A lot has happened since August 2009. Josh returned home and settled back in, while he searches for scarce jobs in the depressed hospitality industry. Seems that luxury hotels don't have too many customers these days, what with 10% unemployment and corporate travel and entertainment budgets in the toilet.

At just about the same time, Sarah went to Israel on a 6-month work/study program. She lived in Ashdod, a coastal community south of Tel Aviv. It is Israel's fifth largest city whose population mushroomed in the early 90s with an influx of 100,000 Russian olim. Sarah told us that her looks earned her a Russian nickname, since any paleface in Ashdod is automatically assumed to be Russian. And before we knew it, Sarah's program was over. We met her at the 5am El Al flight in Newark, first of the day, on January 5th. Yawn. It sure is easy to drive though Newark in the wee hours.

So here it is, February 11th. The most recent snow storm has ended. Only about 12 inches in the backyard. The snowblowers worked. So did the garage doors (had to replace one of them before the storm). It is perfect snowball/snowman snow. The kind that clogs up the snowthrowers so that they keep stalling out. But the birds were out and chirping as we removed snow AGAIN today. Tonight the plows won't come through again. One can hope. Camillo Drive looks like a Currier & Ives painting.

So what else is happening with the Weis clan? The Pocono country house has been used this winter - its fireplace is wonderful. Maybe we get to return for another President's Day weekend. Depends on family - Sarah is leaving for a weekend with friends upstate. Josh is recovering from a bug. Tomorrow night is Carmen at the NJ PAC. After that - who knows. The real Currier and Ives scenes are up there, only 2 hours away from our NJ house. In Lords Valley, PA.

No News is Good News

Day 3.

No overnight phone calls. Weather there "Fair". Weather here "Mostly cloudy". We had rain today in places - the clouds came and went. Thunderstorms predicted for tonight, again. Tree branches down (it was windy last night).

Hopefully no rain tomorrow for the annual NNJR Bar-B-Que. Chef Josh has it all planned out. Chicken Teriyaki on the menu. Rain, rain, go away. Come again mahar. And what's the logo about? Go ahead and Google it. Hint. It is NOT Fatimah Jinnah Medical Center.

Sarah Margalit in the Land - Day Two

Time. The eternal question. Why are there 24 hours in a day? Why does the earth spin counter clockwise (viewed from Polaris)? Why does the coriolis effect cause my toilet to act differently than a commode in Christchurch, New Zealand?

More to the point, why am I blogging about this on August 11th? Because on the thirty-third minute of this day (Eastern US time), our phone rang again at approximately 5:33am GMT/Zulu, with another call from the banks of the Mediterranean. Seems that Sarah is settling in nicely to her new digs in Ashdod. But she still is a little jet-lagged and was confused about where the sun is in the sky, back at the other end of the Atlantic Ocean.

It's not a big problem. We will get the hang of this seven hour difference. I just wonder how on earth the astronauts/cosmonauts/sinonauts cope with this. Except that they aren't on earth. And now for a really big problem...Sarah says that her computer power adapters (taken over, supposedly would work in Israel) don't fit the house wall plugs. There goes the cell phone, the I-pod, the laptop and the hair dryer - the true essentials of daily life.

I now understand that Israel has two styles of electric plug, hangovers from the English and French quest for regional hegemony. (The Ottomans subsisted without electricity?) Why cannot human beings settle on one electrical power standard, one voltage, one frequency and one wall plug? For an idea of this electric Tower of Babel, take a look at the global map of electrical plugs. What a pretty picture. Must have used up an entire box of Crayons to make it.


And here is a picture of the grounded Type H plug used in Israel and apparently nowhere else. The rest of Israel uses a more common C type plug, found all over Europe, OK well, all over the French speaking areas. The English have a logic all to their own. And us Americans, let's just say that old Tom Edison is laughing at how much money has been made over the years with our own version of the English flat blade socket...you know, the one with two flat prongs modified with a third circular one too. That's called compromise.

This all Hertz so much that I will have to go and meditate, repeating Ohm over and over. The United Nations should take up this reVolting subject and do something to Rectify it.

Sarah Margalit in the Land - Day One

Monday after midnight. No call. No text message. Too tired to check El Al's schedule. Surely the flight landed OK. Will figure this out in the morning. Let's see if I can catch some ZZZZ's...

4:43am. Phone rings. Caller ID says "Out of Area". I pick it up.

Sarah Margalit is on the other end of the line, with shouting in the background but she says the flight has landed and I get, somehow through the early morning hour semi-waking state, that she is home...in the house. What house? This house. The one with the white picket fence. Yes, it seems that even in Israel, there are white picket fences. Anyway, I try to go back to sleep. I have to wake up and go to work in 2 hours.

6:00am. Phone rings. Caller ID shows another unknown caller. Might be a crank caller, but you never know, and so I answer. Sarah again. Its 1pm her time. She needs mommy. OK, get mommy up...and try to go back to sleep. Hey, this is like when she was a baby and kept falling out of the crib. What's up with this? Can't a guy get some sleep?

Get up. Look at myself. I am Rocky Raccoon. But meanwhile, Sarah is pretty happy. Why not? Life is just a beach. No kidding. 55 km due east of Jerusalem, you run into the Mediterranean. The house is a 10 minute walk to the beach. What a nice place for a summer afternoon nap. Wish I was there.

Well, we were there. Five years ago. Can it be so long? Time is flying. So has Sarah. But the sea and sun stay the same. "There is nothing new under the sun". And we have the pictures to prove it. Here's the Mediterranean on a summer day. Josh was in the water.


I wanna go back to my little grass shack in (no, that's the Hawaii song).

Sarah Margalit off to the Land - Day Zero

Another funny Sunday at Newark Airport.
We saw Sarah off at around 1:15pm EDT (GMT-5), aka 5:15pm UTC (GMT/Zulu) five zones to the east adjusted for DST, aka 8:15pm IDT (GMT+2, Israeli Daylight Time) seven zones to the east. Seven hours. We will be living with the time difference for months to come.

The sendoff party included Fern, Josh and the other usual suspect (who clicked a few shots on his blackberry). Terminal B was sleepy except for its El Al section, hundreds of people and families making an exodus from Medinat HaGan (the Garden State) and heading east towards Eretz Yisrael. It is funny how the two are almost mirror images of each other. One has a beach, the other has THE SHORE. One has ridiculous traffic, the other has camels. One has a sunrise in the ocean, the other has a sunset. Is that where those lyrics in Fiddler come from?

So, we waved good bye as she passed through security. And we went cold turkey, without even a cell phone with which to maintain contact. Her Israeli cell phone awaits at the end of the flight, about 12 hours away. Her El Al flight departed at 2:45pm.

Hee lo po, achshav. Hee sham. Anachnu po, bli Sarah.

A Garden State Fall

Tonight the moon is waning. Sukkot, my favorite Jewish holiday, is over. The leaves are accumulating on the lawn and mornings find the car covered with dew. It was just three short months ago that Fern and I took a bunch of kids to Live Earth on July 7, 2007. Boy was it hot. So was the music. That's us in the afternoon sun after several hours outside. I think we were in the seats for 7 hours or something like that. I have great pictures and memories. Not to mention an I-Pod which is getting filled up with more music from artists who participated. It was mind-boggling.

You do know, don't you, that we are certified TREE-HUGGERS, right? We are happy owners of a Toyota Highlander Hybrid which gets up to 28 mpg...and it is QUIET at a stop light. No engine, no noise, no exhaust, no nothing. Sometimes I look for the periscope when we are rigged for silent running. You have to be careful when backing up. People don't know you are moving until it is too late. Toyota ought to put fake engine noise in, or a back up beeper.

Since the last post, the house too has been quiet. There is more silence around here than at any time in the past 22 years. Why? Because daughter Sarah left for Bard College, located in scenic Annandale-on-Hudson almost TWO months ago. They start early at Bard, and Sarah has settled right in. She lives a couple hundred yards from the Fisher Performing Arts Center. It was designed by Frank Gehry. If you have never heard of him - it does not matter. Just look at the picture below.

Sarah told us tonight that she is elated to now have a job at Fisher, three days a week in set design. She can also get reduced price tickets (or maybe freebies backstage) to see the likes of the American Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Leon Botstein - who also happens to be the President of Bard College. Talk about moonlighting. And he is also the conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony too. The man gets around - on a bicycle around campus, we are told.

Sarah is happy at Bard. We have seen her twice since her departure. The drive up and back is easy, and the local produce stands have the most fantastic peaches and fruit. You can ask Fern's mother (Eudice) about the peaches. I think she goes up there just as much for the fruit as to see her granddaughter. We will be back up for parents weekend in three weeks. The colors of the Catskills should be magnificent right about then.

Meanwhile, Josh is up in Providence in his last year of college. He is interviewing and hoping to land a job in food and beverage management in a club or chain. His menus and creations are unusual. The most recent food breakthrough has been filet mignon with crabmeat stuffing. Apparently some of the chef/instructors at Johnson & Wales were impressed.

Fern is back in school - or really, TWO schools. She alternates time between the middle school and a new position at the high school in Pequannock. Now she teaches kids from grades 6 through 12. Wow.

Me - I am keeping the bikes in shape. And the cars, houses, you name it. The garden is due for weed-whacking and tilling soon. Then I put in a fence for NEXT year so that the backyard deer don't get at the tomato plants next summer. This year they ate really well. Next year, I hope to have better luck (and the deer will have to find another pantry to raid).

Recently, a friend sent me pictures of the Great Synagogue in Budapest. Why do I mention this? Because I have been digging into my roots (no, not the garden, silly...I mean the family tree). It is an amazingly beautiful restoration and the synagogue is in regular use. Budapest also has one of five Conservative seminaries in the world. I really want to go and see where we (the Weis family) came from. Aunt Alice Fisher has been giving me baby Hungarian lessons. I now know how to say, "I love you" and "beautiful dear". This will no doubt come in handy for Josh when and if he comes to Budapest and runs into some young sweet things. My next phrase has to be, "Please, where is the nearest toilet?" or whatever else is appropriate for 50ish graybeards.

This coming weekend, Fern and I will be up at our country retreat in the Poconos. Here is a picture of it in the summer. If you are ever around NJ, call us before you come. We will be delighted to drive you up and back. It is close - but far enough to be real country. Four lakes, lots of hiking, and a really nice fireplace (see the chimney in the picture). The porch is nice to sit on t00 (you can't see it, it is in the back of the house). We call it Robin's Nest (Fern's middle name is Robin).



Well, OK, that's the news for early October. If you live with us in the east, get your rakes and bags ready for the leaves. They are coming down now. They rustle underfoot when I walk Goldie. It is a nice time of year.

Well, it won't be long before the dew turns solid and requires scraping (or my favorite trick, pouring hot water over the windshield to melt it away, the lazy way). Except when I do that, I usually get wet in the process; it is not a good way to start out the day. Be well, take care and eat. The phone is ringing. It is our daughter Sarah. She does not call often. I better go. Toodles.

The Nest is Emptying!

Our sweet little baby girl is 18. How can that be? Surely this is a mark of baby boomers moving into the sandwich. We celebrated Sarah's new voting rights last week at a Moroccan restaurant in New York City. Here we are, waiting for the appetizers. It was GOOD. Especially watching the party inside while we dined al fresco.

Josh tried the lamb, I think. Here he is, trying to eat Moroccan food with a Chinese twist. It is tough to eat hummus with chopsticks! Actually they are not chopsticks (why would a Moroccan place have chopsticks?). Josh found a new use for drink mixers. Always the imaginative food and beverage manager. Soon after the dinner, Josh went back to Providence to get the apartment ready for his next year - the last year as a senior. How can that be? College graduation at Johnson & Wales University is only ten months away.


Latest news from the home front. Sarah's Apple is working, and not a bit too soon. She is off to Bard College next weekend for the next chapter in our lives. Her MacBook was acting up, but Apple has fixed it. In fact, the family now has TWO Macs. They seem to be easier than Windows machines, and the support has been incredible - fast and effective. No finger pointing between the software company and the computer manufacturer. Amazing. No wonder Apple stock has done so well.

Fern and I are retreating to the Poconos this weekend. I was looking forward to a lake swim. But I probably won't get one in, since the lifeguards are all back in school. OK, a bike ride down to the lake will have to do. I can do that now that the bike rack has been dusted off and fixed. Sarah has a new bike too - thanks to Grandma Bernice who gave up her Trek UAV for the budding college freshman.