End of Sukkot: It Was All Good

This year, I seem to be talking about the Fall Holidays at the end of each. This has truly been an upside down year. I have been working very hard on New Mexico Patriot Alliance Retreat and the Continental Congress Elections. The Retreat was last weekend and the election took place over the past week for mail-in voting, and the in-person voting yesterday. So Sukkot, the Festival of the Ingathering Harvest, was also the first harvest of the NMPA efforts that began at Passover last March.



This Sukkot has also been cold and windy, foggy and even rainy! We did not get any snow, though, like we did last year. Between the retreat last week and the weather last week, we have not had much chance to enjoy our Sukkah this year.


On the first night of Sukkot, we did have the opportunity to spend time with a newlywed friend and his bride in our Sukkah. Last Sunday and Tuesday evening we had hurried dinners in the Sukkah (due to wind and weather), although the Boychick did not join us on Tuesday because he was sent home with the H1N1 flu.

This morning, the last day of the Festival (Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah), dawned foggy and very cool, and the Engineering Geek and I stayed in bed until after 7 AM for the first time in weeks and weeks. We took a long leisurely walk in the meadow and the woods. I took along my camera, and got some pictures: above is upper Sedillo Canyon in fog, and below, the EG with Lily and Shayna. (Shayna thought I wanted to play as she does when I aim the camera in her direction).








Breakfast was inside, as it was still foggy and windy, but later when the fog burned off and the wind died down, we were able to sit in the Sukkah. This year's Sukkah was very plain, but it was beautiful today in the sunshine.


We had a good Sukkot luncheon out there, Turkey Soup (from the Rosh Hashannah bird), fresh-baked French bread and butter, and sweet cider.








Of course we had a Lulov and Etrog (Arba Minim) for the holiday, pictured above on the table. We waved it everyday, as prescribed and sang songs from the Hallel (certain Psalms) as we did so.

But this afternoon, it was finally calm enough to take some pictures of the EG following the actual waving ritual. Today being Simchat Torah, we sang "Adonenu, Hoshianah" as well as about the Torah. We missed dancing with the Torah at the synagogue because of the Boychick's illness. So we made our own rejoicing here.

This afternoon we also went out and picked up my great buy of the year. I have been looking--for three years--for a sideboard that would blend with my Thomasville dining room, but that set is in the Louis Philipe style, which is not real popular right now. Yesterday, the Chem Geek Princess found a piece that would work at American Furniture. She was very excited when she pointed it out to me. And so was I. And I was even more excited about the price. It started at over $1300. But it was part of a set and the set had sold, so it was marked down to $799.99. But it also had some minor damage, and so was marked down further to $399.99. When I said I would buy it as it, the manager took another hundred bucks off, so this was a real steal!

It does not perfectly match my original set, but in the picture you can see it next to a dining room chair. It blends more beautifully than I had even imagined when I saw it at the store.

The Chem Geek Princess has always been good shopping Karma, but this is the best yet. I am really, really glad she is living in town and will still be there when she and her new husband move into their new home in December. I am glad for many reasons greater than the shopping Karma, but as you can see, yesterday was a lucky day for me!

All in all, this was one of the strangest High Holy day seasons I have ever had. But it was good, in a very different way. It's all good, as one of my friends likes to remind me. I need to be reminded. So I'll say it again. It is all good.