i feel that i can finally update my blog - for two reasons. first, i felt that giving an update on the wings would have been a bad thing however, since they won 4-1 in the last game against nashville, i feel i can cheer once more….maybe…crossing my fingers now. the second reason that i can update my blog is the fact that i now am the proud owner of a new digital camera. this is thanks to luciana, my friend that somehow knew more about digital cameras than all the customer service assistants in two stores. thanks luciana!

and here is erika - she won a prize. good job erika!

first game of the western conference quarterfinals…and we won. score was 3 - 1
nice job!

this is the explanation they have on http://www.holidays.net/passover/
“Passover is the 8 day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II.
A time of family gatherings and lavish meals called Seders, the story of Passover is retold through the reading of the Haggadah. With its special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration. Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. As the Jewish day begins at sundown the night before, for the year 2004, the first night of Passover will be April 05th”

i should also mention, that in addition to celebrating the freedom of our ancestors from slavery in egypt, many families also choose to spend some time during the seder to think about people that are going through slavery of any kind presently. we pray for the freedom of these people as we celebrate our own.

to me, as a child, passover meant: getting up early to cook with my mom and my grandmother. after spending a day of gossiping - i mean cooking - cousins and family would start to ring the doorbell; each bringing with them the special dish they were known for.

in my family, the egyptian side took over passover. this meant that there were a lot of special “traditions” that other families interestingly didn’t seem to experience. one such “tradition” involved the part during the ceremony during which you recite the 10 plagues that were brought upon the pharaoh. as each plague was read, my grandfather would poor red wine and my grandmother, water, into a large bowl on the table. after the plagues were read, my mom and grandmother shushed us to silence as they, very seriously, went into the bathroom and poored the mixture into the toilet. as they flushed it down they would hiss at the “bad” water and chant “go away evil spirits” - in arabic. it was at this point that my cousins and i would break into uncontrollable giggling.

after the seder was over, we would eat dinner. dinner in my family included grapeleaves, potroast, some kind of boiled egg that if eaten behind the door was said to make a young man rich and married in a year (yes, another one of those egyptian rituals), charoset (fig, prune and walnut mix) and a lot of other stuff.

after dinner, my cousins and i would take the belly dancing hand tamborine thingy’s and dance around the house while my brother played guitar with my uncle. now a-days, my dad brings out and the guitar and harmonica and we take turns playing the different instruments and dancing.

tomorrow, i look forward to waking up early to cook with my mom and continue the tradition.

happy pesach (passover) everyone

up today at 9:30 a.m. to work on my house. feeling like a true homeowner. today, i will replace the florescent lights that are sprinkled throughout the house. now, just what were they thinking when they put those in?

luciana is the coolest. she made me my first blog.