Orel Family

My first visiting day: 1973. The nest is empty again: The kids are off at camp. As it was last year , Elianna is off to Camp Ramah in Canada , and Aaron is off to Ramah Outdoor Adventure in Colorado. The house is quiet. The food goes more slowly. The days seem longer... and yet they go by too quickly. Arriving at her 2nd home: Camp Ramah. I was a Ramah camper too, at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires . For me, Ramah was a transformative experience. " From  what to  what?," I might ask in a less cheerful moment; but there are still things from that first summer that I keep with me. A feeling of warmth and belonging that I'd never quite had before. The sound of birkhat hamazon -- the grace after meals -- being sung by 600 kids in unison at the first camp meal, giving me the impression of massive bells ringing. Getting ready for shabbat on Friday afternoon, when we'd wear all white. The singing at the Friday evening services, where I could sing and not feel self-...

ok, forgiven. The fan-sourced movie project Springsteen and I had its one and... almost only showing this evening. Culled from several thousand fan submissions, the film intends to tell the story of what Bruce means to his fans, interspersed with rare concert footage that bring to the big screen the magic, mystery and ministry of his rock and roll. Why "forgiven"? For mangling the grammar in the title? Nah, Bruce did the same thing in Streets Of Philadelphia , and if it was good enough for him then I'm ok with it. Maybe for not using or even responding to my submission; which for at least 48 hours was the best video I'd ever done. The only emails I got from the Springsteen and I  crew were instructions on how best to pay an inflated price -- $15 -- for a movie ticket. Sure, there were soundbytes, but I wasn't sure if a line like "I lost my virginity to Thunder Road" was worth a laugh or a groan... or both. As I sat through the first half hour of the...

We bought a house with a swimming pool. I don't think I'd do it again, but what's done is done, and the pool has water, and ducks like to swim in water, and every spring before we open the pool ducks come and try to swim in it. This sometimes prompts a most curious scene as Lori or Aaron try to chase them away... though they always come back, at least until the water warms up. In some years ducks have started nests in spots near the pool. One time was a duck war, all the eggs were smashed, and a male duck with a very broken neck ended up in the pool. Another time, a duck abandoned its last egg. The children tried to hatch it , but nothing ever happened. June 19: 9 ducklings, unable to make it over a bubble in the cover. On June 19th, our history changed. Lori suspected we had another duck with a nest, and its nearby male partner, but on this chilly morning we found out. Ducks in the pool! Or, since we had covered the pool the previous night, it was ducks on  the pool...