Well, today we will take down our sukkah.
Um, well, it's not exactly a sukkah you take down. The schach is permanent (wooden slat covering recently installed at a perfect angle so as to block the harsh sunlight streaming into the sukkah - thank you Donny).
And, the decorations. Well, let's just say that we decorated the chatzer (courtyard) of the sukkah. See, the sukkah is on our mirpeset and the walls are mostly stone, to which nothing really adheres. So, in our frantic pre-Sukkos decorating frenzy we hung decorations from our railing, which is technically outside our sukkah. In order to hang things from our slats would have required getting on a ladder, something neither of us is crazy about. Son in law Elie promised to decorate for us next year.
Why was it a "decorating frenzy," you ask? That's because we had put off decorated since we were both sick. I was struck with a horrific case of strep and my dear husband had a cough that later turned into pneumonia. Fun!
But we did manage to shlep the new sukkah table up from the machsan (garage-level storage closet). After which I asked my husband why he had purchased said table, since we already had a nice folding table sitting in our mamad (safe room / storage room / guest room). His reply was, "We do? I thought we left that in Baltimore." Hmm, methinks the mamad is a bit overcorwded.
Never you mind, we had a fabulous Sukkos anyway. First day in Beit Shemesh, followed by chol hamoed of coughing, sleeping, visits to the emergency center, and medication. But after that, we had a great Shabbos with US cousins (hahaha! we are not the US cousins anymore!) and a lovely Shemini Atzeres / Simchas Torah.
We even met a new couple who just arrived 5 weeks ago. Now we're not the newbies anymore. We got to give someone else advice! Yay! But oh, the looks on their faces, I remember that feeling so well.
Now comes the momentous season in Israel known as "after the chagim." As soon as Sukkos is over, Israelis decide it is winter. Out come the sweaters, boots, scarves, etc. It is still at least 85 degrees here each day, but that does not deter them from acting like it is winter. We look at each other in wonder. They are thinking, "How are you still wearing sandals?! It's after the chagim!" And I'm thinking, "Please take off that sweater you are making me feel even sweatier."
Our next project is getting our extra "stuff" out of our apartment and into the machsan - I am soooooo tired of seeing plastic tubs full of blankets, pillows, dishes, and other whatnots that I HAD to bring with us but for which we have absolutely no room until some carpenter comes and builds us more storage units.
And somehow my husband keeps making clandestine trips to the machsan and bringing up armfuls of seforim - I think maybe when he says, "I'm going to the machsan," he is actually getting in the car and driving to the seforim store, but I'm not sure so I may have him followed one day.
We are also awaiting (yes, this is true) lift #2 which is to arrive next week. It contains 13 more pieces of art, MORE seforim, and other stuff. This means a trip to Haifa to visit the port and sign our lives away, and of course it also means......more stuff to find a place for. Looking forward to that.
Um, well, it's not exactly a sukkah you take down. The schach is permanent (wooden slat covering recently installed at a perfect angle so as to block the harsh sunlight streaming into the sukkah - thank you Donny).
And, the decorations. Well, let's just say that we decorated the chatzer (courtyard) of the sukkah. See, the sukkah is on our mirpeset and the walls are mostly stone, to which nothing really adheres. So, in our frantic pre-Sukkos decorating frenzy we hung decorations from our railing, which is technically outside our sukkah. In order to hang things from our slats would have required getting on a ladder, something neither of us is crazy about. Son in law Elie promised to decorate for us next year.
Why was it a "decorating frenzy," you ask? That's because we had put off decorated since we were both sick. I was struck with a horrific case of strep and my dear husband had a cough that later turned into pneumonia. Fun!
But we did manage to shlep the new sukkah table up from the machsan (garage-level storage closet). After which I asked my husband why he had purchased said table, since we already had a nice folding table sitting in our mamad (safe room / storage room / guest room). His reply was, "We do? I thought we left that in Baltimore." Hmm, methinks the mamad is a bit overcorwded.
Never you mind, we had a fabulous Sukkos anyway. First day in Beit Shemesh, followed by chol hamoed of coughing, sleeping, visits to the emergency center, and medication. But after that, we had a great Shabbos with US cousins (hahaha! we are not the US cousins anymore!) and a lovely Shemini Atzeres / Simchas Torah.
We even met a new couple who just arrived 5 weeks ago. Now we're not the newbies anymore. We got to give someone else advice! Yay! But oh, the looks on their faces, I remember that feeling so well.
Now comes the momentous season in Israel known as "after the chagim." As soon as Sukkos is over, Israelis decide it is winter. Out come the sweaters, boots, scarves, etc. It is still at least 85 degrees here each day, but that does not deter them from acting like it is winter. We look at each other in wonder. They are thinking, "How are you still wearing sandals?! It's after the chagim!" And I'm thinking, "Please take off that sweater you are making me feel even sweatier."
Our next project is getting our extra "stuff" out of our apartment and into the machsan - I am soooooo tired of seeing plastic tubs full of blankets, pillows, dishes, and other whatnots that I HAD to bring with us but for which we have absolutely no room until some carpenter comes and builds us more storage units.
And somehow my husband keeps making clandestine trips to the machsan and bringing up armfuls of seforim - I think maybe when he says, "I'm going to the machsan," he is actually getting in the car and driving to the seforim store, but I'm not sure so I may have him followed one day.
We are also awaiting (yes, this is true) lift #2 which is to arrive next week. It contains 13 more pieces of art, MORE seforim, and other stuff. This means a trip to Haifa to visit the port and sign our lives away, and of course it also means......more stuff to find a place for. Looking forward to that.
Yes, hard to believe that "acharei hachagim" has arrived. Was SOO great to see you!
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