Oh Baby! It's Hot.

Today, I'm taking a cue from my cat, Kleinah.  She understands.

We've been in a heat wave for the past week. And I need to put out this disclaimer. If you live somewhere that borders hell, then have a good laugh and move on.
Last night I posted on facebook, "Is it still hot outside?" It was around 8pm. My SIL aka son-in-love posts that it's 93 degrees outside. Yup, still hot. Then my sis-in-law posts that at 9pm it's 108 where she lives. She wins!
We keep our house at a comfortable 78 degrees to keep from having to go on the dole because of our utility bills. So, for the most part, as long as I don't do pilates in front of the TV, I can stay relatively cool.
I created a veggie lasagna- layers of noodles, mushrooms, gourmet yellow french bush beans, summer squash, (the Japanese eggplant from my  garden wasn't ripe yet - rats!), cottage cheese, provolone, mozzarella and a can of spaghetti sauce. It's chugging along in the crockpot as we speak. Let's keep the kitchen as cool as possible.

And this is were Kleinah comes in. Things I learned from my cat. Find a good comfortable place and - don't move! She knows how it works. The less you do, the cooler you stay.
So for today, I can watch the dust grow, the laundry breed and the carpet sprout another white something-or-other.  I shall follow the lead of my brilliant cat.
Oh, yeah. I see that book calling my name.

Camel Riding in the Judean Desert

Lets go back to Israel.
I've ridden a horse, an elephant in a shopping center parking lot when I was 6, and a camel.
The ultimate tourist adventure while in the Holy Land - ride a camel. Why not!
The Genesis Land is in the heart of the Judean Desert. Tents, tables low to the ground, hyssop tea - and maybe even a visit by Abraham (or one of his friends).
But to get to this part, you have to experience the first part.
We were greeted by Eliezer, Abraham's manservant, who took us to a group of camels that were being prepared for our journey to the tent. It was either ride the camel or a long schlep around the hill on foot. How hard could it be to ride a camel groomed for carting tourists less than a mile around a wide dirt path?
I waited my turn while my camel was prepared for me. Hubby - being the cautious non adventurous type chose - with determination, to hike it. No camels for him, thank you very much. So I was paired with another gentleman.
Side story.
There were two single gals on the tour and they were going to be pared up on one camel. However one of the gals came down with sudden "I don't want to do this!!" syndrome and my valiant husband (with a prompt from the L~rd) chose to ride with her. You know - strong man to save the damsel in distress.

 But it was indeed ordered by G~d because he kept his hands on her shoulders the whole time, telling her she was okay, and she later said that is what kept her from loosing all sense of reality.
Back to my adventure.
Climbing on a camel, sitting in the front looking down the neck of this huge beast is something else. Even with a saddle, it feels like at any minute you'll slide on down that long neck and onto the dirt. And a camel on her knees hoisting herself up with a saddle and two occupants is not a smooth ride. My unhealthy back was not happy with the ordeal.

Okay, so now we're ready to cruse. Those first few steps were interesting and starting to be kind of fun. Roll, sway, roll sway...until my beastie decided she was tired of the whole thing and wanted to go down to her pen where her baby was. She saw the pen and stopped. Then she began a maneuver of sorts - I think trying to rid her back of these growths that had attached themselves to her. She lowered herself to her knees ( not fun for my sciatica). Me, being in front lurched forward. That didn't work and we stayed on her back because her leader told us to stay put. So she, with a camel noise, lumbered back up, swayed in place and with another camel noise headed back down to her knees again. Once more we were told to stay put. By then I was ready to ignore the highly trained in camel, young man, unlatch my belt and bolt. But with prayer - lots of prayer I hung on for all I could. She then pulled herself up again and started backing up. We skirted a deep ravine. My thinking - she was trying to dump her load overboard.
 Now she had two handlers holding her reins. No one said anything. They just waited and looked at her. Finally I guess the camel whispering worked and she began to amble past the pen (which was down the ravine) and on to the tent.
When we were safely delivered from our camel, I asked the handler if he was worried that she wanted to make a dash for the pen. He said yes. Her little one was down there, it was close to feeding time and she was ready to leave the party - guests and all.

I should have gotten the tee shirt. I Survived a Camel Ride in Judea!

Stuff

I've lived in my house for 7 years. Actually, I grew up in this house. We moved in when I was a freshman in high school. I graduated, moved to Los Angeles where I attended college and worked beyond that for a few years. Then I moved back until I got married two years later. Lots of history here.
It's a small post WW2 house - built in 1948.
I never remember grumbling about cabinet space, not enough closet space - no where to put things. And my mom and dad were collectors and pilers. Dad ran a business from the back room off the kitchen. I had my share of stuff. Lots of stuff.
Fast forward. Now hubby and I own this house. And I grumble about cabinet space and not enough closet space. Maybe it's because we downsized - our houses, not our stuff. We went from 1800 sf to 1400 sf to our present just under 1000 sf. 
We took our stuff and stuffed it into a house with my mom's and some of my dad's leftover stuff.
After we moved in, I realized there would be no way I could comfortably prep and cook in the little galley kitchen with only two electrical wall sockets and precious little counter space. But we didn't have the money to turn our house (and kitchen) into an award winning House Beautiful project. So the kitchen got a small makeover with new counters, cabinets, flooring and lighting and I now have 4, count them, 4 electrical wall sockets! And I also got a pantry and an appliance cupboard in the back room.
Which brings me to the point of my blog. Organization.
7 years ago I took my stuff and arranged it the best I could in my new cabinets. And for 7 years now I've been changing things here and things there to make it work. But as it happens, life gets in the way and things get out of order. The plastic lid fairies have taken more than their share to who knows where (I think they live in the same dimension as the sock zone). And the tower of baking dishes keeps threatening to take me down when I need the bottom casserole in the pile.
Yesterday I determined that I'd had enough. Time to get my kitchen in order. First I tackled my pots and pans and then the plasticware. No lid - no keep. Many went into the "thank you for coming" bag. Next came the serving bowls, mixing bowls, measuring cups, glass leftover containers. I was on a roll. Tomorrow it's the casserole dishes. It's kind of addicting. One cupboard or drawer calls to another.
In the Jewish calendar we are three weeks away from the month of Elul. During the month of Elul we begin the process of reflection and repentance culminating with Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. Time to go through all the closets and cupboards of our life. Time to rearrange and chuck out things we don't use, or need. Time to repair what can be fixed.
It's amazing how fresh and empowered I feel when I open up my cupboards and everything is in order.
That's how I'll feel at the beginning of Sukkot when I begin the time of celebration. Everything will be cleaned out and reordered. I'll be fresh and empowered to continue on the journey of life.