magid

For no particularly good reason, it's a good day. Yes, I'm too tired (enticed past my bedtime by eggcellent eggtreme egg-creativity), but that doesn't seem to matter, either.

Purim day turned out to be just as rushed as it always is, no matter how I think it won't be. I made it to the latest megillah reading at Hillel, and was pleased to hear Brian's reading, with silly voices :-). I ducked out just before the end to avoid the crush of the mad mishloach manot traders (having graduated from that state of dragging huge bags to shul myself), though there were a few who managed to catch me.

Breakfast was lovely, indulging in an improptu frittata (breakfast food for breakfast! what a novel thought.). Then to assemble my mishloach manot and walk around delivering them. It was a beautiful day for a walk (hard to believe 24 hours later it was snowing), which would have been better had I not been stupid enough to have my winter coat with me that I had to carry around (how silly, a winter coat in February). Then a dash over to Harvard to hang out with Z and hold her baby while she met with a student. Followed by a dash home before driving to the Diesel. The windows were open, and friends were sitting at the front, rather than the back... I almost missed them! Some Boggle games later, I headed out for my official Purim seudah, which included the obligatory drunk guy, a friend who I've never seen drunk before. Luckily he was easy to manage, and rather complimentary...

Yesterday was dinner with Cthulhia (ok, I'm far too proud that I managed to get a real meal on the table in about half an hour), followed by pysanky at her house. I continue to be amazed & impressed with the designs she draws. I wish my fine motor control were half so good... (and of the 2 eggs made last night, only 1 had a Jewish theme. And neither of the Sunday eggs did, either....) Yet again the difference between what I can imagine creating and what I manage to create is huge. Ah, well. Perhaps this will jumpstart me on some of the other projects I've thought about.

Tonight is potluck, and another ginger dough is already rising at home. This time, no crystallized ginger in the dough, just ginger powder & ginger tea. I'm planning to roll out the dough & put chopped up crystallized ginger and chocolate chips on it, roll up, and bake. Another experiment by the currently ginger-obssessed baker. (Only about 20 lb of flour to use before Pesach, after all... Anyone need bread? :-).

purim is traditionally one of my favorite holidays - dressing up, giving food, making noise - what could be better?

in past years, i've burned through 3 or 4 costumes over the course of the day: a new costume at night; top hat and tails for the morning megillah (book of esther) reading, then one or two others from years past over the course of the day, depending on my schedule of mishloach manot delivery and purim seudah(s).

(note 1: mishloach manot are portions of food sent to a friend (or 2 or 3 or... the social implications can mean making dozens. at my worst, i made at least 50 packages, and was a basket case, schlepping it all to shul in the morning to give them all out. in recent years, in a burst of sanity, i decided to deliver mine after shul. if i don't know where you live, or if you're in a big building and i can't get to your door, well, sorry. this cut my list down considerably. last year, maybe 10. this year, i think 6-8 will do.
(the minimum is 2 kinds of food (as determined by the blessing before eating that food, ie 2 different blessings) to 1 person.))

(note 2: purim seudah = purim festive meal. this is frequently marked by excessive drinking, though this is not a requirement.)

this year, i find myself completely uninspired for a costume. it's depressing to think that this will be the first time i just grab a silly hat from the bin of silly hats and let it go at that. but nothing has popped into my mind.

(previous costumes have included:
* dressing up as the chapter of tractate sanhedrin i was learning: the 4 types of death the court can mete out, and kippa (really, if you want to know, i'd rather do it in person. it'll be easier, trust me).
* being a "purim math" teacher, with a 10-question quiz of math questions i gave out, all based on the numbers given in the megillah. (amazingly, no one did the quiz...)
* wearing a crown, and holding a koosh ball in one hand, a picture of a turkey in the other (for a really bad bilingual pun, about ruling from "hodu" (turkey) to "kush" (ethiopia)...).

and there have been others less idea-based, more for visual effect.)

then there's a purim meal. i'd planned, in absence of invitations, to take myself out to lunch, bringing a funny book along to read. which i may still do, since the invitation i just got today is for a meal starting while i'm planning on being at the diesel.
(really, it's becoming a bit more of a nuisance than i'd thought that i'm looking after z's baby from 2-3. otherwise, i'd go to the diesel earlier than usual, then go on to the seudah when it starts. but i don't want to skip going to the diesel at all...)

i just hope i get cheerier at the megillah reading tonight. i have the gragger (noise-maker) i made at the worcester jcc when i was about 8 :-).

and i'm thinking of going to the women's megillah reading, a first for me.

so, really, as long as i focus on the positives, it looks like it'll be good, though different than usual.

(and i have to start making for for the mishloach manot! i haven't done anything yet! eek!)