Glass House

It’s two days until 2008 and time for some new year resolutions. I would like to resolve to be mindful and present every day of my life. But that may be too tall an order. Giving my full attention when someone else is speaking would be nice. Practicing acceptance of myself and others would be commendable. Eating only whole grain, organically and sustainably produced foods is a lofty goal. Tasting the food I chew and swallow would be fine.
Some of the above may seem easy to you, none of it is for me. I know that I will be able to continue my present habits, that’s what’s easy. Most of them are advantageous and even praiseworthy. I’ll go to work as scheduled and give a full measure of my effort to my job every day. I’ll enjoy and support my husband. I’ll love and care for my children, whether they want me to or not. I’ll re-use and recycle with all the passion I have for keeping our earth, water and air clean for future generations. Unfortunately, I’ll also read too much, sleep too much and promise to do things that I can’t or won’t accomplish.
So….perhaps I’ll just resolve to try one new thing in 2008. Maybe it will be a trip to somewhere I’ve never been, maybe a new food. Maybe I’ll skydive….not! What about you?

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This morning my newspaper reprinted the famous column from the Chicago Sun of 1897 in which its editor reassures Virginia O’Hanlon that there really is a Santa Claus. I have always enjoyed re-reading this column. I like it because of its overarching good will and its lack of specificity about who and what exactly is Santa Claus. It’s clear that its author believes in a Supreme Being but he leaves no clue from what religious tradition that Being originates. I appreciate the writer’s caution.
I have a complicated relationship with the December holidays. My parentage is half-Jewish and half sort of Christian with a large dollop of atheism thrown in. As a child we celebrated a completely secular Christmas. But as my life has unfolded, I have found my Jewish half exerting a stronger pull on my heart and spirituality. Still, December in the United States is all about Christmas.
This year my husband (who is 100% Jewish) produced a homemade, 5-foot-in-diameter Star of David for our front lawn. He wrapped it with multi-colored lights and hung one of the spiral lighted Christmas trees along side it in front of our house. I think this display is a perfect representation of who we are. We love the festivity of the season: the parties, the songs, the lights, the food, the gifts (and especially the time off from work). But underneath our celebration, in our hearts and our DNA, we remain Jewish with our own view of the world and our place within it.

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have a love-hate relationship with woodstoves. I love how warm and cozy I feel when I am sitting right next to one, reading an interesting book and drinking a cup of tea. I hate the mess left around the stove and along the trail from the woodpile as well as the choking, wood smoke that comes out of the chimney and joins with the smoke from our neighbors to create a suffocating inversion layer outside my bedroom window at night.
Before I moved here, I never ever saw a woodstove, in spite of growing up in the Northeast where winters are not for sissies. Where I grew up, we had steam radiators under the windows in every room. I guess the idea was that the cold air rattling through those single panes was moderated by the intense heat generated by the radiator it passed over on the way into the room. I don’t remember being cold as a child (though what child does?) so I guess the radiators worked.
I’ve seen some fascinating solutions to the home heating issue. Several years ago a friend of mine moved into a home that had solar-heated water circulating through thin pipes imbedded under the floors of the home. Her floors were deliciously warm to a bare foot throughout the winter. I’ve also heard of homes that are perfectly oriented on their lots to focus sunlight on a energy-collecting wall during the winter with the slight shift in the sun’s path during summer translating into no direct sun on the same wall during the hot months.
I am looking forward to one of the bright youngsters I have gotten to know coming up with the perfect solution to my love-hate dilemma. I’d still like to be able to sit close to a heat source when its cold outside but also wish for complete independence from the utility company. In the mean time, the sun is setting outside and the wind is starting to blow. Hope its not a “don’t light tonight” evening because I want to throw another log on the fire and settle down for a good read.

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)