Party House

This past Friday, I threw a party for our good friend Ana Perlini who just finished three years of university to get her bachelor's in sociology. It was a big achievement for Ana, especially since she is not a native English speaker. So, we had a party at my house in honor of Ana. Above, you can see me BBQ-ing. I don't need a man to BBQ, these days I do it myself. I take it very seriously and I must say, it feels empowering! However, I learned a vital lesson. After the party, the coals were burning so nicely that I decided to BBQ some chicken for dinner. I put five chicken breasts on the grill and promptly forgot about them. They were charcoaled. Lesson: you shouldn't BBQ and let things distract you. Fortunately, the kebabs for the party turned out great!


The food





Left to right: Ana's friend from Portugal, Emily, and Tracy

Sara Rovetto and the babies

Peggy and Ana's friend

Left to right: Jennifer Ross, Abby, Sammy, Tracy, Ian Gillings, Ana Perlini, Jack Ross, Jamie Hunter, Debbie Hunter and Lizzie Hunter

A different little "party" with Sammy and her friends - Sam Bishop and Lizzie Hunter

Tea party with Daddy

flowers in our garden

intellectual Sammy

Sammy Montage

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Happy Birthday Abby!

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We had a family party for Abby on Saturday. We made her a chocolate cake complete with chocolate fudge between the layers and chocolate icing on top with a side of the chocolat-iest ice cream I could find (Ben & Jerry's Phish Food). She loved it. There was almost enough chocolate for her.




We opened all her presents that day as well.




Then on Monday (her actual birthday) we invited all of her little friends over for a "garden tea party." All the children came in fancy dress.

Debbie Hunter, Lizzie, Jamie and Sammy

The cake

Abby enjoying a piece of the pig cake along with his nose

Abby's friends Grace, Avery and Sam

Eating cake

I purchased the pinata about a week in advance. They wrapped it in a bag for me and I didn't look at it again until I pulled it out for the children to whack at the birthday party. After several attempts by various children, we decided to cut her tail a bit with a knife so that it would be a bit easier and come open quicker. That is when I realized that you have to stuff the pinata with candy yourself! There was NO CANDY in the pinata. I then saw a big sticker on the back of pinata that said "To Fill Press Here." I was completely embarrassed. The kids didn't seem to mind much. Abby especially just loved whacking it. (I am such an idiot!)

Abby has a go.

Sam Bishop

Our Sammy

Sammy and Abby love the pinata. After the party, they had a few more whacks at her in the garden and then sat with her a while.

Abby was completely exhausted after her party. She passed out on the living room floor.

Seder - Perhaps My New Tradition

So, Charles is in Morocco this week for business and I have been whining about it since Sunday because I wanted to go with him so bad. I tried very hard but he didn't know if he was going for sure until the very last minute and then tickets for me (for the next day) were too pricey and it would have been a big pain to drop everything and go. So to occupy my mind and help me not to go into a deep depression because I could be sitting on the beach right now in sunny Morocco, I focused my mind on leading a seder instead. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. I find the tradition all quite fascinating. I have been to a few seders when I lived in New York. A Jewish friend of mine from NYU would invite Charles and I every year. It is fun and a great way to remember the exodus of the Jews, which is nice for everyone to remember and re-read each year. In fact, I have enjoyed preparing for this seder so much that I am thinking of starting a tradition in our family of doing a seder each year. I even bought a children's seder plate and made matzo ball soup and matzo pudding using matzo meal. And as one of my books advised me, I did not eat any matzo prior to the seder, "so as to heighten my taste for matzah and for the mitzvah of eating it."

Anyway, my seder went well and I think all involved learned something from the experience. I know I certainly did. I came home last night and told my Jewish neighbor that I had just done a seder at my church and she was thrilled. She then asked why I didn't have her do it. She said she would have put on a lovely seder for us. (She said this even though it is the middle of Passover for her and her husband has been in hospital for the last several days and is not doing well. I think she has enough to worry about. How incredibly nice of her to offer though.)

Well, Happy Pesach (Passover) from Golders Green, London!

We "Bought" a Cat for the Week

The other day Abby and Sammy were playing in the back garden pushing their strollers and I was lounging idly in a chair staring off in the distance when my Orthodox Jewish neighbor Estelle Golker poked her head over the fence wearing her bright red-haired wig. We began to chat and as we finished our little conversation she said, "just so you know, I have 'sold' you my cat for the week. We will feed him and everything but you own him for the week for Pesach." I wasn't sure what she was talking about but agreed to it anyway. Then I started thinking that she must be referring to a Jewish holiday. Then I remembered it is Passover. It begins this Sunday (April 20th) and continues until the following Saturday (the 26th).

She has been busy for the past several weeks ridding her house of "chametz" or any trace of leavened bread. Contrary to popular belief, chametz is not the five grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, and spelt. Rather, chametz is the leavened product that results when any of these five grains come into contact with water for more than a minimum of eighteen minutes. Thus all breads, pastas, cakes, cookies, and dry cereals are considered pure chametz. The goal for a Jewish housewife is to clean out, destroy, remove and renounce all chametz. Since a total elimination would constitute an economic hardship for most people, the Rabbis instituted the sale of title to the chametz in one's possession. This is where the "sale" of her cat to me comes in.

Parakeets, gerbils and the like, or rather their food and cages, present a problem at Passover time. These pets live on a grain diet. The law applies to all Jews of any age against deriving ANY pleasure or benefit from chametz. Therefore, cages of pets must be thoroughly cleaned out. The pet can be "sold" to a non-Jewish friend (that's me), who will care for it during the holiday. The other alternative is to alter the diet. Most large pet-food companies will send, on request, a pet Passover diet.

Anyway, as you can see her little "sale" led me to do a lot of research. I also talked to her again and got quite the low-down on all the cleaning that she does to get ready for Passover. She literally starts weeks in advance. She has to vacuum every corner, scrub every shelf and drawer. Every curtain gets washed and ironed, the rugs are shampooed. Furniture is moved, mattresses are overturned, pockets of garments are turned inside out and shaken clean looking for any possible hiding places of chametz. The kitchen is the biggest job. All kitchen items used all year long handling and absorbing chametz may not be used for Passover. That means they are either stowed away or thoroughly cleaned. This includes dishes, cutlery, utensils, pots and pans, serving pieces, trays, sink racks, drainboards, kitchen gadgets, storage areas, freezer, refrigerator, stove top, oven, dishwasher, blender, food processor, toaster, electric mixer, spice rack, in sum everything! And the housewife hasn't even begun to make all the meals and do the shopping and planning for the holiday, this is just preparation! So basically, I have decided I am too lazy to be a Jewish housewife....

Emergency Headband

Abby has this very strange attachment to headbands. I always knew this but it really became apparent in Utah when other people started commenting on it. That is when I realized that her headband obsession is pretty funny.

For example, while in Utah, Abby had her hair done in the morning by Bethy in two french braids. It was very cute and she loved it. Later that day, we got home and she was in a very bad mood. She would not talk to anyone or tell them what was wrong. She just cry or whine. Upon seeing her, I immediately knew I needed to take out her braids and give her a headband and she was then very happy and content. Beth and others in the family were amazed by this. Abby has been like this for a year or two now and I almost don't think about it.

Another time, we were at the mall and Abby was grumpy and not behaving. She starting throwing a fit while I was trying to buy some shoes. I immediately took her hair out of the two elastics it was in and gave her the "emergency headband" I had put in the bag for her. She then was very nice and happy and behaved well for the rest of the shopping trip. Charles' cousin Cindy was amazed.

In fact, a year or so ago Abby would wake up in the morning and the absolute first thing she would want would be her headband. She would come into our room and wake us up crying for her headband. I got so tired of being woke up that way and being forced to get up and go in her room for her headband that I started putting an "emergency headband" on my nightstand so I could simply hand it to her without getting out of bed. After that she started to insist on sleeping with them on her head every night, which seems quite uncomfortable to me. We only recently started making her take them off when she goes to bed.

It is also the first thing she has to put on when she gets home from school.

What a funny girl!

Hospital Holiday and First Snow Fall

This week I have been in hospital (that is how the English say it, they never put "the" in front of the word "hospital." I still haven't quite figured out why). I went in on Tuesday afternoon and came home Wednesday night. They did a biopsy and took some samples of the tissues in my back to figure out why I have been having pain. Anyway, it was strange to be in hospital when I was not having a baby and was not really sick. It was a nice relaxing getaway though. I was excited to get a lot of reading done and that I did. I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, the author of the "KiteRunner." It was quite a depressing read, which probably wasn't the best choice for me while I was all alone for two days. It seemed to make being in hospital more depressing than it should have been. By day two, I was desperate to leave. I could have stayed a second night but I started feeling suffocated in that room. Don't get me wrong, it is a great book. I think that Hosseini is an excellent writer. It is just that the realities of the tragic lives of the Afghanis is hard to take. Anyway, it was nice to come home and feel missed and loved. Apparently Abby spent two hours crying for me on Tuesday night. Even though I feel sorry for Charles who had to deal with it, it felt good to be missed. Charles did very well juggling working from home and looking after the girls. I think he was ready to go back to work though.


Here are some pictures of the girls this past Sunday when we got our first and hopefully last snowfall for the year. It only lasted until mid-afternoon or so and then it was all melted. The girls had lots of fun playing in it. I am now satisfied that we got our snow for the year and do not need any more. I did not miss the snow at all.


They are very proud of their gloves. Abby especially was excited to wear Daddy's gloves since we couldn't find hers.



braving the snow with strollers in tow



snow on the blossoms

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The Friday before felt like sixty degrees and we ate in the conservatory...