Gush Katif

So Ima made me officially promise her that I won't do anything illegal next year- no roadblocks, no chaining myself to houses in Gush Katif, no getting arrested. However, I am permitted to wear orange and hand out leaflets.

In the meantime, this is one of my friends' current away messages:
Auto response from Lightenup***: “Shum tapooz lo yazooz b’Tamooz!” - "Not even one orange will be moved in the current month of Tammuz" - Dr. Sodi Namir from Gush Katif

-SA

Some people still actually rely on Spellcheck...

I first read this poem in sixth grade, and I've absolutely loved it ever since.

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee four two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong

Eye have run this poem threw it
am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

-SA

Soup

I just got back from the farm (Golden Acres), where I got to roast marshmallows over a bonfire- in broad daylight- but didn't get to eat them because Ima stole them off my stick, and I got to hold the baby bunnies, and I walked outside one morning and freaked out because I thought the horses had gotten out...(there was a wire fence that I couldn't see from where I was standing).

The rest of the mishpacha is still there, but I decided to return to civilization- if I stayed, Ima would have made me ride a horse again, and I'm just too sore for that. So I'm home alone, trying to figure out if it looks like I'm going to get a JOB this summer (possibly, I'll get back to that tomorrow or the next day) and what to have for dinner, and I realized that this is my chance to finally experiment in the kitchen without people peering over my shoulder waiting to snarf it all down...ahem, ahem, little brother...cough, cough...or telling me not to use this vegetable or that base, or G-d forbid, mix those two spices together....(Abba)...or fussing about the mess I'm making and restricting my usage of onions...(Ima). So I made beef vegetable soup!

Approximated Recipe- because I made it all up and I don't measure anything!- for Beef Vegetable Soup:
-1 pkg. boneless cholent meat
-5-7 small onions (I'm toning it down for you)
-abt. 3/4 lb. diced baby carrots
-1/2 stalk celery
-1 zucchini, shredded
-1 yellow squash, shredded
-4 cups chopped broccoli
-1 pkg. prechecked fresh dill
-generous heapings of basil and black pepper
-3 tablespoons crushed garlic
-a few bay leaves

*Just chuck it all in the pot, cover, and let it boil. To heck with complicated "put this in first, then this, mix these two separately" kinda junk. Although I did put in the onions and meat first because they take the longest to cook.

-SA

Ah, Jewish Geography...

I love how the Jewish world works...

So I'm talking to a friend (who is also going to MIDRESHET TEHILLAH!), and she tells me that she found out where a few other girls are coming from- London, South Africa, and Texas. Very nice, can't wait to meet 'em. WAIT- Texas? Where in Texas?? She tells me Dallas, and here's where it gets fun. She tells me two first names, and I immediately shoot back two last names at her. So she says, "either you know them, or you're incredibly psychic". Hee, hee, hee.

"Did I ever mention that I lived in Dallas...?" Oops. Forgot to tell her that little detail.

Yup, I'll be going to seminary with two girls who were in my class in second grade, who I haven't spoken to in about seven years. "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears; it's a world of hopes, it's a world of fears; there's so much that we share that it's time we're aware: IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!" Gotta love Disney, they know everything.

-SA

Picture this...

It's dark outside, and the house is still. All you hear is the steady rush of rain hitting the pavement outside, creating splashing lakes in the sidewalk, sheets of water dripping as they pour down the windowpanes...Every couple of minutes, as if to make sure you're not too lonely in the black, quiet night, booming thunder rends the silence- once, twice, and then dies away as the sky lights up, a fleeting bolt of lightening off in the distance. As the night passes, the thunder and lightening become closer, comforting, soothing. The thunderstorm a peaceful companion as you read, lulling you to sleep, washing away today's worries and grievances...



Now don't you all want a thunderstorm, too?

-SA