Blow Hards

Samain                                                                           Thanksgiving Moon

Winds. Over 40 mph. Some gusts up to 50. Blew open our front door yesterday. Gertie got out. We’ve had loose dogs only a couple of times in the last four years. This was the first time up here without one of us seeing it. After a few frantic minutes Kate saw her over at the neighbors. I ran over there and had to physically pull her out of the neighbor’s overturned trash can. Her version of Thanksgiving dinner. “Oh, thank you for tipping over the big trash can so I can find food  in it!”

The catered meal was just what the doctor ordered. (Ha.) With the exception of the whole, hey, the oven’s not working thing, it was the right choice for this Thanksgiving. Now I’m looking at the crown roast of lamb or a tenderloin roast for a winter solstice meal. It’s cheaper than a good restaurant, the quantities are larger, and Tony’s does a great job. Left overs!

We’re heading into the heart of Holiseason with Thanksgiving just finished. Hanukkah starts next Sunday, December 2nd, as does the Advent season for Christians. It runs until Christmas Eve. Hanukkah ends on December 10th.

I’ve been developing a lesson plan for the religious school on winter holidays. We’ll discuss what holidays are and what holidays they already know. I have four handouts: a Jewish holiday calendar in the round, a representation of the zodiac that shows its equivalency to the Great Wheel, a Great Wheel showing the Celtic holidays and their seasons, and a blank wheel of the year. What winter holidays do you know? Are there any common features among them? If you wanted to develop a winter holiday of your own, say one for Congregation Beth Evergreen (not Hanukkah) what would it look like? What would make it a holiday? A winter holiday? Should we propose it to the congregation as a CBE winter holiday?

I also studied Week 2 of the introduction to the Talmud. Today I’m going to watch the first lecture on “Between Cross and Crescent: Judaism from Mohamed to Spinoza” and the first lecture of the Coursera Online offering:  “The Bible’s Prehistory, Purpose, and Political History.” It’s another Jewish Studies Sampler Sunday on Dec. 2nd.