Tales from the Towers: Doughnuts and music

Sometimes a dream doesn't know which road to take and then I wake up.

Like last night. I dreamt that I sat alone at a small table and listened to an orchestra when the band leader stepped forward. He was a very young man whom I did not know. He looked at me and said: "The next song I am going to dedicate to you!"

And that's when I woke up. Darn it, now I would never know which song he wanted to dedicate to me, would it be a new one, an old one, romantic, sentimental, maybe Schubert's Serenade, or  even modern and so terrible hip-hop which I hate, or what? Why can't a dream finish itself and not leave me hanging? It's just as if the dream itself doesn't know where and how to continue, so it solves the problem by waking me up.

It's Hanukka week, our lovely holiday of the miracle, the lights and the doughnuts. I really don't mind the miracle and the lights, but I definitely mind the doughnuts. Wherever I go, whatever I look at - it's doughnuts and again doughnuts. Is this God's way of challenging His chosen people's willpower?

I developed a new mantra and say to myself all the time: What's to like about doughnuts? They are just sticky balls of flour and sugar dipped in oil and you are never sure what kind of jam it holds in the middle, hopefully orange jam which I hate! Another day and Hanukka a with its obnoxious doughnuts will be gone!

But talking about Hanukka, do you remember last year somebody sent me a bouquet of roses and I never found out who did? It was maddening until I decided to just enjoy the roses and stop breaking my head. Now?maybe it's the same ghost who struck again. But this time it's a box of chocolates which was left for me at the reception.

A printed card "Happy Hanukka", was added, with no signature. I opened the box and saw beautifully aligned pralines, but then I remembered my Agatha Christie, so perhaps someone has injected them with arsenic - this is such a perfect way to commit murder! Looking at the chocolates I am trying to figure out who would want to murder me! I could give one of the chocolates to one of the cats down in the street but then:

1) I wouldn't want a cat to die,
2) Cats don't eat chocolate,

So at this moment I am waiting for your practical advice.
 
Sometimes I watch the cooking programs on TV. The people who cook there handle gleaming pots and pans, everything is so perfect, the food keeps its initial color, and there isn't one crumb on their working table which remains immaculately clean, no matter how much was cut, mixed, stirred moved from one dish to the other.. So how come I, who have been cooking for my family so many years, manage to create such complete chaos in the kitchen whenever I attempt something that I haven't done before?

There comes that moment of sheer despair when I face a pile of dishes to be washed, a crowded cooking area with all kinds of stuff which shouldn't be there and me asking myself why I had started this in first place when I could have read a book instead?

Last night we lit the last Hanukka candle and eight flames shone in all their glory marking the end of the holiday. Throughout the week we had marvelous artistic programs starting from a famous Yemenite singer to a fabulous Russian harpist who gave us an evening of angels' music.
 
With Hanukka over what are we looking forward to now?

Spring, of course!

May spring live in your hearts forever (didn't I say this beautifully?)

Lucca