No Idle hands here

The top leadership of Hezbollah is gone, there are still plenty of rockets and people to shoot them, but Israel isn’t messing around. Despite the potted plant (Biden) was petulantly is calling for ceasefire. Something he never did for 12 months of Hezbollah shelling. He is evil, especially when you seen him comatose on the beach while hurricane Helene wrecked havoc all over NC, Georgia and parts of TN. I know, the media is trying to cover for these evil people – the opposite of what they did to Bush with Katrina.

Didn’t take long for Jews in NY to put up these posters.

All over the Middle East people are celebrating, from Lebanon, Syria, Iran – they have suffered because of the evil that is Hezbollah. Praying that this is a realignment. Good people are done with the terror regimes.

I have videos to share, but with the new ownership of the host company, I can no longer do so. Pity. they promised it would be better, I guess they meant if I pay them a lot more money.

Halloween decorations are going up in the neighborhood.

I love how old fashioned this looks.

Lighting Shabbat candles with wonderful friends.

My Turkey on the right, Lisa’s on the left. I used a smaller count fabric, and mine is fully finished.

a much easier puzzle, this one was started by Mandy and the boys while we rested between the Bat Mitzvah service and the party.

It moved along very quickly.

and done!

Non of these numbers matter, the world was and is silent. It’s only when Israel strikes back and delivers a crippling blow to Hizbollah, do Biden and Macron demand a ceasefire. they want Israel to lose. they are evil

When I picked Aytan up, he wanted to sit on Miss Dions’ lap. She was very happy to oblige. She is an amazing teacher.

A friend has two Scrub jays on her balcony. that is because her husband feeds them, they are pretty, also pretty obnoxious

What to do when I am very anxious and the world is falling apart. Polish the silver. I have an old silver cellar with this spoon from my grandmother. I ordered another set just for the blue cobalt insert that protects the silver.

Salt helps silver corrode at a faster rate, although I’ve had this for years, and before that my mother did, I don’t think there has been salt on this for a while. I also realized that this is sterling silver, not plated, so maybe with enough elbow grease I can remove it?

much better but not gone. Some day when I am anxious again, I polish some more.

Of course the tarnish on the cellar is also pretty deep. I worked on it some. Not a lot,

I polished the old one, on the right and the new one, that came with the glass insert. It didn’t come with a spoon, which may explain the lower price than other similar items on eBay. It also has a cover. One set I saw had both styles with glass and spoons, for a lot more money.

See how perfectly the insert fits into my original salt cellar? I checked the hallmark, although these are very similar – not made by the same company. the one on the left is thiner, I’m wondering if it is silver-plated. it is in good condition.

There are some tarnish spots on the rim that I still may work on.

the coasters ( I have two) are from a different set. Also needed some polish. These two are a salt and pepper shaker. You can see by the feet that the salt shaker is from the same set as the cellar. I cleaned them out, no more salt or pepper inside, gave them a nice shine as well.

Here is the set, nice and polished there is plenty more to work on.

I have been aware of Douglas Murray for about 5 years. The right leaning British pundit. I remember him wiping the floor with Michael Malice – another interesting Podcaster, who tried to argue Camus with Douglas – he wasn’t having it. Douglas has written many books, the most recent: The strange Death of Europe and The War on the West.

So Oct 7 happens, and suddenly Douglas is in Israel and the whole world learns about him. At a time when the world is celebrating the ability to be antisemitic again – Douglas is a real light in the darkness.

Some people asked why there weren’t protestors if this is the theater sign outside. Well, it’s Koreatown, and that is pretty far east. The protestors like to stay in West LA, certainly the spoiled college students do.

About three months ago, he announced a live tour, with a stop in LA. I was among the first to buy tickets. Turns out there were 32 of us just from The Torah Minyan, he is one of our younger members.

Douglas shared some of the video he took right after 10/7. Among the images, the safe room where 11 Thai workers were brutally executed, he told us we are lucky we can’t smell. I have said for a while, that all the attention is on the Kibbutizim and the Nova festival. The town of Sderot gets forgotten as do the murdered Thai workers. Part of me understands – everyone picks and chooses what to focus on – but those forgotten are exactly that – forgotten.

Blurry picture of us. It was so nice sitting amongst a full theater with mostly other Jews and others who support us and the West. There were some people I recognized, a lovely Jewish actress I know from X, my favorite podcaster Chaya Leah and some of her kids. Eric Weinstein was there with his wife and someone said they saw Sam Harris. Since it was only a one night event – either you were there last night or not.

Not the best pictures, but seeing him in person was great. Being in the energy of the room, was great. It was clear we the audience as well as Douglas and Natasha Hensdorf (sorry no picture) really need this time together. It’s been almost a year of hell, a year of getting used to the reality of antisemitism as a part of life – again. So yeah this love fest was very necessary.

Douglas didn’t really say much new – but one thing he said that is very reassuring is how incredible the young Israelis are. I am very aware of amazing young Americans – they don’t make the news – but now is not the time to give up on the youth.

today I am celebrating Israels’ unbelievable attack on Hizbollah, and only Hizbollah – no innocents were hurt. I do not believe them when they say a 9 year old girl was killed playing with her fathers pager. When you have a special pager from the big boss – you don’t give it to your kids. But the islmonazis will kill anyone else’s kids without blinking an eye – but they know that the west will feel sorry for them if they claim their kids are killed.

I know, AOC doesn’t understand basic morality – but then she never did. She is just butt-hurt at how successful Israel is.

I also think that Israel was behind the effort to convince Nassrallah that phones are dangerous and he should use pagers.

Add to that, walkie talkies and other electronic devices .

I didn’t share this one on my socials, but boy do I love it, and it is true, so many Iranians truly hate the Mullahs and they actively fight against the regime. Unlike the Palis – who claim to be victims which overwhelmingly supporting Hamas and Hizbollah.

Many of us have been laughing all week. Only to discover that those who were silent after 10/7 are mad at our glee. To which I and others say – stuff it, we will laugh.

The Lebanese know, it’s stupid American and European lefties who are so protective of terrorists.

Another good one.

Then Israel started bombing in Lebanon, so Hizbollah did what they have been doing for 11 months – this time reaching much further into Israel

We eliminated their no. 2, they killed a few cows in Israel. They did damage homes and cars, but Israel has bomb shelters and the iron dome. which is the only reason why civilians weren’t killed. although during the last 11 month there have been deaths, most notably – the 12 Druze on a soccer field.

Things will get uglier, no question about it. But we are strong, unfortunately we Jews have to go back to living with the knowledge that most of the world hates us. What is different now is Israel – an army, people who fight as well as strong Jews elsewhere who are fighting. Now if only the west would realize it is their fight too.

Shira, with her on again off again boyfriend, Levy. They have known each other since kindergarten.

a non alcoholic bar, since it was mostly a kids party. One of the older cousins brought wine and whiskey for the adults. The advantage of not being at a hotel or ballroom.

Everyone else came in flapper dresses, even Einav.

cute, but would have been nicer without the tongue out.

Becky singing

Eyal is very impressed with Cams’ old man costume.

Elk was professor Purple in the mystery – not the murderer.

someone got all the money

A very cute couple.

what an incredible week, culminating in the actual Bat Mitzvah and Party.

Pictures from Tuesday.

We were all on cloud 9 all weekend.

On Thursday, during the regular service, they read a small portion of the Torah. Here Shira is saying the blessing before the reading.

Joel with his Tefilin, worn only on weekdays, along with Erez with his ‘newer’ set and Shira with his Bar-Mitzvah set. The little boxes have the Shema section of the Torah. In the Torah it says you shall put these words on your head and arm – so we do! I don’t, in my day it was only a Mans’ obligation. Nice to see Shira doing so.

We had a quick breakfast and Shira by now was very excited. Saying that this is all fun and she’ll tell her kids how fun it is. Needless to say, the fact that she mentions having kids – makes my heart sing.

Getting ready for the party, glamour Hollywood they said. So Westley is a gangster and Cameron is an old man.

Getting pictures before we head out to the party. Cam ended up moving the mustache to his chin, because he couldn’t eat or drink. by the end of the evening – it was lost

Handsome couple, yes, I’m wearing heels, I rarely wear them anymore. by the end of the evening, I was tired.

Mandy is looking great, with the start of the three month baby bump – yup, they are going for a third!!!

The only picture I got at the Party, the Havdalah service, separating the Sabbath from the rest of the week.

the party was great fun, a murder mystery. Here is hoping that I’ll get more pictures at some point. All the youngest cousins were there – having a great time, the older cousins felt the need to bring some wine and whiskey, since this was mostly a kids party – there was no official alcohol, but plenty of unofficial libations!

Shira is beautiful! she is wearing the necklace I made her, the one with the frog, not the big beads. She is gorgeous, yes she had her hair highlighted, makeup done by a professional. I love the look! light makeup without being overpowering. And great job on a teens face with all it’s flaws.

taking pictures midweek, yes I will wear this dress on Saturday. I am wearing the necklace with the dragonfly. I got the pendants and beads at the show in Pasadena. What you can’t see as Shira holds up the Talit bag is the frog in the corner!

Yoch and kids were there for religious school, so they popped in.

two handsome guys

family photo.

with both parents.

with Abba.

Proud parents!

Everything is depressing these days, especially since we don’t have a president and the shit show that is the ‘election’ is just awful. So although Taylor Swift is a single cat lady (wonder what Kelce thinks of this), she was the star of the debate – which tells you how terrible things are here. We soldier on.

The class I took on Sunday with Yvonne Phenice, using an ombre fabric and and focus fabric.

I signed up late, Bonnie wasn’t able to come to the class, so I bought this fabric from her. Really unique.

Brought my featherweight, a lovely little machine.

Yvonne suggested that I pull a color from the print and make a thin border, it really makes the quilt pop. Also, I need to stand back to be able to see the bargello affect in the ombre fabric.

at the meeting itself it was nice to see close up, the other options as well as other quilts Yvonne has made

Here is Yvonne, explaining how a very colorful ombre works as well as adding a small border to the focus fabric. I might give this a try myself. The process isn’t hard, there is a lot of math – but someone else already figured that out.

Other quilts that Yvonne made, I love this, a combination of monkey paw and waves at sea – I really want to make this combination.

Her one Judy Niemeyer, I’m one above her, I’ve made two!

A paper pieced sampler.

A tiny paper piece quilt.

Quilt made by Paul Newman – he does incredible work!!!

I better not wait 10 months to go back to the guild.

I pay attention to world news, I know Jews and Israelis aren’t the only ones being attacked, murdered, kidnapped. The world doesn’t care about any of that – but the world is silent regardless. They don’t mention the horrors, they don’t mention when those people fight back. The world never let us mourn for the horrors of Oct. 7, immediately they started their campaign to malign and hate us – on Oct 8. So we will continue to shout at the world and fight back when they come at us.

Shira is having her Bat Mitzvah this weekend!! So here she is, getting highlights put in, the end result is beautiful. I saw her but didn’t take a picture yet.

I know mine is a very small blog, my old server was recently purchased by a much bigger company. they are limiting the file size I can upload. So now I have the extra job of resizing my photos – such is progress.

I had finished the Sumatra Dragons, instead of framing it, I decided to make another pillow. Here it is.

I chose a red cotton velvet. It just spruces up the pillow, rather than a print.

This might be a clearer picture.

My pillow selection is growing, notice that red is a theme.

Seen with other red and white items I have.

I think the pillow should live on this side of the window bench.

another project I made quickly – a turkey for fall. I get antsy at the end of a project, so although the pattern had a few more leaves on top, I omitted them

For this one I made a flat fold and decorated it for fall.

My signature and a close up.

Side view.

It is fun gluing on buttons to cover the ends of the cording. Also, by leaving out the extra leaves – the buttons pop a little more.

Not on a personal level – for the Jewish people and any free loving people in the world – though that group seems to be shrinking.

First I heard that six more bodies were recovered in Rafah, that was all, then the news came out that Hersh was among the dead, along with other names that Israelis recognize but most Americans don’t. Jon and Rachel did a yeoman’s job letting the world know about Hersh.

This is what we have been feeling for 11 months. We weren’t allowed to mourn after Oct. 7. Iran made sure that pro Hamas rallies happened world wide on Oct 8. At the time they called them pro-palestinian – as if 1400 Palestinians had just been brutally murdered and over 240 taken hostage. It was only later that they became honest about being pro Hamas.

I have no faith in anyone but the Jews and our few friends in the world. World governments are awful, including the Biden Cabal – he has been eating ice cream on the beach for 3 weeks and yet all he can say is Netanyahu hasn’t done enough. I hope that Biden is suffering both mentally and physically with his decline. I have no love in my heart for evil people.

Meanwhile, Israel has supplied polio vaccinations for Gaza – so what, they still murder innocent civilians they never should have taken in the first place. But the world doesn’t care- this idea that we are a moral world is BS, these days, Israel is moral – that is about it.

This is what Rachel Goldberg had to say at her son Hersh’s funeral. All six were executed, bullets to the brain – when Hamas realized the IDF was closing in – more silence. I heard that a chapter of BLM condemned this brutality and they were told to shut up.

Xaviaer is amazing.

A friend handed me these cameos and silver spacers. Either her father bought them after WWII or maybe her grandfather. So I set to work to recreate a necklace out of them.

I wire wrapped some pearls as spacers. It is a little fiddly, I haven’t seen her yet to give it back. One thing it did was put me on a path to polish all my sliver – both household items and jewelry.

I’ve upgraded my fountain – which means the kids got to pet the cat.

Jackalope has the most amazing cacti still blooming!!!