Hurricane Harbor

A writer and a tropical muse. A funky Lubavitcher who enjoys watching the weather, hurricanes, listening to music while enjoying life with a sense of humor and trying to make sense of it all!

Monday, February 27, 2006

Nice Day...

Nice evening, talking to Sharon on the phone.

Had a nice chat with a good friend yesterday.

Got a good letter from my brother in Greece.

New moon in Pisces... what will the new month bring?

Spoke to daughter in Venice motzei Shabbos while she was at Chabad House there and someone told her to "call home" and she did. Very cool. Can't wait til she gets her butt back in the good ole USA and I can talk to her normally.

Cool front in Miami.. life is bearable.. life is good...

Going to go relax... stay off myspace.com and think on the really sweet smile of someone there and hope he is loved as much as my kids are loved.

Nice day... new moon.... Happy Pisces Birthdays :)

Monday, February 20, 2006

Tangerine Lipstick and Orange Juice

Whenever I have a child traveling somewhere I usually break the routine and try not to worry on travel arrangements. When I have two children traveling.. I go shopping :)

Bought my tangerine lipstick at Victoria Secrets with my birthday certificate.. went to the Gap, saw my son at the Apple Store where he's working and his fiance at her boutique... killed time, did the ever popular "stuff" and.............. Dina landed, Mendy landed... he really doesn't have any bruises from he ski trip and had a good time. My son Moishe turned 22 today.. "Moe" lololol sorry.. and........... all is well in tangerine land.

Going to sleep.. long day, nice day... beautiful weather.. Bobbi

Chof Bais Shvat-Memories-Chaya Mushka-Anne Frank and her Diary...

A day of travel back and forth in memory and back and forth in timeback and forth in history and back and forth in rhyme.

A day I have a daughter on her way to Europe flying fast over the Ocean with her best friend to spend a week in Italy for her birthday. She bought and paid for the trip with her hard earned money... a 25th birthday present to herself. She is my hero and the thought of being able to spend Shabbos in Venice, at Chabad House in Venice of all places is wild.. and am sure the places along the way will be too as she has a wildness and a fire inside of her that always burns to learn more, do more and well..she is my hero.

Mendy, my son is coming back today from a ski trip in NY with his Temple Youth Group (NCSY) and luckily isn't one of the 13 Florida kids who broke something on that trip. Seems he was able to brake going down the mountain but Menechem his friend didn't and well.. they released Menechem from the hospital in time to rush to the airport to be told the flights were all delayed for bad weather in and around Atlanta or somewhere there is a connecting flight. His trip wasn't paid for by me or himself but a present from someone for his work organizing things all year.. So..waiting to see if my Menechem Mendel gets home safe and sound and see how bruised up he is.. cause trust me he sounded pretty bad yesterday and prefaced the talk on the trip by how EVERYONE is really bruised up..

Floridian's going skiing.. what do you expect?

Travel... here and there... my kids always traveling somewhere.

I talked to Sharon today.. on and on and probably used up all her minutes.. one of us is going to have to move. Told her funny, inspirational stories that I heard last night at a Fahrbregen for Chof Bais Shvat which is the anniversary of the Yahrzeit of the Rebbe's wife Chaya Mushka who died back in 1988... a place in time.

And, I wonder... why is it that I remember more about the day she died than Gimmel Tammuz and the Rebbe.

I remember sitting in the lobby of the Yeshiva and watching everyone through a writer's eyes, sort of detached, with wonder on how different people were affected.. how different people cried. Some just seemed numb and sad, others self-concious like they should be sad but so few had anything to do with her that they felt they didn't know her. She was such an enigma in ways ... in some ways a hermit in her later years as she rarely left the house or went to 770 and yet she worked at the Brooklyn Public Library in her younger years as a librarian and co-authored some famous works that few realized she was the main force behind. Odd how every day people saw her everyday at the library and few Lubavitchers in Crown Heights had any day to day dealings with her. And, when she was young she drove a pink cadillac and lived in Berlin and Nice as she and the Rebbe tried to find their way out of war torn Europe before the Nazi's found them.

Oh what a time she lived... what we can't imagine she went through or many of the Jews in hiding in Europe went through.

My father-in-law's cousin was Anne Frank.. my children share her genes and anscestors yet my children are alive and Anne is gone.. only in our memories because of the diary she wrote hidden away in that apartment. She was a war blogger before there were blogs and before there was an internet. Let that be a reminder to all of you to keep a paper copy of what you do... because when the connection goes online ..it goes but when you have it written in a book and get it published.. it is forever.

And, my daughter Rivka looks just like her.. the genes are strong though Rivky is young and as she says "hot hot hot" and special and cute and plays softball and basketball and writes and goes to her NCSY groups on Friday night and hangs out with her friends living the life that Anne never could but wished she could...

Time, weaving its way back and forth upon my mind today..

Rivky's big brown eyes burning bright and deeply passionate (like Dina .. like all my girls) .. big eyes Rivky has like my ex-husband and like the Rebbetzen... deep, big..

Life is so strange... my siser in law just called as I am typing this.. she is in Savannah with my brother and my nephew Chaim and they just took the tour of the Synagogue and she was blown away because Leo Frank had lived and davened/prayed there and ... she knows my kids are descendents of the Frank family but when she called she didn't know I was just writing about her a paragraph before... how odd, I didn't tell her. I just listened...

I watch.. I listen.. with writer's eyes and heart... taking it all in, describing, thinking, processing and rearranging my memories.

A beautiful day in Miami... but summer is coming and I am not ready for the heat and wondering on what the future will bring.. memory wise, weather wise...

Pictures below... from various sources...

Lastly... funny but true in a way as we are all seperated by space here. On the day that the Rebbe married the Rebbetzen his parents could not attend the wedding because they were locked away still in Europe... unable to leave. They made a mock wedding and celebrated anyway with a happy heart and a heavy heart. The Rebbe's mother told over stories of that day her happiest and saddest because she couldn't see her son get marry and yet.. she was happy. Years later safe in America she could tell her friends of the mock wedding. It was a different time in which they lived.. no internet, no throw away cameras or camera phones, no text messages, no blogs.. just memories told over from one person to another so others could remember and Never Forget.

And... a Diary remained even though Anne and her sister Margot did not.

http://www.chabad.org/media/images/34/ObLb341112.jpg
http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/timeline.asp?AID=62152 wedding
http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/timeline.asp?AID=62182 passing

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Yud Shvat - Life Goes On

Found this today on the web. A nice article about life going on in the Hurricane Zone...

Posting link and story below.. beautiful pic of Hurricane Katrina... beautiful story and moral.

Life does indeed go on..

http://www.lubavitch.com/

Even in New Orleans: A Time for Joy

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Tuesday, February 07, 2006 hen Mendy Traxler slipped the gold ring on Rachel Kaufmann’s finger under the wedding canopy this evening, and when he crushed the glass underfoot to cries of “Mazel Tov!” sentiments ran the gamut of relief and joy and gratitude. And for those who’ve lost so much in Hurricane Katrina, there was a sense of momentary redemption in the recognition that “even a hurricane cloud has a silver lining.”

That's how Bluma Rivkin, Chabad representative to New Orleans, described her feelings about this wedding--a first for her immediate community since Hurricane Katrina--in an interview with Lubavitch.com.

In Yiddish, the word is beshert which means, “meant to be.” The Kaufmann-Traxler wedding is one of those situations where a convergence of events result in happy consequences that, in hindsight, confirm faith in the idea of beshert, or Divine providence.

When Hurricane Katrina hit last August, some of the Chabad Shluchim to New Orleans evacuated to Houston, Texas, where the city accommodated them and many of the other evacuees, “with incredible hospitality,” explains Bluma. And when Rachel Kaufmann came to Houston to be with her evacuated family for the high holidays, a mutual friend had the idea to introduce her to Mendy Traxler—whose parents were among the hosting shluchim in Houston, and who, at the time was in Baton Rouge helping with Chabad’s relief efforts.

“In fact,” says Nechama Kaufmann, mother of the bride and Chabad representative to New Orleans together with her husband David, since 1986, “ours was the first wedding that Rabbi Rivkin officiated at when he arrived as Chabad representative to New Orleans back in 1981.” So it meant a lot to them, and to the bride, that a second-generation family wedding be in New Orleans. More importantly, says Nechama, and notwithstanding the logistical challenges of making a wedding in a city that is still only in the very early stages of rebuilding its infrastructure after one of the worst hurricanes ever, the Kaufmanns wanted the wedding in New Orleans for the joy and healing it would offer the community.

"The whole point of having the wedding here was to create this opportunity for tremendous healing for our community,” says Nechama, who responded with aplomb to the difficulties she would encounter--and there were many--in planning her daughter's wedding in this ravaged city.

Friends and family mirrored Nechama's equanimity in their enthusiasm to celebrate. With most of the city’s hotels still occupied by FEMA employees and displaced families who are still without homes, it wasn’t possible reserve a block of rooms for guests in any one hotel. But that didn’t stop some 300 guests from Houston, California, New York and--many from New Orleans who still have not moved back, says Bluma, “from coming in droves to dance at this wedding.”

For so many from New Orleans who bonded with families in Houston, the wedding, held in the social hall of the Touro Synagogue in the beautiful Garden District of New Orleans--presented an opportunity to get together again--this time under happy circumstances.

For Joel Brown, owner of New Orleans's Kosher Cajun Deli which was destroyed by Katrina and has since been rebuilt with the addition of a big sign on his storefront proclaiming, "Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win," catering the Kaufmann wedding is a wonderful homecoming.

For the Rivkins, the Kaufmanns and the other Chabad representatives to New Orleans, it was also a much anticipated opportunity to reciprocate, in small measure, some of the generosity that Houston’s community extended to them. “Ever since we were on the receiving end of Chabad of Houston’s kindness during our time of need, we couldn’t wait for the opportunity to reciprocate.” This wedding was our chance,” says Bluma, who along with friends set up a hospitality room in her house to accommodate the guests from Houston and other cities.

Father of the bride, David Kaufmann, a teacher of Chabad Chasidism to many of Touro Synagogue’s members joining him at his daughter’s wedding, says that having the wedding in New Orleans is testament to the calling of a Chabad representative. Quoting the traditional blessing given to the newly marrieds, “may they build an everlasting edifice,” he says that the Jewish wedding speaks to the idea of building—a concept that resonates deeply with the New Orleans community that is struggling to rebuild. Having the wedding here, he says, “is important to many of the people in our community who made a commitment to come back and rebuild.”

The Kaufmann-Traxler wedding brought a burst of light and promise to a community that has been through so much. "There’s still a sense of loss here,” says Bluma, referring not only to the physical destruction, but especially to the families that have not returned and that are sorely missed, and also to those who are struggling financially, living in tiny trailers instead of their once-comfortable homes. "The wedding has anchored our thoughts in joy, as we work to rebuild," she says.
Reported by Baila Olidort

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Super Packed Sunday

No Green Bay Packers but... a whole lot of Super packed into this Sunday.

First... had to go to a funeral for one of my co-workers who lost her mother. Stopped at the house, made a shiva call... thought a lot on life and people.. lives... time. Nice to hear things about her mother that I didn't know and reflected on how others live.. and die..and live until they die.

Came home in time to go shopping for my crew at Publix.. big condiment shopping. Kids now have enough dijon honey mustard, mayo, ketchup and Pam stuff to get through the week. We really don't eat food... just spread condiments over stuff, roast it... bake it or pretend its condiment sushi... sprinkle the edges with bacos or roe and call it a fancy name. Seriously.. I splurged, bought honey peanut butter and three different types of Kozy Shak no sugar puddings. A horrible thing happened.. predictable but horrible... there is no more vanilla cool whip. It is now seasonally strawberry for Valentines Day I suppose. I'll have to eat tapioca with strawberry.. I can do this. Not the same.. liked the chocolate cool whip. Oh well.. I'll survive.

Took two of the kids to my brother's house where my sister-in-law made a kick ass little buffett. Hot Dogs... Taco chips, Guacamole, Salsa, baked beans, corn/bean salad. Was good. Apple Turnovers.. not bad. Very nice. Fun to watch the boys with my brother.. and their cousin. And, the dog.. the big, fat, big, fat, big, fat basset hound...

Shabbos was nice.. spent a lot of time in shul with a friend who was in town for a few weeks and with Malka. Nice. Poured, we were all stuck in shul for hours during the farbregen kiddish, was like being on the Ark or something. My friend's husband is an awesome speaker. Said we are like jewels.. gems.. diamonds.. and a good setting is what shows off the jewel the best. We always shine but in the right setting... we shine more. Important where we live, who we surround ourselves with and how we live... how we lead our lives is the setting... And, it's true... in ways so true. Make the most of your life... how you live it.. who you live it with and what you do.. sparkle like the brightest diamond or star shining in the night sky...

And.................going to go home and listen to Drudge obsess .. if I don't fall asleep.

Busy Sunday... first time in my life I have ever rooted for Steelers to win a Super Bowl.. go figure on that one.

Busy week coming up.. meetings with kids teachers, Yud Shevat with Rabbi Feller, 2..2... count em 2 chasenas..weddings on Miami Beach. How much can you pack into one week and then..the following week... Wicked :)

Super Sunday in Detroit.. rockers rocking on and reading emails from friends with little tid bits of inspiration from the oddest places.. like manna from heaven.. kinda sorta..

Bobbi... hoping all my friends have a good week and for whoever voted for my son's podcast.. will know this week if Jerusalem Post counts it as #1. Stay tuned.

Oh............and a cold front came through... brrr. Oh..and to a special someone, out there somewhere... my daughter Shay... is not feeling well.. high fever, sick... sad I am not there to take care of her... please pray she gets better soon :) I know how some people round here love Shay so... so hoping you keep a good thought for her in your heart. :^) !!