Tashlich cancelled

On account of rain!

Okay, I’m exaggerating a teensy bit. It was only postponed until 5:00 PM tonight. But, but… postponed? I thought it was to be done the first day of Rosh Hashanah, no matter the inclemency of the weather. You know, kind of like the mail. Jews don’t melt in the rain, so it makes no sense anyway to attempt to reschedule.

But no matter! Me and my fam went yesterday, traditional-style with umbrellas just in case. It was NOT raining, and in fact we saw an enormous egret, so still along the banks of Plug Pond that we thought it was a statue. Then it took flight and what a wondrous sight that was. They are HUGE! Like pterodactyls. So beautiful. We were all alone except for an occasional car and it was very nice.

After we finished casting away our sins, we sang a non-traditional song (Row, Row, Row Your Boat) round-style since we couldn’t remember the song the rabbi always makes people sing. We did NOT tell the overdone jokes about what bread to use for certain “sins” (i.e. For the sin of bad jokes, corn bread). Then we returned home to enjoy teatime with apple turnovers and honey cake with friends. A great start to a great new year. L’shanah tova, everyone!

Tuesday Muse Day

My lovely fog-blue la-dee-dah J. Jill button-down is made of the softest, most narrow-wale corduroy you could ever hope to wrap yourself in. However, it’s cut in a swing-coat style, and I resemble a pregnant blueberry. Adios, button-down!

How long is too long?

My great-uncle died last Thursday, September 1, 2011 in the Bronx.  He was old and sick, so not exactly a surprise death.  The wake is being held tomorrow.  That's ten days.  Ten days of laying on ice, only to have your wake held on the tenth anniversary of the Twin Towers Tragedy.  In New York.

What do you think?  Here's what I think.

Gross!!!  It's tooooo long.  It's summer, the ground isn't frozen, and the people who would attend are basically local.  If they are coming from P.R., that's just a short flight.  Then he has to hang around another day and a half before being carted off to somewhere in Maryland.  Logistically, it's really nasty.

Finally, who deliberately schedules a wake in New York on a such a day?  Why my uncle planned things this ways I will never know.  I'm not complaining about the travel from Massachusetts, but come on!  What in absolute fuck was the reasoning behing this?  And it's not a safety issue, either.  Timeliness of the death process of my great-uncle aside, the people of New York can have their mourning day for the millions.  Alone, and in peace.

He was not Jewish, so no big rush about getting him back into the ground, but twelve days without a funeral is way too grisly.  The whole thing makes my stomach turn.  I'm so not looking forward to this...