A Long Day

it is 8:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just got home. i took the dogs for a quickie stroll and am ready to crash. i got up as usual, at 6:00 a.m. took the dogs out for a walk and went back to bed. i decided to wash the floors. i finished my 'sponger' at 8:00 a.m. i took a fast shower and ran out to catch the 8:45 a.m. bus to town. i made a mad sprint and caught the bus as it turned the corner. surprisingly, i didn't have a heart attack. i've been doing this sprint all week long.

got to work at 9:15 a.m. i got a bus card for seniors' even though i'm only 61. for about $15 a month, i have unlimited bus rides. i don't have to search my tsedukah boxes for busfare anymore. i feel so free. i don't have to catch a ride to town anymore, either. enough of those dirty looks first thing in the morning!

i made a flat of boiled eggs for the yeshiva boys and defrosted a nice loaf of whole grain bread for breakfast. i didn't feel like making any quinoi, today. i made a huge cucumber salad and sliced up a lot of tomatoes. i put out some humus and pickles and olives. i cooked up a vat of potatoes and another one of spaghetti for the other 2 meals. the boys weren't back on time, so i took off for the seniors' center.

i met my new friend and neighbor in town and brought her to the center. i introduced her to the key personnel because she wants to play music for the seniors. i went back to my group and spent the morning dancing and singing for the elders. i felt great. i have been eating only chocolate and icecream and sugar for the past couple of months, since i started cooking full time at the yeshiva. i seriously, have to put an end to this awful regimen. i am walking around with a huge stomach and i think i am suffering from a urinary tract infection. it is all from the sugar, i bet.

i left the center at 1:00 after i helped feed someone. i stopped off at the supermarket to buy a few things for shabbat. i also bought more whole wheat flour and a small box of cocoa for the yeshiva. i decided to make a couple of cakes for sunday to break the fast at night. i am not going to work on sunday. i offered to come in to make a meal for after the fast, but one of the older guys said they'd rather break the fast with cake. i stayed until 5:00 p.m. today to make the cakes.

i got back a bit late and didn't have enough time to make a hot lunch. i used the cooked potatoes and made a vinagrette sauce. there are at least two guys there who don't eat mayonnaise. i made good use of the canned goods that arrived, while i was out. i made a quick corn salad and opened up 2 huge cans of tuna. one would have been enough. while the guys were eating, i 'semi' deep fried some prepared fish sticks. i was dreading making them but the guys wolfed them down. i even had a few. they honestly, weren't bad.

i fried up some canned mushrooms with onions and added it to the spaghetti. the poor spaghetti was sitting in water all day. it tasted like noodles. when i added olive oil, it kind of became one giant blob. oh well! i don't have to deal with it. i'm off tomorrow and sunday. i overheard a couple of the boys talking about different yeshivas. they asked each other how good the food was. one of the kids said, 'nothing as good as this yeshiva's food'. i'm getting a swelled head to go with my huge swollen chocolate and sugar belly. oh, the price of fame!

as i was returning home on the bus, i drove past a simcha. the local chabad bomb shelter/synagogoue was having a selebration for the new sefer torah. i stopped by my friend's house and we walked over together. it was lovely. the huge mitzvah tank camper was out and the yeshiva boys were waving huge moshiach flags and dancing. there was taped music. the younger boys were holding huge flares for candles. it was very joyous. i'm glad, though to be finally, home.