It started last night, and will go until the night of the 7th. Sadly, we don't have our sukkah up this year.
A sukkah means a booth in Hebrew. (Sukkot is plural.) It's an outdoor temporary structure. It's one of the harvest festivals. Usually, it's made out of natural materials. Our main structure is wooden, with some wooden lattice for walls. Tree boughs drape over the top for a 'roof'. It's also fun to decorate.
We usually put up a string of pine cones, flowers, gourds, plastic fruit, etc. Every year seems to be a little different with it. Last time we had it up, someone brought a ton of lavender from their garden. So, we put it all over the place. (I don't particularly like lavender, but the gesture was nice.) We also usually put out a big lantern, so if we're in it at night, we can still see things. During the week we would have all our meals out there. It's a really nice experience. Sometimes, we'd invite people over to eat in it. Most of the time those people weren't Jewish, so it was interesting to see what they thought about it.
The synagogue has their's up. And, said if anybody wanted to, during the week, they could use it. There's also a potluck in their sukkah on Wednesday. And, a luncheon there after a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday. So, there's at least 2 opportunities for me to eat under a sukkah. Yay!
Simchat Torah is on the 9th, and that marks the end and beginning of the Torah readings. It's one of the holidays where we're commanded to be 'joyous' and happy. It's pretty fun. There's dancing, singing, 'marching' with the Torah (some bring family Torah scrolls from home, like we have a very small one we could bring), candy, adults usually have some schnapps, and we unscroll the entire Torah. It's really quite an event.
) There aren't very many good Ireland designs, and people haven't overwhelmingly agreed to one, like Scotland.My herb calendar just has a bunch of variations for poppy seeds. The flower, seeds, pods, etc. Plus, some bread that's covered in it, and some jam. I don't really like poppy seeds. My dad kind of scared me enough to stay away from them when I was little, and once I realized that a little is ok, I still hated them.
She would tell me you could get high off of them. I've always had a little phobia of drugs. Particularly, recreational ones. So, telling me that as a kid, was not the best idea for me. Yes, if you have A LOT of them there is a very small possibility of getting high, but eaten regularly, no. I've actually read that it's pretty rare to get high off the stuff. The other components of the plant, do have the ability to get you high. Specifically, opium poppies do. Hence, related to the Opium Wars in China in 1839 and 1858. My Jewish calendar has 3 different pics of Torah rimmonim or finials. They're 'crowns' or ornaments placed on the Torah rollers that hold it together. Since their shape is spherical and looks a bit fruit-like, the Sephardic Jews (from Spain, and around the Mediterranean) called it tappuach or apple, and the Ashkenazic Jews (from Germany, and eastern Europe) called it rimmon (singular for rimmonim) or pomegranate. Some can get very fancy looking. Anyways, all the ones in the pics are from the Netherlands. Ranging from 1717 to 1768. And they're silver. Kind of cool. Very fitting for the month, too.
These are the month-long holidays: National Apple Month, Bat Appreciation Month, Emotional Wellness Month, LGBT History Month, German-American Heritage Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookbook Month, Pear and Pineapple Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, Positive Attitude Month, Rhubarb Month, Sausage Month, Spinach Lovers Month, National Dessert Month, National Pasta Month, National Pretzel Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. I love apples, caramel, chili, pears, sausages, spinach, desserts, pastas, and pretzels. So, I guess it's kind of my month, food-wise. I'm also part German, so that applies to me, too. I think it's always good to have a positive attitude.
I may go to Dad's new support group on Tuesday. I guess just to give her support, and to show someone (specifically a family member) accepts her for who she is. Might help others feel like they belong.
I went with her to get the key code to the building on Friday night, and they were having a huge party for the teens of the center. It's a center for the LGBT community, and seems to be the only sort of place in the area. There's some places on the other side of the water, but that's not 'local' to us. So, it's a good place. The facilitator for the teen group that was there said I looked like another teen. I don't get why some people think I still look like a teenager. When people try to guess my age, it ranges from 14 to 19. It's a bit funny to me.
No one guesses in the 20s. That can be a good thing, I guess...Went to services Saturday morning. Haven't gone to it in a long time. Our cantor couldn't make it, and so the rabbi tried to make do with his own singing. It was kind of cute. His voice is not horrible at all, but it's not of a professional singer either. Sometimes, that can be the best.
Anyways, we had more people than we expected to show up. I went up for an aliyah again this time. Not many people wanted to do it. The portion's interesting, because it's in a poem form. The Hebrew is written interestingly in the Torah. So, I'm glad I was able to see it. I think I remember someone said that there's only a couple of portions that are written out like that. Managed to find a lot more cool songs yesterday. So, look forward to those!
We cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer. Haven't done that in a very long time. A lot of the stuff we threw out was either Mom's, really old, things we were hoping to use at some point, etc. There seems to be a lot more room now. Even after restocking from the grocery store later during that day. That's good.deviantART fave: Hyouka I did not make this! A cool drawing of Oreki from Hyouka, by an artist I watch. I grew tired of watching that, and dropped it recently. But, the art was cool. So, it makes for some interesting fanart out there. Also, dropped Baka to Test. Seemed pointless, and started to lose its appeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment