THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Some relatively new flowers came out this year during the fall.

The first image, with Beth in it, has what is sometimes called a firecracker plant. Actually there are a least a half dozen plants called that. I planted these just this year.

The blooms are long lasting and the plant resists both drought and deer.

The second image with Beth in it shows some of one of my larger daisy patches. The white ones with yellow middle are the daisies.

The blue flowers to the side and the hybrid asters.

I planted these two years ago but the blooming was minimal last year.

This is another fall bloomer that is resistant to both deer and drought.

Click on the images a few times for enlargement.

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:48 PM

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Harachaman hu yakim lanu et Sukat David hanofalit

We had a major wind storm on the sabbath of chol hamoed Sukkot (the sabbath of the intermediate days of the festival of tabernacles).

The result was the first image.

As should not be a surprise we did not eat in our sukkah that day.

Although the Sukkah was out of shape and the roof blown off, the table was still standing and the drinks we left to hold the table cloth were still upright. Even more amazing, the timers, surge devices, adapters and electric wires were undamaged and the lumenaires were still working.

The tablecloth was wet as it rained before the windstorm.

It took George and me about 40 minutes to redo the sukkah so it looked like the second image.

The title of the post translates to "May the Merciful One Restore the Fallen Sukkah of David" which is a phrase from the Grace After Meals said on Sukkot.

Most people consider the Fallen Sukkah of David to be a ruling dynasty descended from David the King or take some other allegorical interpretation of the verse. Also our Sukkah didn't fall down as much as take a massive beating but close enough.

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:05 PM

Annoying Dream

We had guests for the Sabbath of the Intermediate day of the Festival of Tabernacles, a.k.a., Shabbat Moad Sukkot.

One of our guests was a current member of one of the Transportation Research Committees. I am also a member of one of the committees and we did a little bit of remembrance of bygone conferences and meetings.

When I went to sleep that night, I dreamt I was attending a conference meeting. The presentation was about the effect on transportation of the Safe Harbor Leasing Reform Act of 1982 (which allowed corporations to sell tax losses to other corporations).

After the presentation, I asked a question which implied the presentation had wrongly interpreted some data and people got mad at me.

Then I woke up.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:05 AM

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Guests on Wednesday, 19 October

We had some guests to supper on Oct 19.

The people standing are the Postols; from left, Dinah, Mike and Nadine. They are friend from when Mike was a member of our Synagogue (they live about 10 miles away now). Sitting is Dorothy Gales, a friend of Ann from ORT and various other things.

You can see the same flowers as in the previous post but we also have some dishes, cups and so on on the table.

Our Sukkah was easily able to hand an 8 person sit down but 9 or 10 might have been a stretch.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:23 PM

Inside the Sukkah just before the Festival

Beth got us some nice roses (the red ones) The white flowers with the yellow inside are my mutant daisies and in the same vase are some purple chrysanthemums from the front yard.

(click a few times for enlarged view)

Because we had such nice flowers, we protected them against toppling over by placing various cans and bottles around them.

I got this completed only about an hour before the start of the festival on Sunday 16 October.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:17 PM

Monday, October 10, 2016

Post Kol Nidre Dreams

After coming home from Kol Neidre and Maariv last night, I fell asleep pretty quickly.

I had two dreams that I remembered. In one of the dreams, I was, I think, doing mashgiach work at a children's event.

One of my duties was checking the children for nut allergies and sugar levels. For this duty, I had a device, like the medical tricorder that Dr. McCoy used. I had the kids line up and I was checking them one at a time, when someone called for me to do some other work.

The image i from the 8th episode of the first season of Star Trek.

In the other dream I was at an airport in Russia and wanted to buy a soda. I spent some time looking for a machine that would convert dollars to rubles and then got to the machine and it would only take dollars.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:42 PM

Quick trip to Frederick, MD

For the second year in a row, Beth was visiting us in the fall.

For the second year in a row we made a quick trip to Frederick, Md. to have a snack (beer, soda, ice cream) at the Doner Bistro on the Carroll Creek Promenade.

This time we got a group photo at the south end of the promenade where a relatively new fountain had been installed (first image).

The second image was from a year ago near the north end of the promenade (and near the Doner Bistro).

Based on the clothing, it was obviously cooler this year than it was in 2015 for this event.

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:42 PM

Friday, October 07, 2016

Basket and flowers for Sabbath

I didn't take a picture before last Sabbath (too busy).

This week, we have a convertible basket (it turns into a cutting board) for the Challah which Beth brought from Israel and which may be a device inspired by the wishes of one of Beth's friends.

Also, there are some of my mutant daisies (right of the basket in the vase).

Behind the basket are some tall phlox which were too bulky to put in the vase.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:54 AM

Framed Sukkah with advisor

I had put together the bottom of the Sukkah frame before Rosh Hashana.

We finished assembly of the Sukkah frame today.

George and Beth helped me and Wiley advised (we didn't put in the giant sling or the rocket). Click a few times to get a better view of Wiley. More images at the stuffed animal blog.

The screen, cross bars and electrical devices are scheduled to be enplaced in a few days but before Yom Kippur and the roof will go up a day or two after Yom Kippur.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:50 AM