Shavout, etc. (Day 707 (Yr 2, Day 362)

Bismarck, ND

I'm sorry I haven't posted for 9 days!  I know this is the only way some of you know how we're doing and my radio silence concerns you.  I don't mean to worry you; I just don't have much to write about other than "I worked all day; Mitch worked all day; he came home, I made dinner, we watched tv and went to bed at 9:00."  That's pretty much what it's been like the last week.  We are both blessed and grateful that we have work to do, and it's especially great that Mitch has Fridays off so all the errands we did on Sundays could get done so as to leave us free to have fun on Sunday.

This past Sunday, however, was the holiday of Shavout (sometimes pronounced Shavous), which commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments.  It's also supposed to be celebrated as a Sabbath, with no work or secular things done, and time in synagogue.  This is the first time in 30 years that we have not had a congregation to celebrate the holiday with.  We decided to break one of the rules - of not using electronics - and used the computer (the 50" tv screen which also serves as a computer monitor) to spend the day studying Torah by watching many videos produced by Aleph Beta (alephbeta.org) -- after "davening" (praying, with all the added holiday prayers).  It did turn out to be a very spiritual day after all.

Now, the "etc"...  weather:  we had a spell of 90+ degree temps and sunny, and were able to spend time in the pool (today is rainy and miserable).

We met some new friends via RVillage (Mike and Sharon) who come from FL (he's a retired Battalion Chief of the Sarasota Fire Dept.  They also took to the full timing lifestyle about the same time as us - 2 years ago, but have done a lot more traveling!).  We had dinner out with them and our next door neighbors, Roger & Cathy, with whom we are developing a close friendship.

Not much else to report on.  Just one more photo to share: when we were at the Heritage Center on Memorial Day weekend, one of the exhibits was a tractor simulation.  I "drove" it, and Mitch took this photo of me: