I’m on the Shir Hadash Board this year; we have a monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of the month. This month, though, we had to postpone by a week to avoid having the meeting fall on Yom Kippur – and that put us squarely in the middle of Sukkot.

It is a commandment to dwell in the Sukkah (booth) – or at least to eat there during the holiday – so the Board had dinner together in the congregation’s Sukkah before our meeting. Dinner was supplied by Oren’s Hummus and it was quite tasty!

In a normal year, we would have each taken a turn at shaking the lulav and enjoying the scent of the etrog, but this year, that would have also involved gloves and hand sanitizer, so Rabbi Schwartz did it and we all watched.

The Board meeting was inside, with masks mandatory. Oh, well…back to reality.

I completed the trifecta of Apple upgrades overnight, installing WatchOS 8.0. So far, it’s the least satisfying of the upgrades. I can’t find the “Mindfulness” app (maybe because I deleted “Breathe” two releases ago?), and the News app is showing me stories from last week – but on the bright side, I can finally start more than one timer at once!

It’s been a while since we tried a new recipe, so this evening we made Whole-Wheat Pasta Salad with Walnuts and Feta Cheese from Food Network. Both of us thought it was on the bland side; I just read the comments on the website and got some ideas to try next time (using balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, adding more garlic, and including tomatoes all appeal). And the Times included a pointer to 24 low-fuss, high-flavor recipes in today’s afternoon wrap-up; some of those look promising for future experiments.