FAMILY

SAFTA'S STORY

Elisheva,

Happy Bat Mitzvah!!  I am so proud of what a big and beautiful young lady you have become. And I want you to know how much I love you!

It seems like only yesterday that I waited all day for you to be born.  I was in social work school and I talked to your dad several times through the day, only for him to say that you weren't here yet.  Half the other social work students and my instructors knew you were on your way too because I was sooo excited. Then I was so happy when you finally arrived that evening and I was able to be at the hospital.

I have loved watching you grow...the Disney movies, stuffing your mouth with Cheerios, holding Safta's hand, sitting on my lap and feeling your hair on my cheek. I was sad when you moved to Israel because it is so far, but happy that you get to be in Eretz Yisrael.  And I have continued to watch you from the pictures your mom and dad send me and the times I have gotten to visit which are too few.  I am proud to see all of your accomlishments and happy to see how sweet you have always been.

For your Bat Mitzvah, I wanted to put together something about my life and my home. I love Washington. It is very beautiful here and my city of Olympia is a beautiful city. It is the capitol of the State of Washington and is set on some soft hills along the waters of south Puget Sound. Washington is known for its rain, which makes it very green and pretty; but its summers are wonderful with the right amount of sun (warm but not too hot) and rain (but really not every day, as rumor has it).  You can see Mt. Rainier in the eastern part of the city but not from my house. (It is a very tall mountain - around 15,000 ft.)  I love to garden and have spent a lot of time making the landscape beautiful in my two year old house. (This is why you will see so many gardening shots.) I have taken some pictures which show some of these things, which I hope you will enjoy.

I love you so very much!

Safta's movie is here: Safta's Story

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  1. Moonshine from my front door.
    3. Sunrise from my back door.
    4. Mt. Rainier - a 15,000 ft. mountain that you can see from just about anywhere in the Seattle area. It is really very pretty to drive up to.
    5. Giving my plants a drink of water.
    6. My red tulips in April.
    7. This is the front of my house in April.
    8. Welcome to my house.
    9. Safta in front of the house (early June).
    10. This is my housemate, Mary, getting ready to garden in the back yard just after I finally got the vegetable garden  area rototilled.
    11. My Exeter (orange) Azalea in full bloom in May.
    12. My Japanese Iris blooming in May.
    13. This is my kitty, Typo. (You met her at my house in California)  She is 15 years old.
    14. Typo getting sleepy on my little couch in the family room.
    15. Typo even sleepier on the same couch.
    16. This is silly Esther getting a drink from the fountain by the fireplace. Esther is 4 years old and I have had her since I have lived in Washington.
    17. Esther lounging by the vegetable garden. (She lounges a lot.)
    18. "Let me in!"
    19. Cat eyes.
    20. This is the living room in my house.
    21. This is my dining room.
    22. This is the family room with both Typo and Esther.  (Esther wants out and will soon begin pawing on the door.) (I have my computer here.)
    23. This is one of the bedrooms. It overlooks the back yard where my vegetable garden is.
    24. This is the other bedroom. It overlooks the front yard.  (Mary has her computer there.)
    25. This is the third bedroom which is used as a craft and sewing room.  (This is where I made your Hanukkah presents.)
    26. Here I am gardening (in June).
    27. ere is Mary gardening (in May).
    28. Here I am by the tree and flowers in the front yard (facing the street)(in June)
    29. Safta in front of the house (in June)
    30. Safta in the front yard (in June)
    31. A cloudy Northwest sky.
    32. Doing what it does here -- rain!! This is my red Japanese Maple in the rain in early evening.
    33. These are forget-me-nots. They have many seeds and spread all over the yard.  They are very pretty in spring.
    34. This is me by the trellis in the back of the yard. I have grapes growing on it. This year we should have the first harvest of fruit.
    35. Safta by the veggie garden (early June)
    36. Mary by the back patio (late may or early June)
    37. Mary on the patio on a rare day when the temperature got to 90 (in June, which never happens).
    38. More of the blue forget-me-nots next to some pink saxifrage (late May)
    39. The veggie garden in early June with blankets to keep the plants warm and growing.
    40. The veggie garden in early July the blankets are gone and everything is jumping. I have tomatoes, tomatillos (Mexican tomatoes which have a husk), zucchini squash, lettuce, carrots, onions, beans, gourds (to make bird houses out of) and arugala (a spicy green for salads).
    41. Mary picking strawberries from the little strawberry patch.  They are soooo sweet!! The give fruit throughout the month of June and early July. They are almost gone now.
    42. The beautiful foxglove!  They are 7 ft tall and bloom from May-July. (Some as late as August. You see them all over the hills here and on the edges of the forests.)
    43. Some of my lilies.  (We have many other colors -- some red some yellow and some almost brown.)
    44. My columbine.  They also seed themselves all over and will come back next year.  Best of all they are perennials, which means this particular plant will come back for several years. (June or early July)
    45. One of my pots next to some flowers. I have three of these pots which have blueberries in them. They are too small to give us berries, but I hope to have some next year. Blueberries are sooooo good! (June)
    46. This is a pretty little flower that I was getting ready to plant.
    47. Olympia, WA is this state's capitol.  The domed building is the capitol building. It is in a very pretty park with other state government buildings nearby. (May - when all the rhododendrons and azaleas bloom.  Those are red rhodies.)
    48. This is another view of the capitol across Capitol Lake. People come here to walk, ride bikes and enjoy the day.
    49. These are some of our pretty downtown shops. (July)
    50. Safta at the Farmer's Market. The market is a fun place where we buy fresh vegetables and fruit (only Washington grown), flowers, walk through the garden, listen to the bands which play music and watch people. (June)
    51. I took a picture of this flute player at the Market.
    52. A view of some of the hills around Olympia from a bridge overlooking one of the freeways. (July)
    53. Olympia is at the south end of Puget Sound. Puget Sound is a finger of the Pacific Ocean and has salt water. Here I am at the wharf. (July)
    54. Another view of the wharf with a boat in the background.
    55. Here are some of the boats.
    56. More boats.
    57. Here is Olympia's synagogue.  It is an old, pretty little wood frame building.
    58. Safta at the end of the day.
    59. It's getting late in the afternoon - from my back yard.
    60. Sunset 1.
    61. Sunset 2.
    62. A full moon at dusk. Moonshine.

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Uncle Daniel got married. Go here to see the wedding pics.



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