Produce

In the spirit of having read Parshas Shlach last week, I'm finally getting around to sharing my observation about cucumbers. I love the produce here: the fruits and vegetables actually taste like what they are. "Bursting with flavor," if you would. And they're so fresh! Do you know how to pick a fresh cucumber? Sure, sure, it should be firm and not look weird, but a really fresh cucumber is still covered in tiny little thorns. Mmmmm... I think I need to go eat a cucumber.

Money

There was a book fair this evening (which was rather disappointing, but that's irrelevant). At the fair's second-hand book swap, I acquired a (Hebrew) counting book. It's cute, with lots of photos of babies and fingers and rubber duckies and suchlike. I was amused to note that on the last page, the little Israeli children were asked to count American dimes. Hee hee, it's not worth it to photograph Israeli coins, they'll never know the difference, etc., etc. Husbinator was also slightly amused, but his amusement stemmed from the fact that I don't seem to be able to recognize dimes anymore.

"Ike Dollar." Worth more than 10 cents.

Siiiiiigh. Whoops. But seriously, why would you have kids count outdated silver dollars? Have them count coins that they'll actually use one day! ...And don't make their mothers feel too ignorant, please.

Informal Driving Lesson

As I got out of my car after a (masterful) parking job the other day, an incredulous pedestrian asked me, "Do you not see the traffic cop across the street?"
After figuring out what he was asking me, I replied, "Is there something wrong with where I parked?"
"Yeah, it's an illegal parking spot!"
I was inclined to believe him, but I wanted to learn his secrets. "How do you know?"
If he was incredulous before, that was nothing to where he was at now: "The curb is painted red and white!!"

Well, that's a traffic law I never would have intuited from the behavior of other drivers. Good to know.

(And yes, I moved the car. Failing to find another free spot anywhere in the vicinity... Well, failing to find a legal free spot nearby, I parked in the pay lot across the street. Darn.)

A Day on the Town

You know what was great? The day that I picked up BSM from daycare and we took a bus and a train to the shuk, wandered around, bought what we wanted (I bought what I wanted and BSM got in the game by grabbing an apple which I had to pry out of his hands to pay for), took another train ride and another bus ride, and went home. It was a really nice afternoon that we got to spend together: lots of fun, got something done, absolutely no pressure, good times. And BSM learned that "The people on the bus go up and down," clearly means that they go up the steps and down the steps as they get on and off the bus. Over a month later, and when he sees a bus he still mentions that people go up steps.

You Know It's a Good Crowd...

...When most conversations involve at least one trip to the dictionary.

We had four Michlalah girls over for Shabbos, and we had a great time. Not only did most conversations send us to the dictionary for one reason or another, but the girls made all four salads for me. I don't love making salad in general, and I didn't even know how to make two of the salads. (The two salads in question were a tomato-mushroom-dill salad that I've had at a few people's houses and "something with green beans." It turns out you can blanch string beans, then mix them up with halved cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. It is simple and yummy.)

Drill

Yesterday was national Air Raid Drill day. I often forget to warn BSM about stuff (other than bedtime: I am very good at warning him that he needs to go to bed soon), but Husbinator cleverly started a conversation with him a few minutes before the evening siren went off. We were sitting outside, and BSM didn't want to come in (possibly because I had warned him about his impending trip to his crib), but in the three minutes before the siren went off, BSM learned that the siren says, "Wee-oo, wee-oo, wee-oo, go inside, go to the mamad (safe room)."

So when the siren actually went off, he got really excited that it was saying exactly what we just said the siren would say, and went inside without a fuss. Just for kicks, I asked him this morning what the siren says, and he smiled, "Wee-oo wee-oo mamad. Inside." It's really cute. It's really weird that we had to teach him that.

The Definition of Interest

Mrs. Barzilai came with me to Rami Levy last week, since I have a car and she doesn't. Being talented, I lost my wallet between getting gas and arriving at the grocery store (though Husbinator masterfully located my wallet under the passenger seat later that day). Being nice, Mrs. Barzilai paid for my 153.20₪ worth of groceries with her card, and I paid her back in cash later that day.

Honestly, counting out 153.20₪ is a little silly. It would have been easier to just give her 155₪ and be done with it, and I certainly wouldn't mind losing the extra 1.80₪. It's the least I can do for her to pay her back for lending me money when I had none and needed some. And that, my friends, is the exact definition of ribbis (Biblical prohibition against charging interest). It was interesting (ha ha ha) learning about that experientially.

Oh, and it's a good thing I realized what was happening before I tried to give the Barzilais 155₪ even. Sure enough, when I handed Rabbi Barzilai the plastic baggie with cash, he checked with me that I was giving him exactly what they lent me. Oddly enough, he also didn't want to get involved with ribbis.

Mini-Pool, Watering Hole

The day after BSM had fun with the Barzilai's in the kiddy pool, he asked for a pool of water again. It was cooler that day, though, so sitting in a pool didn't make a whole lot of sense. So I filled up our large roasting pan with water and let him play with that. BSM enjoyed himself, it wasted much less water, and he didn't get cold. All good things. And, when he left the pan of water to come inside and help me bake a cake, his "swimming pool" turned into a "watering hole".