Long time no... anything!

When I said I was taking 'a few days off for passover' perhaps I should have been more specific.  Unfortunately I didn't have any idea if I'd have the time or inclination to write during my vacation so I left it intentionally vague.  My bad.

I have tons of things to share and lots of pictures for future Photo Fridays... but for today I'll just ease back into things with some short topics that don't really deserve a post of their own (for now, anyway):

1.  Under the general genre of 'too much information' is my sincere desire to reacquaint myself with the wonders of indoor plumbing... or any plumbing for that matter.  When Moses said 'Let my people go' he was being more prophetic than even he knew at the time.  Oy, matzoh!

2.  A petty, self-serving religious request that will be lost on those who don't participate in organized Jewish religious rituals:  Would those of you who insist on squeezing your eyes closed and making pleading/imploring gestures with your upraised hands/fists during prayer please stand in the back of the synagogue where you won't distract the hell out of the rest of us who clearly don't enjoy such a close personal relationship with The Creator?  Much appreciated.

3.  On having bad neighbors:  Longtime readers of this journal will remember that we live in a wonderful neighborhood full of warm, caring neighbors... with one notable exception.  Any hope on our part that time, divine intervention or other influences might result in even a tiny improvement in the status quo have thus far remained, er, unfulfilled.  Yes, that is one of the largest understatements of the new century... and no I can't elaborate.  For now.

4.  The Golan Heights and upper Galilee (where we spent most of our vacation camping, wine tasting and touring) are national treasures.  Anyone who visits or lives in Israel without taking in these breathtaking areas cannot claim to have really 'seen the country'.  There is a world out there beyond Dizengoff, Ben Yehudah and Eilat, people.  Go experience it!

5.  There is a tradition among observant Jews to conduct a ritual counting of the days between Passover and Shavuot.  This counting is done each evening, and if no interim days are missed, is preceded by a blessing.  I have a personal tradition of missing the second or third evening of this counting, therefore denying myself the privilege of including the blessing before the rest of the 47 or 48 days.  Miraculously, I haven't yet missed a night of counting.  Standby for the inevitable report of failure.

6.  More to follow on Sunday, Monday and beyond... but for now I hope that the links in my pre-Passover post provided an opportunity for you to meet some new and interesting people... and the blogrolls on each of their sites even more so.  We tend to fall into ruts in our online reading. Following new links on your regular reads is the virtual equivalent of 'taking the road less traveled'.  We all need to do that much more often than we do... even if it means not coming back to where we started.

Shabbat Shalom and thanks for coming back to visit after having been abandoned for so long.