These bruises

re·flec·tion

noun \ri-ˈflek-shən\

an image that is seen in a mirror or on a shiny surface
something that shows the effect, existence, or character of something else

something that causes people to disapprove of a person or thing

mental concentration; careful consideration.

thought or an opinion resulting from such consideration.

 

Over the past few weeks we have been celebrating the Jewish New Year and then Yom Kippur - the day of Atonment. For Rosh Hashana we are eating apples and honey, honey cake, raisin challah and all things that are delicious and sweet to celebrate the new year. Then a short week later, we are fasting and asking for forgiveness for our sins that we have committed over the past year and allowing us to be sealed in the book of life for the coming year. 

It is a time for reflection. How we look at ourselves, at others and maybe what we would have done differently if we could have. Maybe there was someone I should have called before Yom Kippur and asked for forgiveness and made mends. Or maybe there was someone you were waiting for the call from, and you didn't get it. 

Several months ago I was watching the show The Talk while they were on location in New Orleans. I taped the episodes, because I loved New Orleans, but also because the house band for the week was Train. Pat Monahan sang a song acoustically that really moved me. The song is called Bruises. The radio/album version features an artist named Ashley Monroe and it is just one of those songs that has hidden meaning, at least to me. 

The chorus is about "these bruises" which are really (from my interpretation) our lives. That everything that happens to us has an everlasting effect on our lives, whether we can see them (bruises) or not. Time and space doesn't take away the bruises.

"These bruises make for better conversation
Loses the vibe that separates
It's good to let you in again
You're not alone in how you've been
Everybody loses, we all got bruises
We all got bruises"

 

This past weekend I had the chance to spend the afternoon with an old friend. And when I say old friend, I really do mean that in the truest sense of the word - we know each other almost 35 years. We don't get the chance to spend as much time as we would like (who does?) but when we do, we make it count. Our lives are very different and we have travelled down many different paths, and have our own 'bruises' to show for our lives, but when we are together, it is fun, happy, enjoyable. Her outlook on life is something more people need to have in their own. I guess I am telling this story because how everyone handles their "bruises" makes you who you are and how you are around others. 

So, there is always more to say, but I think I will end with the video of the song. Not all the words will apply to everyone, but if you listen to the words, maybe you will hear the message I heard and take it for that. 

Have a great day everyone,

Me

Yizkor - Memorial service

I realize that not everyone that reads my blog may know what the Yizkor service is or consists of.

Yizkor are a series of additional prayers in remembrance of loved ones that are said four times a year during significant holidays that are celebrated. Our Synagouge has produced a supplementary booklet with the prayers, and some poetry and words of comfort. There was also an opportunity for fundraising as well, you could pay to have a remembrance message put into the book for the coming year.

The prayers are for the loss of a parent, husband, wife, child or other relative. I remember when I was much younger at our old shule Adath Shalom that when Yizcor was about to be said, all the children would leave the sanctuary since we (thankfully) had not experience the losses that the 'grown ups' were saying prayers for.

It was a time to go downstairs to the childcare area, visit with friends there or outside, and socialize. It was a nice break from the prayers and reading, and standing up and down. I will always remember those times. It is funny, because I still see some of those same 'kids' today, either at shule, or out socially or on facebook. Now those kids have kids, and we are adults.

Being an adult also means that it comes along with the fact that now some of those prayers are relevant to our lives. I have lost grandparents, and even friends. So, the prayer for relatives and 'others' now would apply to me. For many years I have stayed in for the service, and read the prayers that were meant for me.

The book this year included a new prayer. A beautiful new prayer that I had not seen before. It is a prayer for those living with parents. I was sitting beside my mother and she turned the page she pointed it out to me as well. It is a really beautiful prayer and I would like to share it with you now.

Heavenly Father, at this sacred moment when we remember those who have died, I turn to you, O G-d, with profound gratitude that my parents are still with me today. Bless them, I pray, with physical health and spiritual fulfillment and grant them the strength to be with me for many years ahead, the privilege to enjoy the success of their children and blessings of family and home. Grant me the resources to provide for them if they are ever in need and give me the ability to fulfill every aspect of the commandment of filial responsibility. May it be Your will that I come to fully appreciate my duties as a caring child and give me the wherewithal to fulfill those duties with love, with joy, and in happiness. May I remain a source of pride and joy to my parents and my family. Bless all the members of my family with good health, long life, with light and with love. In reverence I turn to You, hopeful to serve You wholeheartedly. 

I love you Mom and Dad.

Amen

A full circle Yom Kippur

About a month ago, I read a post on a friend's facebook profile posting about someone he knows who is in need of a stem cell transplant to survive. There were some questions going back and forth about it, and I chimed in and commented on what I knew about it. I hadn't thought about it at the time, because all I was doing was offering knowledge that I had from my past experiences.

It has been almost four years exactly since Shari found out that she needed to have a bone marrow transplant. Four years since I began to learn about bone marrow donation, stem cell transplants and so much more. 

The man who's life needs saving is Dr. Mark Spiegle. If you read the hyperlink you can read about Mark's story. He has battled cancer before and now has been diagnosed again with mylodysplastic syndrome (MDS). If this sounds familiar it is because this is the same blood cancer that Robin Roberts from Good Morning America had last year. She was able to have a stem cell transplant from her sister Sally. Mark isn't so lucky. He needs to find a match to save his life.

This is where you all come in once again. One Match, which is part of blood services has changed the age requirements for Canadians to be swabbed and added to the bone marrow registry. If you are healthy and between 17 to 35 years of age - WE NEED YOU! 

Right now there are two bone marrow swabbing events booked and confirmed. There will be more to come but here is where will be:

Sunday September 29th - from 10am - 4pm
Holy Blossom Temple - 1950 Bathurst Street (south of Eglinton)

We do want to target the TARGET group so we will be having a drive at the University of Toronto on:
Tuesday October 1st - from 11am - 5pm
If you are a student at Uof T, if you have a child at UofT, or know anyone in the target range that will be downtown on October 1st - WE  NEED YOU!

A facebook page has been created as well - please join, share on your wall and let's get the word out.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1414379965450813/

As we approach the eve of Yom Kippur and our time of reflection and introspection, we should understand that we can all make a difference. If you are over the age range for one match, and you want to volunteer, you can send an email to swabformark@gmail.com and if you have any questions you can call 416-951-3873 for more information.

If I can ask one thing of you all who are reading this, please share this post on your facebook wall, or your twitter feed. You are not just helping Mark hopefully find his match, but there are over 900 Canadians that are waiting for their perfect match.

Have an easy and meaningful fast if you are doing so.

Lisa

myelodysplastic syndrome

myelodysplastic syndrome

myelodysplastic syndrome

My fall tv line up

I have actually been getting inbox facebook messages asking me when I am going to start updating when the shows and the fall lineup are starting. I love that people comment when I post tv (or any) cool status updates.

So, I have been researching the different network websites, watching tv commercials for new and returning shows and here is a list of what I have come up with, and the start dates for all the shows.

You and I may not have the same tv viewing habits, but these are the shows that I watch on a regular basis and new ones that I will check out and see if they will be added to my list. I tape a lot of shows, and sometimes don't get to watch them all, or want to watch them all.

From what I can see Thursdays are going to be a challenge. I would say that the PVR will be set to tape all night on Thursdays. Which is a good thing, since Thursdays used to be the best night on TV, and it looks like that is going to happen again this year.

NBC is working really hard at getting its Thursday night line up back to what it used to be:
Parenthood - NEW night - Thursdays - starting September 26th
New - The Michael J Fox show - starting September 26th - LOVE him, so I will be checking this one out forsure.
New - Sean Saves the World - Sean Hayes formerly from Will and Grace so yes, will be checking this one out as well - starting October 3rd
New - Welcome to the Family - Starting October 3rd
New - The Millers on CBS - not sure....will have to wait and see - Start date October 3rd 

Glee - of course is on Thursdays - and will be starting September 26th
Grey's Anatomy - Thursdays starting  as well September 26th.
from all accounts McDreamy's final season, as well as Yang's. Should be interesting....
Big bang Theory - September 26th start date as well.

Mondays:
How I met your mother - final season - starting September 23rd
New - Hostages - Looks interesting - starting September 23rd on CTV
Dancing with the stars - starting September 16th

Tuesdays:
New - The Goldbergs - looks like it could be like "that 70's show" but it is based in the 80's - totally! - Starting September 24th
New - Trophy Wife - starting September 24th

Wednesdays:
Law and Order SVU - starting September 25th
Modern family - starting September 25th

Sundays:
The Amazing Race - starting September 29th
The Good Wife - starting September 29th

I am sure that I am missing some shows, or haven't touched on the ones that you watch. Feel free to leave me a message on what you thought about any of the shows that we may watching at the same time.

Clear your PVR - looks like a busy fall is ahead!


Modern Family - starting September

Searching for the Pink Door

While I was reading on Facebook about friends and family all heading off to cottages, Blue Mountain and different lodges up north I was getting ready for my own end of summer adventure - to Seattle and then cruising up to Alaska. I had never been to Seattle and was on a cruise to Alaska many years ago so was ready to see it with my amazing travel buddy and friend.

I was looking forward to both parts of the trip, but since I have never been to Seattle I was really looking forward to seeing Pike's Market, the first Starbucks and more. It did not disappoint.

Of course you all know by now that I always enjoy trying new restaurants and foods when I go away, and of course Seattle was no exception. I had received a recommendation from someone who had lived in Seattle about a great place called The Pink Door that was in Pike's Market, and it was really good food, atmosphere, etc. Looked at the menu, made a reservation on opentable.com and away we go - one night dinner booked.

When we were walking through Pike's market we noticed a sign to the restaurant and when we asked where it was exactly, the person said, "just look for a pink door"..... so while we were walking through Post Alley (a bunch of different restaurants, outdoor seating, pubs) we walk past this building, no sign, and the door was open. B says to me, "is that door pink?" I look at the door, it was more of a coral peachy colour, but I said, "this must be it". If you didn't know what you were looking for, you would surely have walked right by.

The restaurant is known for its live music (we were too early for), Cabaret and Burlesque shows (wrong night). We still enjoyed a great atmosphere, good food and their specialty cocktail - The pink madonna. It was vodka and pink lemonade and it was good. Could have had a few of those!

Enjoyed our meal and then had to look at the dessert menu. They have a special dessert that I saw on facebook and I told B that we had to have this dessert. It is known as the "boobie cake".

I should have taken a better photo of it, because it really does look like a 'boob'. If you go on facebook and like the pink door page you will see a side shot and you will know what I mean. Chocolate mousse, on top of an amazing chocolate cookie, covered in chocolate, with caramel ribbon and berries. Yeah...shared but could have easily eaten one all on my own.

When we were leaving the restaurant, I asked where they would recommend for the next night. They both said Palace Kitchen was the new hot spot. Local celeb food network chef  Tom Douglas' new establishment. Off we went on Saturday night to Palace Kitchen. The food there did not disappoint either.

Note for travelling: always ask locals where to go to eat. The same way as you find great spots in your own city that you enjoy and would recommend, they will as well. The staff at the front desk at the hotel you are staying at are great as well. It is always great to put it out there on facebook as well. And if you are short on time, or the restaurant is really popular make sure to go to www.opentable.com and make a reservation in advance! 

There were a lot of great things to try, so I opted for a couple of appetizers over one main course. It seems like everyone enjoyed what they ate there.
 
Stay tuned for more details on Seattle and everything that we were able to see and do in two short days. That is how we like to see a city, we try to jam in as much as we can for the time that we have. I think for Seattle we did just that.

Seattle, I will be back.....

See you, in September....

Today is September 1st....and while on one hand I am thinking, "how can it be September 1st already", I know that this summer, and time in general is moving faster and faster.

I read a blog that I follow the other day and the writer gave a summer synopsis of her summer, all the amazing things she did with her family, personal obstacles she herself had conquered over the summer and all the good times she had. I really enjoyed reading it and gave me thoughts about my own summer.

Overall, the last 2 months have been pretty good. The one thing that I thought I would do more of than I actually did was go to Canada's Wonderland. I did get a pass this year and thought since so many people I knew had passes, that would lead to evening and weekend visits with friends, and their kids, etc. It didn't really happen that way, and that is okay.

The one time that I did get to go was when my niece called early one Saturday morning and asked if I would go with them for a few hours. I jumped out of bed as fast as I could and made it to my brother's house in record time. I loved riding the ghoster coaster and a few other rides with my nieces. If I had to only go one time this season, I am glad it was with my nieces and nephew because that was one of the reasons for buying the pass. Maybe I will get to go with them one last time before the season ends.

One weekend in July when we hadn't planned on going to the Jays game at all in July, ended up going twice in the same weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. We should have actually booked a hotel downtown and had a staycation, but never thought about doing that until it was too late. We attended a game where Carlos Delgado's name was put on the Level of Excellence wall at Skydome. There were a lot of former players there and there was a commemorative baseball that was given out that of course we had to go very early to get.


One of the things I have learned to appreciate is that sometimes it is the little things that happen day to day that sometimes have the most impact. Like having my family over to swim at the pool in the condo. After swimming three adults and two kids managed to sit out on my balcony and eat freezies, snacks and watch the cars and motorcycles go by. Other time they came over and I made lunch and we went swimming again.

Yesterday I spent the day with a teacher friend. She worked at camp all summer and will be starting back at school on Tuesday. We went out for lunch, went back to school/fall clothes shopping and then ended at Starbucks. It was nice to catch up and spend time since the summer didn't allow us to do much of that.

Now I am on my way to an end of summer bbq at friends house. Enjoying the last weekend of "summer" as we move into fall, our Jewish Holiday season and all that has to bring to the table.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and looking forward to the new season and hopefully continuing to see more of my friends, enjoy a meal, movie, coffee or even a walk.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading, I always appreciate it!

as time goes by

About a month ago an old friend of my brother's who lives out of town came for a visit. He surprised my parents and I at their house when we were all getting together for a family dinner. We hadn't seen this friend for many years, and it was great to have him over, and enjoying a meal and his company like we had done so many times growing up.

At the dinner table, it was hectic as usual. The last time he sat at our dinner table we were four. We are now a family of eight, and as he looked around the table at the craziness, he commented that this felt like old times, except now my brother has a wife and three kids.

And that is exactly the way life is....the same yet different. Because here we are again - one year later, nine years later, on the anniversary of Aviva's passing.

If you ask someone of our parents generation where they were when JFK was shot, they could tell you. When you ask someone of our generation where you were on 9/11 - we could all tell you. Life events have a way of staying with you. You will remember birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and of course loss. I think that when someone you love passes, family or friend, old or young, you will always remember the details.

I wrote about it last year and many times before.

This year I am remembering 'time' by looking at my family. When my brother's friend said that our dinner table felt the same, but the fact that my brother had three kids, it really made me think. Aviva didn't get to meet any of the kids.

I look at my oldest niece, and her dynamic personality and think of Aviva. She has a great laugh, and that was one of the amazing character traits that V had - her laugh was infectious. She had a larger than life personality and she would have loved my oldest niece.

And my middle niece - the softer, sensitive one. She would have probably had lots of fun with V as well. Creative and artsy, and a serious thinker. I could imagine that they would have lots to talk about.

And my nephew. She would have just looked at him and thought, a son for my brother. How great will that be now and moving forward. She would be right. The sparkle in his eyes always lights up the room, and she would have loved that.

Last week when I starting thinking about today, I 'googled' the name Aviva Barth and several links showed in the results.

There are community outreach projects in her name.
There are blogs written by people that knew her.
There are flyers and documents from the Underwater council of Ontario on boater and water safety. 

I am sure if you knew V, you are nodding your head right now in remembrance. And you are hopefully smiling at the good times you shared, and her laughter and her smile. They will never be forgotten.

I will never forget you V,

Lisa