Sunday, September 13, 2020

Another puzzle done, School update

 I finally finished my next quarantine puzzle. It was harder than I wanted it to be and new out of the box it was missing two pieces. User error, I'm sure they fell on the floor and got swept or thrown away somehow.


School started August 11th. I am impressed with how wonderful the students are. They really are doing a great job at attending classes on Google Meet and completing the work I am assigning. We are getting to know each other and starting to be able to talk about math. The amount of planning and time spent preparing for the synchronous and asynchronous learning is unreal. It takes so much longer to prepare lessons to be delivered online. And when doing them, it also takes longer so we have to figure out which items are most important to increase student understanding. The job has become so much harder than it was in person, and as one of my predecessors at PMS used to say, "Teaching is a hard job." It was already hard! Now it often seems impossible. I'm doing the best I can and it is going to have to be enough. I created my very first Desmos activity for my students and here is my very first stop motion video showing equalities changing to inequalities and back again. The plus signs each have a value of 1, the lines in the middle are the equal sign and inequality sign.



Here in California, on top of the pandemic and a recent heat wave, we are dealing with fires and dangerous air quality due to smoke. We can't be inside together because of Covid, now we can't be outside either. It's pretty awful. Climate change is truly affecting our lives here. We can smell the smoke even with our windows closed. Air quality is actually dangerous here right now. One day this week our sky changed to deep orange and it is has been dark and grey every since. The wind is supposed to change and clear out the smoke soon. It will be nice to take a deep breath of fresh air once that happens. Here's a picture of the ash on our mailbox and a very gray sky during the day.




Hard to believe, but my baby, the youngest, Jonah is turning 18 tomorrow. We are getting Tony's pizza and Swenson's ice cream today to celebrate. He is handling distance learning very well as a 12th grader. It's not ideal, but he is learning and working hard. His teachers are doing a great job and clearly are working very hard to make it work for their students.


Next week starts the high holidays. It's always a stressful time in the rabbi's household around the holidays. This year, no hosting, so that takes some pressure off. Rabbi has memorized his first 3 sermons and just practices them every day now. They were written over a month ago. This year's theme is Covid of course. He always ties all 5 sermons together in a theme. I like to be surprised when he delivers them so I don't know anything else about them.


My niece in Manhattan, Adalia, turned 5. We had a super fun Zoom birthday party with an art project (I painted a Rainbow Dash!), dancing, and watching her blow out her candles and eat cake. :-) My brother and sister-in-law put a lot of effort into making it special for their special girl. They continue to host Friday afternoon (here, evenings there) Shabbat celebrations for the family which are a highlight of my week. I get to see them, my sister, my mom, and sometimes, Uncle Bhavvy and recently, cousin Erik which was a special treat.



My sister performed in an online play about virtual therapy. I loved it and she did a great job! Now she is performing in an outdoor set of one-acts. It's great that she gets to do theatre which brings her such joy.


Micah is doing well in Ohio. While members of his fraternity have contracted Covid, no one in his house of 10 brothers has gotten it yet. I maintain that it is a "when" not an "if," but I am happy that he has stayed healthy for a month. Yesterday he went to the zoo and realized how unfair to animals living in a zoo is. He felt that many of the enclosures were just way too small.


Procrastination of my school preparation must end now. I am going to figure out how to get my puzzle photos into this and write again another day. May all be safe, well, and healthy.

Friday, June 19, 2020

Most recent puzzle completed


This one didn't take long. I just didn't have a lot of time to spend on it. I will be trying to work on these puzzles more during Shabbat to stay off screens and relax.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

This White Woman's Tears

This White Woman’s Tears

Some say that a history of 400 years of slavery and oppression
and injustice is embedded in the bodies of my black brothers and
sisters. In that light, I acknowledge that a history of 3000 years of
anti-semitic persecution, pograms, and genocide is embedded in
my own body. I’m not trying to win a contest here. I am sharing
with you one reason why this white woman’s tears must flow.

I cry when I’m happy. I cry when I am sad. I cry when I get a
minor boo boo. I cry when I’m touched. I cry when I am angry. I cry
when I am inspired. I cry when my feelings get hurt. I cry when
someone dies. I cry when someone gets married. I cry when a
new baby gets their name. I cry when I remember my grandparents
and my father. I cry when my former 7th grade students graduate
from high school. I cry when I remember Josiah Pratt Rose. I cry
when tragedies in my synagogue community happen. I cry when
I remember the Holocaust. I cry when I read books and watch
television programs and watch movies. (If I also laugh, then I
know it was a good one.) I am crying right now.

I can’t not cry when my black and brown brothers and sisters are
being mistreated and killed. I can’t not cry when thousands of
humans are unjustly incarcerated. I can’t not cry when the people
who are supposed to protect their communities harm them instead.
I can’t not cry when this country of mine has a leader who calls for
violence and a return to “good old days” that were not good for ALL
Americans. I can’t not cry when my heart and soul hurt so much.

This is how I express the feelings that I have inside of me. I need
to express myself through these tears. And this does not mean I
want or need to be comforted. This does not mean I want the
story to become about me. This does not mean everyone should
stop what they are doing and make sure I am okay. I am crying in
order to take care of myself. I will be okay, or at least as okay as
anyone can be when there is so much wrong with our country
and our world.

I cry with you. I cry because it hurts so much to see you hurting.
I cry because I can’t truly know for myself the burden my black
brothers and sisters must carry, but I can imagine. And I can
educate myself. I cry as I stand with you, for you, supporting
you, and voting for leaders who will stand with you, for you,
and support you.







Monday, May 25, 2020

The Puzzling Continues, Received Gifts

This was a 3-in-one type of puzzle. It could be solved as just the helmet, helmet with border, or on the reverse as the field with Cal written on it. The shapes used in the puzzle were very unusual which made it even more difficult. Finished products here:

A week or two ago, my friend Bella asked if anyone had a copy of Educated. It turns out I had two - one hard copy that I had purchased and one from the library. I lent her the hard copy and in exchange she gave me the most beautiful flowers and some yummy mint from her garden:

My friend Jennifer made chocolate covered candied orange peels. While I am not a fan, my husband and sons are huge fans! Here they are enjoying their special treat:

Finally, for a few years there has been a "Everything Will Be Okay" sign on a fence at the Park Blvd. exit for Hwy 13 South. Here is the current iteration:
While I do believe that "everything" will be okay someday, things are very much not okay right now. The behavior of the US government and supposed "freedom" citizens has been appalling. Wearing a mask does not change that you have freedom. It protects others from your possible sickness. How selfish can a person be?

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Fantastic Event - the 6th Annual Mega Challah Bake

Chabad of Oakland puts on this annual event which I always try not to miss. This year, of course, it was virtual, and we all make the dough, took challah, braided the dough, and baked the challot in our own kitchens. Before the event, volunteers prepared all of the ingredients for us, and we received them delivered to our homes in a beautiful box with flowers and other special Shabbat gifts.
It was a treat to see so many friends that I know from TBA, Joaquin Miller, and the Jewish community of Oakland and Piedmont. Rebbetzin Shulamis Labkowski ran a beautiful event including leading all the demonstration of the dough preparation and braiding. There were small breakout rooms where we went while our dough was rising. It was fun to talk with a small group of women that I already knew from Temple Beth Abraham. We played a game with points earned for different things that we have done or haven't done during the shelter in place.
To top it all off, I won one of the three raffle items, the kosher Shabbat dinner and other Shabbat items which was very exciting! :-)
Preparing
Countdown to Start the Event



Beautiful Shulamis 
Finished products: one 3 braid zaatar, one 4 braid round sesame,
1 3 braid sesame, 1 6 braid sesame,
and 1 6 braid cinnamon sugar
Finished with flowers!



Sunday, May 10, 2020

Mother's Day Rocked!

What an incredible start to a beautiful day. Mark tells me to get back in bed after I get up to take care of my morning needs. I get back in bed and Micah and Jonah bring me a tray of breakfast. Here's what happened (text taken directly from my Facebook post):
I got the BEST Mother's Day surprise. I thought it was just going to be breakfast in bed, which it was (scrambled egg with cheese, challah with butter and cinnamon/sugar topping, Stress Ease tea, plus two Mother's Day Cards), then I thought it was going to be that "Happy Mother's Day, Lady" cute video, which it started out to be, but THEN Micah said "Wait, I'm getting a text message..." and played THIS video from my new best friend, the SF Giants Sports Reporter, Amy G. Hope you enjoy my 2 minutes from her as much as I did!!




Amazing long video message from Amy G., reporter for SF Giants!

Then Jonah said, look at the back of your door:



(Which is what Mark also said...)

Here's my reaction video that we send to Cameo as a thank you:






After eating and finally getting out of bed, I had a wonderful hour with my East Coast family. My mommy, Helene, sister, Lisa, her daughter and my 8th grade niece, Lana, my brother, KC, his wife Dana, and their daughter and my 4 year old niece, Adalia. It was so sweet to see everyone. Micah and Jonah popped in to say hi and take a photo (see below). Mark popped in to say hi, but no photo. Then Jonah came back to answer some questions about how theme parks are figuring out their reopening. Lana was going through some of her Raddish boxes so I asked Lisa to send me the recipe for the sticky toffee pudding. I am looking forward to making that this week. I also want to make this recipe from the Friday Night group on Facebook. It is a Country Apple Fritter Bread and it looks easy to make and is said to be amazingly delicious. I will have to make another blog post about the success or failure of those two cooking ventures.

Late morning, we drove to San Mateo to pick up food from Jack's to take to Mom Bloom's house for our Mother's Day brunch. On the way there, Mark's brother Barry called to say she was really looking forward to fried chicken from Jack's. So we called Jack's and added it to our order! We also gave her a wrapped present of a package of toilet paper and a chocolate orange croissant from our neighborhood cafe, L'acajou. We had a loved socially distanced time.

This afternoon, all three men in the house are taking a nap, I am watching Gilmore Girls (I'm still in Season 1 but getting closer to the end of it) and at 4 pm I am going to do a virtual dance class with a friend of friend, Bella, who I was about to say was from synagogue, but we have so many connections: TBA, WTBA, Mah Jongg, Reiki, last week I lent her a book for her son and she brought me flowers and mint in exchange, Piedmont schools, probably even more things I am not thinking of. Anyway, I have been wanting to do this class for weeks and I am doing it today at 4 pm. Then I really have to plan my classes for the week. That is my most important Sunday job. I also need to hard boil some more eggs as we are running low.

The 4 pm dance class was super fun. I will definitely attend again if I don't have a conflict on future Sundays.

Monday, May 4, 2020

More of the Same...

Shelter in place life remains the same. I try to keep my daily routine: at least 10 minutes on the stationary bike, shower, put on actual clothes and jewelry, 3 set meals with limited snacks, do a bunch of schoolwork, games and puzzles on my phone, email, read, social media, work on the jigsaw puzzle, watch Gilmore Girls (I'm still in season one - did you know that all of the 7 seasons have approximately 22 episodes?!?), study some Spanish, study some Hebrew, talk to my family, call other people or text them or Zoom with them, mourn some recent losses including one tragic one, play Mah Jongg online with friends or with computer bots.

This weekend I finished our second puzzle:
It was missing two dark pieces and there were 3 pieces in there from another puzzle. It was a tough one but I enjoy how it makes the time go by so quickly when I am working on it.

This Friday would have been the PMS 20th Annual Diversity Day. Here is a wonderful collection of videos we use to open discussions with our students:

Check out interesting things that PUSD folks are doing during shelter in place:

Also, Piedmont people are reading:

Monday, April 20, 2020

Ah, Spring Break. Different is Good!

Last week was spring break for Piedmont schools. I felt relaxed. There was definitely more space in my head for figuring out distance learning lessons, taking care of myself, and supporting my family by cooking passover pancakes for breakfast once and matzah brei twice.
Now, we are back to school, back to work, back to feeling stressed. However, things feel a little bit more manageable as I am starting to get used to this new style of school. It's not the teaching I signed up for, nor is it the teaching I enjoy (people person here - I need my face to face interactions), but it is feeling doable for the remaining 6 weeks of school this year. Next year? One can only hope that we will be back to in-person life and teaching. For now, here we are.
Recent Accomplishments: a 500 piece puzzle, lesson plans for the week, yoga and aerobic exercise nearly every day.
Recent Adventures: To break Passover, we traveled to Walnut Creek for a sweet grandma pizza from Tony's Slice House, which we ate in the car, then immediately to San Francisco for a variety of pizzas from Tony's Napoletana (yes, same Tony, yes, two different menus) which we started to eat in the car and saved a lot for home. Delicious! Only Mark was disappointed because of the parmesan cheese sprinkled all over the ones from SF. We tried to get Swensen's ice cream (swiss orange chip is the Bloom family favorite for everyone but me) afterward, as is our tradition, but they closed their shop due to the virus on March 17th. That was disappointing to all of us.
Speaking of ice cream, Three Twins sadly closed up shop suddenly (or at least we thought it was sudden) on Friday. This immediately began an adventure of finding and buying their special flavors such as chocolate orange confetti and mocha difference. We had success at Mulberry's and Rocky's. Sorry to everyone else that didn't get the chance to have one last taste of these amazing and unique ice cream flavors from Three Twins. We would invite you over to share but... maybe someday...
One last adventure: yesterday we stopped at North Beach for some pizza and brought it to my mother-in-law's for a socially distanced lunch date. All four of us sat outside on the patio while Mom sat inside the kitchen and talked to us through the screen door. The food was yummy and it was wonderful to spend time together even though we couldn't hug. Since she lives alone, we wanted to check in with her in person, spend some time with her, and make sure she knows how much we love her. That was a special treat.
Right now I am making myself some jasmine tea from the blooms in my yard. It is sweet and yummy and warms me up literally and figuratively. The jasmine was one of the reasons we purchased this house in 2001. That story is for another blog post.


Sunday, April 5, 2020

Not a Math Parody

I love to write math parodies to inspire my students. Our family does a lot with parodies. I was inspired by High School Musical to rework We're All In This Together. Enjoy!
Mrs. Bloom's Pandemic Parody

Friday, April 3, 2020

How could I have forgotten Mah Jongg?

Mah Jongg. It's more than a game.

It is hard for me to believe that I didn't include Mah Jongg when I listed the games I am playing. There are a few good websites for playing National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) mah jongg online. My friends are mostly using realmahjongg.com and myjongg.net, but a few also enjoy the nationalmahjonggleague.org and mahjonggtime.com. The sites have been experiencing overload and sometimes not working very well as they are flooded with new users confined to their homes and looking for ways to fill their time.
We were all really excited when we received our new cards for 2020. It is always fun to exercise my brain this way and learn the new hands. I am so grateful they were able to be mailed out before the league closed temporarily.
My Bubby Myrna Cohen and Mom-Mom Shirley Goldberg taught me how to play when I was a child. My brother and sister and I used to make up our own hands because we didn't have the cards, and it was more fun that way. Bubby played with her friends at the pool, Woodcrest Country Club, while we kids swam and ran around. Mom-Mom memorized her card as soon as she got it. She left me one of her Mah Jongg sets. I have some lovely, happy memories of her playing with me and my friends here in California when she came to visit. So grateful for that.
When I traveled home to New Jersey recently, I taught my mom Siamese Mah Jongg for two players instead of four. It's fun, but not as good as having 4 people playing!
If you want to play with me online at realmahjongg.com or myjongg.net my user name is karenbloom21. See you at the table!

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Games and Music and Reading and Puzzles and Exercise

Shelter in Place, Week 3

Music:
Jonah is sitting at the piano playing a song with his not-girlfriend Haylee on his phone watching him and listening. She lives in Northern Virginia and they are spending loads of time together online. Both Micah and Jonah are learning guitar. Jonah started earlier this semester as his Independent Project for Advanced Acting class at Piedmont High School. Micah has just started learning during this shelter in place situation and is already making so much progress. He can already play "Puff, The Magic Dragon." Over and over and over and over again. :-) Mark plucks out tunes on the piano as well, and plays a lot of guitar. I am the only non-musician in the house. I guess I sort of sing. I like to say I can carry a tune in a bucket, but I'm not always on key. My talent lies in the making of parodies which all of the other members of this house also do. My most recent parody is "We're All In This Together" which I will post here after I have recorded it. Mark writes one or two new ones each year for Purim. Micah freestyle raps.

Games:
We have quite a large collection of games in the cabinet downstairs. The boys decided we would work through them one by one while we are here at home. Most of the games are being played by the three of us, but Mark has joined us more often than I expected. The first one we played was Abalone. That was just Micah and me. I started winning , 4 - 0, and he decided it wasn't fun and we were done.
Here are the games we have played as a family of four to date:
Spy Alley, Scattergories, Texas Hold-Em Poker, Yahtzee, Cards Against Humanity, Apples to Apples Jewish Edition, The Magic Kingdom Game, and Water Pong.
Here are the games that Micah, Jonah, and I played without Mark so far:
Yahtzee Turbo, Wig Out, Monopoly Empire, Top Secret Adventures Game, Sorry!, Candy Land, Life,  Baseball Monopoly, and Skip Bo.
We have many, many more games in the closet. As we progress through them, I will continue to update the blog.

Puzzles:
I have a daily Puzzle Page on my phone that my sister introduced me to. I love to do the selected puzzles every day. I also play Words with Friends, Boggle, Wordscapes, Lumosity, and Song Pop pretty much every day.
My neighbor Wendy traded me three jigsaw puzzles, of which we had none on hand, in exchange for some hand weights. I gave her my 5 lbs and 8 lbs because I am too weak to use them. I kept my 1 lbs, 2 lbs, and 3 lbs which I plan to use. Really. I do. And I plan to do one of the jigsaw puzzles after Pesach. Next week is Pesach. More on that in another post.

Books and Magazines:
I thought I would do a lot more reading. In actuality I am spending most of my time doing school related things. I promise a big long post about that is coming. Right now, switching to distance learning is just overwhelming. I did finish reading my TBA book club book, Ester and Ruzya by Masha Gessen, which I recommend. I am currently reading my Through The Tunnel book club book, Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner which is an easy read, but I'm not recommending it yet. I have a big pile of magazines that I plan to get through. Maybe when I am having my screen free Shabbat, I will be able to do a bit more reading.

Exercise:
I am doing my usual 10-ish minutes on the stationary bike followed by my yoga/physical therapy exercises. Some days I have been taking yoga through my friend Karin's club. I will need to make a donation for the classes somehow. I don't have PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or any other electronic money transfer capabilities so I have to figure that out. On Sundays, I am doing aerobics (outside, she uses her front steps) with my friend Lisa. It was super fun last week, and I am looking forward to doing it again.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Tears on My Yoga Mat

Poem for Today
March 25, 2020
Shelter In Place Week 2

I have not written poetry since 1990-something. Yesterday, I was inspired
by words written by The Zen Teacher, Dan Tricarico, to write a poem about
his morning gratitudes and observations. This morning I was flooded with some overwhelming emotions. So I wrote
about it. My second poem in two days, also my second poem in 3 decades.
I don't feel confident posting this, but I am inspired by my January 2000
Mommies friend, Karen Knox, who posted her song, to do so anyway.
Maybe it will help one person.


Tears on My Yoga Mat


It’s too much sometimes.
Stop. Breathe in. Arch like a cat.
I feel sad.
Stop. Breathe out. Round like a cow.
This sadness might be grief.
Stop. Slide the arm to thread the needle.
Uncertainty. Unknown. I don’t know. No one knows.
Stop. Slide the other arm.
I’m not enough. It’s never enough. 
Stop. Back to table top. Breathe.
How can I take care of others when I can’t even take care of myself?
Stop. Keep breathing.
The tears come. I feel this feeling.
Keep breathing.
I let this feeling flow through me.
Keep breathing and crying.
This is sadness. This is grief.
Keep breathing and wipe eyes.
I am okay. I am not sick.
Keep breathing and blow nose.
Grateful for the yoga mat with tears on it.
Keep breathing and walk downstairs.
Grateful for the hug from husband.
Keep breathing and write this poem.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Spring 2020 Shelter in Place Journal, First Entry, Week 2

Shelter in Place Journal
March 2020
Karen Bloom


Monday, March 23, 2020
Well, it has been a week of shelter in place and several weeks of uncertainty related
to how we would respond to the COVID-19, aka Coronavirus. I wrote this update for my Spanish class that I will be attending virtually tomorrow:


Spanish paragraph 3/24/2020
Shelter In Place Week 2
Refugiarse en lugar, Semana dos


Tengo mucho de qué hablar y, sin embargo, nada que decir.
Mi familia inmediata está bien. Estoy agradecido de que me gusten tanto.
Mi familia extendida también está bien en Nueva Jersey, Nueva York, San
Mateo, y Davis.
Mi hijo mayor, Micah, estaba en Cabo en México disfrutando de sus
vacaciones de primavera cuando su escuela cambió a educación a distancia
y cerró los dormitorios. Pudo regresar a Ohio para obtener sus cosas y
regresó a nuestra hogar en Oakland el lunes pasado. Él está trabajando duro
en su trabajo escolar y extraña a sus amigos. Lo ayudé con algunos
problemas de estadísticas la semana pasada.
Mi hijo menor, Jonah, también está trabajando duro en su trabajo escolar y
también extraña a sus amigos. También lo ayudé con su tarea de
matemáticas la semana pasada.
Mi esposo, Mark, ofrece servicios de transmisión en vivo tanto desde la
sinagoga como desde nuestra sala de estar. Le pidió a la junta de la sinagoga
que llamara a todos los miembros esta semana pasada para verificar que
todos estuvieran bien.
Mi trabajo no es aburrido, como siempre me gusta decir. Es difícil descubrir
cómo enseñar virtualmente, especialmente a mis estudiantes de educación
especial. Los extraño mucho a ellos y a mis amigos maestros.
He estado jugando mucho Mah Jongg en línea con mis amigas y leyendo
mucho, aunque no tanto como pensé que podría leer.


If you don't speak Spanish, you will find a decent translation by using Google translate.


I have been thinking about all the ways that my job (teaching math part time at Piedmont Middle School) keeps me healthy:
  1. Running up and down the steps many times a day.
  2. Eating lunch and not snacking throughout the day.
  3. Filling my water bottle and drinking it throughout the day, sometimes twice.
  4. Seeing lots of human beings. I love people.
  5. Taking care of others and being taken care of.
  6. Teaching young humans how to be good people, how to learn, how to understand concepts.
  7. Learning. I learn so much every day.


I really miss having a routine. I feel like I am taking care of myself but yesterday I sniffed (literally) the start of a UTI. I am currently researching what I need to do to prevent it from making me sick. I feel fine, I just have funny smelling pee.


Mark is struck by the fact that we have to run the dishwasher every day. With all 4 of us home eating all 3 meals a day at home, it’s not at all similar to our daily routine where none of us eat lunch at home during the week and often one or more of us is out at dinner time too. (Let’s grab burritos, let’s order a pizza, etc.)


I have to go figure out why American Airlines texted me this morning that my flight was cancelled. I thought I already cancelled that reservation when the trip was cancelled. (More about the cancelled trip to Cincinnati in another entry.)

Until later, or tomorrow.