Israel and Philadelphia

It's difficult to believe that two weeks ago I was sitting in J's kitchen translating SR's bar mitzvah sermon, and her and LR's speeches. As we have a very cultural weekend planned (AwesomeCon followed by Fauré's Requiem on Saturday, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead on Sunday), I have to finish writing this letter today!

So, as everyone knows, A, S and I had a very action-packed week in Israel between May 10-16, while ADC spent part of that time visiting colleagues in Arizona with whom he has a BSF grant. We managed to see a lot of people, but not everyone we would have liked to, and most people we did not get to see enough of, for my part particularly not enough of my siblings J and R (I think I saw more of my brother-and sister-in-law than I did of them). It was lovely seeing my uncle and aunt from South Africa and my cosin from London, their son, too, and I'm sorry we only overlapped for 36 hours or so. 

A and S's favourite day was Tuesday, which we spent in Jerusalem, each one of us seeing friends separately. I think that this week has actually made them  more eager to come home: seeing all their old friends really emphasised the extent to which they have made acquaintances rather than friends in Takoma Park. I think the day I enjoyed most was Thursday, when I spent the morning at Tel Aviv University meeting friends and the early afternoon seeing eumelia s flat and having lunch with her at a very pleasant café down the road, before she took the three boys to see Avengers: Age of Ultron, which they all enjoyed thoroughly. ADC and I are very grateful to her for doing so, otherwise we would have had to take the boys to see it, and we would rather do other things on our weekends.... The bar mitzvah itself, of course, was in a class of itself. I was highly impressed with SR's reading from the Torah, and J and LR's speeches thoroughly embarrassed him, as is the custom. 

The trip home was much less traumatic than the cancellation of the Amtrak line between New York and Philadelphia following the derailment would have suggested; after spending close to an hour on the phone to America, we were able to be rerouted to Baltimore, and ADC came to pick us up. By the time he went to Princeton to give a talk last Thursday, the train was running as normal again.

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and we went on what is probably our last out of town trip before we leave Takoma Park in July. We spent Saturday at Gettysburg, and Sunday and Monday in Philadelphia. It took quite a long time to get to Gettysburg, and even longer to get from there to Philadelphia; about half the day was spent driving. The national battlefield site is very interesting and informative, with a film (narrated, of course, by Morgan Freeman), a nineteenth-century cyclorama and an excellent museum at the visitor centre, and the most authentic living history we've seen yet in the US (ADC questions whether we've seen any other living history; the RenFest in October certainly doesn't count). As we are so close to the solstice and so far north, despite arriving in Philadelphia close to 8 p.m., it was still light, which was very nice as we wandered around looking for a restaurant bear our hotel. We ended up at an Indonesian place, adding to the list of cuisines we are sampling here. Each of us thought that he had chosen the best choice of the dishes.

Saturday was our only full day in Philadelphia, and we were extremely thorough in our explorations, returning to the hotel nearly 13 hours after setting out in the morning. We didn't get to see the Liberty Bell, as the queue was incredible, but we did go to the National Museum of American Jewish History, Independence Hall, Reading Terminal Market, and the Delaware River Waterfront. At the NMAJH, we started with a temporary exhibition of Richard Avedon portraits, many of which came from the Israel Museum's collection. I found the permanent collection more interesting, though, especially the sections on the development of Reform Judaism and the post-WWII move to suburbia. Like the Tenement Museum in New York, a lot of the museum was a walk through ADC's family history. The Tenement Museum was a more intense experience, focussing as it did on only one of the times and places covered by the NMAJH. A particularly interesting aspect for me was the historiography: the presence of Yiddish, for example, alongside Hebrew in many cases, and the total absence of the non-Ashkenazi experience in the historical introduction, apart from the mass aliyah to Israel. At the same time, there was both a great emphasis on Jewish involvement in civil rights and feminism (neither of which would have happened, it looked like, without the Jews) and an acknowledgement that Jews today are both Republicans and Democrats. 

After we finished at the museum, we had just enough time for a cheesesteak before going to Independence Hall. Everyone approved of the cheesesteak (even the vegan one I ate), as one should always try local foods, and it was the right thing at the right time. Independence Hall was a guided tour of a small building, with a very enthusiastic guide with great voice projection. I must say that I remain resolutely Old World-centric in what really interests me in history ... We continued from Independence Hall to Reading Street Market. We had begun our day there, as it was right across the road from our hotel, and the boys were enchanted by Mueller's chocolate, which featured various body parts made from chocolate. They desperately wanted to buy a heart or a kidney as an afternoon snack, but these were quite large and correspondingly expensive, so we forced them to make do with a nose each - which seemed like quite a lot of chocolate, in any case!

We then decided to take advantage of Philadelphia's street art, and explored the city centre further by way of walking the abridged version of the Mural Mile. S took pictures of the murals, which were almost invariably on the walls of building that abutted parking lots - I don't think I've seen so many parking lots in such a small space! The murals themselves wee fascinating, and we spent much longer than the suggested 30 minutes looking at them and discussing what we were seeing. By the time we finished, it was past 6 p.m. and we were all starting to droop. We had supper at an excellent Italian restaurant, Giorgio on Pine, where our waitress was Italian and supper was still going strong when we left, just before eight - unusual for American restaurants, which often close for the night by eight. We finished the day by walking to the Delaware River Waterfront, mainly so as not to retire to the hotel too early. When we got to Penn's Landing, we were startled to see a Cold War submarine next to a floating fish restaurant. 

On Monday, we spent the entire day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We walked there from our hotel, down Benjamin Franklin Parkway and looked at all the flags, in vague alphabetical order (except for the flags of Poland, next to a statue in memory of Copernicus, and of Israel, next to a Holocaust memorial from 1964). At the museum, ADC declined to take pictures of the boys by the statue of Rocky, as he doesn't like taking that kind of picture - and in his defence, there was quite a long line of people waiting to take that same picture ... We were too early for what looks like a very good exhibition of the Impressionists, but enjoyed looking at the Museum's own collection of that school. We stuck to nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, this time. A was very keen to see the Surrealists and Marcel Duchamp's urinal, while S was happy to see a Roy Lichtenstein. Both of them spent the last hour or so at the arms and armour hall by themselves, while Ariel and I looked at decorative art and rooms from English stately homes that had been transferred piecemeal in the 1920s and 1930s. I have to admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the PMA. Admittedly, the National Gallery and the Met are in a class by themselves, but I think that there was more art that spoke to me, personally, at the MFA in Boston. But maybe I was just tired after Saturday ... 

Last Friday, the 22nd, A's entire year, the 8th grade class of 2015, went to Six Flags. He had a lot of fun, going on a roller coaster and dodgem cars, playing games at an arcade and eating pizza. Very sweetly, he bought fudge and brought it home for all of us. The same day, S had Authors' Tea at school: parents were invited to class to hear the children read poems or short prose pieces they had written. About half way through, juice and cookies were served. S read an alliterative alphabetical poem about superheroes. Apart from him, the best pieces, I thought, were an extract from a description of a baseball game from the ball's point of view, and a poem entitled "Divorce" in which one of the girls reflected on how life was in face better after her parents' divorce - everyone was much happier, and shhe had double the family. Almost all the children read something and some of them read two pieces. As usual with this age, the difference between boys and girls is immense. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the boys are still children, and the girls - at least some of them - are becoming introspective, mature.

As a result of the Authors' Tea, I have decided to sign up for a poem of the day by e-mail. I was surprised to see how much choice there is. Should I go for a classic daily poem, or a contemporary one? When does contemporary start? Does anyone have a recommendation? 

SED 23 - fun times for A and S

A's entire year, the 8th grade class of 2015, went to Six Flags today. He had a lot of fun, going on a roller coaster and dodgem cars, playing games at an arcade and eating pizza. Very sweetly, he bought fudge and brought it home for all of us. 

S had Authors' Tea at school today: parents were invited to class to hear the children read poems or short prose pieces they had written. About half way through, juice and cookies were served. S read an alliterative alphabetical poem about superheroes. Apart from him, the best pieces, I thought, were an extract from a description of a baseball game from the ball's point of view, and a poem entitled "Divorce" in which one of the girls reflected on how life was in face better after her parents' divorce - everyone was much happier, and shhe had double the family. Almost all the children read something and some of them read two pieces. As usual with this age, the difference between boys and girls is immense. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the boys are still children, and the girls - at least some of them - are becoming introspective, mature. 

As a result of the Authors' Tea, I have decided to sign up for a poem of the day by e-mail. I was surprised to see how much choice there is. Should I go for a classic daily poem, or a contemporary one? When does contemporary start? Does anyone have a recommendation? 

SED 21 - helping with homework

Things are really back to normal now: I've just finished helping S with his spelling homework and given A his weekly Arabic lesson. Both of these things are part of our Thursday afternoon routine. 

S has a spelling quiz every Friday. His teacher gives out a list of 30 words every Monday, divided into 3 groups of easy, middle and difficult. When we first arrived, S was doing the easy and middle words, but within 6 weeks he was moved to the middle and difficult group. He learns all the words, anyway, and I give him dictation every Thursday evening. This week's topic was words with TH, CH and SH. Interestingly, after only a week's break, S did much more poorly than usual - he normally get less than 5 words wrong, and this time he got 8 "wrongs", as he calls them. He was quite philosophical about it, and it was proof, to my mind, of the importance of reading in learning spelling - he read much less than usual in Israel, and even not having his cell phone this week hasn't meant that he's read more than usual, since he and A have played a great deal together (and of course, they have had to make up the lessons that they missed). 

A's Arabic lesson went as could be expected. After a week's break, his reading had deteriorated, but I remember that happening to me after the summer vacation as an undergraduate. I am glad that I've set a specific day and time for the lessons, because they are actually happening and he's not dropping too far behind his class. After the Memorial Day weekend, we'll start having two lessons a week, beginning with a review all the vocabulary of the current plus the present-future tense (more correctly, the imperfect).

ETA: this is uploaded on Friday, as ADC came home just as I was about to do so yesterday.  

SED 20 (late) - clearly not over jet lag

One of my conclusions - yes, already - from SED is that I can't be sure I'll get around to it in the evening. Posting during working hours is most likely to ensure consistency, and even that is not going to be true, always. 

Case in point - yesterday I had a highly productive working day, and fully intended to post after supper, then get back to sewing my hiking shorts. However, I must still be jetlagged, as shortly after the boys went to sleep at 9:00, I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at 10:00 and went to bed properly. As ADC is in Princeton for a couple of days, I correctly anticipated not sleeping well, so I might as well get a head start ... and clearly my body was also telling me something. 

SED 18 + 19 - getting over jetlag and getting back to work

Yeterday was all about jetlag - although I woke up what seemed like a reasonable time, I was completely washed out the whole day, and found it difficult to concentrate well enough to work. The heat didn't help, although at least our AC is working, unlike A's school ... It was such a relief when the heavens opened about 8 p.m., and it continued raining at least until I went to bed at the absurdly early hour (for me) of 10 p.m.

Today was a much better day. I filled in my bimonthly income tax and VAT reports for the Israeli tax authorities, finalised a grant proposal (but can't submit it yet, as the admin people have to first upload the sections they are responsible for), put the final touches to the book I was editing before leaving for Israel, and began peer-reviewing three articles for a collection to which I have contributed (and will be paid for). So a very productive day all round. Now to make supper, and afterwards to sew buttons on ADC's trousers, a top of mine, and the cardigan that will be M's.

SED 17 - back in the USA

I was a bit too optimistic at the end of my last post - while I had a reasonable flight, sleeping quite a lot and almost finishing my book, S had a rather bad one: he threw up twice, after overeating at the bar-mitzvah. The first time was in the aisle, and the stewardesses sprinkled a clumping material (similar to kitty litter, I should think) and asked my help cleaning up. The second time was after he drank some water - he just spat that up all over himself ... I felt very sorry for him, but when we were about to disembark, and he couldn't find his cell phone, I did get upset. I couldn't understand how he could have lost such a thing, and we spent quite a while during our connection at Newark filling in an online form to report its loss.

Apart from that hiccup, landing went smoothly. As always, my J-1 visa raised queries from the immigration officer, but I was able to convince him that medieval medicine was actually effective (quite a few modern cough medicines, both over the counter and prescription drugs, are based on the same materia medica) and also customized to individuals (a very brief description of the ideal of Galenic practice, I know).

We arrived at BWI at 9:30 a.m., still on Israel time, i.e. 4:30 p.m., having set out from my parents' house at 8:30 the previous evening. When we got home and unpacked, Shaul's cell phone was discovered in a side pocket of his backpack - a pocket that I had not realised was there. So, all's well that end's well, but I'm still confiscating his phone for a week, so that he learns to be more careful with his things.

It's now 8:30 in the evening, and the boys have been in bed for an hour. I deliberately had them shower as  soon as we got home so that they could go to bed quickly in the eveing. In the afternoon we watched Kurasawa's The Hidden Fortress, apparently one of George Lucas' inspirations for the original Star Wars. We'll listen to the interview with Lucas tomorrow, as despite the thrilling story and set-piece duels, the boys nearly fell asleep watching the movie, and absolutely did so while Ariel made supper.

I shall go to bed shortly myself ... tomorrow normal life resumes.

SED 16 - SR's bar-mitzvah

his entry is written at Ben-Gurion airport, on our way back to the USA, and uploaded after reaching Takoma Park again. This has been a whirlwind week, which culminated in SR's bar-mitzvah. I spent yesterday morning translating the speeches to English, for the benefit of the family members coming from South Africa and England. The celebrations began with supper at J's house, with the immediate family on both sides - a total of 21 people, many of whom are observant and therefore all kinds of things could or could not be done. J became progressively more frazzled beneath her calm facade over the 24 hours, and I think it is a very good thing indeed that she is taking tomorrow off work.

eumelia and I shared a room, and stayed up very late talking. This was a good thing for me, as she went home immediately after lunch today, and I was very glad of the extra time with her. The bar-mitzvah itself was lovely. SR is very musical and loves performing (he is the pianist in the local Conservatorium's classical trio), and read almost all of the weekly Torah portion, not just the maftir (final section) and haftarah (reading from the Prophets) that most boys do. I was given the honour of being called up for a section of the Torah reading together with A and S, and we received a very long section indeed. After the reading, SR gave a short sermon and then was bombarded with sweets. A was sorry that this was the first time he could not participate in the children's mad rush to gather the sweets, as he had his own bar-mitzvah last year.

After the service ended, there was food. Then there was lunch. Then my mother, my sister and my niece all gave speeches that embarrased SR to a greater or lesser degree. Then we went home and rested a bit (I confirmed that my mother was not being charged twice for the change in tickets and packed), then went back to J for tea and ate more. 

Now we are at the airport. We were able to change tickets at check in, and the boys are now sitting togeter on both legs of the the flight. I must say that I am impressed with United's customer service.

SED 14+15 - belated happy birthday to M ! and Amtrak woes

My sister, the blog's eponym, had her 30th birthday yesterday. It was a very funfilled and busy day, in which I was barely in front of a screen, unless I was actively working at something else, hence the lateness of today's post. 

Yesterday began with two meetings at TAU, with MS (my co-editor of a special issue on Islamic medicine), which greatly calmed my mind as to how three people would edit a volume together, and my best friend KA; of course we didn't have enough time together, but it was good to see her. I then continued to M's place, which is very her, and we had lunch together in a very pleassant neighbourhood café. Once we got back to KS, she took the three boys to see Avengers: Age of Ultron and I did a bit of shopping. The day almost ended with a lovely family meal. It completely ended with an e-mail from Amtrak saying that the Philadelphia-Washington leg of the journey home had been cancelled. That sent me into a complete tizzy, and I spent a lot of today sorting that out (or at least thinking about it).

Let me begin, of course, by saying that I hope I am not completely selfish and my first reaction when I heard about the terrible crash on the Northeast Regional - the only Amtrak route I've ever travelled, I think - was sorrow and concern for the families of the dead and wounded. My impression, until last night, was that I might have to take a convoluted route to Philly, but from there it would be OK. Obviously, this was now not the case. Long story short (and half an hour on the phone to United in the US), we will fly back from Newark to Baltimore and ADC will collect us from there. 

SED 13 - a quiet day in the south

We're at the midpoint of our week in Israel. Today I took the train to Beersheba with A and S, and we spent the day with ADC's parents and sister. From my point of view, apart from the travel, it was a nice quiet day after yesterday's excitement and the busy-ness of the next days, in the immediate lead-up to the bar mitzvah. Everyone was amazed by how much A has grown (although he is still shorter than E, but not by much) and how much S's comics have improved technically. 

A and S was rather overtired by this time, as well as not quite over jet lag, as they had stayed up to watch the Champions' League semi-final last night, after returning from Jerusalem. I refused to allow them to see today's semi-finals unless they rested in the afternoon, and this caused a mild crisis with A, who believes he can get by with far less sleep than he actually needs and actively resists sleeping in cars/planes/trains/afternoons. I managed to put my point across, and then went off for a 90-minute nap, myself, which was very much needed. Tomorrow I have a 9 a.m. meeting in Tel Aviv, whereas the boys can sleep as late as they like. 

I am really looking forward to coming home in August. Eating loquats in season and hearing A's description of the market in Jerusalem, where he had lunch with his friends yesterday, really made me homesick. In America pineapple and asparagus are as cheap or expensive as anything else, while in Israel they are luxuries, but the supermarket is a totally different sensory experience, not even a poor imitation, of a real market where you can buy staples like cucumbers and tomatoes, and they always taste good.  

SED 12 - a lovely day in Jerusalem

We arrived back at my parents, tired but happy, at 10:30 this evening, an hour later than planned, 13 and a half hours after setting off this morning. We split up, and each of us spent noon onwards with his or her friends. I think we all had a lot of fun. Now I must desperately get some sleep before visiting the in-laws tomorrow. 

SED 11 - it's still Monday in Washington

Just finished Skypeing with ADC - tomorrow he leaves for Arizona, so I'll speak to him again only on Saturday, just before we go back. Both of us had relatively relaxed days. 

Mummy woke us up at ten, so that A and S could go to have their haircuts. I sorted out the phone situation, with the result that I now have a temporary stupid phone for calls and my US phone (locked to the US, it turns out) for Whatsapp and e-mail/internet when there is wifi. And my laptop, of course - I'll be taking all three to Jerusalem tomorrow.

Y and N, ADC's brother and his wife, came over this evening. They were very happy with the maple syrup and their children, R and Z, were very happy with the Playmobil. After the left, my friend T came over, and we discussed, among other things, how The Imitation Game had played fast and loose with military history,  cryptography, computing and Alan Turing's personal life. I pointed out that people with any kind of deep understanding in these fields were not necessarily the target audience, but agreed that the dumbing down had been excessive.

SED 10 - arriving

The flight was OK in the end - the boys were not bothered by sitting apart from me, but I got a bit claustrophobic towards the end, sitting between two men larger than myself, and the person in front of me leaning back. It was lovely to see my parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. Everyone was very pleased with their presents, and very impressed with my sewing and knitting. After my sisters tried on the Miette, I decided that it fit M much better than myself, and I would give it to her, and reknit it with a needle one size larger.

The only irritating thing was that I have mislaid my Israeli phone - I thought I had left it with my parets, but it can't be found. Maybe I did take it with to America, and it is now inside the box in which my American call phone came? That would be such a smart and obvious place to put it that of course it would be forgotten ... at least there is a place that sells SIM cards just down the road, and I'll go there first thing in the morning. 

SED 9 - in transit

Written at Newark airport, but only uploaded now in Israel:

Today was all about getting to the airport. I was right to be worried about Amtrak, but 25 minutes at the counter at Union Station solved the problem. I was able to edit nearly 50 pages on the train, and finish the second book-length manuscript of the month. 
At Newark all went quite smoothly, once we managed to check in, as we were all TSA pre-selected, so didn't have to unpack our carry-ons or take off our shoes. Hope the flight is equally smooth.

SED 8 - packing!

Today I ...
  - cleaned the house (or at least the kitchen and bathrooms)
  - packed for a week in Israel
  - read an epic length SS/HG and therefore
  - did not do any editing (bad)
  - angsted about the possibility that there was Something Wrong with my tickets and I would have to get off the train at Philly on my way to Newark airport

Next update will be In Transit!

SED 7 - a fanfic day

The combination of wanting to spend the day curled up in a ball and having committed to rec at one_bad_man today meant that I spent a lot of the day reading fanfic. Discovered a new-to-me author on the Pit of Voles, Georgesgurl117, and am binging on her.

SED 6 - an ordinary day

... but a productive one. I completed about a quarter of the remaining part of the book I am editing, so I am well on track to finishing it by Friday. After supper I sewed for an hour, and then completed the neckband of my cardigan, and wove in all the ends. Only the buttons left!

The children had more exciting days. A's English class had their dramatic readings today, and apparently he did quite well. He chose an abridged version of Pirate Jenny from the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weil Threepenny Opera (the link is to Judy Collins' performance of it). Not being very musical, he had to work quite hard to learn it by heart and to be able to recite it not in a monotone. S, on the other hand, registered today for a MOOC run by the Smithsonian, called The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact on American Culture - right up his street, and I'm glad ADC knew about it. He is very enthusiastic about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the youngest participant.

SED 5 - storm in a teacup

Today had its ups and downs. Just as I set off into DC to buy gifts for my nephews and nieces who I'll be seeing next week in Israel, I got an e-mail from my mother-in-law that basically said that the day I was coming to visit her and my father- and sister-in-law was very inconvenient and could I change it. Now, I will be in Israel for six days, with the last two days - the Friday and Saturday - basically being devoted to my nephew's bar mitzvah, which is why we are going (we = me, A and S. ADC is going to visit colleagues in Arizona). That leaves four days, including the day we actually land. Can I change anything at this stage? Not without a huge hassle which I am not prepared to do, especially since I sent everyone my schedule on April 18 precisely so that if anyone needed to change plans, they would be able to do so. 

I bitched about this to ADC during lunch with him in a lovely Asian-fusion restaurant called Teaism, and he took my side against his mother, thus proving once more that he is a Good Husband. On the metro on the way home, my sister-in-law ("the only sensible adult in that house," to quote ADC) e-mailed to apologise for her mother's earlier mail, and to say that everything had been sorted out and I should come as planned. Whew! Much mental agony wasted. 

I managed to get quite a lot of editing done even with arriving home at 2:30, and I cut out a new pattern after supper: Tofino shorts. I'm not sure about the fabric, it might be a bit sheer, but that's why this will be a wearable muslin...

SED - a very productive day

The warm weather is making me both happy and productive. I must have been suffering from some mild form of SAD during the winter. I've edited two sections of the current book I'm working on, and sent them back to the author with some content-related comments. 

I have also done a load of laundry and had the dubious pleasure of unblocking the toilet. I hate the temperamental plumbing in this house, can't wait to get home where it's the bath - rather than the toilet - that gets blocked, and even that only every few months rather than weekly. 

Now to reward myself by hemming my skirt!

SED - First real hike of the season

Today was a glorious day, not too hot and not too cold. As we have been warned that spring in the greater DC area is fleeting, we decided that there was no time like the present to go on a hike. We chose the MD Great Falls park (there is a VA Great Falls park, too - I find the lack of imagination shown by early European settlers very irritating), where the Billy Goat Trail promised to be the kind of hike we are used to from Israel: a bit of rock scrambling, a bit of level path, and a lot of wild flowers. Just as we started, we saw a magnificent Eastern Swallowtail, and along the towpath, by the locks of the abandoned C&O Canal, we saw red-eared sliders (orange-bellied terrapins, as I called them at first): At first we thought we were seeing rocks in the water, but then they moved very slightly and we realised that these were terrapins. At the end of the route, we saw actual snapping turtles, looking just like in The Bears' Vacation! (ADC asks that I clarify that I know that the Berenstain Bears were at the seaside and therefore they cannot be the same species). 

The rock scramble was, as always, a bit terrifying but I did it in the end. S, who has recently claimed a fear of heights, seemed to have forgotten that, and announced that he had had a wonderful time when we got back to the car. A is a mountain goat, so of course he enjoyed himself. He has finally begun using the GPS he got as a bar mitzvah present, and today he also took more pictures than usual. 

We came home, tired and pleased as the Hebrew phrase goes, showered and went out to eat at Nando's in Silver Spring - marking the third country/continent in which we have sampled their chicken, after England and South Africa. The day ended with watching the "Mirror, Mirror" episode of ST:TOS.

Just squeaking under the wire

This is almost the first moment I have sat in front of a computer today (can't compose a whole post on my phone). Today began with Skype conversations with both sets of families back in Israel, continued to Free Comic Book Day in Silver Spring, then while ADC made zucchini salad and onion bread for the departmental picnic, I completed the second sleeve of my cardigan. The departmental picnic was followed by a Mozart concert at Strathmore. I'm exhausted!

SED - first participation in a challenge of sorts

I have been thinking for a while about making this more of a blog and less of an open archive of letters home, so when teddyradiator announced a challenge to post Something Every Day during May, I jumped at the chance for a framework. This is a good month to do something like this, as I will be spending a week in Israel, so less letters home will be written in any case. 

I will start with the list of the things I want to do before the 9th, which is when I will be travelling with A and S to my nephew's bar mitzvah. Workwise, I have just finished editing one book-length manuscript and already started another. I will be meeting both authors in Israel, so I definitely need to finish book two, but instead I cleaned the house and went shopping. My supermarket trolley was a bit schizophrenic: healthy fruits and vegetables for us to eat over the coming week, and chocolate bars, ice cream toppings, peanut butter and maple syrup to take to Israel (well, the last two are OK, I suppose). 

Craftwise, I want to complete my Miette cardigan (only the second sleeve ribbing, buttonbands and neckbands left, and my Hollyburn skirt (only the hem left). This is the first time I have made any kind of garment - knitted or sewn - for myself. I've only been knitting for 17 months, and I got my sewing machine in March, so I think I can allow myself to be very pleased with myself. If I have time, I want to make drawstring pouches for some of the presents I'm bringing, and maybe a pair of shorts. 

Wow. This has suddenly reenergised my editing mojo - maybe I should start my work day like this?