short takes

[cellio]

Someday I will figure out how one properly decorates a sukkah; the only decorated ones I've seen have been done up with stuff made by the kids in the family/congregation. If I decorate, I want adult decorations. Whatever those would be. But at least the strands of small white lights (bought on December 26 one year :-) ) are pretty. And, more importantly, provide ample light to see dinner by.

So far it's a one-splinter year for the sukkah. That's pretty good for me. :-)

For bizarre reasons, yesterday I found myself needing to know how to say "purple dinosaur" in Hebrew. My dictionary was of no help on "dinosaur", so I ended up settling for "reptile". Not the same thing, but good enough in context.

I found out recently that my parents have never, in their entire lives, eaten Indian food. Wow. Chinese food was a novelty for me when I was growing up, but I thought that was just due to the local restaurant options. No, my parents just haven't explored a lot of unusual foods. So we're going to take them to an Indian restaurant in a couple weeks. (And no, I haven't asked them about sushi yet.)

I've been getting a lot of spam lately for Vicadin, whatever that is. From googling it appears to be either a painkiller or a psychadelic, but I'm not sure which. (I suppose the latter is a type of the former, for some people.) Did it just come onto the market or something?

Comments

Sukkah Decorations

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

There seems to be several schools. One is kid-projects. For that, you need kids and have to like soggy paper chains. (We do like them, but lack the kids.)

Another is plastic stuff - bright and gaudy milar, plastic posters of the seven holyland fruits, veggies and grains, brachot, things like that. We got a box of that with our sukkah, so that's what we're doing.

Third is rabbinical - posters of various rabbis and Chasidic rebbes, including improbable group pictures. These are all laminated, of course.

But I think what you'd want might be three dimensional versions of the fruits - plastic or *real* grapes, olives, pomegranates, wheat, barley, dates and figs hung around the top of the sukkah. Real looks better, plastic doesn't attract bugs. And maybe posters of scenes from Israel. That can be really lovely.

Re: Sukkah Decorations

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

wow! what great suggestions!

Re: Sukkah Decorations

[cellio]

Great suggestions -- thanks! I especially like the fruit idea -- probably plastic because of the bugs and spoilage that would come with real.

Our congregation puts a "sukkah" on the bima (of course it's not valid as a sukkah; it's just decoration), and they decorate it with veggies that keep without refrigeration, mostly squashes and the like. It's very pretty, and then since this is all indoors safe from bugs the veggies can be used when it's over. (I think we donate them to a local shelter where we also cook/serve meals a couple times a month.) I had considered doing that, got turned off by the bug problem, and didn't think of plastic at all.

Laminated posters from Israel would be a great addition.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention the most beautiful and appropriate decorations I've ever seen.

It's in my husband's teacher's sukkah. It seems *his* father would spend the year in between making decorations out of the palm leaves. There are braided chains and balls and elaborate pieces that look like a combination of wicker and macrame. This was a labor of love that took years to accomplish, but the result is spectacular.

[cellio]

Ooh, I've seen something like that. My paternal grandmother (the staunch Catholic) used to make little "macrame" crosses out of the palms after palm Sunday. I never saw her make anything else, though, and I wasn't interested in making crosses, and I was too young at the time to make the leap to "you could make other things" -- so I never learned how to do it. But whatever she did produced an interestingly-textured result with a square (not round) cross-section.

Re: Sukkah Decorations

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Use real fruit, pull a piece down after each meal, and eat it for desert. Replace with fresh fruit every couple of days. That's what my parents do, anyway. Decorative, and convenient!

The other theory on sukkah decorations is, "Damnit, if my neighbors are going to have something that tacky for Christmas, I'm going to get my revenge on Sukkot" -- six-foot tall light-up plastic ushpizin and the like, strobing lights along the posts and top, and so forth.

As far as I know, nobody MAKES six-foot tall light-up plastic ushpizin, but I'd really consider buying them if they did.

Re: Sukkah Decorations

[cellio]

The other theory on sukkah decorations is, "Damnit, if my neighbors are going to have something that tacky for Christmas, I'm going to get my revenge on Sukkot" -- six-foot tall light-up plastic ushpizin and the like, strobing lights along the posts and top, and so forth.

:-)

Y'know, currently my sukkah isn't really visible to the neibhbors (fenced back yard), but something like that could motivate me to move it! :-) (I was thinking of rebuilding anyway; currently I'm using the fence as an anchor and for one of the walls, but I'd like more flexibility.)

Re: Sukkah Decorations

[goljerp]

Good suggestions. Monica might also want to look at Mayan's laminated poster inviting the matriarchs into the Sukkah. They've got a picture of it on their web page, and it's just $10 plus shipping. While it's a bit late (even with next-day mail) for the beginning of Sukkot, once you get it you can use it every year!