Shavua tov

We had a really nice Shabbat with Shanie and her friends Avigayil, Sharona, and Chaya. They are all lovely girls who were so helpful and sweet! I am so glad that Shanie had a great year and although we will miss her, I can see that she is on to bigger and better things. Okay, what really could be better than learning Torah in Israel or even just being here, but big stuff nonetheless. Dani starts swimming lessons in school and has a couple of baseball games to finish up the season, Shana is ready (as ready as can be) for her bagrut tomorrow, and we are all looking forward to another Sunday in Israel, which is, of course, exactly the same as Monday through Thursday.

I actually made to shul this morning, but when I entered, I was hit with a blast of hot, muggy air. The a/c had stopped working. My first thought was "Maybe I should go home," which was immediately followed by "David is going to be such an unhappy camper." This is the second Shabbat in a row in which the a/c had turned on but had chosen to blow warm air. Fortunately, by about 10 the problem had resolved and the a/c came back on line with actual cold air. But it didn't solve the aggravation David experienced from all the people who thought that perhaps the gabbaim didn't think the air needed to be on this weekend, or perhaps that they did not notice the extreme warmth and needed it pointed out to them repeatedly during davening and laining. I am really proud of the job David and the other gabbaim are doing; I just wish it didn't always have to take so much out of them. In any case, except for a vanished Barbie shoe from one of the dolls Ariella ("Don't call me Lola!") brought to group that could not be found despite my best efforts at retracing our steps, shul was nice, the bar mitzvah boy did a beautiful job, and I can say I was there.

As follow-up to Friday's post, here are a couple of bad photos to finish up this week's cookie baking:

Chocolate raspberry truffle brownies - rich fudge brownies, with the hint of fruit giving it a nice sweet accent.

This is the last lonely cherry oatmeal crumble bar. By the time I managed to take a photo of it after Shabbat, it was the only one left. And I thought I had made so many! They are homey, oatmeal based bars, with a hint of almond and sweet cherry preserves. They even once got a shout-out from my brother-in-law Aaron on his blog. Sorry about the no leftovers!

Finally, this is this week's variety, as seen on a 36 piece platter, before wrapping (and gift wrapping). Thin mint sandwiches are on the left, followed by the chocolate raspberry, cherry oatmeal, chocolate crinkles, a repeat on the bars, and then the ginger crinkles all the way on the right. Hope everyone enjoyed.

This will be a busy week - we have coffee for the chayalim, two weddings, a mesibat siyum at gan, a visit to kitah alef for Ariella (can't believe we are already up to that!), a bat mitzvah on Shabbat, and who knows what else will pop up. Wishing you all a great week!

Dvora