Rosh Hashanah

The High Holidays are off to a lovely start.  As in earlier years, we brought the kids to erev Rosh Hashanah services.  Here they are in their finery:

They were a little squirrelly at services - it's totally adult-oriented and there are probably 800 people at a time, so no big surprise there.  They were disappointed that the evening service didn't include the shofar.  But they got through it admirably.

The next day was, for me, a day to appreciate the friends we've made here.  In the morning, we dropped the kids off at the Temple childcare and they bounced right in because their best buddies were there.  Such a difference from last year, when Aaron was so traumatized by the childcare room that we had to keep him with us at services for the whole time.  This time, we sat with our friend Jessica, and although it's not the first time we've sat with a friend at High Holidays, it's close, especially here in Seattle.  At Beth Am HH services in earlier years, Dale and I have always felt surrounded by pleasant strangers.  That was okay, but a friend is a great thing.

In the middle of the day there was a peaceful break.  Then at the children's services in the afternoon, I felt like I knew practically everyone, in a room full of probably 500 people.  (Half of whom were under 8! it was a madhouse!)  I sat in the back spotting friends:  there's Jordan's soccer buddy, there's Aaron's teacher, there's our friends who are coming to dinner, on and on.  Then after services, our friends did come to dinner (thirteen people - families add up fast), and it was festive and easy and fun.  After a delicious apples-and-honey appetizer, we enjoyed a tasty mushroom galette, two round challahs (plain and raisin), lots of fresh vegetables, and honey cake.

We love having people over.  Our house makes it easy, and I'm a regular Merlin Mann in the kitchen:  I'm creative, productive, efficient, and I plan ahead, so that hopefully when the guests arrive I can mostly just hang out with them and have fun.  Dale usually takes charge of arranging the furniture so that everyone has somewhere pleasing to sit; this time there was an unexpectedly beautiful evening, so we moved the whole thing outside.

My parents had friends over all the time but, the way I remember it, rarely cooked for them; dinner parties were usually at restaurants.  Where did I get this hosting gene?  As soon as I posed the question to myself I thought of my Jewish grandmother, who absolutely loved having people over.  Even when it was just us she would put out this classic spread of pickles, black olives, crackers, cheddar cheese, and kosher salami.  Sometimes there would be a Romanian relish she had made from peppers (salata) or eggplant (she called it patagella, but the internet suggests potlaja).  And she loved to make dinner, often brisket and carrots and potatoes, my father's favorite.  The brisket was doused with beer and Knorr's dried onion soup, and baked for hours and hours until it was falling apart.  She did not care for baking, though, so she was passionately delighted when I first made challah for her.  I wish she could see our life now, with our house and the dinners and the community of kids and parents.  She would love it.

Who is he?

Since Jordan has restarted Hebrew school, Dale and I are motivated to try and stay ahead of him, and it's kind of a fun little thing to do together in the evenings.  We took a short course together several years ago so we have a reasonable basis and a good textbook.  It's funny how you can go along translating this and that short little sentence, doing fine, and then all of a sudden the spidery lettering swims across the page and it looks like complete gibberish.  And the pronouns are comically confusing:  The Hebrew word for "he" is pronounced hu, the word for "she" is hee, and the word for "who" is me.  You try and make up a little saying to remember them, and then you are saying things like "He is she and who is he and me is who," and you are Abbott and Costello.  Or I am the Eggman!  Coo coo ca choo!

Back to the books.

Sukkot preview

Our temple is having a "High Holidays Fair" this weekend with an apples-and-honey table, a shofar table, etc.  I volunteered to do the Sukkot table since Sukkot is possibly my favorite holiday and definitely under-appreciated in my community.  I prepared the following materials (thank you, Pages!), and will be ready with a practice lulav and etrog (just a lemon and a branch, since the real thing is not yet available).  Doesn't this make you want to build a sukkah of your own?

Dishwasher advice

Our dishwasher is stupendously wonderful and is a very important part of our family life, so when it started doing a less than perfect job we cared a lot.  It's fixed now.  When the very prompt, efficient, intelligent-seeming repair guy was done, I asked him, "Anything I should know?"  Here are his answers:

1. Most people use far too much soap, which creates a variety of problems.  Q: How much is too much?  A: Anything more than one tablespoon.  How about that!  Guilty as charged.

2. He looked at our dishwasher detergent and said "This is fine, but when you finish this liquid, you might switch over to a powder."  Apparently powder dissolves better and has abrasives in it that help the washer do a better job.

3. Now that phosphates are not used in soaps anymore (for very good reasons), detergents are supplemented with either enzymes or bleach.  One brand, Finish Quantum, has both enzymes and bleach, so it does a better job.

I didn't know any of that.

Mount Rainier: Forest

Mount Rainier visit continued.  From Paradise, you can drive for half an hour or so and be down in the old growth.  This is my favorite kind of hiking.  It's usually shady and green, the air has a delicious rich smell of forest, and there is a lot of pleasure in the details of mushrooms and leaf shapes and bark.

We had one lovely walk by a riverbank, where we picked up an abandoned inflatable.  Who could resist?

The last time we visited Mt. Rainier, Jordan learned to walk on logs, and this year he again did it every chance he got.  It still makes my heart go into my mouth, so I sometimes don't watch.

Aaron is dying to do exactly what Jordan does, in all things.

At the end of our lovely hiking days, it was a pleasure to enjoy the sunset back at Paradise.

Mount Rainier: Alpine

We spent two nights at Mount Rainier with Grandpa.  The weather was glorious, the scenery awe-inspiring, the lodgings comfortable, the wildflowers in bloom.  Really nice trip.

We stayed at the Paradise Inn, up in the alpine part of the park.

Right outside the inn is an amazing bounty of wildflower meadows.  It's hard to show in a photo, but there were dozens of different shapes and colors.  They're not really supposed to be blooming in September - it's been a cool, late summer - but so much the better for us.

 Inside the inn, large painted ceiling lamps honor the native flora.

Outside again, you hike through the meadows on wide paved paths.  (Don't be a meadow-stomper!)  The mountain is an amazing presence.  We had perfect clear sunny weather every day.

There are waterfalls all over the area.  This is Myrtle Falls.

Our group spans a 67-year age range so we take the easy hikes.  One of the days, though, Dale and Jordan took off on their own for a more ambitious hike up the Skyline trail.  They went way, way up:  Jordan was very energetic, and for a bit there Dale wondered if he would be able to keep up with him.  Major pride at the top, and Dale thinks it may have been the best alpine hike he's ever taken.  They saw lots of marmots.