Red Butte Gardens, Utah

IMG_8357
Originally uploaded by LHFeinberg

Beautiful botanical garden in Salt Lake City, Utah. More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40061738@N02/

Had a great visit with Dina, will write more about the hiking another time.

Genesis 34:1

"and Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob,
went out to see the daughters of the land." Genesis 34:1


for Dina, daughter of Hinda Leah


and she went forth from New Hampshire
to study meteorology at college in Vermont
where she met many fine daughters
on the slopes of Burke Mountain
and on the trails of Mounts Pisgah and Hor
and she sojourned there four years

she then journeyed many miles through New York and Canada
until she came to the state of Michigan
where she paused to rest and work for one year in Traverse City,
by the lake also called Michigan,
reporting on 200 inches of snow, the cherry festival,
other local issues and meeting many more daughters

she resumed her journey from Michigan,
through the flat lands of Indiana and Illinois,
past cities, farmhouses, fields and cattle
until she came to the beautiful green hills called Ozarks
in the state of Missouri
to work and play, predicting storms,
reporting on weather and other events,
and searching out the daughters of the land

(to be continued)

© 2002 Linda H. Feinberg

I never wrote the "to be continued part" of this poem, but my meteorologist daughter spent three years in Missouri and has now settled in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am off to visit her and see the sights. No blogging for the next week.

Rain, rain go away....

It feels like it has been raining forever. I did get out for a 45 minute walk this morning in between the raindrops. I took my camera with me. These are neighborhood photos, one of a dogwood tree, the other of lupines. I never had any success growing lupines myself, so I admire my neighbor's. Everything is very green because of the rain. Unfortunately, we also have mold (powdery mildew) in our back yard because of it. I prepared an organic spray yesterday from directions on the internet (1 part milk, 9 parts water in a spray bottle). It remains to be seen whether this works since it rained again after we put it on.

It's supposed to be summer here now, but it doesn't feel like it. Anyway, I'll probably be very warm this weekend since I'll be in Salt Lake City at the Utah Arts Festival (http://www.uaf.org/). Looking forward to hiking, art, time with family.

Cemeteries

If you are interested in looking for more information on the "Narajow" (in Yiddish, Narayev) area where my maternal grandparents came from, try this web site: http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/97/Roman_Zakharii/zemla.htm

It is very informative.

We attended an unveiling this past weekend for my late uncle who passed away in October at the age of 98. I was able to visit with him last summer, but unable to attend the funeral. This was my way of saying good-bye, or as the psychologists say, having closure. He was a good man and my cousins did a beautiful job with their kind words and prayers at the cemetery.

The gates in the photo are at Mount Hebron cemetery in Flushing, NY. There were many gates in the cemetery, put up by the various burial societies or congregations for the immigrants. They reminded me of the words from Psalm 118 which we say in the Hallel prayers on Rosh Chodesh (new month) and holidays. My uncle passed away on rosh chodesh and I thought of these words... Pitchoo Li Shaari Zedek - "open the gates of the righteous for me..."

There is a beautiful chant to these words from Shlomo Carlebach. I did a painting of a gate with the calligraphy from these words when my mother passed away. For months before her death, and months after, I kept hearing the melody. I'm sure she and my uncle (brother and sister) are together now with the other righteous souls from our families.

Fishing

Saturday was free fishing day in New Hampshire. That means that I didn't need to buy a fishing license to go fishing. It rained the last few years on this day so I didn't take advantage of it, but yesterday was beautiful. We drove out to the Hopkinton-Everett Lake and dam in Weare, walked across the walkway and drowned some worms in the beautiful lake. I caught three sunfish and Joe caught two. We put them back in and enjoyed the sunlight and views, did a little walking on the trail. I guess this is part of the "staycation" theme the newspapers write about. A mini vacation close to home.

Sales for a non-sales type person

Joe & I enjoyed the Israeli festival on Sunday. He sold 10 books and I sold cards (but no prints or originals). I received lots of positive comments on my artwork, both on Sunday in Manchester and Friday night in Derry (Etz Hayim synagogue display).

While I am comfortable now selling my consulting and bookkeeping skills for my business (after more than 20 years of practice), I still do not have the self-confidence about my artwork. However, I did feel upbeat, especially when one of my former art teachers bought some cards! That was good for my ego.

It was interesting to me to see which designs sold. Some that were popular the last time I did a table did not sell at all this time. I now have a rotating card display rack, so that helped people look at the different cards. I'll be doing another market in August in Rindge, NH at the havurah retreat we'll be attending. I'm looking forward to that. It was good being next to Joe's table too, he kept my anxiety down to a manageable level.

Oh yes, the most popular card was the one that I have at the upper left on the blog (Teach us to treasure each day. . . ).

Reviews - Behind the Lies

The reviews and positive comments are starting to come in now. I'm very proud of Joe! Here's one:

Wow Joe!

After building the plot effectively in the first half the last half blew me away. Up to midnight finishing which is something that I do very rarely. Your writing talents have been hidden but you will take your place with the majors. A much better plot than the Cussler and Griffins.

When you get your book in front of the major reviewers you should hit the big time.

Jim

Can-Am Judo

My oldest son, Jake Freedman (on the right in the photo), 2nd place out of 8 competitors in Masters (30-45 y/o) 81kg (178 lb). Competition was a Canadian-American one in Niagara Falls this past weekend.

May Events

I haven't had time to do any blogging, but I have a good excuse. I spent the weekend preparing art for an exhibit. The synagogue in Derry, NH invited me to participate in their gallery exhibit next weekend. They have a weekend of festivities going on. For more information this is the link http://www.etzhayim.org/ (for weekend of May 29-31, 2009). They are partnering with NHJAC (New Hampshire Jewish Art Connection), a group I belong to, and I was honored to be invited to participate.

I have framed several prints and they are ready to hang. I also prepared a sampler book of cards and prints for anyone to browse through. They wanted to have some pieces with Hebrew calligraphy, so that is what I prepared.

In addition, I am also preparing for the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire's Israel Independence Day festivities on Sunday, May 31, 2009 (4-7 p.m.) http://www.jewishnh.org/ They will be having singing, dancing, food (always food at a celebration!), an i-dol type contest for kids, art and artisan tables. Joe and I will both be having tables there. This means production work for me instead of creating new work. Although, in the process of reproducing enough cards and prints to sell, I found files (on my computer and archived drive) that I thought I had lost and would have to recreate. Also found some jpg images that I created new cards from. So I continue through this week, working (my bookkeeping business), gardening a little (the seeds have sprouted) and doing a little bit of art and production. Life goes on.

Reflections

Dorrs Pond, Manchester, NH. This morning's quiet walk accompanied by Joe while listening to birds singing. A good place for reflections.