It’s been over a month since I’ve posted a blog, and Pesach is behind us. The holiday was hectic with all my children and grandchildren spending the time  at our hotel, I mean bed-and-breakfast, I mean house. Meals and more meals, snacks and more snacks, and lots of togetherness. It was fun, hectic and messy. It was also heartwarming, blessed, and exciting to be together with our children and grands.

During the pre-Pesach period of about ten days, one of our older grandsons had his bar mitzvah and so there was that.  A wonderful celebration filled with lots of company and partying. Pesach as well, was a fun time and lots of work, prepping, cleaning, and cooking. The best part of it all was that my kids and grandkids pitched in with cooking and prepping, and cleaning after themselves. Plus, I had a little more cleaning help than I usually have.

Now that the house is more or less  back to normal, here are some things going on.

1. My book: – “Best Foot Forward” has been written up in the Jewish Home Los Angeles newspaper this past week. In addition to my book being covered, several other books by LA writers were written about in the article. Joanie Ziff’s book “Bubby and Zayde Talks” and Kylie Ora Lobell’s book “Jewish Just Like You” were reviewed about by Devorah Talia Gordon, an LA freelance writer.  No spoilers here, but I will simply recommend that you check out the article, and/or get copies of these books on Amazon (or in your local Jewish bookstore), and see what the LA writers have been up to lately.
2.  Friend’s picture book: Many miles away in Israel, my friend and in-law – aka my daughter-in-law’s mom, Naomi Gross, has published a book called “Hashem Loves Me.” This is a charming picture book which encourages children to have faith and love in G-d (“Hashem”) by realizing how much He already does for us every single day. A great book for the pre-school age.
3. Fiction writing course: This is a course given by writer, Esther Kurtz, and I happened to be one of the students in this major course. Esther doesn’t just lecture. Nope. She has a full-fledged course complete with videos, readings, homework assignments, Q and A, private coaching, class lessons and so much more. Everything is so organized, and to be honest, I’m totally overwhelmed with everything I’ve learned so far (and we only had one class so far), but I’m being bold and brave (albeit terrified) and embarking on this new chapter of my writing life – to learn to write fiction.
4. JWOW! – Jewish Women of Wisdom is a two-year-old initiative founded by Miriam Liebermann, Sara Brejt, and Faigie Horowitz. These women have written extensively,  led in-person events and Zoom programs for women in their middle-aged years of life, who are multi-faceted, growth and solution oriented, and looking towards life with optimism, realism and practicality. I have recently been asked to join this program and assist these three ladies in various aspects for their growth. Stay tuned for more.