University of Puget Sound Homecoming 2015 - Trimble Hall

Ben outside Trimble Hall.  His dorm suite is just above his head and to the right.

For months now we've been viewing the back wall of Benjamin's dorm room in Skype sessions.  Last night we got to view it in all its tiny glory.  Benjamin snagged a room in Trimble Hall, one of the newer dorms.  As with all buildings at the University of Puget Sound, it is a nice brick structure with a slight Gothic/Tudor feel to match the older buildings.

Ben's room is at the end of the cozy common room, convenient to the coffee maker. 

Steven and Ben chill in his dorm room.  Note the festive holiday lights in the background. (No TV though.)

When you have your own room, what more do you need than a desk, a closet, a bed, and the floor space to get to all three? That's what Ben's dorm room certainly provides.  And oh, he also has room for a fridge. The kids in his suite (six total) all have their names on their doors.  Ben has affixed a sign that says "Office."  It looks pretty official too.

Everything a college sophomore needs in an 8 x 12 space

 

Benjamin gave us a two-second tour of his living space before we headed off to a dinner of Pho soup. The window (which he prefers to keep open regardless of precipitation) overlooks a lovely green courtyard.

University of Puget Sound Homecoming 2015 - President's reception

President's reception in beautiful Wheelock Center

Every year University of Puget Sound holds a homecoming weekend in October.  Family, friends and alumni are all invited for concerts, lectures, plays, musical performances, and a football game in the rain.  The weekend kicks off with the President's reception in the classy Wheelock student center.  (I wish my student center had been so nice.)  Benjamin, who is now a sophomore, met us there.   His dorm is a stone's throw away.

The interesting thing about the reception was not the gracious speech by outgoing President Ron Thomas (known by students as "Ron Thom"), but the "invasion" of the reception by the Puget Sound Student Union (PSSU) who were picketing for divestment of fossil fuel stocks.  They held up hand lettered signs that read "Don't be a fossil fool." No one seemed to mind, and a few parents held up signs too.  Now, that's Northwest Nice for you.  

Shabbat San Diego Mega Challah Bake

Second rise for my Shabbat San Diego Challah 

Now in it's second year, Shabbat San Diego is all about celebrating Shabbat together.  In San Diego, the aim is for 25,000 Jews to participate in some sabbath-related activity at some point over the weekend, regardless of affiliation or non-affiliation or degree of observance.  Shabbat San Diego joins Jews in 500+ other cities across the world that are all celebrating Shabbat together on the same weekend as part of the Shabbos project.  This year, it's Oct 22-24, 2015.

Shabbat San Diego challah, fresh out of the oven

And what is Shabbat without the eggy bread goodness of challah?  And if you're going to make challah, why not prepare it in a crowd of 2,000 on the playing field at the San Diego Jewish Academy?  So Steven and I joined the crowd tonight and made our own loaf of bread.  All the ingredients come in your very own bowl, and instructions were provided by two sisters-in-law, who guided us onscreen.  Making challah is a spiritual endeavor, as it turns out.  It's not just mixing yeast, sugar, water, oil, eggs, salt and flour, though it's that too.

Before you form the dough into a braid, the tradition is to "separate the challah."  You pinch off a piece of dough, lift it up high, and recite a prayer.  Then in some traditions, you burn that little piece of dough.  But because in a football field of 2,000 people, fires are not a good idea, we just discarded our little piece of challah.

Now, I did not have great expectations for our bread.  I mean, the yeast was mixed in with cold water. We didn't knead it long enough, etc. We really didn't know what we were doing.  But we took the dough home and I followed the rest of the directions, and well, IT WAS REALLY GOOD.  Let Shabbat begin!

Samuel: "I know it's Thursday night, but  it looks so good.  Can I just have a taste?"

This whole drought thing

Rock border in progress

Some of you may have been following the news that California is in a severe drought.  This fact, and the ever present underlying itch to DO SOMETHING with the yard, led me to get some bids on removing all the grass in my front lawn.  I discovered that it's expensive to have someone else remove your grass and re-landscape with drought tolerant plants.  The numbers don't quite add up, even if you figure in the savings in your water bill, at least for my smallish front lawn.

But I still had this urge to putter and adjust.  So I  created a rock border along the edge of the driveway.  I moved large rocks from the back yard, bought about 6 bags of small pebbles from Home Depot, and invested in a large container of Round Up.  And oh yeah, I had to replace our broken hoe. I killed the grass in patches, dug it up and spread out the pebbles.  I got a blister on my thumb for my troubles (not pictured).  Then I spent a pleasant hour at Gardens by the Sea selecting some succulents and cactus soil mix.  I then planted the succulents and declared myself done.  I now have approximately 42 sq feet of drought tolerant landscaping. I'm not sure this will win me a conservation award, but it did give me some exercise.

Rock border completed