Happy Halloween:10 '20

 Happy Halloween 

From Bruce and Cece

Home-made Fettucchini for Dinner 10 ' 26

Dinner tonight:

Home-made fettuccini with artichoke, mushroom and lemon sauce.

I forgot how much muscle it takes to make pasta by hand.

My Deltoid muscles are really sore this evening.

Outside Halloween Decor: 10 '20

 

I was a bit late in getting  all the Halloween decor set up in the yard this year,

but I finally have all of the Boo's and Ghouls

 installed in the front flower bed,

and little ghosts lining the walkways.

The front porch is festooned with 

creepy  characters,

and of course, there's always a black cat or two, waiting to greet you.

PI South End Beach Walk: 10 '20

We've been having perfect weather for walking the beach.

Not only do we have the place almost to ourselves,

but the sky is a deep clear blue,

the air temp is comfortable ,

and the shoreline water

on the South-end of Pawleys Island

is refreshingly cool.

Getting ready for Halloween: 10 '20

 

My cats are really mad at me. We took our Sukkah down this morning,

and by this afternoon, I had replaced it with Halloween decorations.

Our poor kitties are so upset. They loved hanging out in our Sukkah.

Halloween is just plain boring by comparison.

(Or at least it will seem dull until they realize there's all these fun new toys ( bats) flying over the dining room table).

Chag Sameach: 10 ' 20

 "Chag Sameach", from Bruce and I on the last evening of Sukkot 2020. We wish you one last "Happy Holiday" .

Tonight we shook the lufah and etrog one last time for this year,

and had our last celebratory meal in our Sukkah.

Celebrating Day 6 of Sukkot: 10 '20

 Today was the 6th day of Sukkot

We are still celebrating this Jewish Holiday by eating all of our meals  inside our Sukkah, and reciting the traditional prayers in Hebrew*

Bruce has always told me I would love celebrating Sukkot.  I don't know what took me so long, but I wish I had listen to him sooner. Our Sukkah feel like such a sanctuary of  peace in these troubled  times.  Even our cats love hanging out within it's  tranquil walls.

* The book Bruce is holding is  notebook I made, called,

"The Book of Sukkot."  

It contains a lot of reference material I collected about the art, history, stories,  and  cultural traditions of Sukkot celebrations around our world, along with all of  the holiday's mandated prayers and  rituals.  

Bruce was using it to read the evening Blessings in Hebrew.

Butterfly Migration: 10 / 2020

 There's been a party going on in our yard all summer long. As soon as our zinnias and echinaceas started blooming,

the Monarch butterflies showed up,

followed shortly by the Cloudless Sulfer butterflies,

and a misc. mix of other tag-along species.

But last week the Monarchs suddenly disappeared, and this week, the skies are filled with the Sulfer butterflies, all fluttering south toward to their winter migration grounds. It makes me sad to see them go. Our world seems so much brighter and happier when I am in their presence.

Golf at Founders Club: 10 '2020

Today was perfect weather for a golf game,

so Bruce and I played 9 holes

at the Founder's club across the street from us.

 

All went well until  Bruce drove his ball

straight down the 16 th fairway

and landed his ball right in the middle of a 

sprinkler head  maintenance project.

Since the hole was right in the middle of the green ,

we agreed to call it a hole-in-one 

and scored it that way.

First Evening of Sukkot: 10 '20

It is the first evening of Sukkot, and dinner has been served

We are having lamb chop, a steamed artichoke, cous-cous with fresh herbs,  and a compote of spiced apples, raisins, and dates.

After the meal, Bruce did some  COVID safe socializing by emailing friends  his wishes for their having a  "Happy Sukkot" or "Chag Sameach!

Sukkot Preparations: 10 ' 20

 We have decided to have a full on  Sukkot celebration this year.  We had considered setting up a Sukkah ( Tent) in prior years,  but  have always felt constrained  from  doing so  by a myriad of HOA rules  prohibiting leaving personal items out of doors overnight.  Setting up a Sukkot for a week long holiday, even on our 2nd story deck, would almost certainly generate a CC&R violation notice.  As this year's Covid Pandemic  caused Jews everywhere to adjust their traditions to avoid outside social contac,  we began to see photos of Jewish people setting up their tents in their living rooms.  So Game on!

Bruce brought our patio umbrella indoors and set it up over

our living room's chairs day bed, and coffee stable.

I covered the umbrella with a large 

mosquito net giving us sides.

Then  we brought in some houseplants

from the sunporch,

and hung Star of David decorations inside and ouside the tent.

 To give the setting a bit more of an out-of-door vibe, other furnishings around the room were decorated  with the foliage of the four species: citron, myrtle, palm, and  willow.

The kitties absolutely love the sukkah and are busy marking anything

 and everything  on, or in it.

Unfortunately, that means the kitties interest in the project

that  means that we have had to make some adjustments.

They are sure that our Lulav and Etrog are new cat chew toys, 

so these traditional symbols have been moved  out of the sukkah

  and onto a side table.

Our cats know that getting on the dining room table is verboden, so that  table is being used as a clean staging area.  Once the food is ready to be served on the plates, we will move the  complete place settings into the table in the sukkah to eat.