Tag Archives: Life

Rosh Hashana Dinner

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I had a small family dinner party for Rosh Hashana. My menu for the dinner included fresh chicken soup and brisket. I added the home-made kreplach we had in our freezer to the soup along with matzo balls.

Homemade Chicken Soup with kreplach

Homemade Chicken Soup with kreplach and matzo balls

20140927_123504 Chicken Soup with Matzo Ball and Kreplach

I don’t have many of my own pictures because I was cooking all this the day of the dinner and it is a lot of work. Next time, I hope to cook some of the food ahead of time.

I really enjoy cooking holiday meals with my family.  We all work together to make all the dishes.

My daughter was here and she helped a lot with shopping and some of the cooking. She made a delicious noodle kugel and a spinach salad with pomegranate seeds and pear. She bought the flowers, sage honey and some scented candles.

20140925_125959 Rosh Hashana 2014

My husband helped with some shopping as well and picked up a pretty round chocolate chip challah.

4969120397_68a6dc0563_z Round Challah

It was hard getting everyone together. My daughter Kate had special plans for this weekend so I decided to make the dinner on Thursday night. My son Scott was working late but managed to come over with his lovely wife Jennie. They had helped make the kreplach with me a few weeks ago.

Two of my husband’s brothers and one of their wives made up the rest of our dinner party. I feel it is important for the family to be together and make happy memories.

I have a recipe I follow from my mother-in-law for the chicken soup. I have made it so many times over the years and it changes slightly each time I make it. This time I added a larger rutabaga and I think it gave the broth a sweeter taste. My daughter suggested I add some kale.

My mother-in-law Mary Lynn used to tell me that many Jewish women in the old days did not have their recipes written down with the exact ingredient measurements. Or they might leave out an ingredient when passing on a recipe. She told me a Yiddish expression ” shitararyn” which she said meant put in it or pour it in when adding an ingredient.

I used Judy Zeidler’s The Gourmet Jewish Cook book recipe for the brisket which is made with prunes and apricots  and with brown sugar in the recipe. This gives it a slightly sweet taste.

2731918560_f9f4c3173e_z Brisket

It is a tradition to include sweet foods like honey for New Year because this means you will have a sweet year.

One of my brother-in-law’s made a Honey Cake from his mother’s recipe.

My daughter had a lovely idea about doing a Tshuvah activity where we would all set our intentions for the New Year and ask ourselves what do we want to cast off and what do we want to keep in our lives.

I regret we did not get to this activity at the dinner but I would like to incorporate it into future Rosh Hashana dinners. I want to think about my own intentions during this week for the coming year.

Coyote

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Coyote. I hear your pack howling in the middle of the night. When your cries become more excited, a crescendo of high-pitched yipping, it frightens me. I imagine you have cornered your prey. A small animal or maybe someone’s pet.

When I first came to Agoura I attended a PTA get acquainted meeting at the local school. One of the moms told me a coyote had gotten their family pet. I was horrified. I did not realize coyotes were living so close to us and that they would attack pets in the backyard.

One time a neighbor’s cat was killed, the remains found on the front lawn. I made sure our cat was inside at night. On occasion, she would ignore my calls to come in at dusk. I would listen for her in the night. If I heard any cries or screeching I would imagine the worst.

One early morning, I went out to the front of my house. In the next driveway a large coyote stood staring at me. We made eye contact. Then he slowly loped off down the street.

I have seen coyotes around the area when hiking with my daughter. They do not bother us but just continue on their way.

Coyote. I know we have encroached on your territory more and more and that is why you come hunting in ours.

Coyotes, Coyote Pictures, Coyote Facts – National Geographic.

Introduction to Me and Blogging

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I started blogging to get practice with writing and as an experiment to see where it would lead and if I would like it. I started out blogging with a generational theme as a boomer then decided that I did not want to limit myself to one age group or topics related specifically to one age group. There are issues I am concerned about related to age, women, life and others.

When I was younger I always wanted to know people of different ages and backgrounds. So now I want to still do that  and not limit my writing. Only in that it applies to being human and my experience. I  can be funny, I think, but did not want to have that type of blog either where I made a joke of everything I am experiencing. I did do some writing like that at first.

I do not want to be an advice blog. I could probably manage to do that as well but have not wanted to so far. I would like to have a universal appeal and not be limited and not be preachy. I don’t want to have to write in a way that is calculated to appeal to an audience but is not really authentic to me.

Now we know what I do not want to do. So no one will want to read what I write? 🙂

The  main thing for me is to develop my skills and find my voice. I see the blog as a way to do that and to connect with other writers who may share my interests or enable me to develop some new interests as well.

I do like writing about my interests like movies, books, California, my life and some of my early life experiences and issues important to me now.

I chose the name of my blog, Notes Tied on the Sagebrush, based on an image that came to mind  of someone writing and not knowing who would read it, or if anyone would, and the notes being a way of self-expression.

I may want to begin a more ambitious writing project as in a book eventually. And would not like the blog to take up a lot of time that I could use to do research and other writing.

I have found I do look for feedback with the blogs I have written already. That can get to be unhealthy though, in that one can spend their time looking to see who likes their posts.

Wasn’t Facebook involved in a project like that to try to influence people’s behavior by giving them what they had liked in the past? I could become addicted to “likes.”

Featured Image of Blog Writer by Mike Licht, NotionsCapitol.com

Birthday Flower Image by jinterwas

Birthday Flower Image by jinterwas

Eureka Valley and The Castro

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Eureka Valley

My early childhood memories are of living in the Eureka Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. My father’s parents came to San Francisco from Ireland and owned a house on Eureka Street. My mother’s parents came to San Francisco from Canada when my mother was 7 years old. We lived a block over from my father’s childhood home.

At that time, in the 1950s, it was a neighborhood with mostly an Irish, Italian and German ethnic makeup and Catholic. The neighborhood was self-contained in that our lives pretty much revolved around that area and we did not venture out of it that often.

My neighborhood world consisted of a public school, Douglass Elementary, a public park, Eureka Valley Recreation Center, the Catholic church and elementary school, Most Holy Redeemer, and our local movie theater, the Castro. My father told me our neighborhood had the most children in all of San Francisco.

I transferred to the Catholic elementary school in first grade. Then it was about uniforms with navy blue pleated skirts. White blouses with t-bow ties. Bobby socks and saddle shoes. Nuns dressed in long black habits with starched white wimples and heavy waist rosaries. Catechism and first communions, with white dresses and veils. Rosaries, prayers, and stations of the cross. I was taught religious tolerance and that other religions are different paths to God.

The Monsignor would come to our classrooms and read us our report cards. He pronounced my name De-BOR-ah, with a brogue. It was a time of high expectations and pressure for a sensitive kid.

It was a time of hula hoops, jump ropes and clamp on metal skates that you tightened with a key. I was not allowed to have a bicycle because of the city traffic.

We watched the Mickey Mouse Club afterschool every day and dreamed of being Mouseketeers, like Annette Funicello. I loved Spin and Marty, a short TV series that was part of the Mickey Mouse Club show. I really wanted a Mouseketeer hat with a pink bow.

Halloween in our neighborhood was a big occasion. There was a local five and dime store called Cliffs on Castro Street. Every year Cliff hosted a Halloween parade lead by a large mechanical dinosaur. I remember kids lining up in their costumes behind the dinosaur to march down 18th Street.

The Castro Theatre

The Castro Theatre was built in 1922. It has over a 1400 seat capacity with a mezzanine and balcony. It is still in operation today. I can remember going there for the Saturday matinee with the theater full of kids. The price of admission was 25 cents. Candy was 10-15 cents. Some of that sugary fare included Necco wafers, Rolo caramels, Charms squares, Milk Duds, Red Vines licorice and Juicy Fruits.

Some movies that were showing at that time were, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin comedies like Scared Stiff, Godzilla, Cinderella, and Lady and the Tramp. I would laugh hysterically at Abbott and Costello and Jerry Lewis. Some may remember Tobor the Great and ” Tobor is robot spelled backwards.”

Sometimes I saw really scary movies like The Fly ( 1958), The Blob (1958) and The Tingler (1959), a centipede like creature that lived on our spines and grew stronger with fear. The only way to keep it from growing was to scream. There was a scene with blood running out of a faucet and a bath tub filled with blood. In one part of the movie, Vincent Price announced the Tingler was loose in the theater. The scary feelings elicited by those movies would last for weeks.

My friends and I often went by ourselves to the movies, but I can remember my mother taking me as well. My mother took me to see Creature from the Black Lagoon, one of the 3D films of the 1950s.

We moved from San Francisco to the peninsula when I was in 4th grade. There was a waiting list for the Catholic school there so I was enrolled in the local public school. That was the end of my Catholic school experience.

The old neighborhood has changed since the 1950s and is now known as The Castro and for its history in the beginning of the Gay Rights movement. Douglass Elementary is now the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy.

Featured image “The Castro” by Lucy Orloski

The Wine Country

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The recent earthquake in Napa has put the Napa Valley Wine Country in the news. I have always thought of this part of Northern California as part of the original “wine country.” There is so much to know and tell about this area of California I can only cover a small part.

There was a commercial for a wine maker many years ago, where a little cartoon guy says their wine is from “sonapanomamendocino.”  This was meant to be a funny combination of the names of the three original wine-producing counties in Northern California, which are Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino.

St. Helena, Napa Valley

My family always drove through St. Helena, in Napa Valley, on our way to Clear Lake every summer. We would take the route over Mount St. Helena. The countryside near St. Helena is especially beautiful. At that time, it was a pretty country town. We used to stop on Main Street at a Soda Fountain Shop for hamburgers, ice cream sodas or milkshakes. Today St. Helena is more upscale but still pretty. The soda fountain is no longer there. Heading out of the downtown area on Highway 29 there is a beautiful arch of sycamore trees over the road. The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is located down this highway where the Christian Brothers Winery used to be. Perhaps this site could be called a “Ghost Winery.”

There are several sites of old wineries called ghost wineries. Some have been refurbished and opened under new names. Freemark Abbey on Highway 29, a short distance from downtown St. Helena, is one. There used to be a candle factory located on that site as well called the Hurd Candle Factory which is sadly no longer there. Hurd specializes in beeswax candles and you could watch them being made at the old factory. Their store is now located in Calistoga, Ca. but you can not longer watch the candles being made.

Valley of the Moon

Located in Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley or “The Valley of the Moon” is a beautiful part of the wine country. There is controversy about where its name, Sonoma, originated. It is often attributed to the early indigenous people’s word for “many moons.” As the moon rises in the valley it can be hidden behind the mountains and appear to rise again several times. Thus, the name “many moons.” Jack London had a home in the Sonoma Valley in Glen Ellen. One of his books is ” The Valley of the Moon.” Who wouldn’t want to be in the Valley of the Moon, how beautiful. The name stuck.

The city of Sonoma has a large main square that is great for walking with a park, shops and restaurants surrounding it. It is the birthplace of wine growing in California and the birthplace of the state of California. Sonoma was founded as a Spanish Mission and was under Mexican rule. The Bear Flag Rebellion occurred there when some of the people wanted California to be part of the United States. That is the reason for the bear image on the state flag of California.

We stayed in Sonoma this past Christmas. The city has a small town feel. We could see a lot of stars at night as there is not a lot of city light to cloud the view. Sonoma is conveniently located for touring around and visiting a winery. A favorite thing for me is to buy a delicious crusty baguette, some good cheese, dry Italian salami and some Greek olives with a bottle of wine and have a picnic lunch. We did that at a nearby winery, Benziger, in Glen Ellen. We had a fun tour of the winery pulled along in a tram-car behind a tractor. The winery is in a gorgeous location on Sonoma Mountain.

Today California’s wine growing regions cover many parts of the state. There are wineries from San Diego to Humboldt counties. When I travel up the 101 Highway I can see a lot of land from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles has gone to vineyards. If you have seen the movie “Sideways” you know a little about the wine region in the Santa Ynez Valley above Santa Barbara.

But I will always think of Napa and Sonoma when anyone mentions the California Wine Country.

Wall Mural for Valley of the Moon image by Frank Kovalchek

Wall Mural for Valley of the Moon image by Frank Kovalchek

Featured Image “Idyllic Fall Day in the Napa Valley” by James Dalsa

Earthquake Weather

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When there is a sudden change in the weather to hot, maybe with some Santa Ana winds thrown into the mix, and especially when it is unusual for a certain time of the year, I often remark that it’s “ earthquake weather.” Meaning this weather is strange so it must portend something, like an earthquake. This has been discounted as myth but that doesn’t keep me from continuing to say it.

As a native of California, and having lived in the state my whole life, I have experience with earthquakes. The latest earthquake in Napa has started me thinking about them again.

My first memory of earthquakes is when I was in elementary school in San Francisco. I was in class when it started. Our teacher tried to keep us calm. Then a large chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling and I ran out of the classroom door. Some kids from other classrooms had the same reaction and there was a group of us outside our rooms running  for the main exit when the principal came out of her office and got us to stop. This helped me regain control and I quickly returned to my classroom feeling ashamed of my fear. Later that day, at home, we felt the aftershocks and my younger brother and I jumped up and down with each one until my mother told us to stop.

I have been fortunate not to experience any major earthquakes. The last big one in Southern California was the Northridge quake in 1994. We were out-of-town on a ski trip to Lake Tahoe at the time. During that earthquake our front door blew open and a window in the front room shattered. Our neighbors came into our house thinking we were home and possibly injured. One of my brother-in-laws lives near us and came by to check our house and he boarded up the window. Glassware had tumbled out of the kitchen cupboards and he cleaned that up as well.

When we came home from our trip, I noticed all the pictures on the walls were crooked like someone had broken into our house and turned them at odd angles. The medicine cabinet in our powder room had emptied into a nearby sink. The medicine bottles and assorted contents formed a small pyramid. There were a few cracks in our ceiling in some places and on an outside wall but nothing major. We were very lucky. To read more and hear a report about the Northridge quake done on the 20 year anniversary this past January click here.

We did experience the aftershocks from the Northridge earthquake. You could hear them coming before they hit. A loud rumbling sound like a train approaching which you can imagine was pretty scary.

We have had earthquakes occur in the middle of the night. When our kids were little and this happened, I would literally catapult out of my bed and hit the floor running toward their bedrooms to make sure they were all right and not frightened. If they were asleep I would stand in their doorways until the shaking stopped just watching them.

Some thoughts I have during an earthquake:

Could this be the Big One?

Is it getting stronger?

How long will it last?

Is the house holding up?

And then, finally, relief when the shaking ends with body and house still intact.

After earthquakes there are calls and emails to check on other family members to see if they felt the quake and how they are doing. We check the news reports to see where the epicenter was, the damage and strength of the quake on the Richter Scale.

Then, thankfully, it’s back to everyday things.

Image by James Gunn

Napa Image by James Gunn

*Featured Image Earthquake Badge by Dan La Sota

By the Wind Sailors

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Lone Sailboat at Dusk by Daniel Ramirez

Lone Sailboat at Dusk by Daniel Ramirez

Although I am a native of California, I had not heard of these magical jellyfish-like creatures called By the Wind Sailors. They travel along on the surface of the ocean propelled by the wind and currents. They have a sail-like structure on top that is positioned to catch the wind and usually keeps them from drifting to shore. But when there is a change in the direction of the wind they can be carried onshore to their deaths. When this happens, thousands of them can be found stranded on the beach from Washington state to Southern California. We like to think that we have control of our lives and can carefully plan out each detail. Maybe we are really more like By the Wind Sailors carried about by the winds and currents of our lives. 9441137849_532d76b2e7

Navigating the Transition to the Third Stage of Life

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It might be nice if we were born with a user’s manual for our lives. One that has:

  • Instructions on how to put our lives together
  • A  map on how to get to where you should be going
  • A troubleshooting section for when things break down
  • GPS to tell us we’re on the right path
  • Online access to the manual so you can conveniently check it from your smart phone or computer.

 If I had one I must have lost it somewhere. I do think I may have an internal GPS and I just have to practice tuning into it more often. That leads me to what this blog is about:

So much is written about issues that face my generation, the Boomers. About ageing and how to slow it down, the empty nest, reinvention ( a hot topic) and the transition from mid-life to the next stage or what some have called the Third Stage of Life.

Lately I have been reading more on this topic of transition to the Third Stage as I try to determine where I am going in my life. There is a lot of advice out there. Many articles and blogs are saying you can reinvent yourself and have an encore career. Others are saying you can be retired but you have to be sure to structure your retirement so you will not be isolated, bored and depressed.  I have read a lot of articles from Next Avenue, a PBS website about mid-life issues, and check in with Huff/Post 50.   I get turned off by articles that suggest you only need 5 steps to this or 10 steps to that. I think life transitions take longer than a few steps here or there. And we all do not take the same path. But I do make an exception with one I read recently from Next Avenue, “5 Tips to Find Meaning and Purpose in Later Life” by Ed Merck. He doesn’t say do these exact steps and your life will be wonderful. He does say “…we are all wired differently… and the key is to know what works for you.” He does give some tips about tuning into “your internal GPS” to find out what resonates with you and not finding your purpose but letting it find you. And he admits it took him 6 years to go through this transition not just 5 easy steps.

I know from personal experience it has taken me more than 5-10 steps to get from being career oriented and working full-time to where I am now semi-retired and looking in a different direction from having work be the center of my life. What made it a bit rockier for me is that I did not plan to be semi-retired so soon.

It has been a 6 year journey. I am not quite finished with it. I had to go down a few different paths to discover they weren’t the right ones for me. And found there were doors that were closed to me. I have had to change course a few times until I got to where I am today.

Which is, the beginning of my next stage of life. I don’t have all the details worked out yet. I have read a lot about what I should expect and how I should navigate it. Advice that resonates with me the best says you need to listen to your own inner guidance. Unless you want to live someone else’s life, you have to follow you own unique path. You have to discover your own answers.

Image of Winding Path from shanksart.blogspot.com