Blog/April 2018/Apr 20th

Apr 20th

This week marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. More on that, later. It also marked another Memorial Day.

Back in the Olde Country, “Memorial Day” was primarily marked by massive store sales and heavy marketing campaigns. The memorial aspect of it is mostly ignored, since the vast majority of Americans have never been in the military, nor know anyone in the military — and the last “popular” war was more than 70 years ago.

Here in the Land, Memorial Day is taken much more seriously: businesses are mostly running half-days, somber music is played on the radio, there are various memorial services and events across the country. That’s because almost every family here has served in the military, has lost loved ones in combat or due to enemy action, and most can remember having been in a war. Completely different “vibe” than in the US…

… and then we immediately enter Independence Day, which is marked by serious celebration. Festive music, barbecues, parties… and everything is shut down for the holiday. As for us, we did our modest part: a small barbecue which turned out quite well.

In other news: Esther’s arranged to fly back to the US in a month, for a month and a half. She’ll be there to help Daniela with the newborns, B”H. I, my mother, and Sarah will come a bit later and for a much shorter period so as not to overload my daughter. We’ll give more detail when there’s more to tell — but it’s an exciting time for us!

I’ve been busy with clients’ work, even though it was a “holiday week”. I spent a fair chunk of time on 8th as well — fixing a bunch of “issues”, and improving performance significantly. Again.

Our trusty microwave died suddenly, in the middle of warming up lunch for my mom. So we’ve got to replace it. It served us for 10 years, which isn’t all that long, to be honest. Still, we gently mourn its passing. We also had a new A/C unit installed to replace the 20+ year old one which leaked all the time and didn’t work well. Sarah notes that we didn’t do anything about it until we were staying in that room, to which I reply, “yeah, what’s your point?”.

The weather’s been warm-pleasant, and it’s cooled down for shabbat. There’s even a small chance of rain in the near forecast. Hopefully not on shabbat.

We plan on having a quiet shabbat. Amongst the menu:
regular ḥalla, baked chicken, chicken soup, veggie chili, lots of salatim, and fruit.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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