Windy City

I had no idea that Cleveland would so resemble Chicago. Clearly reinforcements are in order.

Saturday morning we woke up to see a very tilted top sukkah strut outside the living room window. Fearing the worst, I went out and found the sukkah not destroyed, but shifted sideways two feet - with the right side resting in the soft garden dirt, rather than on the patio where it was built. Since it was Shabbat, we left it where it was - too rainy to actually "dwell" in it that day, anyway.

The next morning found all the skakh blown off, as well. With this our one clear day in a forecast of rain, I'm trying to decide whether to take it down completely or try to set it up again and hope it will stay where it's put for a few more days.

Yetzer HaRa

Here in Cleveland Bad Cohen and I have much more exposure to the frum community than we had in hippieville, Oregon. Having now spent years in virtual conversation with frummies via blogs like DovBear, my natural tendency to provoke people is now leaning towards in-person, rather than online, conversations.

Last Shabbat, Bad Cohen and I were discussing the merits of standing outside one of the local OJ shuls in our skimpiest clothes holding signs saying "Jew: entertain your wife!"
(If you don't get this, I'm not going to explain it)

Because we're all about mitzvot.

New Year, New Shuls

Part of the "fun" of moving cross-country is trying to find a new shul. Bad Cohen and I are still undecided on affiliation here in the Cleve, but I will share some highlights from the places we visited over the last couple weeks.

- YK morning services in a sanctuary whose Ner Tamid looks like nothing so much as the Eye of Sauron. Yes, 50s chic and all that, but I spent the whole time glancing nervously from my siddur to my hand, to make sure I was still wearing my ring.

- Lovely discussion with a woman lamenting her long-lost sukkah, which got destroyed by a FREAKING TORNADO. "Oh no, that wasn't here," she finally says.

- This afternoon The Kid was freakishly well-behaved, playing nicely in the backyard with minimal oversight while singing to himself. When I finally tuned in to the words, I realized he was singing "Avinu Volcano." Awesome.