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Post by savtele on Apr 17, 2017 1:45:58 GMT -5
What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.
Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:
Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy
And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting - you are welcome to do that but you are also welcome to chime in
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Post by savtele on Apr 17, 2017 2:01:25 GMT -5
Boker Tov All! This is technically the 8th day of Passover - in Israel, there are only 7 days. I'm good with 7 - that's all the matzah I can take for a while! (I did eat quite a bit of homemade guacamole on it yesterday!)
More "Rites of Spring" - I'm so ready! I know that several of you live where you have basically 2 seasons - summer and some form of "winter"/ not-summer. The rest of us who live where there are 4 distinct seasons, well, you understand this. & I think all of us mark the times when certain flowers come into bloom & the scenery changes!
On my coffee table there is, at this time, a huge bouquet of daffodils in a cobalt blue vase. Every spring, that square vase gets filled (and stays filled) with daffodils for a few weeks. At the same time, asparagus is my vegetable of choice, and rhubarb is a favorite fruit in pies, puddings & sauces. (Strawberries won't be ready - right now they come from California - till mid-May) Wooden benches are ready to go into the yard - the only things that stay out all winter long are the plastic ones. They'll get a good spritz with the hose.
For me there is a certain charm to the uncertainty of the weather. On Friday we had sunshine, rain, hail, and my nephew had snow (they are at a slightly higher elevation). Shabbat was sunny all day long, Sunday was overcast but warm, with an occasional shower, and my face is pink from being out much of the day.
For you - what are the "must do/must eat" rites of spring?! Personally, I'm always excited for them!
Have a good day!
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lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,289 
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Post by lee058 on Apr 17, 2017 5:38:05 GMT -5
Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. Right now, it is pouring rain outside. It's still mostly dark, but the birds are starting to sing. I like hearing them in the early morning very much. That is definitely a rite of spring that is important to me --- having the sun come up earlier and being able to hear the birds. I love watching the trees bud and the flowers start growing. What else means "spring" to me? I am fortunate in that where I live we have excellent supermarkets where all kinds of fruits and vegetables are available year round, but seeing things come into season and be marked "local produce" is important to me too. My Wegmans has signs saying the names and locations of the local farms and I enjoy the feeling of connection. We have a lot of farmers markets too, but I don't usually go to them as their prices are often much higher than the supermarket's.
Specific foods that mean spring to me definitely include asparagus, fresh greens, and later, strawberries. I also enjoy watching the prices come down as produce comes into season(!). I think it's such fun to see the variety of colors and shapes as well.
As for "must do" actions, putting away the snow shovels in the garage and moving the lawnmower out into the center of it happen every year. Being able to keep the car out on the driveway happens as soon as it is warm enough that we don't expect any more snow. Having H start mowing the lawn is a ritual, as is weeding the flower bed and around the trees.
Every year in May, H, DS and I go to our local nursery and pick out flowers for our front yard flower bed and container garden (we have a large flower bed outside our den, and several large terra cotta pots outside the kitchen, as well as some flowers and plants around a couple of trees). H and DS dig up weeds, turn the soil, and put down fertilizer. Then we all decide where to put the flowers, and H and DS plant them. I usually carry the empty plastic containers to the trash/recycling bins, and bring water to drink. Once everything has been planted, DS waters the plants (his regular chore all season). It is a joy to see all the beautiful flowers and plants around our house! Just writing about this makes me smile.
Other rites of spring involve putting the winter coats, gloves, scarves and hats away. It makes the seasonal change more real to know that we won't need them for many months. Being able to open the windows and air out the house (before we have to turn on the a/c) is important to me too.
Then, of course, there is spring cleaning. I haven't been able to do much this year because of my shoulder, but I hope that H and DS will do more as the time progresses. The back deck needs to be swept clear of branches and leaves before we start using it for barbecues, among other things.
At some point, when my shoulder is up to it, I want to buy some new lightweight tops. Right now, I don't think I could handle trying things on. DS needs new shorts, and I want to go over his shirts with him. He has several old ones that have seen better days that I would really like to replace (if I can get him to discard them). What is it with guys and their old clothes?
Anyway, that's all that comes to mind at the moment. I'll be back later; I'm interested to see what spring means to everybody. Have a peaceful day, Lee
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Post by gazelle18 on Apr 17, 2017 8:07:01 GMT -5
As Angelika says, spring up north is not necessarily spring down south. Down here, the important "stuff" happens between October (post hurricane season) and June 1 (beginning of the hot summer months). So for us, a rite of spring is sort of the time of turning inward and indoors. This is a bit of an exaggeration; of course we still do things out of doors. But there are not a lot of plans for taking open air picnics in August.
So spring here is a bit of flurry of last festivals,charity races, and crawfish boils. Heavy tourist season, culminating in Jazzfest, in early May. It's a fun time, but it marks the end of the high season, not the beginning!
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Post by hollygail on Apr 17, 2017 8:41:26 GMT -5
Some time during May (only once in a while does it begin in April) and lasting approximately 6 weeks, the Jacaranda trees are in bloom. I cannot describe how beautiful the light purple blossoms on the Jacarandas are. (Caution: you don't want to plant a Jacaranda in your front yard; when the blossoms fall, which they do after approximately 6 weeks, they make the worst mess you can imagine.) They make me smile as I drive down a street with at least one Jacaranda in bloom... I actually look out of my window trying to find some!
But the weather in San Diego has been strange for the last several years... Autumn used to be a couple of weeks, which I looked forward to every year because it meant I could wear sweaters instead of blouses. Then, starting a few years ago, instead of being able to wear sweaters for a couple of weeks, it lasted six weeks. Then, possibly only one or two years later, I lost track of how many weeks I was wearing sweaters. In recent years, I've been wearing a jacket for months (I wore one yesterday for a relatively short time in the morning, and will have to wear one again this morning on the way to shul). Spring doesn't necessarily come around March 21, or even with Passover any more. Very strange weather patterns...
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Post by peachymom1 on Apr 17, 2017 12:17:02 GMT -5
Ah, those gorgeous jacaranda trees! I love them and look for them too.
Here in Los Angeles, the only mark of spring is that whatever rain we were getting stops for good. It's been breezy and beautiful here, and I think it's definitely springtime, though I was hoping for a little more rain.
But it's really the end of Passover that really marks spring for us. Once we put the Passover dishes and utensils back in the boxes, it feels different, like the season has moved on whether we take notice or not. At work, my department is now in its busiest season of the year, working toward a deadline of the first Monday in June. Almost everyone will be working crazy hours to make sure we get everything done well ahead of time, which leaves time for the inevitable last-minute changes and updates.
I didn't go to shul this morning -- I woke up late and am just feeling lazy. My friend with colon cancer is coming home from the hospital today, so we'll go over later to visit and take them some food. He can eat solid food now and is in pretty good spirits.
Everyone have a wonderful day! Chag sameach!
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Post by louise on Apr 17, 2017 15:59:38 GMT -5
I have never seen a jacaranda tree. I just googled to see what they look like - oh my. I guess the closest we have for both drama and mess are magnolia trees. Spring is here when I see those first bulbs poking through. We sat outside for awhile at the matza lasagna party yesterday and their backyard was picture perfect with everything open or budding and the neighbor's cherry tree laden with blossoms peaking over the top of the fence.
The coughing seems to go double time at night so I didn't get much sleep and got to shul late - still can't sing. My mother would be so disappointed if I can't chant at her shul next Shabbat, so here's hoping I'm okay by then.
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