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For Hanukkah, Lillian found and gave me a perfect new bucket for the pond.

One of Maimonides, the medieval Jewish  scholar, most famous ideas was his Eight Levels of Giving.  They are still very germane today.  According to the list the highest level is giving a loan to a person in need and the lowest is “giving unwillingly.”   I’ve reprinted the entire list below.

Rebecca remembered that I wanted a new computer game and got me hooked happily on WarLight.

I was reminded of Maimonides classification system during this years Hanukkah gift giving extravaganza.  A gift has to fill needs of both the giver and the receiver.  Many don’t.  Some gifts are bought on demand, some are given as a duty and some are perfect, filling a need the recipient didn’t know they had.  I decided to write a list of the Eight Levels of Gift Giving.  Originally I had seven levels but Fred R suggested that a list that refers to Hanukkah should have eight.  The first level is most preferable but most gifts are appreciated:

1. A Gift that the receiver wanted but didn’t expect.
2. A Gift that creates new opportunities for the recipient.
3. A Gift that is made or discovered rather than just purchased.
4. A Gift that is purchased because the giver would like to have it.
5. A Gift that is purchased because it is easy to buy or generic.
6. A Gift that is outside the expectations of cost or effort.
7. A Gift that is specifically requested or clearly needed by the recipient.
8. A Gift that is purchased by the recipient and labeled as if from the giver.

I loved these kitchen utensils when we saw them in Israel.  Nurit found them and bought me the set.

I was lucky enough to get three gifts from the first level this year.  All of which are used to illustrate the article.

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We are going to the UK in March and Lillian and Rebecca got in a few practice calls:

Life is Good

Happy New Year to one and all

Last Thursday on Thanksgiving we had a traditional sit down Thanksgiving Dinner with the extended family and it was wonderful.  And then on Saturday we had a non-traditional, gourmet, small bites Thanksgiving celebration courtesy of Lillian and Rebecca.

Lillian and Mary Ann

It was amazingly good.  I only took a few pictures because I was to busy eating, drinking and grousing about how badly USC was beating UCLA (final 50 – 0).

Food

The food was super and the small bite part of it made it possible to taste everything without getting stuffed.

Album Here

Rebecca and Nurit

There is an opportunity here for rethinking Holiday food away from quantity and towards superb taste.  And I think the small bites idea makes it possible.  For instance Lillian made a wonderful Pumpkin Bean Soup but instead of serving bowls of it, she served it in stemmed wine glasses.  It was just a taste that was easy to hold and it was amazingly delicious.  I them still had an appetite for the rest of the meal

In September I visited Rebecca in Oregon and we took a few great road trips which I have yet to post any pictures from.  But because I have been on a blog henge roll for the past few days I thought I’d post this updated picture from Maryhill Henge in Washington.  We drove out the beautiful Columbia River Valley past Hood River and crossed at this this bridge into Washington

and after a short search found the henge.   I had been before (previous post) and had been woefully under-impressed but this time I went down the hill in the front and got this really great picture.

I think that if I was in charge of Maryhill I’d move the parking lot down below the henge so that the approach was up the hill.  It also needs a gift shop and some more critical mass.  See tomorrow’s blog entry for an idea about building the critical mass.

We also drove around Mt Hood

I love stand alone mountains.

We had dinner with Nurit’s Aunt and her family last night. Excellent time at Uri in Acco.

Lauren S, Simon B, Lillian B and Elizabeth C

Looking good in a 1920′s way.  A great photo by Paula B.

Which reminds me Nurit and I went to see Midnight in Paris Woody Allen’s new film.  It is about the desire to live in a mythical past.

We are in Las Vegas to celebrate Lillian’s graduation and we went to dinner at Fleur, Hubert Keller’s small plate restaurant at the Mandalay Bay.

Hubert came over the table to congratulate Lillian and her friend Mali on their graduation. Nice touch.

Hag Sameach means Happy Passover in transliterated Hebrew.

We had our family Passover last night which was a night early but it meant that more people could come so we adjusted.  Passover is all about food and telling the story of the exodus from Egypt.  In our family responsibility for the food is slowly transferring from Nurit’s folks to our children.  Lillian made the salad and entree courses that included a delicious baked fish.  Rebecca made Kosher for Passover Popovers that were a big hit and the desserts.  Nurit made Matzoh ball soup that was perfect.  I provided the wine and sang Dayenu.  Dayenu is a Hebrew word that means “that would have been enough.”  I said it after every course.

It was wonderful to celebrate this my second favorite holiday with the family.  July 4th is my favorite.  One of my sisters-in-law sent a card that perfectly captured a piece of the essence of the holiday. The front is above and this is the punchline:

We are having our Family Passover Seder tonight.  Which is a day before the official start on Monday at sunset.  But it is the time when we could get the maximum number of family together.  So tonight we will tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, eat the traditional meal, have a few inter-generational misunderstandings and drink four cups of wine.  I will try to draw a parallel between our historic exodus and current migration (Brilliant Details Here).  Nurit’s Matzoh Ball Soup will be delicious, dayenu*, but we will keep eating.  This year we are supporting Israel by attempting to buy more Israeli Products.  There is a great web site to help find products from Israel.

http://www.buyisraelgoods.org/

What is the opposite of a boycott?

Anyway Happy Passover to all.

May you escape from whatever symbolic or real bondage that is afflicting you.

* Dayenu: Hebrew for “that would be enough” and the refrain from a traditional Passover song.

In 1987 we went to Australia with the girls to visit my Grandmother.  We stopped in Fiji on the way and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  It looked like this:

Today the same hotel is called the Warwick and it looks like this:

I extended my stay in Fiji by one day to go and see the changes and was surprised by how little it had changed in 24 years.  There are are a few more comparison pictures below.  Just click on the read more button.

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