Last night I cleaned up and shaved/trimmed/did a haircut and put on my "new" free pants which are pure win, brushed my shoes and put a clipboard/pad/pen in the bike bag and in short, got all prepared so in the morning, I figured, I'd wake up with time to make some matzoh brei for breakfast, and ride over there for the 10:00 - 11:00AM class.
I ended up, up until 2AM at least though. The plan involved being in bed at midnight. I woke up at a bit before 10. Oops.
So it was get up, whiz, wash face, get on the bike and go, come back to make sure the door is locked, and ride over there. I probably missed the first half of the class. It's not an important class like Adult Hebrew Reading or Intro To Judaism which if I can't do it any other way, I'll stay in a hotel down the street from the temple to make sure I get there on time. It's that important to me.
The class was OK. It was stuff like, Here's the introduction to Leonard Bernstein's symphony and see how it closely resembles Jewish cantillation. And here's the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemeni versions of this song, etc.
Pretty soon the class was over and, looking to see if the gift shop was open (it wasn't) I saw there was a kids' thing going on with breakfast being served, and it appeared everyone had eaten, with Mr. H- still serving so I had some matzo brei and scrambled eggs.
My next part of my plan was to go back to Mollie Stone's and get ... more Jewish stuff. I rode over to Whole Foods and locked the bike and walked over to the bus stop the #522 stops at. One was just leaving when I got there so I walked over to the train station to get some train station popcorn but the little shop was closed. Oh, well. When I got back to the bus stop I only had to wait a few minutes for the bus.
We rattled and clanked up to Palo Alto and I thought, No problem, it's at the end of the line. Then when we got closer I realized, I think Mollie Stone's is on California Avenue not University Avenue. So I got off at California Avenue where the last sellers at the farmer's market were just breaking down their stalls and there was a big kids' putt-putt golf thing laid out. Lots of people around too. Could be a good place to busk...
I got a frozen loaf of gefilte fish, a new type of horseradish (with a mark on it that looks like a hechser but isn't, and has dairy in it so while the label says it's great on roast beef, I can only use it on fish. Which is OK. I also got a some "soup almonds" which are supposed to be really good to snack on, which I'll find out on Wednesday when Passover's over.
I also looked for halvah, and eventually found it - only the little bars of it and chocolate coated. Years ago, I found Joyvah halvah there in bigger blocks but ... to me, halvah's got to be that brand, marbled, and no coatings. In other words, I want the halvah of 50+ years ago. The next Friday service has a pot luck and I wanted to (a) remind people who know about halvah of their childhood and (b) if there's anyone there who's not had halvah, that needs to be fixed. But ... I could not get "the" halvah so I looked a bit more and thought ... on their "Jewish Stuff Sale Table" there were boxes of Manischewitz chocolate coins. Everyone likes chocolate coins! So I got 2 boxes, 50 bags total, of chocolate coins ... it's an expensive religion.
I walked back down California Avenue to the bus stop again, and took the bus to University Avenue. I knew they had a CVS and I wanted another "Deep Renewal" chap stick for my chops. You can't buy one, you have to buy a package of 3 for about $8, and I paid another $10 for some Bactine which Walmart was out of.
It was interesting to see which businesses were still there, which had moved, or changed to something else, etc. Also, lots of people out and about. I went into a little convenience store and $6 got me 2 oz. of cashews and a V8. There's nothing like a cold V8 on a hot day.
I went into the bike store and looked around to see if there were any jackets I might want but there were not. I went into Bell's Books and bought a C.C.A.R. prayer book dated 1945, and it turns out it's the Part II and there's a Part I. Hm. Kind of like having only Part II of Maus. So I'll have to keep on the lookout for Part I. The one I have covers Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur so I guess the first one covers the other holidays.
I walked back to the bus stop and a #522 had just arrived so it was perfect. We shook, rattled, and rolled and I got off at the Diridon stop and walked back to Whole Foods and stashed things in the bike bags, and went in and got baked chicken and a Stella.
I rode home, checking the little libraries and got a few books, and got back in here. It was windy and tree stuff was blowing around so I had to stop a couple of times to gargle with Listerine
I got back in here and the guys next door were whooping it up with their Mexican music. I wonder how they get that "rough" sound with the trumpets? It's an interesting sound.
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