We had a lovely time at shul this morning. It's always nerve-wracking on the second day of these holidays to find out if there will be a minyan (10 people) there or not. Today we got there 15 minutes after the services started and made numbers 11 and 12. We were also the last to arrive, so 12 was it for the day, but on a second day and a weekday that's not bad. The service was lovely and a little kiddush in the huge succah out back was nice.
We came home, had lunch in our own succah, and then decided to kill the afternoon by the pool. I read a lot of pages in the novel The Help. I borrowed the book from one of my neighbors, so I don't want to keep it too long. It's really excellent, and I'm hoping to have it finished by Monday.
Tonight we will have Shabbat dinner in our succah again. The weather is spectacular for it.
On Wednesday Mark and I saw a big alligator in one of the Solivta ponds. We have named him Wally Gator after an old cartoon character. He was just swimming slowly from the center of the pond to the edge. I actually pulled the car over so we could watch him for awhile. We had been told that if we saw a body of water there was definitely an alligator in it, but they are still hard to spot. When Wally was up at the surface and swimming to the edge, it was an event not to be missed. In fact an A/C repairman parked his truck and started to walk up to the edge with a camera. We had more sense. We stayed in the car and took this shot out the window on Mark's iphone. It came out pretty good.
Another nice animal story is about a turtle. As we were driving to shul yesterday morning, we saw a man stop his car near the stop sign that we were approaching. He got a towel and went to the storm drain. Next thing we know he is carrying a HUGE turtle, scared completely up into its shell. He walked it over to the big pond nearby to release it. I guess either the turtle was headed down into the drain or maybe wedged there; that part we could not see. I am so proud of our community that they take care of their wildlife here! This morning we had to slow down and wait for the Sandhill Cranes to cross the street. I love this place!!
I hope that your holiday continues to go well. I love the animal stories that you told today. They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is walking with me pretty often now. It is fun to walk with someone and I think that it is bringing us a little closer together. I am feeling good about that.
Oh walking with the hubby is a very good thing. I'm glad to hear that you are getting out there together. Now that the weather is starting to get reasonable here, meaning not in the upper 90s with 90% humidity, we might start walking outdoors again, too. Will you have to stop doing that when it gets too cold?
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that we will find a way to continue. We could drive to a mall maybe. It has been wonderful to get us a little closer together. We also motivate each other to keep going when we are tired. I think for me that is probably cause I don't want to admit I'm tired before he says he is tired. You definitely can't call me humble I guess.
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