The Raw and The Cooked

This was our final week of summer vacation. All in all, I think Camp Mommy was a success. Other than the anchor points of swim lessons 3x per week, we built in a ton of wide open free-time, and found ourselves thriving in last minute land. We had so much flexibility, so much rest. That was all I really wanted for the children, and myself. A really restful summer. I can’t even begin to count the number of summer days, where everyone stayed in PJ’s through lunch, and just… slept in, played, read, ate, napped, made forts in the living room, 9am lemonade popsicles, spent time outside with the hose. And yet, we still managed to fill in our time with playgrounds, playdates, museums, indoor play-places, and a handful of baseball games. I’m already nostalgic for this past summer, it was really great.

As for this week’s parsha, I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired. This week was all about law and order, and all of the nuances of specific steps to take in the event of a homicide, accidental or not. I really love the particular details God lays out in the various events of homicide. And I do wonder, where our country has gone so wrong. Did you know only 27 states have the death penalty? The Torah takes killing incredibly seriously, but it also distinguishes between intentional murder and accidental death and builds an entire system around that distinction.

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A few weeks back, I mentioned we wrapped up the heavy lifting for our kitchen refresh. We installed new flooring, lighting, emerald green backsplash, and wooden accent shelving for our kitchen, a space that I love dearly, even with its white formica counters. And this week, the final piece of the puzzle was put in place: the pantry. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I mean, anything would have been better than builder-grade white wire shelving (though we did leave the behind the door wire shelves, as noted in the photo), I am over the moon with the completion of the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen… the timing is quite neat here, because the parsha this week, Re’eh, opens with another decree from Moses, and discusses many more laws. For this particular parsha, the laws concern kashrut (kosher) foods, debt, tithing, and holidays. I find it really interesting that Moses begins with laws of what we can and cannot eat, laws of kashrut (kosher), items that God finds abhorrent for human consumption. It has been speculated, that laws of kashrut are giving first, because it is the physical act we participate in the most — think about how many times a day we eat a meal, have a snack, compared to anything else we do in this physical world. I genuinely believe God wants us to enjoy this physical world, if anything, we were given taste buds to really enjoy our food and beverages. It’s a gift. We did not have to be endowed the gifts of smell and taste. And yet, here we are. Creating the most delicious and elaborate meals, with so many wonderful and complimentary flavors. Take for example my favorite summer salad, a strawberry-cucumber-pecan-feta salad, paired with a balsamic dressing. Bursting with summer flavors, and the amount of joy it brings to assemble and consume is quite high. Anyway, just one small example.

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Another week that went by in a blink. One moment it was Sunday morning, the next it was Thursday afternoon, then Shabbat, and then, somehow, Sunday again. Last week was a blur of swimming lessons, the gym, a lot of homemade pizza, an aquarium outing, a library trip (I finished three Lily Kings this week!), two Trader Joe’s runs, weekly lunch day-date with my husband, and a lot of time here at home.

I really enjoyed Eikev, at this rate, I have a feeling Deuteronomy will become my favorite book of the Torah. What I find so interesting, is that while Moses relays back Gods rules and laws, he weaves in the narrative that he and Israel lived for the last forty years. It’s very compelling. Welcome to Eikev.

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This past week was one of those weeks that went by in the blink of an eye. The highlight was a perfect Wednesday summer morning, spent with our best friends, at one of our best playgrounds, which has this hidden stream behind it (photo above). We also did two (!) trips to the Science Center, swim lessons, our annual family photoshoot, and of course, a trip to the library. I finished Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo — loved it so much! Oh, and I stepped on a bee last week, and got a gnarly bee sting on the bottom of one of my toes, which meant I had to sit out that afternoons gym session. What can you do!

For the record, I’m writing today’s post late on a Monday afternoon during a heatwave (heat index of 114-degrees), from the comfort of my bed. The A/C is doing its best, but it’s having trouble cooling our home lower than 74-degrees. All four children are already changed into their PJ’s. It’s 4pm. And they fashioned elaborate magic wands / guns for themselves out of K’nex, capes made of throw blankets. Lots of summersaults, running, and screaming. It’s hard to concentrate, and it’s my fault for not getting this done before Shabbat (of last week). There will probably be a lot of typos and terrible grammatical sentences today. At least there is no crying. Welcome to “Va’etchanan.”

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