5 Year Aliyha-Versary!

Well, so much for my plan of "weekly updates".  Here we are, weeks after my last post. Sadly, it's been intentional as I just couldn't bear the thought of describing how bad things were here. Things really heated up in Israel with a second Covid wave and got crazy in our town, which was high on the list of affected places. We knew a number of people who were outright ill and even more who were in bidud. Our street got veeeery quiet as a bunch of families were in quarantine and one family got sent to a corona hotel because the whole family was sick. A rabbi Shalom Shachne is close to (who lives right near us) was in the hospital for a week, but thankfully has recovered. He's the metaphor for our town (and the country as a whole), I'd say. Thankfully, infection rates have gone down here and will, please Gd, continue heading that way.....(Of course, since school starts next week I'll have to turn my optimism into "cautious optimism").

Ilana's elementary school graduation DID (briefly) happen in-person. Mothers (only) were allowed to come in groups of ten to see their daughters (wearing face shields) receive their diplomas, have a 5 minute festive snack and hit the road so the next group could be admitted. The school did a very nice job making things corona-friendly: each girl and her mother got a "table for two" with a pre-packaged salad and muffin on it. After a festive snacking/photo op moment, the principals scurried around changing tablecloths and plastic goods so that the next group would have a fresh setup. It was lovely to at least be able to snap a photo of Ilana getting her diploma and cheer on the girls. Good job with a crazy situation.

We are all missing our annual summer trip to the US, and have tried to make the best of the situation . Penina, while terribly disappointed at not being able to return to her job as a camp photographer in the US, was one of the photographers locally for Camp Simcha Without Borders. Since seriously ill children couldn't, of course, travel to NY to the big Camp Simcha , the camp held small sessions for kids around the world. I'm so proud of her that she used her talents to help this special camp:

We did our best to whoop it up by having a few "day-cations" locally.  Yesterday, to celebrate our 5 year aliyah-versary we went to a boutique winery (only 15 minutes from our house!) for a tour and tasting.

THEN:

AND NOW:

Lastly, Percy the puppy continues to be a delight and a wonderful addition to our family. He's grown "tremendously" and now weighs 1.2 kg (i.e slightly *more* than a bag of flour). I snapped this photo yesterday of him reclining on a pillow and it makes me laugh every time I see it:

Cousin Gil Visits!

And gets the prize for being the first person since March to be inside our house for more than 15 minutes.  (Masks off to eat and for photos).

 Percy, as a "Corona Pup", was thoroughly confused as to why anyone other than the five of us would be in our house....

Thanks for the visit, Gil!