Archive for June, 2006

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Saturday, June 10th, 2006

It’s raining and cold here, far cooler now in full daylight than it was the other night at 10:00, when I was out star-watching.  A good day overall for staying indoors, which is what I have in mind for it.  Tomorrow, assuming it dries out, will be time enough to figure out how to get the tire that went flat off our lawn tractor so I can get it fixed. There’s a science fiction convention over in Chicago, a drive of no more than an hour and a half even if traffic is dreadful.  We’d thought about going, but we’re not.  I, at least, have no desire to drive even that short distance this weekend.  This weekend is for staying resolutely at home.  I am travelled out, and about to travel yet more.

Last weekend I spent in Indianapolis.  I had a grand time, for the most part, but still, I wasn’t home.  And after this weekend is past, I’ll probably be on the road another three in succession, in whole or in part.   Next weekend, the 17th, a very dear friend is getting married.  After that, J. and I are staying at her – now their – home with her son so that she and her new husband can take a short honeymoon.  They’ll be back Wednesday night, and J and I will head home Thursday morning.  J. is looking forward to that with great excitement; her son is his friend, and very good about playing and reading with him.  And if we’re lucky, and the weather has warmed back up enough, their subdivision has a pool that’s only a block’s walk away.  Ours will be a very happy little boy.

Then on Saturday I or we turn around and head out again so I can attend my eldest foster-daughter’s graduation from residency as a fully fledged, fully licensed, nobody has to supervise her even nominally any more physician.  Have I mentioned that I’m button-popping proud of her?  The guys may come too, but that part isn’t decided yet.

The weekend after that is the nearest thing there is to 4th of July weekend (the 4th being a Tuesday), and if my husband can get Monday off we’ll go down to Indy for the long weekend as a family.  There are grandparents who haven’t been visited in far too long and are going through boy-withdrawal, and many and multitudinous friends, and generally much to do.  All of it will be fun, but I suspect I will want to be back in my own house pretty badly by the end of that.  After that weekend, I have no specific plans until July 24th, when I run off to go Faireing (to Bristol Ren Faire) with a friend.  And that will be quite soon enough.

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Well Earned Reward

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

Our son has been told that he may choose a nice restaurant at which to have dinner as a family, and then have a trip to Barnes and Noble.  The reason for this, on this second day of summer vacation?  His report card arrived.  He made honor roll, with 5 A’s and 1 B+.  The B+ was in math, which he is actually very good at – when he takes the time to think instead of guessing.  We’ll be working on that over the summer, in the form of math games.  I’m so proud of this boychick I could pop, and he knows it.  I have a cousin who gave her kids $50.00 for each A they brought home.  I’m not sure that would motivate ours.  But new books?  Now that’s a reward he considers worth having.

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The Original Cat Toy

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006

The not-so-little tiger-striped boy, age 7 weeks, has gone to his new human family. I delivered him on Saturday, bade him farewell, and went on to go out for dinner with chosen family. It was a lovely dinner, and a lovely visit overall. Today, though, I found out my son had cried off and on all weekend for his kitten, and had to admit I’d been doing the same. I’ve known from the beginning I couldn’t keep three cats; I’ve known as well that our son wanted the black kitten, his own personal Tornado. But I wanted the little tiger, and still do. I got outvoted; I’m the mom, and giving such choices as that to the kid are in the mom contract.

I did get the privilege of watching the little guy learn the joys of a feather-wand cat toy, and have been teaching them to Miss Tornado in turn. She is beyond funny, leaping to bat at the thing with all four paws up, and turning herself upside down to do it, with predictable results. Mind, the toy isn’t so far above her that she has to leap; generally an upraised paw could get it, and if it’s higher it requires no more than arising on little hind legs. But a flying tackle is far more fun, and clutching it to her tummy with all four paws assures its capture. So what if she lands on her back with it? She caught it fair and square, she did!

But I have also realized that feather-wands are fun, but that the original cat-toy is much sturdier and more generally available. The original cat-toy is mama-cat’s tail. The tip twitches to attract the attention, and it whips aside most satisfactorily if it is captured and dispatched with baby teeth and kitten claws. And if it’s captured often enough, then one gets the delight of being sent tumbling by big-kitty paws and head. I’d been watching, thinking that Sophia was discouraging kitten-attacks by biting gently at the little commando, but she wasn’t. She was licking, so forcibly as to send baby-girl tumbling tail over ears. And judging by repetition of the performance, Miss Tornado considered it an absolutey wonderful game. She kept it up until her mother took refuge by asking to go outside. Then she proceeded to climb my chair, lap, shirt, and on up until I removed her from her preliminary examination of the curtain.

And now? Now I have a grey cat curled up on a floor-cushion that she has pre-empted for a bed, and a tiny ball of black fluff curled tail-over-nose on a chair, both sound asleep. I believe I shall follow their excellent example.

Posted in Life as I know it | 2 Comments »

Something Lost, Something Gained

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

I finally got into Chicago to have lunch with my friend.  I almost messed it up, missing my train by virtue of messing up my timing, but I caught the next one and made it to lunch only 15 minutes late. We talked a lot – ok, I talked a lot, (she’s good at asking questions and I nothing loathe to answer) and we took a quick run through an exhibit at the Spertus Institute downtown.  They have an exhibit on Jewish vacation resorts and destinations from the end of the 19th century up through the middle of the 20th.

It was interesting, done in photos and posters, postcards and programs and dresses women wore to dinner.  The establishments shown, like Grossingers in the Catskills and Fidelman’s in Michigan, were the places remembered now mostly for giving such comedians as Jack Benny their start.  There were other destinations that weren’t specifically Jewish but were popular for Jewish vacationers, such as Atlantic City and Miami, Florida.  The focus of the exhibit was how such destinations fit into the self-image Jews had of themselves as Americans.

I was thinking about it, and about how such considerations have become so minor to most American Jews that one can no longer find vacation spots that are associated with Jewish travellers not because there is a historic synagogue or cemetery, some aspect of community heritage, but simply because that was such a popular destination that it became associated with vacationing to the Jewish community.  People still go to Florida, but might go just about anywhere along the coast.  Grossinger’s name is still known, but the resort (except for the golf course) closed in 1986, and if it has reopened only the name remains unchanged.  There is no longer the need of such places.

The need was born in a time when Jews were not welcome just anywhere, when Anti-semitism was overt and socially acceptable, when if they were to relax without harrassment they went to the destinations that expected and catered to them.  That is no longer the case, and while there might be moments of occasional discomfort, it’s by far the exception rather than the rule.  We’ve gained the freedom America promised; we go where we please, not set apart by virtue of faith or ancestry, and all of that is good.

But if Jewish vacation destinations developed of necessity, they helped to build the bonds of the community across a far broader base than individual cities.  Local communites are still cohesive, but they’re small, almost by definition.  When vacations are spent as the rest of life is, a part of the mainstream, the sense of being part of a distinctive community and culture doesn’t get reinforced by meeting people “just like you” from other cities, other states.  A tiny portion of the general population (I once read a statistic that there are more Neo Pagans in America than Jews), it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.  When “everyone” spent their summers in the Catskills, or Atlantic City, or in similar places, it helped maintain the sense of identity.  Those places no longer exist, and nothing has taken their place.  It seems to me that in gaining social freedom because group identity is no longer something the wider community constantly reminds us of by exclusion, something of cultural cohesiveness and self-identification has been lost.

Posted in Ruminations and ramblings | 1 Comment »

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