Ourlivesong

Niagra falls Canada

2013-08-21T17:05:00.001-07:00

We recently had the chance to spend the weekend in Niagara falls and were able to venture onto the Canadian side. It was memorable, beautiful, spectacular and wonderful. We loved every second of it. We drove through the adorable town of Lockport, NY. (The fire hydrant was created there) Historical and fascinating! We are exploring the Great Lakes in an upcoming trip that we have planned, Lord willing. The kids are back in school without a hitch, with all of our travels I am grateful we had enough time to squeeze in new school clothes shopping, doctor and dentist appointments, hair cuts, and replace broken eye glasses in a timely manner and without feeling rushed. We even squeezed in a weekend in Cumberland Maryland. Locomotives take you through the mountains, narrow brick buildings and winding cobblestone streets. You can also learn about George Washington's post (downtown Cumberland).

Stuffed Grape Leaves

2013-07-29T12:54:00.002-07:00

We love stuffed grape leaves from the deli, but they are so expensive, I had no idea I could actually use the leaves of the grape vines growing up the side of the deck.

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Greek Dolmades) Recipe
Recipe Type: Rice, Appetizer, Grape Leaves
Yields: serves many
Prep time: 1 hr
Dolmades cook time: 60 min
Rice Stuffing cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:
1 (16-ounce) jar grape leaves, drained and rinsed*
Rice Stuffing (see recipe below)
2 cups hot water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Lemon Wedges
Yogurt Cucumber Sauce (see recipe below)
* To use fresh grape leaves: Grape leaves are best picked from grape vines in the Spring, while they are still tender. Select young whole, medium leaves. NOTE: Be sure and pick them before the first spray as some sprays are toxic. Most of the spays used today are non-toxic and water soluble, but sulfur taste is not what you want on your grapes. Pick approximately 1 1/2 pounds of fresh leaves which are the same as one jar of preserved leaves. Using scissors, cut off the stems and either soak in very hot water for 15 minutes to soften or blanch grape leaves until they are soft (the time will depend on the leaves - fresh ones will only take a minute) They can be washed and frozen between layers of waxed paper or plastic wrap and will keep for a year. Check out my article on Using Fresh Grape Leaves.
* Using bottled Grape Leaves: To prepare bottled grape leaves, rinse well under cold water to remove the brine. Place them in a colander (back side up) to drain and hold until ready to use. NOTE: Don't throw away any torn or damaged leaves, as they can be used to patch holes in other leaves.

Preparation:
Using a slotted spoon, remove the leaves from the water and lay them on paper towels to drain. With a sharp knife or scissors, cut out the protruding stems and any hard veins from the leaves. Set the grape leaves aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare Rice Stuffing.

To stuff the leaves, start with your largest leaves. Take a leaf and carefully spread it on a flat plate or pan with the veins facing upward to you (leaf shiny side down). If the leaf is torn or has a hole in it, take a reserved damaged leaf and use it as a patch, place the leaf over the hole.

Place approximately 1 to 2 tablespoons of the Rice Stuffing near the stem end of the leaf (the amount of stuffing will depend on the size of the leaves).
Press the stuffing into a small sausage-like shape.

Fold the stem end of the leaf over the filling, then fold both sides toward the middle, and then roll up into a cigar shape (it should be snug but not overly tight because the rice will swell once it is fully cooked and could burst). The rolls should be cylindrical (about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick)
Squeeze lightly in the palm of your hand to secure the rolls.
Repeat with the remaining grape leaves and filling.
Line the bottom of a large heavy oven-proof dish or pan with half of the remaining grape leaves (this prevent sticking and is also a good way to use any torn or small leaves). Arrange the stuffed grape rolls on top of the leaves, seam-side down, packing them close together. Make a new layer as you fill the baking pan. Two or three layers is fine (it is very difficult to cook evenly if you make more than four layers of rolls). NOTE: Don't cramp the rolls together as they won't cook well - also don't leave too much space between them as they will unravel.
When the bottom is completely covered, place the remaining grape leaves over the top. Pour the 2 cups hot water, olive oil, and lemon juice over them. Weigh the stuffed grapes rolls down with an ovenproof plate turned upside down (one smaller than the circumference of the pan). Cover the baking dish with a lid. On the stovetop, over medium heat, bring the liquid just to a boil; remove baking dish to the oven and cook approximately 45 to 60 minutes or until the grape rolls are tender and the water has been absorbed (there should be little or no trace of water, and only a bit of oil in the pot - some of the leaves may have tiny black specks, or maybe completely black - this is ok). Remove from oven.
Transfer the stuffed grape rolls to a serving dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve chilled or at room temperature, garnished with lemon wedges. Serve with Yogurt Cucumber Sauce.
NOTE: They keep about a week in the refrigerator. If you drain and chill them, you may want to pour a little olive oil and lemon juice over all to keep from drying out. For longer storage, the stuffed grape leaves rolls may also be frozen before cooking.

Rice Stuffing:
3 tablespoons currants
Warm water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons raw pine nuts
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups hot water
Juice of 1 freshly-squeezed lemon
2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh dill weed or fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
Soak currants in warm water for approximately 15 to 20 minutes; drain and set aside.
To make the stuffing, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add pine nuts; stir and cook the pine nuts for about 2 minutes or until they are golden brown. Add pine nuts, onion, white rice, sugar, cinnamon, and hot water; stir the mixture, cover the pot, and cook gently for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, dill weed, and parsley.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the stuffing cool for 30 to 40 minutes before stuffing the prepared grape leaves.

Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup diced cucumber
3/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
In a bowl, combine yogurt, sour cream, cucumber, and dill weed.
Allow flavors to blend in the refrigerator 2 to 3 hours before serving.
Thank you to whatscookingamerica.net

Colonial history

2013-07-29T08:27:00.002-07:00

We recently enjoyed a piece of colonial history (and I began collecting stacks of free travel maps to use as wrapping paper for birthdays and holidays)We stayed at the Powhatan resort in Williamsburg, Virginia. The resort is on the 256 acre grounds of the Wyeth house built by Taliaferro in 1735 we had the opportunity to get a history lesson and were surprised to learn the kitchen was in a separate building. We laughed like crazy as we tried our hand at Elizabethan Colonial dancing one day. Walked around the college of William and Mary in Williamsburg and visited the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk art museum. We saw first hand through their "hospital' exhibit how it was once a mental hospital. They used to lock people up for being vegetarians, (Oy would I be in trouble!) They put people in cages! Our next favorite part of the exhibit was the Dewitt Wallace Decorative arts section downstairs; they had a phenomenal display of colonial money, military weapons, and 18th century fire fighting technology.

Fife player and Drummer

Williamsburg, Virginia

Standing in front of the 'cage' and strait jacket, showing us how crazy people look.

We followed up our history lesson with a trip to the holocaust museum and Smithsonian in Washington D.C. We stopped at the Marine Corps Museum along the way, truth be told, I like it a lot better than the Smithsonian.

Marine Corps Museum

The cave man exhibit ( hands down their personal favorite two years in a row)

All tuckered out

We went to a service in Norfolk, Virginia on the way home from our trip and were pleasantly surprised that we ran into a good friend, we hadn't heard from since 2009 who was also a native Washingtonian that we met in Israel.

Garden City Pier

2013-07-02T15:22:00.002-07:00

Warm June summer days free and countless free Mango slushie Samples on the pier

aahh the Atlantic Ocean

Seeking Shade at Garden City Pier

We watched as this Sting Ray was accidently caught on a fishing line at Garden City Pier. There were many people crowded around watching this as well as our family. FYI The little voice in the back ground taking the name of the Lord in vain is not any of our children. A truly memorable moment.

See you later Alligator

2013-07-02T14:49:00.003-07:00

See you later Alligators at Huntington Beach State Park. It's not always possible to see the Alligators cross the causeway from fresh to saltwater I was told. Ten minutes later we were thankful to have seen such remarkable creatures so close up as they went to eat dinner, but more thankful that none of us were eaten. We also said 'see you later alligator' to our wonderful vacation time which is now just a fond memory.

Little man being carried past the very hungry gators

A Dragon fly. Simple but large. The biggest dragon Fly I have ever seen got into our kitchen at the condo, must have been ten inches long and an inch or more in diameter with at least eight inch wings.

What a blessing to see

Hungry Alligator doing the chomp and roll

Ending the evening at Murrells inlet Marsh Walk with a Fireworks display

The marsh walk

2013-06-25T17:56:00.002-07:00

Although we're not shellfish eaters it was just as fun to watch them as it was for them to catch the Crabs at the marsh walk at Murrells inlet. They learned the hard way that crabs die when you put them in pickle jars, it's not a good habitat for pet crabs. They bought pet hermit crabs at store.

Murrells Inlet

2013-06-25T17:47:00.002-07:00

There hasn't been a shortage of anything to write about. Spending the last three weeks in Myrtle Beach South Carolina with the kids has been anything but uninspiring. Beside for all of the shark tooth, shell hunting and sandcastle building we did at the Atlantic ocean nearby, we have had two large outdoor pools, one indoor pool, and two hot tubs at our expense. We have done so many neat crafts at the activity center here at the condo. We got to have Tomato pie for the first time. Tomato pie is like a quiche. G has had plenty of time without her back brace on. We learned to Hula dance and got to see a Hawaiian Chief throw fire swords. We have seen terrific fireworks displays and listened to live music. We've picnicked and barbequed nearly everyday. We have seen many large Alligators up close in their natural habitat.The kids caught some crabs in the traps and learned that if you try to keep them as pets in pickle jar they will inevitably die. We had a terrific time learning and touching everything at the hands on children's museum. Everyone has heard the dangers of the ocean, on this trip we experienced first hand the harshness of the ocean and the potential dangers waves could bring to anyone no matter how strong you are. Mr. Harris and little F went out past the breakers one day and Mr. H lost his wedding ring when he grabbed little F as a big wave sucked him back. We never were able to retrieve the wedding ring from the depths of the ocean and both Mr. H and little F were both filled with trepidation for quite some time. This given new appreciation to life and vacation well spent with those you love.

Mrs. H and the three amazing little people at Huntington Beach State Park

Mr. H and our three little ones at the Huntington Beach State park

Enjoying the sunset after we watched an Alligator feeding frenzy at Huntington Beach State Park Murrells Inlet South Carolina.

the longest day of the year

2013-06-23T06:32:00.003-07:00

Friday June 21, was the first day of summer also known as the longest day of the year. We packed our cooler with a picnic lunch and headed to the beach. We stopped in a marshy area on the way into town the kids got their feet muddy picking up Sand crabs. Then with much difficulty we actually found a parking spot at the actual beach, conveniently right in front of a store where the kids could buy pet Hermit Crabs. We set up our beach chairs under the pier in the shade, but had to keep moving them back while the kids dug motes around their sand castles that quickly filled up with the rushing high tide. We collected shells and even a black shark tooth. We took a walk on the pier after, we found one that we didn't have to pay to walk on. We listened humorously to the people in the nearby bar singing karaoke then we watched in amazement as a fisherman was caught by surprise when he hooked a large sting ray. After he reeled it in he wanted to release it but couldn't figure out how to do it with out getting stung by the barb on the end of its tail. Many people tried to help as it whipped it's poisonous tail up at them. Finally it was free.
The Children's Museum in Myrtle beach has one dollar admission every third Friday of the month from five to seven o'clock so we hurried over for a few hours of indoor fun with our kiddos and several hundred others. other than the usual hands on exhibits, they had a luau theme for the night with limbo, lemon aide and leis.
I found a recipe for mushroom lasagna in a magazine and had a hankering for some, so I insisted we go to the store at the last minute so I could get the ingredients. With plenty of time but only one glass dish in the condo, I made fudgy brownies for dessert and then quickly dumped them out onto a baking sheet while they were hot so I could use the glass dish for the lasagna. When evening finally settled in we settled down for 24 hours of rest.

Point and shoot camera to the rescue

2013-06-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

What a great experience to have been able to spend the last few days with the beautiful Alligators in their natural habitats. Even though I left my Canon behind under the pretense that I was going to enjoy this vacation from the other side of the lens, fortunately we had a little Kodak point and shoot digital camera in the van and were able to capture a few shots of the kids up close to the Alligators in the marsh. Today, father's day, we went to the marsh walk at Murrells inlet and shared blooming onion and hush puppies at Drunken Jacks while we watched the kids play catch and release with the crabs they caught off of the dock.

The Canon can wait.

2013-06-08T19:01:00.001-07:00

Other than being a blogger and working on my novel, taking care of my uber trendy urban raised garden beds and fulfilling other domestic duties I have picked up some freelance work on the side. The good part of this is that is that I have always wanted to get paid for writing and running around with my Canon EOS. The irony in this is that my PC and laptop have suddenly developed a case of Alzheimer's and don't recognize my camera. It takes pictures fine I'm just not able to load them. Crazy. I was going to try to take the camera with me and fix it on our next trip but I changed my mind. I'm not going to sit there frustrated in the condo trying to figure out the problem while the kids wait patiently to go out. I'm going to have fun without shoving the Canon in the kids' face for two whole weeks. We have so much to be thankful for The Canon can wait.

Cherry Grove at Myrtle Beach 2013

2013-03-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Cherry Grove at Myrtle Beach March 2013

Right now she is feeling like a Dolphin trainer in her new wetsuit

Can you say Crabby patty? Fee and Little B.

Buddy, G, Baby B, and little Fee

Mr. Sandman Bring me a dream

Rollin Rollin Rollin...

One two skip to my Lou...

Down by the bay.. where the watermelons grow....

G sees Sea shells by the sea shore

Big boy cousins showing Baby B how to do planks...

Baby B

Although technically no longer winter, we had to drive through a treacherous snowy mountain pass to be able to enjoy our trip. We were happy to get the smell out of our van from the tube of ground chicken that rolled under the seat two months ago and exploded. We were also glad to able to see baby B for the first time. We hadn't seen her mom aunt B for three years and had never got to meet Uncle B before. We found plenty of great shells and got a little bit sun burned. Little G was able to take off her brace some and was able to enjoy the water even with her cast on.

March 2013

2013-03-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Baby B

Baby B Blows Bubbles

love those little lips

Baby B is such a Little Cutie Bug

Good parents! Baby B is so irresistable she is always being held or in a sling.

Issaqueena Falls named after an Indian maiden who allegedly jumped from the falls out of love for a white man. Where as Connestee jumped to her death, the Issaqueena legend has a happier ending. Issaqueena fell in love with David Francis, a silversmith who lived in what is now the town of Ninety Six, South Carolina. Learning that her tribe planned a surprise attack on the settlement, Issaqueena mounted her horse to warn the settlers.

Issaqueena and David fled to what is now Stumphouse Mountain north of Walhalla to escape the fury of her betrayed tribe. The lovers lived in a large, hollowed-out tree or Stumphouse. Finally tracked down by her tribesmen, Issaqueena raced to a nearby falls (now Issaqueena Falls) and plunged out of sight into the cataract. Believing her dead, the warriors gave up the search. However, Issaqueena later joined her husband and fled to Alabama to live happily ever after. Theoretically, you could jump off the top of the 100-foot falls, land safely on the first tier of the falls and hide under the veil of falling water. But, I wouldn't advise it. Especially since a new overlook was recently built at the falls. This overlook, while obscured by two or three trees, provides a great view of the falls. For a sense of the size of the falls, notice the people standing near the brink of the falls in the top photo. A primitive trail to the base is still open, but it is not neccessary to hike it anymore to get a view of the entire falls.

Issaqueena Falls also features another attraction - the Stumphouse Mountain railroad tunnel. Southern industrialists dreamed of a railroad connecting the American Midwest with the port of Charleston. A tunnel through Stumphouse Mountain would be a vital link in that railroad. The work began in 1852, and the tunnel was anticipated to be finished by 1861. The Blue Ridge Railroad attempted to construct this line through and over the mountains to Knoxville, Tennessee. The Civil War halted the work. After the war, efforts to re-activate the project failed and the tunnel was abandoned.

The entrance of the tunnel has become a historic landmark in South Carolina. The tunnel measures 25 feet high by 17 feet wide and extends 1600 feet through granite into the heart of Stumphouse Mountain. At the midway point, a 16 by 20 foot airshaft extends upward 60 feet to the surface. According to Clemson University's Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, cold air moving out of the mouth of the tunnel pulls warm air down the shaft. The moisture in this warm air is condensed by the cold air in the tunnel and produces a constant wetness in the tunnel. This cool, refreshing breeze that blows out of the tunnel is long remembered by summer visitors.

The unfinished Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel lay idle for the 80 years following the Civil War, being visited by tourists for years but not being used otherwise. In 1940, a Clemson A&M College (now University) professor recognized the possibilities of curing blue mold cheese in the tunnel because of its cool dampness. With this thought in mind, the Clemson Dairy Department began experimenting with the manufacture of blue cheese and curing it in the tunnel. Clemson bought the tunnel in 1951 but has since moved its cheese curing operations to another location. In 1970, the tunnel was leased to the Pendleton Historical District Commission, which converted the area into a picnic spot and tourist attraction. After a rockslide inside the tunnel in the mid 1990's, the tunnel was closed to visitors. After safety testing, the city of Walhalla has re-opened the tunnel to visitors.

Three little slices of something sweet.

Chaka!

someone is chilly

Me and G enjoying every little second

I love this place

Roller Rink Boo Boos won't stop us from Fun Times. (Getting a waterproof cast)

legendary

2013-01-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

At Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday. Legendary birthday boy not in group picture.

Legendary birthday boy and his mon caught on camera

Legendary weekend. Friends were over, friends returned home. The fun is over, My friend and I laughed about her ten year old son always saying legendary. Now it's back to day to day life.
9 am Tuesday morning we were scheduled at Children's Hospital to see the Neurosurgeon to go over the results of our ten year old daughter's MRI. We had been completely in the dark for two months. We know the scoliosis is improving but were going to be told the cause of the scoliosis. They said it had something to do with a nerve in the neck being too small, but other than that we were clueless.
Tuesday morning at the Children's Hospital in the Neurosurgon's office at the check-in counter they didn't have our daughter's appointment scheduled even though we had mail confirmation and voicemail confirmation I felt panicked thinking we wern't going to find out anything. They managed to fit us in. The neurosurgon said she has syringomelia and has a syrinx of the thoracic spine. It's a bubble of fluid in the spinal column. This is not the cause of the scoliosis its a separate condition. The doctors are going to do another MRI in July and check for shrinkage or growth of the syrinx or watch for any neurlogical symptoms like clumsiness.

Visualize Whirled Peas

2013-01-02T12:40:00.003-08:00

This is my living room, I'm sure everyone will agree this looks rather peace full if you wanted to sit and write. Sometimes I sit on our over sized white couch with the laptop. The couch is so over sized and plush and the fact that it's white makes you feel like your sitting on a cloud. My desk where my laptop usually goes, has been barricaded by sopping wet snow boots over the last few weeks as its suddenly turned into an odd mecca for mismatched wet gloves and assorted goodies left by darling children. Both of our desks sit in the intersection of the den and dining room, with the door to the garage right there. We always have people coming and going, and I am always being asked a lot of questions, so when asked why am I in the living room on my laptop the plausible answer, said with a sigh, would be it just feels like where I need to sit to write. Right? Maybe perhaps I'm thinking metaphorically about what is lurking in between the cushions of my couch. Could my couch be a metaphor for something in my life that I am using to escape, what's wedged in between my cushion and what I'm being cushioned from? When I was looking in my couch today I found some strings and very fine threads in between the cushions of my couch, they weren't attached to anything fortunately. Strings attached that could be an essay in itself about our life, and marriage, I also found some wood shavings for an animal cage and a metal tip broken off of something. If I were to look carefully and closely analyze the strings in my life, the wood chips and broken metal tips I could humorously say, and F could agree laughingly that we have become slight of hand at snipping those strings in the past 12 years. The discarded wood chips go hand in hand with strings cut. By us cutting strings we definitely have less chips on the shoulder. The broken metal tip is our discarded weapon or our desire for revenge or perhaps our defensive edge. That's only part of a peace full home, only the tip.
I'm not a bumper sticker person, I don't have them on any of my vehicles but I saw one I liked once it said "Visualize Whirled Peas."

Poodle Cheese

2013-01-01T12:53:00.001-08:00

Poodle cheese is the soft and fuffy shreds of cheese grated on the extra cheese grater. Having to use the Extra fine cheese grater is a direct result of having kids and not being able to find the cheese grater with the standard size holes. Not caring is a standard result of just loving your kids .

smoke over road

2013-01-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

Monday, May 10, 2010

Smoke over road

There were times when we barely managed to make it along the strait and narrow road, it was hard to see with blinding smoke stinging our eyes. The smoke over the road was thick heavy and swirled at us with great force. The intense heat and pressure thrown our way, made it almost unbearable. Seemingly from nowwhere a miracle occured, and we made it through utter darkness, However we know what saved us from being scorched, was God. The same Holy Spirit that has actually saved us each time the enemy has tried to scare us by pillage, persecution, and plunder. The pillar of fire, which leads us through darkness, is Torah, the inspired word of God, it is still leading us today, the same as it has for thousands of years . When things are difficult and it seems like the smoke over the road will overtake us in despair, the pillar of fire is there guiding us again continually, guiding us admidst our failures, and through difficulties. Parting Oceans of what seems impossible, keeping us on the straight and narrow path home to our father the king.

Kit Foxes

2013-01-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Those Kit Foxes and me

Although the weather was warm,and humid with no wind, the sky was overcast gray with clouds, With the ever impending threat of rain coming at any second, my husband and myself and our youngest working fervantly to prepare our garden for planting. He rototilled the soil into rows with an ancient rototiller we borrowed, I picked up and pulled weeds and other invasive vegetation along with our two year old son. His wispy shoulder length blonde hair like corn silk. Our other two children playing in the house, could not be enticed to come out and help, they were in the bedroom swept away in some imaginary dimension playing the role of "Kit Foxes". They would ever so often poptheir heads up and press their faces against the window to check on us and we would occasionally catch a glimpse of each other smile and go about our ways.

look both ways

2013-01-01T12:44:00.003-08:00

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Life. It's about not slowing down to look both ways to see what others think of you.

Its 3:30 pm and the warm rays of the sun are finally making their appearance from the sun. Small rivlets of rain run down the sides of the overflowing gutter, the roof top of the small white house emits small twirling towers of steam as the rainwater evaporates. Three jubilant children who waited eargerly all day for the sun to come out with crowed together with their faces pressed against the aluminum frame window. Now donning bright colored rainboots they dash and splash their way across the water logged lawn strewn with puddles. Its May and its 62 degrees outside, they know its only a matter of time before it starts down pouring again, the winds pick up and the temperature begins to drop to 42 degrees for the night. I call out to them to stay on the swingset while I walk to our young wheelchair bound neighbors house to see if he has eaten today. They squeal with delight and ask to come with me, I sigh and smile and pause before tellling them its okay to come with me today. They skip and jump and slosh across the lawn and follow me to his door in a singlefile line. They are like baby ducks and I am trying to teach them to be kind and good and that life is not about slowing down to look both ways to care about what other people think.

Say CheeseCake! Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013-01-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Enjoying homemade Cheesecake
While the rest of the world partied in a frenzy like manner as they usually do at the Stroke of midnight, Decemeber 31st, 2012 was at best a calm and fairly uneventful evening spent drinking warm Sake and playing Scrabble and eating cheesecake. With all the coffee I drank trying to keep myself awake until midnight I ended up wide awake well past midnight into the wee hours of the morning catching up on a episodes I had missed of "My Grandmothers Ravioli" on Food Network. Over the last week we've all enjoyed the experiences that come along with of having over 12 inches of snow piled up outside. We hunkered down, snuggled warmly inside once evening came. I began reading the first 22 pages in a book called My name is Asher Lev, Written by Chaim Potok. It's about boy with an artistic gift living in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn. Throughout the evening some of us noshed on a variety of items from our spread ranging from corned beef and cabbage, to spinach wheels, hummus, chips and salsa, and homemade cheesecake as we laughed about our afternoon spent sledding with bitter wind chill against our rosy cheeks. Sledding is not age discriminatory in our house. There is a college with a huge hill near our house and when we went sledding yesterday I spun so many times in one trip down the hill then in the process I found the drop off, took on air and the dropped who knows how many feet, then landed hard, felt and heard every vertebra crack, rolled and tumbled more times then I can remember and broke my fall by summersaulting into two kids and accidently kicking one in the stomach, hard. Once at the top of the hill we were puzzled as to why our middle child frozen stood at the bottom of the hill for 20 minutes while sledders yelled at him to move, as it turns out his leg was stuck in hole deep to remove by himself.

January 1, 2013

Praying Mantis icicle

2012-12-23T07:43:00.003-08:00

Our Little scout turning eight

2012-12-23T07:43:00.001-08:00

Our little scout turning eight

Remembering Feast of Sukkot 2012

2012-12-23T07:37:00.001-08:00

Feast of Sukkot 2012

Our Sukkah is now of fond Memory of 2012

US road trip 2008

2012-10-31T07:55:00.002-07:00

Panama City Beach Florida 2008

Florida

Israel and Prague

2012-10-31T06:30:00.003-07:00

Jerusalem December 2008

There are words in our house we almost never say in English and probably never will. We say Mayim instead of water, Eema and Abba instead of Mommy and Daddy, Sherutim instead of bathroom... I could go on and on with the list but I'll get to the point....
There are so many thing I miss about living in Israel .I miss Halvah! Halvah is somewhat heavily sesame-flavoured tahini halvah (חלוה) it is very popular in Israel and among people of Jewish background all over the world.Spelled "halvah" in English, it usually comes in slabs or small packages and is available in a wide variety of flavours, chocolate and vanilla being are most common. Halvah is almost always parve, meaning it does not contain any meat or dairy ingredients, ensuring that it can be eaten with/after either milk or meat dishes according to the laws of Kashrut. Israeli halvah will usually not contain wheat flour or semolina but will contain sesame tahini, glucose sugar, vanilla and saponaria root extracts (soapwort) which are not always found in other recipes.
I miss the falafel and I miss the fruit and the honey, the best you'll ever have.

our youngest at the airport in Prague Jan. 2009

This is Prague in the winter. The St Vitus Cathedral.

A cold snowy day. We were in Prauge for a little while. Having had all of our american currency put into shekels, we weren't able to use our Shekels there. I was so frustrated.

Maryland camping trip

2012-10-31T06:21:00.001-07:00

Waking up in tent filled with water, yet still giggly

couldn't get the fire going so we had to go to Denny's

enjoying the outdoors at Rocky Gap State Park

trouble times two

call of the wild man

Walking stick

Creepy spider that we took to the woods and came back to our camp

making their own "Annoying Orange" characters

making a craft