What did you do for Valentine's Day?

We went dancing!


Well, really we went to our friends Michelle and Mark's wedding. But there was dancing!


I was trying to figure out what was so different about V-day this year (aside from the India thing) and realized that it's the first time since 1998 that I didn't get a shoebox or paper bag full of "To my Teacher" Valentines. Weird. :)

Sukkot (Flashback)

Back when we were still in Virginia, we happily got to spend Sukkot at Elise, Eric, Gavi and Sarit's house, with Steven. They have a neat sukkah that they built from a kit, which was a good solution reached after many years of hand-making versions in the various countries where they were posted. We were introduced to an East Coast type of skach (sukkah covering) - corn stalks with husks attached (apparently other East Coasters use pine boughs). Growing up in California, it never occurred to us that palm fronds were just regional, not halacha.

The sukkah was great, the food was excellent (so much good cheese!), and the company was even better. We looked into getting a sukkah kit for ourselves to include with our HHE packout, but all of the stores were sold out for the season (yeah, there's a sukkah season). If there's a kit company that makes the plastic-pole version in sections shorter than a 32" shipping box, we'd be interested for next fall!

Jewish New Year

Beth El Hebrew Congregation was a welcoming place to spend the High Holy Days, and we especially appreciated the daytime services for families with young kids, and Rabbi Isserow's fabulous drash at Kol Nidre. Outside of shul, it was great to have Michelle, Jonathan, Joanna and Sage with us for dinner on Rosh Hashanah. When he wasn't overwhelmed by the whirlwind of big girls, Sam loved playing with them (and their Barbies).





Our Yom Kippur Break-fast was graced by Steven and Jen, along with Elise, Eric, Sarit and Gavi. Special guest star Sam refused to go to sleep with a party outside his door, and ran around in his PJs like a maniac. We played a game of "who's traveled where." Elise, Eric and family have so many countries on their list that they have very strict rules, "must have spent a night there," "must have visited a major tourist attraction," "no counting countries that don't exist anymore." Playing by their rules was pretty humbling for us, Steven and Jen. After a few more decades in the FS, we just might catch up with them. :)