Leora

Greens and Purchases at the Market – SOOC

I love buying fresh produce at the Highland Park Farmer’s Market. On Friday I bought lettuce (two kinds), parsley, and broccoli.

Review with Apples

Tomorrow is the last day of the Highland Park Farmer’s Market for the 2010 season. I will miss my Friday visits to see the vegetables, fruits and flowers. And of course, chat with the people. This past week I met Debbie at the market, whom you can read about in this interview.

On My Blog

Linda’s Recital on Sunday at Etz Ahaim in Highland Park – bassoon and piano

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Batya put together a nice Meet the Blogs post. Thank you for the mention, Batya.
• Factual Friday is cool. For example, Mrs. S. has more friends on Facebook than Mr. S. – isn’t that a precious fact? 😉 Seems to have something to do with blogger friends.
• Hannah posted about a program to teach empathy called Bullies and Babies. Some commentators are skeptical: does this work?
• Ilana-Davita has a descriptive, charming post called 10 Things I Love About Antwerp.
• I love when Michelle quotes Emily Dickinson and matches a precious, inspiring photo to the quote. Or is the quote being matched to the photo?

Thursday Challenge: Time

Thursday Challenge theme is TIME (Hourglass, Clock, Sundial, Calendar, Wristwatch, Old, Young, Aging,…).

Next Week: WEATHER (Snow, Sun, Cloudy, Rain, Lightening, Rainbow, Tornado,…)

No Cook Pea Salad

Ingredients

• 8 oz. frozen peas
• 1 clove garlic
• first cold-pressed olive oil – enough to coat the salad
• 1 half red onion, chopped (or use a sweet vidalia onion)
• sea salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley or cilantro
• optional: pepper, allspice or cumin
• optional: shredded carrots – 1 large carrot or a handful of baby carrots

Put the frozen peas in a container. Crush the garlic clove, and add it to the top. Put in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it (the peas will need several hours to defrost). When you are about to eat, coat with olive oil. Add the chopped onion, herbs, salt, optional shredded carrots and any spices you desire, such as cumin or allspice. Stir and serve.

Recital with Linda Balavram

My friend Linda Balavram will be having a recital this Sunday, November 21 at 2:30 pm at Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park, New Jersey. She plays the bassoon and will be accompanied by pianist Kathleen Haynie.

When I was in college at Boston University, there were often free recitals by top quality musicians. How nice to have such a treat here in Highland Park!

Veterans Day Gathering

Last Thursday, Veterans Day, I (along with other parents) had the pleasure of driving my son’s eighth grade class to a small gathering of Jewish War Veterans. We met by the dough boy (see bottom photo) in Highland Park, New Jersey, one half hour before the official Veterans Day Parade. According to my son, the way this got started was one year the teacher who organized the meeting saw some veterans saying kaddish (prayer for the dead) without a minyan (ten men). So she asked the school if she could arrange to bring the eighth grade boys. In the photo above, Rabbi Shostack of RPRY (far left) is talking with the students and the veterans. The 90 year old veteran on the right invited the boys to join them at a special prayer service the next day in Menlo Park. I kept thinking, but the boys have school the next day.

The veterans shared tales from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. My friend David on the left (a father of one of the boys) recorded their talks. One told how he became a medic with only a high school education. Rabbi Poleyoff, who is a retired teacher from RPRY, talked about his service in Japan immediately after the Korean War.

This *is* a Ruby Tuesday post, so here’s a red veterans’ car!

These older women wore bright red uniforms. I didn’t get a chance to hear their story. They are standing in front of the Highland Park Doughboy (What’s a Doughboy?).

For more posts with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:

Writing Interview with Debbie

I met Debbie about 15 years ago at a class given by Rabbi Bassous at Congregation Etz Ahaim, when my eldest was a baby. You can learn more about Debbie by reading her Bayit and Garden blog, then scroll down to the bottom of any post and read one of her many other blogs. Or visit one of her stores on the right sidebar of her blog. Debbie always has something interesting to say, so I knew she would come up with some great answers to my writing questions. Enjoy.

1) When did you realize that you like to write?
I really don’t know. I do remember writing poetry and Haiku – I still remember a few – when I was 7 I wrote a poem about Helen Keller:

I also wrote a Limerick about Pesah (Passover):

But I don’t remember actually writing stories. I would make them up in my head to help me fall asleep, but I rarely wrote them down. I did write for the school newspaper in elementary school and college (not high school, strangely enough) and I even had my own little “newspaper” I did on a pad and called “the Deli News”.

2) When did you realize that you like to read?
I learned to read when I was about 4 (I learned to read Hebrew before I learned how to read English – I learned both from my parents) and I used to like to read signs and Dr. Seuss books. But when reading got harder (no pictures, lots of words per page) I lost interest. Well, I still liked reading biographies and other non-fiction that I DIDN’T have to read for school. I reacquired a love of reading as an adult.

3) Which authors influenced you in your youth? Which authors or writers influence you now?
When I was younger, I loved Dr. Seuss, but I also loved those orange covered biographies – my brother and I read the John Quincy Adams biography over and over again.
I was influenced at one point by Oscar Wilde, but also by Rod Serling and all those books and stories we read in Hebrew classes. I’m not sure who influences me now – I love JK Rowling and Angie Sage, Rochelle Krich, Sharan Newman, Anne George. I also was influenced by articles I have read, my tech writing instructor, and some of my high school teachers.

4) Have you ever taken a creative writing course?
Once, when I was in high school, I took a creative writing class as part of an art and music summer program that the city I lived in offered. I didn’t really learn much; the teacher was really more interested in drama (which she taught for a double period) and for the most part ignored the writing students.

5) Have you ever studied journalism?
I majored in TV/Radio, took some journalism classes, wrote for the newspaper and had a sports program on the radio once a week.

6) Do you find writing or talking an easier way to express yourself, or are both writing and talking similar vehicles of self-expression for you?
I usually find talking easier, but there are times when writing helps me organize my thoughts and points. This is particularly true when I’m writing about politics, religion or emotions.

7) Have you written short stories or poetry (or would you like to do so)?
Yes, I wrote my first picture book “The Princess Who Wanted to be Beautiful” and illustrated it myself. I also printed some copies out on my computer printer. I’m still trying to convert it (and another picture book, “The God Star”) to .pdf format so I can sell it on line. I also wrote a cookbook (that is available on line) and “The Single File” (a collection of singles articles I wrote) and “Zoning Out” (a collection of “Twilight Zone” style stories), which I would also like to find a way to sell on line.

I asked Debbie to provide a favorite quote or poem. Here are her selections:

And

I also love “Jabberwocky” “Father William” and the beginning of “The Walrus and Carpenter” (I don’t like the part where they eat the oysters) by Lewis Carroll (I can quote “Jabberwocky” word for word and large portions of the other two – I can also recite the two poems above).

Among my favorite quotes are:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
“I can resist anything but temptation.” Oscar Wilde
“You no canna fool me, there’s no such thing as a sanity clause.” Chico Marx

Veggies on Parade, design by Debbie

•  •  •

Thanks, Debbie!

Review with Veterans

Today is Veteran’s Day here in the United States, where we honor those who served in the military. In our little borough of Highland Park, New Jersey there is an annual parade down Raritan Avenue. Before the parade we (eighth grade boys of RPRY, two teachers and some parents) met with the Jewish War Veterans. The veterans told us some tales of their experiences in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. One veteran, a ninety year old man, invited us to join them at a special service tomorrow at 10:30 am at the Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home (I kept thinking, but all these boys have school tomorrow…). This veteran led the group in saying the Mourner’s Kaddish. I hope to post photos next week.

Momma pride time: Both my boys won their Torah Bowl tournaments. Scores were RPRY 4-0 (middle school) and TABC 5-0 (high school). That means that their teams beat all the other schools. Oh, and I heard from a few birdies that my middle son answered a ton of questions. So proud of them!

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Jewwishes posted commemorative posts for Kristallnacht and for Veteran’s Day.
• Elinka posted the artwork of Jack Levine, who died this past week. We had prints of his paintings in our hallway when I was a child. Was Hezekiah one of them? His painting of Maimonides also looks familiar.
• Shimshonit interviewed: her mother.
• Mimi visited a bee apiary.

Water at Philadelphia Zoo

Water falls from above.

Here is the watery scene below.

For more photos with water, visit Watery Wednesday:

Interviews: Social Media and Writing

What do Monty Python and social media have in common?

According to Greg Jarboe, Monty Python increased DVD sales 23,000% (yikes, yes, that many zeros) with the above video.

Find out more on this Websites for Small Biz post:
★Social Media at Rutgers with Greg Jarboe

And coming soon to this blog, Here in HP, a special writing interview with a Highland Park resident who quotes Eletelephony. Stay tuned!