THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Electrical Outage 

About Supper time yesterday I saw a flash (I did not take the picture in this post), heard a boom and noticed that we lost power. This was the first power loss in several years, at least that I can remember. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The power came on in about 45 minutes. It took a bit longer for our WIFI to come on and I thought we would have to reset it. Since I forgot how that worked, I called George for instructions but while I was calling the WIFI came on.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:59 AM

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The Story Behind the Raisin Bread We Use 

We have been buying Dave's Raisin Bread for several months as it is the only kosher raisin bread in the stores I use. It has fewer raisins than I would like but otherwise is pretty good and the cinnamon makes it smell nice after toasting. A few days ago, I had a conversation with a clerk at the store who told me that Dave created the bread recipe while in prison. I looked it up and couldn't find anything that supported the 'bread from prison' story, however, there was a great deal of other interesting context. ...................................................................................................................................... Dave's parents started the pastry making with a donut shop and Dave worked there as an adolescent. He suffered from various mental problems and began committing crimes. After getting out of prison he worked at the shop again and soon they were making bread. After a while he resumed committing crimes and ultimately he was in prison several more times. Dave no longer has any role in the company regarding operations however, the company does hire ex-cons and apparently is successful in keeping them from returning to criminal activity. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... A long article on this is in this 2014 piece below. ........................................................................................................................... https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daves-killer-bread_n_5280920

posted by Martin Weiss  # 1:01 PM

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Lilacs, Bleeding Hearts and another Azalea 

All these were blooming today in addition to the dogwoods. We've had the lilacs (first image) and the bleeding hearts (second image) for at least 15 years. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. The third image is one of our azaleas. It was planted before we bought the house so it is at least 28 years old. They are slow growing plants so I would guess they are more like 35 or more years old.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:37 PM

Dogwoods and Azaleas are out 

I like it when ornamental trees and shrubs combine with the 'built environment'. The pink blooming dogwood (click to enlarge) is in a parking lot. The plot holding the dogwood (and some previously bloomed and soon to be bloomed flowers and shrubs) takes about 2 parking spaced. The back edge of the parking lot is wood over concrete (the the primer bleeding). ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The second image is from the National Arboretum's website. Back in the 1990s, the National Arboretum brought a large number of seedlings from the North Carolina Arboretum. But even before that the National Arboretum produced a large number of seedling themselves and sold them to local businesses, e.g. plant stores. Thus, many of the azaleas in the Washington D.C. area were seedlings from the National Arboretum.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 2:59 PM

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Flowers for the End of Passover 

In the vase: Daffodils with Lilies in the middle. Click to enlarge. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. I remember that when I was growning up Daffodils were only yellow and lilies were only white. Lots of variety now. .......................................................................................................................... The Daffodiles have been out for at least two weeks now. They probably have another week or so to be blooming. .......................................................................................................................... The lilies have only been out since earlier this week. We have both purple and pink and maybe some other colors (I don't remember from last year).

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:35 PM

Monday, April 10, 2023

Cherry Blossoms and Redbuds 

It is now near the peak of the late cherry blossom season. With the early and middle season trees, the cherry blossom season was about 50 days long this year. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The first image (click to enlarge) is a grove of red bud trees near a Presbyterian church on Seven Locks Road, about 0.4 miles from our house. A few years ago, some organization was advocating red bud trees and you could get up to a half dozen seedlings for free. I think the reason was that these trees are native to the region although they may be an improved hybrid. ......................................................................................................................... The second image shows a long row (several hundred feet long) of late blooming cherry blossom trees. The trees line the west side of Timberland Street north of Montrose Road, about 1 mile from our house. South of Montrose Road there are a lot of early blooming cherry blossoms. ........................................................................................................................... The third image is only about a hundred yards from our house. The two cherry blossom trees make sort of an arbor. Under the arbor is a sanitation truck.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:48 AM

Sunday, April 09, 2023

Passover Sedar Marketing Idea 

Before the Sedar I bought multiple boxes of Savion Fruit Slices (they have citric acid in them but no actual fruit)...... .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... After finishing supper a box was brought out. Ann said something like "Oh. I like those." and George said something like "Everybody has those at Passover.".......... Then I said, "Well, Rabban Gamliel says that whoever does not serve Savion Fruit Slices after the Sedar meal has not fulfilled their obligation". I thought that would make a good marketing slogan for the company.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:32 AM

Saturday, April 08, 2023

Elijah at Our Sedar 

It was going to be warm for the first Sedar with outside temperature 70 over night and 80s the next day. So I set up an old fan about 12 feet from the dining room table. I set it to a low speed but it didn't come on. I fiddled with it for a while then abandoned the task because there was lots of other things to do before the sedar. .......................................................................................................................... Later as we were sitting down for the sedar, the fan came on. "Well Elijah is on the job" said our guest (Marvin Fell). .......................................................................................................................... The fan made some occasional creaking sounds and it is now outside ready for trash pickup ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Other interesting things: I thought I cooked the brisket long enough but I didn't. It was easy to cut and tasted OK but was a bit 'bouncy'. The next day for lunch I put the brisket and vegetables into a pot and cooked it for a while. Turned out wonderful with only abuot 20 minutes more of cooking.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:28 PM

Monday, April 03, 2023

The Annoying Side of Immortality 

In the mail today was a fundraising letter from Planned Parenthood ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It was addressed to my father at our present location. Dad died over 30 years ago. Even better we did not live in our present location at the time he died ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... We weren't even living in Maryland when he died. ..........................................................................................................................I wonder who sold Planned Parenthood their fundraising list.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:15 PM

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