple pie which is more like a pan pie these days.  Nana said she didn't roll out the dough thin like Grammy.  But she did a beautiful lattice!  That takes a lot of work!

And then some Thanksgiving meal

Coming soon is the 2nd part of the weekend which included my birthday (no photos:  I was cooking and cleaning and entertaining friends however Stango redeemed himself by getting me 6 Crumbs cupcakes a few days after my birthday.  Yummy. Dairy. Alas no photos), a nice visit with Aunt Reba and Cousin Girl and then my family Chanukkah party at our house with a lot of my cousins and one of my aunts.  It was so much fun as always.  Pics coming...

Lela the Fawn is the Underground Sophie the Giraffe and Why I Wish I Could Write Like Cool Mom Shit and I Love Wes Anderson

Make no mistake: I am an amateur.  I make no money from this blog.  My readership is limited.  My look and feel is crude and rudimentary.  Wes Anderson look and feel?  Yeah, right!

Yet, and let me be quite bold here, my ideas are huge. My thoughts are big.  My uncanny ability to make connections is unparalleled.  I often ask Stango when will my time come for those who matter to recognize my efforts?  When will I get credit where credit's due?  When will the stars align and all my dreams become realities?

You might chalk it up to being too scattered with no focus on one particular niche, but I'm onto stuff.

If you had a baby in the past 10 years and you have any semblance of cultural currency, you're familiar with Sophie the Giraffe.  I recall when I first saw her in an upscale children's shop on Greenwich Avenue (yes, to all you in-the-know mothers who make their own baby food and don't give credit to Diane Keaton where credit is due since she's the original Hollywood make your own baby food mama in Baby Boom, I'm talking about Giggle).

I thought Sophie was cute, but we were past the teething stage and I the $25 price tag for a TEETHING TOY was obscene.  It was more about what I saw Sophie became.  For an East Coast mama, lemme pat myself on the back and state I was always 2 steps ahead of the trends when it came to baby gear (having adopted the Ergo in 2003 (I think ours came shipped straight from Hawaii when they were still small-scale!) and the BOB SUS stroller in 2004 (back when the original 3 guys were still running the company and before the moved to Idaho-Utah or wherever they moved to once they outgrew their San Luis Obispo locale, and wayyyyy before they sold out to Britax) , but when she became Sophie The Giraffe That Everyone And Her Follow The Trendy Herd Mother and Her Mother Must Have (she's sold in Toys R Us now?  Are you kidding me!?!), you can betchyer bottom dollar that I would.not.buy.this.for.my.child.

Fast forward many years.

I have a sweet new baby.

#4 in case you were sleeping the past coupla months.

And I have discovered Lela the Fawn.

As my new friend Angela, the owner of the super awesome store Cloth in South Philly quips, Lela is the Underground Sophie.

And I'm a proud owner of her.

Scratch that.  Eddie is.

Scratch that.  Levi is.

I decided it's time to go with real names.  At least for my own kids.  (remember, I'm not a professional blogger, but it's one of the many many "shards of brilliance" that Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks has mentioned in the past.  Oh why oh why oh why can't I write like Liz.  I love Liz.  I mean I love what she writes.  She's seriously the coolest and I have said that here before.  No she's not the coolest.  Her blog, she wrote recently, was called Cool Mom Shit for 3 days.  So it's safe to say that Liz Gumbinner is the shizzle.  Liz is the shizzlest.)

Looks like Lela just hit the sidewalks this past summer.  Thanks David Beerman and Ivy Street for bringing her over from Deutschland.  Mr. Beerman's company distributes the Moby Wrap.  Yet another baby gear product that was way underground for years.  Don't get me started on babywearing.  When will German Woven Wraps (GWW) have their 15 minutes?  When will they really emerge from the underground?   How ridiculous is it that I only have a Neobulle and a Dulcino and mostly what people say to me is, "Is that a Moby Wrap?"  Uh, no, sorry, there is litcherally a *whole world* of baby carriers out there!  I love The Baby Wearer and admit I haven't been on there nearly enough, and Wrapping Rachel  and Babywearing Faith are my heros and I've only mastered the FWCC but really I should be able to do the FWC by now, let alone the HWCC and when am I gonna move onto rebozo, rucksack and learn how to do a candy cane chestbelt (is that CCC? See, I'm not babywearing geeky enough).  I recently posted on my baby wearing group's Facebook account that someone ought to write a definitive book on all the carries out there (including their acronyms).  Enough about my babywearing digression for now.

This mama's all over that shit fawn!

Take that, trendy mama.

Whole Phamily rocks this town!

Oh, and I should mention I had the most lovely birthday last week.  No more Facebook birthday announcement for me.  I decided last year, taking inspiration from my sis Reba, to delete my birthday from Facebook.  I didn't want "fake" birthday greetings.  And ya know what, those who really matter to me wished me birthday greetings.  I was touched, even if these are friends I never speak with, or maybe once a year.  Or maybe we do still speak every couple of months.  These are my long-time peeps.  I wish we got to hang out more.

I often send a Stevie Wonder birthday greeting to people on Facebook, but alas nary a yom huledet sameach on my page.

We had rack of lamb for dinner.   Stango got me the new Wes Anderson book.  I hired extra cleaning help on Friday in anticipation of our many visitors over the weekend.  New Bobbi Brown makeup and Lululemon workout clothes worked their way into the mix.  My mother in law gave me a really pretty pair of Edwin Pearl earrings she no longer wears (keep your no-longer-wearing-it jewelry coming!) and my birthday celebration extended over many days.  We just finished the delicious Crumbs cupcakes I guilted my sweet husband into gettting since I had no cake over the weekend (granted, it *was* Thanksgivukkah AND our anniversary).

And now for some clips that I overtly or subliminally referred to in this post:

"betchyer bottom dollar" (feeling guilty I haven't taken Concealed Light umm Nistar yet to Annie but I'll be honest here and state that I am a show seat snob when it comes to Broadway and I would only guess it would be $200 a seat to take her and you think I can afford that?  Erase your preconceived notions of who you might think I am just because I just posted all that material stuff about my birthday.  $400 is a lot of money for me.)

Baby Boom




Rock this Town - Stray Cats


Happy Birthday

Listening to Stevie now is getting me pretty psyched for the funk Phish is gonna likely bust out this coming New Year's... you know Boogie On is simply the best!






Meanwhile in Wes Anderson land...this is coming, this is coming soon!





And someone said I have no focus?

Acai Berry is so Done!

Have been looking in vain for Acai berry tea for months now.   I think we had Stash brand which Concealed Light enjoyed.  In Whole Foods just when the friendly Whole Foods grocery dude (wearing requisite I Heart Farmers truckers-style baseball cap) turned up with only one package of Acai berry GREEN tea (I wanted all herbal) , I realised:

1.  Acai berry was a huge fad

2.  Must switch to a different herbal tea

3.  Both Oprah and Dr. Oz, despite their Acai berry hissy fit, are still sittin' pretty.

And, the saddest realisation:

4.  The guys at Sambazon are up shits creek.

Return to the Land of Your Soul...Got to Get Back to the Land

There was a time in my life when I would have thought this tune, "Return," was fully cheese.  But now that I know better, now that I am connected to Shlomo chevre, I am so so so grateful that I know this tune.  And so grateful that Stango and I are working on the opportunity to get back to the land in the not-so-distant future!




"Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road...got to get back to the land set my soul free."  -CSN





Remember Blues For Challah is around the corner!!!  Sign up now and join the Whole Phamily there.

Bunny Wailer didn't sell out

How enlightening it is to watch the documentary Marley, about the life of Bob Marley, that came out last year.  My own previous knowledge of Bob was limited:  it's really my sister Reba who is more the reggae listener.  After all, she is the one who wrote a college paper on Rastafarianism and has seen a lot of reggae.

I was particularly moved by what one of his original band members, Bunny Wailer, said regarding the early career.  When Bob was getting big and his promoters wanted him to tour around, Bunny Wailer felt that much of the requests were going to compromise the spiritual nature of their music.  He wasn't interested in playing in dance halls.  He wanted to stay true to the Rastafarian spirituality of the music.   I have great respect for that statement.  Aside from the fact that he is a three time Grammy winner and learder in world music, I dig Mr. Wailer's look.

from Wikipedia

So today in spin class when a modern rap tune came on which sounds like it sampled Queen's classic "Another One Bites the Dust," I couldn't help but wonder if Jah B, as Mr. Wailer is also known as, would agree with me that this tune reeks of mysogyny and materialism that degrades the women and the human spirit.




For purely illustrative purposes here is the tune by The Sugarhill Gang I heard in spin class.  I do not honor or respect it, but it is for solely educational purposes that I place it here.  I say it's drek.  It's nah good vibes, evil!



 If you want to know the truth, both tunes sampled "Good Times" by Chic, but still...
 

When I read that Bunny Wailer is also known as Jah B and a leader in world music, it got me thinking of other Jah musicians I have known of.  One who is a very private person and whose name I can't even write here at the moment.  I respect his privacy.  Another is Rocker T, a Rainbow family musician who has the most beautiful tune "Thank Jah Most of All" and for whom I yet again thank our brother Adam for sharing his Happy Tape with me.  I am losing hope of ever going to Rainbow.  I don't think I could actually hack it at this point.  I need an aero bed at the minimum.  I'm not exactly into roughing it any more.



Now if that were remixed into a faster version , that would surely make a great spin tune, and none of that garbage that reinforces negative stereotypes of women in contemporary rap.

The Bad Mama Jama Looks Up and Sighs

Who is Carl Carlton?  And I always thought this tune was good ole Stevie.

I have waited for the time when I can finally say that this has all been wonderful and now I am on my way back to spin class!  It keeps me culturally-current.  When there is a good playlist, naturally.

Later in spin class, I heard another tune that I thought sounded familiar.  It's a catchy tune, but Ray Charles' "I've Got a Woman" drips misogyny.  It's not like I went to Wellesley or Smith, but I still have a heavy dose of feminist self-respect.   Stango said he never thought much about the lyrics.  Um, really?

Turns out the tune I was listening to in spin was a Kanye one, "Goldigger," which sampled the earlier Charles' tune.  Oy.  Can we say 21st century misogyny.  And even worse!  But at least now I can say I know a Kanye song.  Having read about him for years in all of my publications that keep me up to date, I finally recognize a tune of his.

I love Jamie Foxx the actor (loved Django Unchained) so at least that helps me deal with the fact that I posted a video like that on my blog.

Moving on in spin...

Bet you've never heard of the band called The Time. Neither had I. (well, not you Uncle Goalie I am sure you have).  My guess was they were probably a one-hit wonder.  But you have heard of Prince and he produced this tune.   The Time is close with Prince.  Any kid of the 80s has heard their tune Jungle Love.  Now this would be a fantastic new tune for Phish to cover!  Bring out that funk I tell ya.  And we all know how much Phish phans love Prince.




Enjoy that YouTube while you can.  We all know how private and protective Prince is.  That YouTube won't last long is my guess.

"Ice Cream Castle," the album on which Jungle Love appears, came out right around the time of Prince's "Purple Rain."  And we know how much the Phish world loves that album.  A lot.  It speaks right to that community.

Prince is truly a prince.  Has he met Winterqueen yet?

All Hallow's Eve

Everyone's gearing up for the big night this week on October 31st, and my neighborhood is no exception.  I don't remember this many Halloween decorations when I was growing up, do you?

This blog post documents the variety of decorations in my neighborhood, but I have a deeper question.  Some are cute and some are scary.  I live in a highly Jewish neighborhood, though we have mixed in all types of diversity.  Statement for the record:  I am Jewish and grew up trick or treating.  I loved it.  We never viewed it as a non Jewish thing to do; it's a holiday for all American kids!  How kosher is it to hang Halloween decorations?

I am not the kosher police. I have disdain for authority (save firefighters whom I respect and adore.  Ya gotta love a guy who cooks, saves lives and looks totally gorgeous in those uniforms)  as you may all well know.   But I am grateful that I have learned that Halloween actually isn't a Jewish holiday.  Historically it was a time when pogroms happened and people went out to hunt down the Jews, but I think most American Jews think it is fine to celebrate Halloween.

We're not getting hunted down today here in the suburbs, people argue!  And we love candy!

There are so many holidays on our Jewish calendar that we celebrate.  We aren't lacking for festivities and fun.  And you know Stango and I love partying.  To be in the spirit of our neighborhood we give candy so we can help them celebrate "their" holiday, but we dress up on Purim as "our" dress up holiday.  A lot of our friends do it this way in America, at least our real chevre (group of friends) whom we miss dearly.

Folks love decorating their yards for holidays, and my guess is that the Jewish families have finally found a way to outwardly decorate for a holiday that doesn't seem overtly non Jewish.  No one would put up xmas lights if they affiliate Jewishly in any way, but Halloween?  Seems like an easy pass.

I'm not so sure, but I did have fun this morning while finally out with the jogging stroller and capturing the variety of ways people decorate.

This one is cute and fun

Not scary.  Also fun for kids.

I like the Raggedy Ann & Andy influence.  These are cute and friendly.

Love these pumpkin theme leaf bags which my mom always said were the way Mr. Ben Zinbarg's made a fortune in the 1980s.  He was a successful business man in our town.  His daughter Joyce babysat me when I was very young.

This house goes all out and I've seen their hired help/gardeners putting up their decorations.  When did purple fall into the mix of Halloween colors?

Starting to get scarier with the whole death idea (RIP) and skeletons.  Halloween isn't a cozy holiday!

At least this house isn't pretending:  let's use xmas tinsel balls/ornaments that are marketed in Halloween colors.

Totally scary.  What children really like this?  I don't like the message of scaring kids.  I went into a haunted house at our local Congregational church when I was little and I was really scared.  No thank you.

Can we say totally into it?  At least in our 'hood it still has a tasteful home in the background.  In some neighborhoods where stucco and aluminum siding are standard, this would be the piece de resistance  of tacky.   

Now, here's a nice way to show your autumnal spirit.  Sure, the mums don't last from season to season, but it's friendly and welcoming and all about LIFE not death.  But I guess kids aren't as into it...

Like my mom, I decorate for Thanksgiving. As a native New Englander I get all warm and fuzzy over the changing leaves and the crisp fall air.  It's also my birthday in the fall, so I have even more reason to love the season.  I found this cute Pilgrim boy and Native American child in my local card shop.  We had decorations like this when I was growing up.  

You could get into the whole Native American argument and stealing the land away from them, but that's for another blog post.  There's no argument that this is not a holiday for all people (wait...do native Americans eat turkey?)  Its very roots lie in democracy and freedom for all (wait, the Indians were forced onto reservations!).  "Over the River and Through the Woods" is a Thanksgiving song that I loved learning in 1st grade.  In Jewish Day School, thank you very much.  

There are many observant Jews who make no big deal of Thanksgiving.  I understand where they're coming from:  with Shabbes every week and just recovering from yomtov burnout earlier in the fall, who needs another festive meal?  I know of people who will volunteer their time on Thanksgiving day in a food pantry to infuse meaning into the day (sans festive meal). 

You'd think we were Halloween people with our assortment of pumpkins outside, too.  What can I say?  I took my children over the weekend to our local park's Fall event with pumpkin decorating.  I plan to cut up these sugar pumpkins and cook with them next week.  

All Hallow's Eve is all about the boo and scare and the rotten eggs and the smashed mailboxes.  It's cute to have kids all dressed up, but at its root is darkness and evil.  They even bastardize wicca and take witch imagery and mess it all up.

Valentine's Day, on the other hand...now that's all good candy and roses.  Somehow, Tu B'Av, the Jewish love day, doesn't match up.

And for all of these reasons I look forward to spending a couple of years in Israel with my crew.  Apple cider donuts, hayrides, and fun-sized twix bars will be sorely missed.

BDE Lou Reed RIP: Our Lives Were Saved by Rock n Roll

The rock music world lost one of its icons this weekend.  Lou Reed was 71 and passed away from complications of liver disease.  He was famously the lead singer of the Velvet Underground.  I knew his tune "Walk on the Wild Side" just as much as any other high school kid in the '80s who listened to classic rock radio.  But it was only later in life that one tune of his in particular spoke to me.

Ask any Phish head and they will likely agree that their cover of Reed's "Rock and Roll" is a winner.  My family didn't precisely live out the suburban caricature he depicts in the song, but we were supposed to.  We had one Cadillac car which I never liked.  I didn't turn on the radio when I was 5 years old, but later in life I danced to plenty of rock n roll stations.   When I was five I was dancing in the living room to "A Chorus Line" soundtrack with my friend Julie from up the street.

There is nothing finer than experiencing this tune live, and I'm so grateful for it.

Here's Phish covering the tune at their "It" festival in Limestone, Maine in Summer of 2003

As I told Bob Lefsetz this morning, Lou was also a Yid, so when a Jewish person passes away we say Baruch Dayan haEmet:  blessed is the ruler of truth.   The Jewish way of saying rest in peace.  May his soul journey from this world to the next in the most peaceful and blessed way.  I read that Lou didn't consider himself Jewish, but that rock n roll was his religion.  I hear where he's coming from:  my guess is he never found a way to converge the two worlds.  But that's where we must be headed, folks, because there is no other way than going towards the light.  Gleaning the good from both worlds.  Just ask the Nunever in this year's upcoming Blues for Challah and he can tell you all about it!

Thank you Lou Reed for your words, your music, your soul.

Now, if Phish would only play this again tomorrow night in Reading when I attend my only show of Fall Tour!  Doubtful...

Baby gifts galore. Sussudio!

Further to a new baby in the house, I love getting gifts.  There is a reason that the idiom "it's the thought that counts" is long-living.  That someone took the time to set aside something for baby Eddie, no matter the item, touches my emotions.  It shows that they care.  The simple act of giving a gift, whether homemade or Jonathan Adler hippy couture, is the essence.  

People have a lot of gifts to give, and it gets pricey, especially when you live amongst folks who have (k'h), many beautiful communal life cycle events to celebrate.  People can't keep spending money when they have multiple brisses, weddings and bar mitzvahs a month.  So they do what we all know happens in the dark recesses of home offices across the country:  they regift.

No jacket gift receipt required.

I am the first to admit that I regift items, but with baby things another alternative is to make a personalized, handmade gift.  And you don't have to be a Picasso.

I am not a great artist.  But I can hold my own with a glue gun and paint pen.  I realize this isn't for everyone.  And not everyone has the time; who does!  But if you can swing it, most moms I know love something that says their baby's name on it.  Especially when you already have all the baby gear you need.   Who needs  another plastic baby toy? 

Here are some works in progress.  They are personalized plastic storage boxes.  You might know these babies, or better yet, you might be the recipient of one of these gifts.  If so, I hope I didn't ruin the surprise.  These boxes still need some silver accents added. 

Look how cooperative Eddie was!

Oh, and my first concert ever?  Genesis at the Hartford Colosseum.  I sat with Jodi Fisher.  We went with the JCC youth group.