Everybody, WASH!

Nearly two weeks ago, I wrote this piece, which appeared in the Vancouver Jewish Independent newspaper on Friday:
Be sure to wash your hands 

A quick summary?  Handwashing and social distancing are ancient ways of preventing the spread of disease.  Hoarding's not new either.  You can find it all spelled out in the Torah.

That said, here is a particularly funny memory I had (and mentioned in the article) --of Sesame Street.  You can see that this skit was done long ago, when Mr. Hooper was still alive.  The news, about washing, isn't new...but this skit? Well worth seeing it again!

I hope you are healthy, washing your hands, and practicing social distancing. 
Wishing you all good things,
Joanne

Hanukah, 2017

 On Tuesday night, Hanukah started around here.  We have been very busy--every afternoon after the twins get off the school bus, there is a mad rush.  We have to choose the candles, Mommy!  We have to help make latkes, Mommy! (that was a huge mess, but sort of fun, too)  We have to read books about the holiday, Mommy!  We have to play dreidl and discuss what our friends have gotten as presents, Mommy!  (and onward.)

This is a pretty exhausting whirlwind, since we have to fit in all the celebrations and parties around school and work.... which is still happening every day. The reactions have been funny, too.  Each night, the kids get gifts.  Most nights, the gifts are small.  Last night, we got one story book, some colored pencils, coloring books, and wool socks.  This is, in the scheme of things, not a big ticket present, and cost is totally irrelevant to enjoyment, we find.  I had two boys busy coloring non-stop, and they were thrilled by new warm socks.  The book went into a pile; they would "read it later, Mommy!" 

My guys are at an age where counting the candles and putting them into the menorah is a fun math project.  Singing the songs they learned at school is fun.  Eating one piece of chocolate gelt per night is great, too.

One of my guys has scarcely unwrapped his gift before he wonders what he will be receiving the next night.  The other twin is very worried--what if there are too many great presents?  It might make his first night gift, a parrot stuffed animal that he really wanted, seem not as great? " Mommy," he says, "hold off on all the presents.  That is not what this is about."

All these photos are from old Hanukah posts on this blog!  Click here to read a fun (random) collection of stories from Hanukahs in years past.  (When I did not have twins yet, and when we threw big parties for 14 students from the Professor's lab, for instance...)

I hope you're having lots of fun celebrating, whatever you celebrate! 

What I did this summer...

What I did this summer...
by Joanne Seiff

Among other things, I spent hours outside in our front yard as my boys dug in the sandbox, in the dirt, in the garden, played and argued.  Usually, I knit or spin on a spindle to keep from killing anybody, due to unnecessary sibling arguments or sheer boredom...I need to be close by in case of disasters.

This year, I tried something new and attempted a big project.  I wound 2 plies of handspun alpaca-silk singles (yarn) and 1 ply of handspun merino wool together into a ball on my nostepinde.  (that long black wooden thing in the photo)  I then used the nostepinde as a distaff, by tucking it under one arm.  (usually my left, mainly by using my armpit)  Then, I used that turkish spindle in the photo, and starting and stopping all summer, I made a big ball of three ply yarn.  I skeined it up and measured it recently.  It's about 110 yards of three-ply...all spun on a spindle.

I also knit a new sample for my Turkish Lace Camisole pattern.  I used Rowan Pure Linen, and I suspect I'll get good use out of this version!  Of course, I finished it right before Labor Day, and it is already beginning to get cool here...there's always next year.

I spent many hours on adventures with my twins, who told me firmly that their favorite parts of summer were spending time at the wading pool and with Mommy and Daddy.  So, this summer, we went on lots of trips..including to the Aviation museum, the Firetruck Museum, the Railway museum, the zoo, the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, the gardens, the Forks, and of course, several different city wading pools and their adjacent sandboxes.

Finally, while I dangled my feet in the wading pool a fair bit, I also continued writing, creating knitting designs, and freelancing where I could by staying up late, writing through naptime, and using PBS on occasion.  (we love some Curious George, Sesame Street and Clifford around here...)

  (I'm SO looking forward to getting back to work in the new year!)

Also, we're celebrating the start of preschool.  Hurray!  I have had 3 full days off of twin duty so far, and it has been nothing short of miraculous.

However, the high holidays are coming...and with them, many interrupted weeks of school so we can celebrate them.  I looked at the preschool calendar, and my guys will not have a full 5 day week of school until after Canadian Thanksgiving, in mid-October.  Right.  So, I spent part of this week cooking and getting ready... here's a shot from my baking session.  I made 4 round challahs, two plain, and two with raisin.  Here are two explanations on why a round challah is traditional for Rosh HaShanah.  (A note about the links in that last sentence...the first one is short and sweet, the second is more detailed, and finally, the last one is about the whole holiday and not just baked goods!)

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, sweet, fulfilling, healthy and prosperous 5766.  May we see more peace in the year to come.

L'Shanah Tovah U'metukah!

A happy and sweet new year!

left leaning

This post is not about politics.

I know you'd assume it would be, since we are about to have an election in Canada (in which I cannot vote, because I am not a Canadian citizen) and because there has been a lot of political news in the USA lately. Neither of these is particularly relevant to this blog post.*

I will, of course, refer to religion, health, and wealth in this post, so you can feel I've violated the "taboo in polite company" subjects. This makes up for the lack of photos! (Photos would be way too much information here...you'll see!)

On Passover, at the Passover seder, some people have the custom of leaning to the left as they drink the four cups of wine. Don't worry, I had grape juice this year. If you're curious as to why, I've included information from this website below to explain.**

Anyhow, at the seders I attended this year, nobody did this, but I was reminded of the custom.

Why? Well, when you're pregnant, you're supposed to be sleeping on your left side. This is because you can't physically sleep on your stomach...that would be seriously uncomfortable for everybody involved. If you sleep on your right side, you can apparently cut off circulation because as the uterus gets larger, it can cut off blood flow. Apparently sleeping on your back isn't ideal either. You should only, if possible, lean to your left as you sleep. (I am usually a stomach or side sleeper, but well, everything changes when pregnant with twins, apparently.)

I'd like to point out here that before the days of medicalized advice, many pregnant women managed to sleep through the night without any instructions at all. Apparently, humanity survived this lack of sleeping instructions....but now women must rely on medical intervention to enjoy poor sleep and miserable nights during pregnancy.

Now, I can't speak for anybody else, but for the last few months, the only way I managed to sleep at all was in a sort of boosted up reclining position, on my back. This cut down on my heartburn, shortness of breath, and numbness in my arms and hands while I slept...until recently, when my legs and feet started to get seriously swollen, too. I have had low or normal blood pressure all along, and my doctor assures me all my symptoms are entirely normal for a twin pregnancy.

Last night in the dark, while pondering the notion of leaning left on Passover (and going to the bathroom about 500 times), I tried rebuilding my pillow fort in bed and trying sleeping on my left side again. The ligaments in my abdomen didn't like this added pressure. The fetus in the lower part of my abdomen didn't like it. However, when morning finally arrived, I discovered that the swelling in my legs and feet had subsided. It worked.

Leaning left was a good (if totally uncomfortable) idea. It only takes about 5 pillows, a duvet, a wool blanket, a bed entirely to oneself and a very long night of discomfort. It does, however, really reduce swelling in my legs.

When the professor got up this AM, he saw my frustration and asked if he could make me more comfortable. First, I offered a string of suggestions, none of which can be described in polite company here...I was grouchier than Oscar the Grouch. Second, I sprung out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, giving up entirely on sleep.

Stay tuned--the pillow fort research approach to circulation, swelling and numbness is likely to continue over here.

Now, don't you wish this WERE about politics?!

*Except for this quirky story: When I was a kid, I had a book about Native American/Indian/First Nations/Aboriginal culture. (Choose the category that people use in your area--this terminology varies in the US and Canada.) I loved this book and my parents read it to me over and over. In particular, I was enthralled with the notion of the Potlatch. I especially loved the idea of giving away presents to other people at a big party--and the effort to equalize status through redistribution. I still love throwing dinner parties today and giving people presents when I have just the right thing for someone. When we decided to move to Winnipeg, my father concluded--as a joke-- that I'd fit right in as I was always leaning "left" towards socialism anyway. Further, he figured I just wanted to move farther west --"left" when looking at a map--in order to really participate in all those potlatches. :)

**The Talmudic Sages created a rabbinic injunction that a Jewish person was obligated to drink 4 Cups of Wine during the Seder in a way (leaning or reclining to the left) that expresses their freedom (Babylonian Talmud, Gemara, Pesachim 108b, 117b). The drinking of Four Cups of Wine represents the most prominent rabbinical injunction or obligation or mitzvah to be performed during the Seder. Furthermore, each of the 4 Cups of Wine symbolizes a commandment or mitzvah I.E. an obligation to perform, unto itself (Babylonian Talmud, Gemara, Pesachim 109b-110a).

Why Must One Recline or Lean to the Left When Drinking The Four Cups of Wine? Why Not Recline or Lean to the Right or Not At All?

The Talmudic rabbis cautioned against reclining or leaning to the right when drinking the Four Cups of Wine or when drinking any other beverage or when eating because there was and is a greater danger of accidentally consuming the liquid or food down the windpipe or trachea when one is reclining or leaning toward the right. In addition, the custom of the Greeks and then Romans during the time of the Talmudic rabbis (the latter about 10 B.C.E. until 500 C.E.) was to drink and eat while reclining or leaning to the left, which symbolically indicated that the rulers of Judea - the Romans, who were preceded by the Greeks - were the only free people in Judea and so they were the only ones who were able to do that.

Big big big belly

Last year, on my birthday, I thought I had lots of big news. I had a big new-to-me floor loom, for instance.

This year, the birthday news is bigger. You may remember from my posts this fall that I felt under the weather a lot...with both asthma and with nausea. I was also on a medicine that made me feel stoned and made it hard to drive.

That is because, with the help of a little technology, I am pregnant. With twins.

(Apparently, twin fetuses offer twice as many hormones--so twice as much nausea.) Yup, it's been a long haul so far.

I am celebrating tonight because the professor and our visiting resident student took me out for a birthday dinner. So far, I am even keeping it down, which is wonderful. I've learned to be grateful for small things!

These twin fetuses, formerly nicknamed Nausea & Vomit, have now been renamed. The professor objected to those nicknames, but then, he was only a helpful bystander to why I called them that! (A bystander who did the shopping, cleaning, cooking, and all sorts of other things to help me cope.) Lately I've been calling them the kugel twins, after Lokshen Kugel...one of my favorite childhood foods. Lokshen and Kugel are doing fine so far. The stork should deliver them in May or early June. Their due date is in early June, but twins often arrive early, just like I tend to do, if you know me!

Locally, people already know about this because I've already got quite a belly and have been wearing maternity pants since November now. Twin fetuses take up a lot of room! It's hard to hide such a big belly!

In order to head off any questions:
We are adhering to traditional Jewish customs and will not be announcing any names, genders, or other details before the babies are born. We're not acquiring anything for these guys until they are born healthy--so no baby shower before the big day, no nursery acquisitions, etc. Of course, if you had a big urge to knit baby clothes or soakers or longies or something for no baby in particular, well, I can't stop you...and I'll send you grateful thanks and my address in May/June!

Thanks to all of you who have been cheering quietly behind the scenes for me as I went through many years of trying to get pregnant. Thank you so much for your gentle support. I appreciate you more than you will know.