365-2 | Peaches Prattlings

{April 16, 2014} Passover is a dirty business!

There is a lot of cleanup before and after the Passover Seder!

We were cleaning up after seder and I think it was GES who said, no one ever talks about how much there is to clean up! First of all, you go shopping for the week before, not unlike any major holiday, no matter what you celebrate. Then, there is the setup to begin cooking, then there are the dishes, pots, pans, mixing bowls and the like to clean during and after cooking.

Then you set the table, maybe you’re using the family china or the set you bought just for these occassions or maybe you’re using paper or plastic as those things are getting nicer every year. This year, we had some fancy looking, nice plastic plates with silver trim from Costco, you may have seen it and the genuine silver looking plastic utensils and paper cups, a perfect senario, easy right?

Well, even with the plastic plates, utensils and paper cups, there were still multiple mounds of dishes to be washed as we were serving the different courses and then after, oh my word, we must have run the dishwasher at least four times! And there were still dishes when we went to sleep! The next morning, unload and load at least two more times! Then you have to move the chairs to the other room, the dining room table needs to go back where it came from, sweep the floors, maybe mop, unload the dishwasher, put the dishes away and load the dishwasher again?

We laughed about the time the dishwasher broke right in the middle of seder, everything was washed by hand, some things need to be, but not all, well, that night they did!

I’m sure this was no different than any holiday celebrations that you’ve had and thought, hey it would be great to be able to throw everything away, cleanup would be a snap! Not so! We used plastic plates, those went into the dishwasher, but even if we hadn’t kept the plates and utensils, it would still have been a glorious, wonderul mess right up to the point we all collapesd after it was over!

{April 16, 2014} Boston Strong – One Year Later

One year ago today life in Boston was changed forever.

At 2:49pm, Monday, April 15th, there was an explosion at the finish of the Boston Marathon and less than a minute later, there was another explosion less than two blocks away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings

I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day, it was quite an experience. All of Boston was affected, as well as the entire country and everyone was affected in their own way, not one experience was the same. I’m going to tell you what my experience was like as I have incredibly strong ties to Boston as you know.

I was visiting DCM in Colorado right after he moved, we were going to go apartment huntung and wouldn’t you know it, by the second day, a freak snow storm, and I mean a snow storm, slow getting to work for DCM and I was stuck in the hotel, but I was working, so I wasn’t bored. I think I knew the Boston Marathon was happening that day because it’s one of those things you know, but that was about it. I knew that RG would be announcing the finishers and one or two people I knew would be participating, but that was it.

I was working and then I got the first call from SDL, “Is your family ok?” “Um, yes, as far as I know, why?” There was a bombing at the finish line and she wanted to check on me and my family. I immediately tried to get in touch with my brother-in-law who happened to be downtown in Boston with EJS, we eventually made contact, so I was able to breath at that point, from my family’s side. GES was in London for work trying to do the same thing, a little nerve wracking to say the least!

I then tried to contact everyone I could think of that might have been in the area, I reached out to RG, I had been checking her Facebook page and finally her husband posted on her page that she was ok. Next I tried JCT because I knew she was working in Boston somewhere and I wanted to be sure she was ok. She was close enough to feel the rumble, but she not close enough that she was in harms way, she was safe. I checked with CC and he was ok, so I was able to breath a sigh of relief over all.

The calls, texts and Facebook messages started pouring in, it was wonderful how many people thought about me and my family to see if everyone was safe and ok and how I was, I am a very lucky person. And I was able to tell them everyone was ok, that felt good.

It’s been a year and Boston has remained strong, just like the campaign says, Boston Strong. Never forgetting what happened as so many lives were touched. There were 3 deaths and 264 injured in the blasts, the fourth casualty was the officer killed during the manhunt for the two bombing suspects. The road to recovery has been a long one and will never be forgotten, like the bombings of 9/11, this did not kill the resolve of the people or destroy us like it was hoped by the ones responsible.

You can’t meet someone in Boston who doesn’t know someone who was there/involved or afftected personally by the bombings and their resiliance and sense of community is amazing.

Today was the one year anniversary and the tributes were touching, heart wrenching and heart warming. It was timed perfectly inside the Hynes Convention Center, to include The Boston Pops, Boston Children’s Choir, the former and current mayor of Boston, former and current police commissioners, survivors who were injured, Vice President Joseph Biden, just to name a few. Then everyone went outside and headed towards the grandstand at the Marthon Finish Line for a moment of silence at 2:49pm and then the bells began ringing, the flag was raised and the national anthem was performed. It felt good to be there with my sister to stand side by side when the national anthem began. The bagpipes were mournful and appropriate.

The celebration ended with members of the honor guard from different branches and cities marched down the street carrying the flags for their cities and branches.

It was eerie, fitting and touching and a day that we will never forget. I will close with the closing from Vice President Biden “Next Monday, on Patriot’s Day, when 36,000 people line up to start the marathon, you will send a resounding message around the world … that we will never yield, we will never cower, American will never stand down. We are Boston, we are America. We respond, we endure, we overcome, and we own the finish line.”

http://www.wbur.org/2014/04/15/boston-marathon-tribute-ceremony

{April 14, 2014} A zissen pesach

Tonight began the holiday of passover and it’s time to start the celebration.

The day started like any other Monday, I got tosee the girls go off to school. Before EJS left for school we broke the matzoh brittle and had to taste test it and the macaroonS of course, we had to Make sure they were fit for others to eat…wink wink!

After the kids and ACS left for work and School, we got down to the business of cooking. GES and BR got a lot done as well as and myself, but not to worry, there was plenty to do!

There was cooking, straightening, cleaning, setting up, dishes washed, dishwasher unloaded, loaded, unloaded, loaded, Presents wrapped.

In the middle of the Craziness we went to watch EJS’ gym class perform “their Sentence”
They each Start with a letter, improv stuff in between and a period or balled up pose to end.

after we got home, we continued to work on stuff and at 5, I went to pick up EJS from school, ACS got home with MGS, AS was there before her husband JS, then BF and BR showed up with their adorable Kids, LS arrived and then Zafta, our group was complete.

We sat down to the seder and the food began to fly, all sorts of wonderous treat from homemade chicken soup with matzo balls to the fantastic desserts.

Everything was wonderful for the celebration was fantastic friends and family we’re together , not to be missed.

After a few hours of good food good friends and family laughter and warm it was time to make care packages and everyone head home.

then came the really fun part, cleaning up. Haha. We did say that next year we should hire someone to help serveand clean up, so we said it again this year, let’s see if we remember!

After that, it was stories and bed time, trying to keep your eyes open and then zzzzz!

I already fell asleep once, writing to you! That tells me it is time to go to sleep! I bid you a good nite abs good Pesach!