Dad's yahrzeit

It's my Dad's 8th yahrzeit, and I'm sure my brother's writing something much more articulate than me - mostly, I worked a half day then came home for Thanksgiving prep, thinking that Dad loved Thanksgiving, and I don't remember another year since 1998 when the 21st was Thanksgiving eve - although I'm sure there must've been.

I found the above picture Googling "dad's yahrzeit" - I think they can get better candles in Brooklyn than I can - here're mine, although I do have the nice crystal candle dish I special ordered, from artists who had come to Madison Art Fair on the Square:


I tried to turn 'em so you can't see the label, but there's a bit of barcode there.

Both kids are back, just not here. John drove back roads from Milwaukee, so he could take pictures, and I think he got some, but it rained and I was helping him navigate via cell phone and Google maps.

My theme for this Thanksgiving is plenty of dishes but not too much of each - I made a single, 3-egg batch of pumpkin mousse, and even though I got all the old bread out of the freezer, I turned some into croutons and even threw some away - so I don't end up with vats of stuffing.

I started reading 2012: The return of Quetzalcoatl, by Daniel Pinchbeck - I wonder of we really are an end of days generation - I wonder what Dad would think - I wonder if they thought they were, during WWII. But then my parents were in their 30s in the early 1960s - Camelot, the best time ever till Kennedy got shot, right? I heard someone talking about I think a made for TV movie he'd written about Kennedy's assassination, where his thesis was that was the start of it all going bad in the U.S. It is my perfect baby boomer memory - the only time I ever saw my father cry was when we were watching Kennedy's funeral on TV, and the riderless horse went by. I was eight.

Googling also revealed that you can buy Kaddish bands, black silicon bracelets, Lance Armstrong style, with the Mourners Kaddish in Hebrew embossed on them - $2.49 and 10% of all proceeds donated to the Emergency Medical Services of Israel.