D officially went on vacation starting Tuesday, a fast day marking the destruction of the first and second temple in Jerusalem. On the Hebrew calendar this is the 9th of Av. Three weeks prior to this on the 17th of Tammuz there is a minor fast which marks the breach of the walls of Jerusalem until the Romans succeed in destroying the Second Temple on the 9th of Av. For three weeks we "mourn" the loss of our Temple with the final 9 days considered as in mourning of a relative. For 9 days we don't play music, weddings and other similar occasions are forbidden, we dont' buy new clothes and we are in a state of mourning until after a 25 hour fast on the 9th of Av. The 9th of Av also marks many other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people through out history. Including the expulsion of Jews from Spain marking the beginning of the Spanish inquisition, the start of WWI which led to WWII and most recently the Jews of Gush Katif were expelled the day after Tisha B'Av (the 9th of Av) two years ago. It is a "heavy" time and we use it to reflect on our behavior and how we have done and what we can do to improve ourselves. When the fast ends we are humbled, but filled with hope that things can improve and we are not with the ability to change things for the better.
Now that this time is over we are enjoying being able to do the things we have put on hold. So, on Tuesday evening after the fast we celebrated by making homemade caramel corn and watching Gigi! For those of you who don't know, like D did not, Gigi is a 1958 musical staring Leslie Caron that takes place in Paris. It is one of my favorite musicals and my mom just sent it to me so I really wanted to see it and I was patiently waiting until after the Tisha B'av to watch it. So I suggested it to D and he was like OK (think resigned male sigh.) I sweetened the deal with the caramel corn and we got settled and started the movie. We get through the opening credits, etc. and Maurice Chevallier starts singing and D gets the horrified tone and says, " this is a musical?! I didn't know it was a musical, this is going to take a lot more popcorn!" But we watched it and he survived it. Wed. was mostly a hang out day and get caught up on things day. I took the kids to the park for a couple of hours and that was it.
Today we took the kids to get shoes. All three. Between the expense and hassle we have been putting it off, but it turned out quite well. Hurray for outlet stores and back to school sales. Y has little blue and orange sandals which are a bit big but he can walk in them and there is room to grow. Finding proper shoes at this stage is impossible it seems everything is too big or too small. We had the same problem with M. While Y has hard bottomed sandals M has soft ones as she is not really walking yet. Also we could find them in her size, but not Y so he got the bigger shoes, good thing he has bigger feet. I also noticed that while there are about a dozen choices for girl shoes there are about 2-3 for the boys. Talk about slim pickings. However, I can see why when I shop with the kids. The reactions go something like this: S: I can hop, run skip and jump, these are great shoes! Y: What are these things? Maybe I should try eating them. I mean I can walk in them, but I would rather go barefoot. M: Oooohhhhh, they are so pretty! Look at these pretty new things on my feet. M was asleep as I tried out about 5 different pairs of shoes on her so she was really surprised when we finally put them on her after her nap. After 4 stores and 3 pairs of shoes we headed to the grocery and then home.
It has been really hot so no zoo trip. I am hoping it cools off next week. We are thinking of going to Shilo, another Yeshuv, where they are having a festival all afternoon with buses running there from Jerusalem for the event. It sounds like fun and would be a nice change of activity. Tuesday I going to attempt to meet up with friends yet again at the zoo. Maybe this time it will work.
An as usual we will be attempting to find a new place to live. We have made several calls but nothing yet. I just keep thinking everything in its time and place. Will keep you posted as we know what is going on.
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