Featured Refresh
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Happy Hanukkah ! NOTE:The photograph is on its side. The first try, upside down. I reversed the photograph on my phone but it was still upside down when uploaded. In any case, Chag Sameach ! The word “hanukkah” means “dedication” in Hebrew. We dedicate yhis sacred time each evening to praise God and express our gratitude for life. For decades we used a smaller, lovely menorah hand crafted in silver by annIsraeli artist. A few years ago, we discovered this ceramic menorah and ever since that day, we look forward to the upturned, expressive faces on this ceramic menorah. Some faces are in awe, others disrracted, a few serenely pleased in the reflected light that grows brighter each of eight nights. It is a quiet time post sunset as my husband listens while I chant the prayer “Baruch ata.....” followed by a shared kiss. In he candle light within the silent space, we pray for a release from this pandemic. The vaccine has arrived here in Connecticut. We pray for those families with grievous losses this year, some as thec result of Covid, others with losses less closely related to the virus but who suffer the social distancing imposed. We grieve online, on zoom, via emails, streaming yet our tears are real, they stream down our faces. The light reassures is there is hope. Our arms will wrap about our loved ones soon, the vaccine has arrived.
December 16, 2020
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Some people have reported that their dreams have gotten more vivid, or that they’ve had an unusually strong sense of God, or felt the presence or heard the voice of departed loved ones—has anything like that happened to you? If it has, tell us about it.
My dreams are often drawn and look real. The people and places remain actual but I see them as drawn by hand.Yesterday, on a facetime birthday (7th) call to CA from CT our granddaughter used some odd app - and she became a black and white drawing of herself - so now my dream seems closer to reality. I am dreaming of crossing a frozen lake (like the oil painting I created after walking across Lake Candlewood) on a bitterly cold day with my husband. I completed this R/T once - vowing never again - and we were fine. In my dream I must once again cross the frozen lake but I am afraid that due to climate change I will break through and die. I feel death is close - not a distant & abstract concept any longer - I must wear a mask in my dream and no virus is lurking on the other side of the lake. I will contract covid only if I remain on this side of the lake. I must cross. I wear my Star of David around my neck and hold hands with my husband. We begin to walk on the ice. Crack crack crack !! Tree stumps stick up, all are dead. This lake is manmade & originally flooded rolling farmland. Crack crack crack! I want to turn back but fear covid. Suddenly my feet slip beneath me as the ice opens in a wide gap. I reach for my husband and we look at each other closely. It is the same glance as the moment several winters ago when at 2 AM, 10th floor of Marriott, Anchorage Alaska a 7.1 earthquake shook our room violently, the hotel was like a ship tossed in violent waves. Miraculously we felt secure simply because we were with one another. CRACK CRACK CRACK I wake up and reach across our bed for my husband’s hand.
October 29, 2020