Autumn has always been my favorite season. I love pumpkin spice, the cooler weather, and Halloween. There are always a lot of festivals and fun things around, and we always find a handful of Halloween activities to go to with the kids. It’s also a busy time since we also observe the High Holy days […]
Archive for the ‘spirituality’ Category
Birthday and Rosh Hashanah
October 18th, 2024 by pleia2
On September 29th I turned 43 years old. It was actually kind of a bummer, because the boys and I were dreadfully sick with a cold that included fevers. In the days around it, they missed school and everyone slept poorly. We couldn’t go out to swim class, a movie at the theater with Adam’s […]
Hanukkah 2023 / 5784
December 19th, 2023 by pleia2
Hanukkah this year came together beautifully. A huge part of crafting a successful holiday was that I took a week off from work following Thanksgiving. In addition to all the boring house stuff I did, I was able to prepare for Hanukkah. The first thing of note is that I did more decorating than I […]
Hanukkah 2021
December 6th, 2021 by pleia2
Another Hanukkah with us fully in California. So many years had us splitting Hanukkah between San Francisco and Philadelphia, so it’s still a little unusual for us to spend it all here, with no plans to head back east. On the bright side, my father-in-law and his wife are coming to visit this week, so […]
Seasonal smoke, high holidays, and getting back outside
September 18th, 2021 by pleia2
We were having a delightful summer. Back yard tidied up enough to play outside. Regular cadence of farmer’s market on Saturday morning and playground on Sunday morning. Every weekend we’d also look up local garage/yard sales to walk to. Then the smoke started to roll in on August 18th. Our cars and outdoor furnishings quickly […]
Three weeks in and Hanukkah 2020
December 22nd, 2020 by pleia2
It’s now been almost three weeks since we had our little Aaron. Everything has been going well, Aaron gained weight at a healthy clip and is healthy. I’m recovering on schedule, though definitely slower than with Adam, in no small part because having a toddler and a newborn is more difficult than caring for just […]
Adjusting traditions in 2020
November 30th, 2020 by pleia2
We are living through a global pandemic. Today, just days after Thanksgiving, the US is enduring the biggest wave of the virus yet. Cases and deaths are increasing in areas that haven’t seen powerful previous waves before. Even where we are in northern California, where cases have trended high, but manageable, hospitals and public health […]
Sunshine and Video Conferences
May 16th, 2020 by pleia2
This is the post I had intended to write when the other one popped out. I was just going to write a quick aside about the cultural side and our frustration over the situation, and it turned into a whole thing! Let’s get back on track by talking about our day to day life during […]
A Gateway, a Synagogue and a Museum in Mumbai
August 7th, 2016 by pleia2
Last Saturday I arrived in India for the first time. A conference was on my schedule, but since this was my first time visiting this country I decided to do some touristing around Mumbai. Unfortunately it’s monsoon season, so it’s been an incredibly soggy trip. I joked that coming from drought-ridden California, I was coming […]
Sharing the Beauty: Organ Class
March 25th, 2014 by pleia2
This past Sunday MJ and I went over to Congregation Sherith Israel to learn about the organ that graces the sanctuary. The organ has always been a big deal for me. Even though I’m not religious, I do have warm feelings and memories surrounding the stunning, old cathedrals that have organs and I’ve made an […]