Getting ready

Posted on August 5, 2008 by ruthek

In one week the two women who want to sublet my apartment will be here. I've been busy emptying drawers and closets, making decisions about what I will need for the next four months–a New York trip, Chicago trip, China and Japan, summer, fall and winter, and what I just don't want to leave around. I have a storage room in the basement where some of the stuff is going, but I'm putting most of it in my second bedroom and putting a lock on the door. It's not as bad as moving but requires a lot more planning.

The success of this project requires lots of help from people around me. My daughter and son-in-law had to agree to take some of my stuff and to let me stay with them in between trips. My upstairs neighbor has agreed to keep an eye on my mail. I'll be out of the apartment too long to have the post office hold it and having it sent to Robin's looks like it could be a big mistake. My landlord is helping me and cooperating fully. He has always been wonderful, one of the joys of living in this apartment. I'm very grateful to this community of mine who are helping make the trip possible.

This week

Posted on June 15, 2008 by ruthek

It is almost two weeks since all of my bandages and bits of tape have been removed and I have showered every day, but I'm still finding adhesive on my body. It's finally showing up as dirty and I'm having to pick it off. I wonder if there's some on my back I can't see, where they fastened those electrodes.

I've been following an exercise schedule–working on my leg exercises and walking again. I've taken two walks with Mary and Phyllis, but not going all the way. There's a shady bench about two-thirds of the way down the path where I sat and waited for them. It's supposed to be cooler next week so I'll try going the distance the next time I walk. I'm alternating walks and exercises.

Eli came home on Thursday and Renee is here for the weekend. We spent much of yesterday afternoon waiting for the rain to end so we could go to the Three Rivers Festival. Finally went down to the Strip and got to a few places before they closed. We drove toward the Festival watching an ominous gray cloud to the north, then went over to the North Side to the Moxie Dada gallery. Eli recommended we go there. It's a great place–an old firehouse turned into artists studios, mostly ceramists. There was a wonderful covered jar for sale–beautifully made with a perfectly fitting cover. More money than I could afford, but I loved looking at it. Across the street are two wonderfully painted and decorated houses–someone's personal art project. One day I'll go back and photograph them; too much rain yesterday.

In the evening, Eli, Renee and I went over to Construction Junction to a kind of cabaret run by the Pillow Project, a local dance group. The dancers and musicians were wonderful. I'm told they are students, graduates or somehow associated with Point Park University. I was very impressed. This is obviously a young persons activity; we were far and away the oldest people there, but they made us feel welcome. I'd like to go back again.

Pictures from New York

Posted on April 26, 2008 by ruthek

From the family seder:

Steve (right) and brother, Michael

Steve and Charna

Seder table, celebrating spring

Michael couldn’t wait to eat

The Pope’s motorcade going up to Yonkers for a rally. I’ve never seen the FDR empty like that, although Renee says it happens fairly often for dignitaries coming into the city.

Rooftops from Renee’s window. There is a woman sunbathing on the dark roof on the left.

Fashion statement: one way to keep track of the kids.

There seemed to be an epidemic of these prison stripes.

The Japanese garden at the botanic garden in Brooklyn

Tortoise rocks in the garden

One of the wonderful cherry trees. Everything was blooming.

Yellow magnolia. Amazing tree

Second Seder

Posted on April 22, 2008 by ruthek

We didn’t begin until 8:30, ate at 10:30 and got to bed at 2:30 am. It was a lovely event, but I am sitting here at 10:30 Monday evening and I’m still tired. The last time I was awake at 2:30 in the morning I was on an airplane over the Pacific.

Our friends, the Rabbi and his wife, hosted this seder. We were a small group, my family and the Rabbi’s family, ten in all. The Rabbi has a wonderful, baritone and is very musical–makes the whole thing a treat. We recited the entire book, with multiple interruptions for questions and comments by the children, all grown now, the youngest being 17, and very knowledgeable in matters of religion. One of them even brought a laptop, to look up the stuff no one else could answer. Another contrast with my childhood experiences, and I don’t mean the laptop.

At the end of each seder we say "Next year in Jerusalem." When I was a child, before the creation of the State of Israel, this was a yearning without much chance of fulfillment. Today we pray for peace in the State of Israel.

Passover

Posted on April 20, 2008 by ruthek

We had a great seder last night, and I’m looking forward to another great, but longer, one tonight. Steve did the honors, making sure everyone participated; we got through most of the Haggadah, learned some things, had a few laughs. Pictures when I get home.

This was nothing like the seders of my childhood. They were always somber and more than a little agonizing. Truth to tell, everything about Judaism was like that when I was a child. Between the war (WWII), antisemitism and my father’s paranoia about antisemitism, it was not a fun scene. My grandmother, who lived with us, sat at the head of the table, usurping my father’s place, although I never heard him complain. She and my father would race through the readings in the Haggadah, entirely in Hebrew or Aramaic, their Austrian accents making them sound like they had stones in their mouths. I would follow, reading the English translation, which was stilted and not altogether intelligible to me.

My mother, whose only interest was cooking would sit there asking when she could start serving the food. There is a lot of reading and discussion before you get to eat.

The Haggadah, in addition to praising God, is primarily a discussion about how to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. In fact, the Exodus plays only a small part in the story, the recounting of the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. It is almost as though everyone knew the story so well they didn’t have to repeat it in the Haggadah. Moses and Aaron get short shrift, as does Joseph and how the Israelites got to Egypt.

Unlike my childhood seders, in which I had almost no part except to sit quietly and behave, Steve had all of us reading, mostly in English, and discussing what was written, what was omitted, and what it means for us today. Good job. We had a great dinner; Renee’s matzoh balls are easily as good as my mother’s; we finished reading and singing the songs about 10 pm and had time to visit for a while.

All of this was punctuated by the sirens from the Pope’s motorcade as he went up the FDR to a youth rally in Yonkers and returned to Manhattan. I have some pictures of that, also.

Finished

Posted on April 16, 2008 by ruthek

I finished writing my paper this morning. It was like an actual weight was lifted from my chest. Now just proofreading and print it out. All of my classes are finished for the semester and I plan to do some traveling in the next few weeks. Friday morning we are driving to New York for Passover–first seder, Saturday night, with Renee, Sunday night with a wonderful rabbi friend of ours. We did this last year, also. I’ll stay in New York for a week. I promise to post more often, even though I’ll be on the road.

Baltimore

Posted on March 17, 2008 by ruthek

Saturday morning, Robin, Steve and I drove four and a half hours to Baltimore, a trip with several objectives. Our primary incentive was Charna who was singing in a choral concert on Sunday afternoon. First we checked into our hotel. After all those very spare Japanese hotels, and my monk’s cell in Chicago, this was a stunner.
The lobby wasn’t anything special but the room was amazing. You walked into a kind of sitting room with a small basin, coffee maker and refrigerator opposite a large sofa. Just beyond a sort of divider was the bedroom. I had two double beds, in case we had to stay over Sunday night; Charna could room with me. Opposite the beds was a bathroom with tub and toilet, and next to it, the basin, lots of counter space, and a real closet, also mirrored.
If that wasn’t enough, there was a flat screen, HD TV, 42 inches. You could watch from either the bed or the sitting room. Over the years I’ve had the good fortune to stay at some very fancy hotels, but I don’t think I’ve ever had so much space in one room.

Robin’s best friend, from kindergarten through high school, lives in Baltimore. I haven’t seen her since then so I was very pleased she came to the hotel with her children.
We all walked around the Inner Harbor and it was lovely to catch up with her again. But it was hard to get used to seeing her as an adult. I had only known her when I was an adult and she was a child. I found it different than the few occasions I’ve met my own friends after not seeing them since childhood. We were children together, and now we are elders together.

Sunday, before the concert, we went to the American Visionary Art Museum.
After the Met, in New York, this is my favorite place. Renee and I happened upon it several years ago. We made a special trip to Washington DC to see the, then new, Museum of the American Indian. I had heard so much about it; it seemed like everyone wanted to see it. I joined the museum and made sure we had tickets for the day we wanted to be there.
I wanted to be sure of getting in. We were very disappointed: too much to read; not enough artifacts; too hard to see the ones that were on display. We stopped at the Visionary Art Museum on our way back and it was worth the whole trip. We’ve been raving about it so much, Robin felt she had to see it, also. We all loved it.

Finally, the concert. HaZamir is the International Jewish High School Choir. Each local chapter meets weekly in its own city to rehearse Jewish choral music. Once each year the groups meet, rehearse together for two days and present a concert. There were 250 kids from 17 or 18 groups around the US and from Israel.
It was awesome to hear them sing; those 250 voices have a lot of power. You can listen to them here; there are four selections at the bottom of the list.

Folk Festival

Posted on February 12, 2008 by ruthek

Spent the weekend at the Folk Festival. I went to two of the three evening concerts and visited the workshops on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. My nephew, Jerry, came to the Saturday workshops, so we had a chance to visit while we listened to the music. On Sunday, I went to an interactive Klezmer workshop where I learned to sing a Klezmer melody. I really loved it. Sometimes I think I’d like to take singing lessons.

Workshops were held at Ida Noyes Hall on the UC campus. I spent a lot of time there when I was in school; it was the women’s physical education building. There was a swimming pool and a bowling alley in the basement, now long gone, and the dean of women held a tea for entering women in the library. The building was very elegant with dark wood paneling, overstuffed sofas and chairs with carved wood decoration. Tea was elegant, also. We wore dresses and white gloves, very ladylike, as ladies were defined in 1950. Did I ever write about how much I hated white gloves? I could never keep them white; I was certain this was an indication of some deficiency on my part, until I found out that Queen Elizabeth had a lady in waiting who carried many pairs of white gloves so she could have a new clean one whenever necessary.

Several of the workshops were held in that library, and I sat there thinking about the tea, the white gloves, the swimming pool and Dean McCarn. Only the Klezmer workshop, where I was singing, kept me in the here and now.

Here is Charna playing her fiddle at one of the workshops. You can see the wood paneling behind her. It’s still in great shape but the floors need redoing and most of the furniture has been replaced. Sometimes it makes me sad to go in the building, but it seems to be put to good use.

Here is a workshop held in the theater on the third floor. The ceiling has been restored and the murals remain on the walls. Great space.

Eli and Romy were in charge of a workshop for children, where they did face painting. Charna was helping and Romy painted her face, also. I think she did a beautiful job. I think I need little blossoms on my cheeks.

Contemplating life and death

Posted on January 14, 2008 by ruthek

Karen at Verbatim posted this link on her website, and while I don’t usually care about these things, this one looked like fun. Thanks to her, I now know: "When you will die: Sunday October 31, 2032, at age of 98," with a high probability it will be from heart disease in a nursing home. When I was a kid I was sure I would live to 100, to 2034. Now, as I approach that number I would consider it a blessing not to get there.

My father lived to 94; in fact, today was his day of birth. He wasn’t in terrible physical shape for 94, but his hearing was all but gone and his sight was going fast from macular degeneration. I think he died because he couldn’t figure out what he would do when he became completely deaf and blind. You don’t learn braille in your nineties.

I don’t think my father enjoyed his old age. Although he remained physically strong, he was angry, and paranoid, and probably very bored. I am determined to keep things interesting, to find new things to learn, to look at, to think about, and not to worry about the length of my life.

Family, Art and More Family

Posted on December 29, 2007 by ruthek

My days here in NYC are going very quickly. On Thursday, Renee and I took the train out to Long Island to visit her other son and family. It’s a 60 mile trip and took 2 hours, each way. The Japanese must laugh hysterically every time they hear something like this. We had a lovely, too short visit. Train schedule was not very accommodating for us.

Yesterday I met Phyllis at the Rubin Museum. I really love that place, at the same time it makes me very angry. It’s a beautiful space, so wonderfully designed you feel like you are entering a temple of peace and beauty. Here is a story about the museum and how it was built. If you read it carefully, you will note one line, "…Donald and Shelly built their managed-health-care network, Multiplan…" I am angry about anyone who makes enough money on healthcare to build a huge art collection and then build a museum to use as a tax write-off, thereby screwing us, the public, all over again.

Even with my anger, I managed to enjoy the museum and the art. My all-time favorite piece is a huge applique you can see here. Phyllis, who has been a photographer most of her life, took me there to see photographs of Bhutan by Kenro Izu. Most of the photos were platinum/palladium contact prints made from huge negatives, taken with a custom made camera that weighs 300 pounds. Story about the exhibit here.

After this soulful sojourn at the Rubin I met up with Renee and we went to dinner with her brother and sister-in-law, so more family and lots of laughs. Renee and her family treat me like I belong to them. Having moved to the east coast with no family here except Robin, I have always been very moved by their efforts to include me in all of their events. I am truly grateful to be so accepted and loved by my daughter’s in-laws.

100 Books Before I Die

Ruthe Karlin

Category Archives: Family