Tikkun Olam

The way I've been not posting at all, this could be just the last post . There have been so many events to write about, from Israel sending aid to Nigeria to bombing targets in Sudan .  From the insanity of the Haredim spitting at an 8 year old girl because she was not modestly dressed to their standards, to Syria considering Israel as an enemy forever , to the crazy changes in the Republican contenders for president of the U.S., with Cain out, Gingrich in but slipping, and Romney moving forward, all towards the Iowa caucus in a few days. But the only thing I can think of right now is my daughter, Rambo, who is still in a wheel chair and not doing well.  All her therapies have stopped.  The hospital is throwing their hands up, not understanding that her therapies must continue even if she is not showing much progress.  She also needs to leave her apartment (she is not happy their, for reasons which I will not go into now), and doesn't even know where to look, if ...

There are plenty of subjects to write about, but I have little time these days to just "sit" at the computer.  And Dr. Mike Evans agrees: don't sit so much! Here is a beautiful presentation on how to improve our health, by not sitting (I'd better get up from the pc right about now...).

I remember a little of what it was like when I had just given birth to my first child: I was exhausted, all day and all night.  I distinctly recall attempting to sit up at night in a chair to nurse my baby, and almost dropping her--I was so tired I almost fell asleep in the chair while holding her.  In those days (ancient times), it was verboten to sleep with your baby.  Unheard of.  Even nursing was not fully accepted culturally, and my own mother-in-law was dismayed by my insistence on it. Even though I tried to do what was accepted and considered the norm at the time, I just could not sit up in a chair at night, so I began nursing my baby lying down, in bed.  My D. H. would stagger up to get her out of the crib when she awoke, and bring her to me in bed, where she snuggled up to me and we both dosed off, she nursing happily. I have been reading lately about how that is considered dangerous.  Two weeks ago there was an NPR report about co-sleeping , ...

It's a big jump from posting every day (NaBloPoMo style) even when you can't think of anything to write about, to posting once in a blue moon... even when you can't think of anything to write about! I would say that this is the latter, although I do have something, albeit small, to write about: My Birthday (remember? It's just like the composition you wrote in fourth grade, "My Summer Vacation." ) My English birthday--to be technical, my Gregorian calendar birthday--was this past Wednesday.  Yes, yes, I always wake up to the dulcet tones of "this was the Day of Infamy," about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Not a great way to start one's day, but there it is.  By the way, I am not that old, having been born...sometime after Pearl Harbor--in case you're wondering.  Old is a relative concept, anyway.  My little students in the Preschool where I teach, all of 3-51/2 years old, think I'm very old.  One sweet little 4 year old (the ...

This is the time of year when I ruminate about my kids, grandkids and birthdays: winter and Chanukah time are special for us, and here is why: The months of November through March are of personal importance to me.  Our family birthdays are comcentrated in those months, children and grandchildren alike.  I'm a December baby (14th of the Hebrew month of Kislev), as is my sister.  Strangely, our first three children were born, respectively, in January, February and March.  The last two were back to January and December. Our grandchildren by our eldest started in December (the oldest will be turning twelve this month), then January, then December again.  For years we had one married child, and three grandchildren.  Then one day, many snows hence, the next two younger  kids married and started their families.  The first grandchildren by my third born (who married in 2007) followed the pattern--guess we just love winter--except that this t...