A Travel Day

Visiting Pittsburgh where my son and daughter-in-law recently purchased a house.  Guest room saves a lot on hotel, which means I will be the sport for meals out.  Last time I went as a tourist, eager to see a new city.  This time I come as a visitor to maximize family time with only Tree of Life Synagogue or its current format and Flight 93 Memorial as designated places.  

It's a long drive, likely with one or two stops in each direction.  Gas tank filled.  Pennsylvania EZ Pass transponder filled.  Taking very little recreational gear.  Camera.  Cell phone.  Chargers.  Pen and pad.  Brief outline of what I want to do while there but no colored pens or weekly planning pouch, even though I will be there on Sunday.  Limited clothing.  Were it not for the synagogue visit, I might have left all long pants and collared shirts and undershirts home.  

At the end of each month I take a three day treadmill break.  This month four days, which hopefully will contribute to some knee and ankle healing.  But mostly, a few needed days away without mail delivering notices of NJ EZ Pass toll violations assigned to the stolen plate of my last car, dinners to assemble each evening, TV shows to record and then watch or delete months from now.  A few days of different routine.

Not the Best Format

First Hartman Institute Seminar after being favorably reintroduced to what the organization does.  Not Rabbinical Junior College, but also not Chevruta.  I signed up for a Zoom seminar, signed in along with about 55 others.  It was on textual basis of Jewish history.  I did not last the whole session.  Ponderous talking head, an expert one, who would have done much better with this topic engaging a discussion than taking us through some small lettered print on a screen.  Not even sure her premise was correct, but format did not allow for challenge.  Maybe would have done better as an interview with two people discussing the topic with each other.  Just not a good format for what they did.

Medicine Routine

Just swallowed Lisinopril 20 mg + Amlodipine 5 mg + HCTZ 12.5 mg with a swig of Costco K-Cup coffee.  This pharmaceutical blend, taken in the morning, has kept my self-monitored BP reliably at therapeutic targets with no discernible adverse effects, unlike the last time I had introduced HCTZ.  To enhance compliance I found a small daily pill case which is kept adjacent to the coaster that provides the platform for my coffee mug.  Statins and PPIs do better taken in the evening.  Those go in another weekly white plastic pill case, kept on the kitchen table where most of our suppers are eaten.  Make it easy and it gets done.

Extra Snooze

Out of bed delayed a bit.  Sleep hygiene has several components, occasionally in conflict.  Go to bed at same time each day addressed with a clock and a light switch.   Up at same time each day responds well to an alarm, for me a wrist buzz with an iTouch Slim, along with a commitment to arise when the signal denotes that time.  More complex is dealing with Middle of the Night Insomnia.  Sleep hygiene guidance advises limiting the tossing and turning to a short time, though I usually do that longer.  Then go to another room to read, watch TV, or some other activity that requires minimal mental engagement.

This morning I not only awoke nearly three hours before the scheduled morning buzz, but I felt wide awake.  An hour of mind shifting did not make me less awake, so off to the recliner in My Space.  I set a Netflix show with a lot of pictures, silencing it while I leaned back and watched.  Drowsy within minutes, apparently asleep before the 25-minute episode concluded.  Slept through the iTouch Slim, awoke 45 minutes after the scheduled time, but with ample rest.  Few minutes back to bed, then move ahead with my day.  Probably better than if I had just stayed in bed, dragging myself out at the buzz.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Half-price watermelon too good to pass up, but also too big to use.  It sat on my kitchen island too long.  I made about a third of it into watermelon gazpacho, maybe use some more for a picnic and try to find space in the refrigerator.

Watermelons seem to have gotten into high-tech consumer design in their own way.  They apparently come from enormous farms in Mexico, transported in bulk, though there's probably smaller scale farming just a county or two away from me.  Those black seeds that we used to spit out are no more, which makes running through a blender for gazpacho a lot easier.  The rind has gotten much thinner.  The shape remains oval, though less elongated than the watermelons of years past.  Hard to assess the sweetness once blended with other things but the final soup was not particularly sweet, in fact not distinctive in taste at all.

Blending the watermelon in a standard blender did not go well.  The large chunks never reliably nudged their way to the four tine whirly blade.  Food processor would have been better with

a broad base and wide blade.

First time I ever made this.  There were a lot of recipes, all with watermelon as the dominant source of liquid, though amounts vary.  Mine had tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers but these also vary.  Olive oil and vinegar seem constants.  Seasonings are essential.  But my recipe came out something of a pink gruel.

With peak tomato season approaching, I think the traditional Spanish tomato gazpacho has enough advantages that I would choose this when I host guests for dinner.

First In, First Out

No particular reason to not like being at shabbos services.  I served as ba-al shacharit, successfully introducing a kedusha tune that I liked and had not been done before.  Each time I do this, I try to offer something not entirely identical to the last time I did it.  And we got our needed tenth man just in time to try this out.  Competent Torah reading.  Haftarah done well, though too many times by the man who assigns them.  Very good D'var Torah by a long time contributor not seen in some time.  Musaf engaging, closing prayers approaching a cliche, though for the right reason.  As other people did their things, I thought about Big Tents and Gated Communities, which I watched on JBS by a Jewish master this week, wondering if that would be a topic to explore for Medscape Endocrinology perhaps or a presentation at AKSE now that sermons are done by congregants.  Alas, we show the characteristics of a gated community, though the officers would protest if confronted with such an accusation.

By the close of services, I no longer felt engaged.  Put my tallis in its bag, books in the rack, last one to complete this.  Took my 15 ml scotch in lieu of wine as I always do.  First into the room with gefilte fish and cookies.  Finished them quickly.  A few hellos, no engaging sentences, or even full sentences with both subject and predicate.  Then first home, still thinking about Big Tents and Gated Communities to commit to writing over the coming week.

Making Rugulach

Ingredients set out.  Butter and cream cheese need to reach room temperature.  Filling ingredients mostly on the counter.  It's been a long time since I made this, last time and this for a specific occasion.  Used a cookbook last time, internet via FoodTV star this time.  It's not the most important task for today but the one I want to do the most.