A Visit to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
The Warsaw Jewish Cemetery is a forest of its own. (Photo by Rivka Schiller) […]
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Oct, 2016
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Sep, 2016
Visiting My Old Life
Yesterday morning I had occasion to walk around the downtown Chicago neighborhood of Streeterville where I used to work eight years ago. It's always interesting to see how much it [...]
1
Sep, 2016
August Was…
{August Break 8/31: August was...} ...long! And not as peaceful as this photo, taken from the Rogers Park beach pier on the northside of Chicago. But there were peaceful moments, [...]
19
Aug, 2016
5 Years Ago
Canyonlands National Park, Utah {August Break 8/18: 5 Years Ago} Five years ago I was taking a road trip with my family: five weeks, Chicago to California and back. It [...]
12
Aug, 2016
The Secret to Learning a New Language
Today I'm taking a break from the daily August Break topics because today's is "secret," and I just don't feel like I have anything good to share here. Unless, of [...]
22
May, 2016
The Birthday of a Lost Friend
Today is the birthday of a former friend. Some dates are seared into my memory, and this is one of them. Perhaps because this friendship reached the furthest back in [...]
27
Apr, 2016
Building Update
It's been way too long since I've shared an update of our building project, the barn with built-in apartment on our country property in Indiana. This is partly due to [...]
14
Mar, 2016
When a Friend Dies
Today I found out by happenstance, via Facebook, that a friend of mine passed away. We weren't close friends or I would have known that her battle with cancer had [...]
25
Jan, 2016
Happy Tu Bishvat!
Today is the Jewish festival of Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the Trees, and in honor of this celebration that seems out of place here, my article How My [...]
21
Jan, 2016
Life without my Laptop
My laptop died a week ago. It was six years old, and I can't really blame the thing. It held up pretty well being logged around the world. Nevertheless, I have [...]
14
Jan, 2016
Looking Up at the Snow
It snowed in thick flakes the other day. As I looked up at the sky from my window, with ever more fluffs of white tumbling towards me, I felt that [...]
25
Dec, 2015
From the Christkindlmarket
From my traditional annual visit to Chicago's downtown Christkindlmarket, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! It's been unseasonably warm here, no snow flakes and icy cold to company my sipping [...]
25
Nov, 2015
The Smells of Fall
There's no denying that we are at the tail end of fall here in the Midwest. The temperature dips below the freezing at night, the trees are almost bare, [...]
24
Nov, 2015
Winter Break In
We had a winter break in this past weekend. I know this is not the proper use of the English term "break in;" rather, it is a literal [...]
18
Nov, 2015
A Building Rises
I am quite behind on chronicling the progress of building our country barn/apartment. Needless to say, by now it's a recognizable and quite formidable building. But back to where [...]
16
Nov, 2015
There Must Be Something to Set Against All This
Whenever something horrible happens like the Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris this past Friday, I ask myself, there must be something to set against all this. This is a line [...]
2
Nov, 2015
Study in Concrete
I didn't get to see the pouring of these foundation walls (sadly, I don't make it out to the construction site way as often as I would like). So when [...]
29
Oct, 2015
Happy Pumpkin Time!
Isn't this the cutest potholder ever? A knitted pumpkin? I fell in love with this pattern in the KnitPicks newsletter. Fall is my favorite season, and I love pumpkins [...]
9
Oct, 2015
Building Begin
After more than two years of planning, we have finally broken ground on a barn with living quarters on our country property in Indiana. This is one of the reasons [...]
22
Sep, 2015
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Sep, 2015
Remembering 9/11
Every year, to commemorate 9/11, I take my Portraits 9/11/01 off the shelf and open it at random to read some of the obituaries the New York Times collected so [...]
14
Aug, 2015
On Learning a New Language
Learning a new language means frantically running around in my mind snatching at the coat tails of words I might now, hoping to catch a consonant-vowel combination that hopefully means [...]
22
Jun, 2015
Eventually It All Gets Done
I have often have to remind myself that eventually, it all gets done. Such as sewing that button onto my son's polo shirt. It's an old Lacoste he inherited from [...]
1
Jun, 2015
My Recipe for a Perfect Porch Day in Bella Grace Magazine
You might remember my blog post from last summer, Recipe for a Perfect Day on the Porch. Well, I'm happy to announce that it made it into the summer issue [...]
13
May, 2015
The Sweetest Little Mother’s Day Gift
I just had to share this: My 17-year-old son gave me this for Mother's Day--a tiny rose he crafted from tin and copper, propped into the cutest little vase, namely [...]
5
Feb, 2015
Today and Tomorrow
Today is... ... the undulating blue of the mountains against the bright of the sky ... the dusting of snow on the summits ... the road swinging up the [...]
23
Jan, 2015
Magic in the Winter Woods @ VCCA
I have returned to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), where I'm trying to be immensely productive during my two-week residency. When I get tired, or need to rev [...]
5
Jan, 2015
Those Who Trod Before Me
A freshly snowed-on sidewalk reveals who has walked before us. I never quite appreciated that until yesterday morning, when I took my daily walk while it was snowing softly. I [...]
17
Dec, 2014
Happy Chanukah!
Yesterday was the first night of Chanukah, quite appropriate for my family's annual visit to Chicago's Christkindlmarket downtown, thanks to Chabad Lubavitch's giant Menorah. At the Christkindlmarket we stock up [...]
12
Dec, 2014
12/12/14 – Time Capsule
I am keeping with my tradition of creating a time capsule of the 12th of December, begun as a project on 12/12/12. One day, way in the future, it might [...]
8
Dec, 2014
You Can Always Count on the Waves
I consider living along the Chicago lakefront one of the great blessings of my life. The other day I went for one of my favorite walks, along Rogers Park [...]
4
Dec, 2014
Farewell to an Old Pot
Why, I ask myself, is it so hard to say good-bye to an old pot? I know why, actually, but I still keep mulling over it because it strikes me [...]
1
Dec, 2014
My Photo Essay in Bella Grace Magazine
My photo essay "Capture Magic that Hangs by a Gossamer Thread" appears in the winter 2015 issue of Bella Grace magazine, on sale as of today, December 1. Last [...]
13
Nov, 2014
When Past and Present Evil Collide
Dalya Lemkus - May soon her family be able to look at her picture without crying. Sometimes all I can do to come to grips with a terrible [...]
3
Nov, 2014
Joy is… 31 Walks
The sound of fall: Walking through leaves October went out with a bang here in Chicago; we had such a mighty storm that the waves were swapping over and Lake [...]
16
Oct, 2014
The Challenge of Daily Walks
For October I've given myself the challenge of going for at least a 20-minute walk every day. This is part of me digging deeper into Julia Cameron's book The [...]
14
Oct, 2014
Paper Pumpkin to the Rescue
My daughter who's been in Israel for a while now misses pumpkins. It's fall but there ain't any pumpkins to be found in that desert land. She's been on the [...]
3
Oct, 2014
In Awe of Kol Nidre
Stained glass window front at Chicago Loop Synagogue My essay on Kol Nidre was published a year ago, and on the eve of another Yom Kippur it is as relevant [...]
18
Sep, 2014
My List for Celebrating Fall
Temperatures have been unseasonably nippy here in Chicago; clearly, fall is in the air. It's been a while since I've done a seasonal list, but I am so looking [...]
11
Sep, 2014
Remembering 9/11
For my generation, today's date will live in infamy. It will simply never again be another day. 9/11 will always make me shiver, and I will always have second thoughts [...]
18
Aug, 2014
Bella Grace Blog Hop: Recipe for a Perfect Day on the Porch
The capturing of this recipe was inspired by Bella Grace and is my contribution to the Bella Grace Blog Hop. Essential: 1 porch 1 summer day, temperatures in the 70s, [...]
19
Jun, 2014
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Jun, 2014
In Honor of Father’s Day
I'm rerunning my six-word Dad memoir from three years ago, that sadly will always be true because, even 29 years after he died, the tears can still creep up [...]
4
Jun, 2014
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May, 2014
Living with Chronic Pain
I can't write about the book I recently finished and liked so much, Lynne Greenberg's The Body Broken, without going into my own experience of chronic pain, which is [...]
19
May, 2014
Eyeing the Emptying Nest
I've been in a blogging slump, and I figure it's better to admit that than to publish lackluster posts. There are books I want to write about, photo essays I want [...]
11
May, 2014
Being a Parent Must Be Awesome…
My "awesome" Mother's Day present this year "Being a parent must be awesome," says my 13-year-old son, eyeing me from the upper bunk as I wake him up in time [...]
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Apr, 2014
3
Apr, 2014
When Guests Come…
...you clean up. It's really one of the great benefits of having overnight guests or even just throwing a party: Suddenly you're compelled to tackle all those "construction sites" around [...]
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Mar, 2014