Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa & A New Year

So, Hanukkah started a couple days ago - it officially started at sundown on December 17th.

As a person lucky enough to be bestowed honorary Jew status (I'm not kidding - this is a thing), it was amazing to note that of the many many human beings with whom I interacted yesterday, there was only ONE person (out of easily 50) who knew it was the beginning of Hanukkah! He even knew enough to "Mazel tov" me!

I find that kind of pathetic and a little gross given the fact that you can turn on the radio right now and hear Christmas music 24 hours a day if you so choose. And the fact that all you have to do is look at a calendar and it tells you that Dec. 17 was the beginning of Hanukkah...

It's not that I mind Christmas music, I actually adore it! Takes me back to my youth when we'd attend Christmas Eve services at our local Methodist church. It was so pretty, and we'd get all dressed up and everything was sparkly and the CHOIR and the ORGAN!! OOooooo, I loved it!

The Jews, however, get kinda screwed. No tree, no observance of their particular religion by the masses (unless you live in Swampscott or Marblehead!) and they have to listen to Christian people gush on and on about all of their parties and gifts and the big tree and the stores piping in Christmas music and the red and the green everywhere!

It's not that one is better than the other, that's not what I'm saying. I'd just like a little more awareness of what other people do! And I think KUDOS to the Jewish who put up with our bombardment of Christmas everything and they don't complain one iota! Nope!

I've been in cahoots with a number of Progressive Jewish people that celebrate both! 

We did in my household. I had a pretty tree and the menorah sitting right there next to it. We had Seder dinners and Easter dinners. We had matzoh ball soup and then a turkey! We had a glass full for Elijah and Christmas cookies for Santa. Temple and Church.

Why not? Who does that possibly hurt? Nobody.

I'll bet you that a good number of Christians don't know the fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity. There really are very very few differences. And the differences are really semantics and interpretation. If you've read the Torah and the Bible (which I have) you easily recognize one in the other.

I've also studied Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Taoism, Atheism (that one scared me the most) and Agnosticism.

Theoretical Physics, Biology and Philosophy are really my favorite "religions" as science and the desire to be ethical and tread lightly has guided me pretty unfailingly throughout my life.

So yesterday I went around wishing everyone 

"Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or whatever it is you celebrate!"

And it brought a smile to every single person's face! No one can get mad about wishing you a happy whatever-it-is-you-do to make your home fires burn brightly!

So, enough with the bashing of other people's beliefs. That is one of the most amazing things about the United States of America. We have freedom of religion. There are not many other places like that except some of the more developed countries in Scandanavia, Europe and some of the Island nations.

In most of the rest of the world, you are told what to believe, when you can do it, and how much OR you get shot, bombed, raped or pillaged in some other horrible way.
(which, it turns out some of my heritage is German Jew)
Even in India (which, as I've said, I think Indians are some of the loveliest, gentlest humans I've known as I've journeyed around our planet) they have a caste system. If you're born in a low caste, that's where you remain. No hope of advancing your cause. None. There are people that sleep on the side of the road in some parts of India because they literally have NOTHING to their name. Just the clothes on their backs and sometimes even those get stolen or ripped off them.

I'd just really like everyone to be nice to each other and just pay attention to the comfort of others. Even in the grocery store! Don't block the damn aisle! In the street - slow the F*CK down! It's icy and slippery and not everyone wants to go 80 miles per hour in a 40 mile-per-hour zone!! Jeeeez!

You know, I've been flipped off on Northern Lights Boulevard because I was GOING THE SPEED LIMIT??? Baffling.

And people here will speed UP just to slam on their brakes at a red light.

?

Anywho, I'm being very much a Pollyanna and do-gooder and I understand that some of you probably roll your eyes at my naive attitude.

Thing is, I'm not naive at all. I like to always try to see the good in humans whether they're homeless, drug addicts, a stranger that dresses oddly or eats weird food, a foreigner (I've been a foreigner and it's not fun when the natives treat you unkindly like the men in Morocco)...

You really just never know the motivations of others, so stop being a jerk! Just let them have their bad day and move on. Maybe they just lost their puppy dog and he found out his wife is cheating on him and she just found out she has cancer.

Especially in this season of giving, one of the best things you can do? Give someone a break or the benefit of a doubt. It works miracles.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, the video below. This makes me giggle and carry on like a cackling fool! Hope you like it!

Thanks for reading & Merry Ho Ho and Mazel and all that rot.

Homeless Students in the United States

Well, between the news this morning about what happened in Jerusalem and then the ISIS attacks, I'm feeling pretty grim about now.

It sort of makes my fluff about flowers and cooking seem ridiculous.

I was listening to NPR this morning as I was making breakfast and feeding the puppies. A journalist was asking a question about how the people in this certain country view America, as the United States has not responded to help many people who have been under attack recently.

The man being interviewed said that most of his country, at this point, see Americans as stupid and selfish. Stupid and selfish because they seem ignorant to the plight of other people and the government doesn't seem to care about certain countries unless there's oil or some other natural resource at stake.

The interviewer then went on to ask if there was any sense of a normal life for the other people in his country - and the man said "What is that?" and then sort of laughed a sad laugh...

Then the interviewer asked further, "Do people go to work, do the kids go to school?"

And the man being interviewed explained that, of course, there's still "life" there, and makeshift schools when people are able to leave their homes. But then he also explained that when there's no food to eat and you're going hungry, school is about the last thing on your mind.

So, there I was in my nice, warm kitchen, overflowing with food, feeding the dogs their kibble and reindeer sausage.

My dogs, I realized, eat better than probably millions of people in the world.

There is so much suffering elsewhere. We have the luxury of bitching about phone service or the internet being slow.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of suffering right here, too. There was an article I read yesterday about the issues facing the homeless here in the United States. The recent recession and policies by our lawmakers have forced thousands of families out of their homes.

I was really saddened when I went to our local homeless shelter to find out they feed thousands in Anchorage per day.

It's called Bean's Cafe and they do an amazing job. There were lots of families there. Little kids. There were older people, middle-aged, too, but I was shocked and disheartened to see the sheer number of families who are clearly living out of their cars or vans.

The stats are all just shocking and expected to get worse:

Here's a link to a piece by PBS about it.

Here's a recent Huffington Post article about the alarming rise in homeless students throughout our country.

National Coalition for the Homeless is a great organization that offers solid solutions and financial aid to help people find affordable or free shelter so that they can get on the road to feeding and clothing themselves and live in dignity instead of going to jail.

Now, on the ranty side:

How can corporations look the other way while children are suffering on a daily basis? 

How can these people fill their pockets with millions of dollars and their corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes? 

How about bailing out the banks that created these sham loans in the first place? Why do the banks get bailed out while families lose their homes? 

How can our government and law enforcement justify confiscating the meager belongings that many of our homeless people have and then send them to jail or just send them along into the cold?

More than 600,000 people are homeless in the United States on any given night. 

On average, in the winter, about 700 people will die of exposure each year.

Now, that's a lot of deaths. We would be outraged if that many people died in one winter at war or after a hurricane or earthquake...

But, because they're homeless, they don't matter. Societal discards.

Most people, I think, have a vision of homeless people as older, 

disheveled people who are dirty and many of whom are drunk. 

The truth is that it's entire families and mostly people suffering from untreated mental illness.

Well, this Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah, you might think about one less gift for each of your family members and instead contact your local homeless shelter, women's shelter, fire station or Department of Social Services office to see what you can do to help. A $20 gift to a homeless child or a $20 food donation can make a huge difference.

Peace out. Thanks for reading.

The FlowerSmith Website

My hydrangeas on the side of the Derby Street house. Yummy.

Angelonia in a pot by the back door.

Eggplant blossom!
I grew these in raised beds in our parking area...
They did very well. Small, sweet eggplants.

Gorgeous butterfly enjoying the nectar on one of the
oversized butterfly bushes in the backyard.

I don't know why this has taken me so long!


Ridiculous!

Anyway, my website is almost done. More photos to load and some tweaking to do here and there, but it's basically allllmost done!

Let me know what you think!

Click here: The FlowerSmith

Fall pretties with bunny tail grass, sweet potato vine, chili peppers and kale.

Purple asters provide a bit of bright color to this arrangement.

Grasses, pumpkins, kale...

Winter doesn't have to be bleak!

A festive wreath, garland and planter for the holidays!