Summer Time

 

Summertime
And the livin` is easy,
Fish are jumpin` 
And the cotton is high.
Oh yo` daddy`s rich
An` yo` ma is good lookin`
So hush, little baby --- Continued at bottom of page

This summer, Nathaniel & I made a number of day trips around our interesting and diverse area of New York, visiting the beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, taking a ferry “cruise” from Rockaway to the unbelievably busy and active South Street Seaport, and then a short sail on the East River, with close-up views of my favorite landmark, the Statue of Liberty, and also New York City`s 5 own temporary man-made waterfalls. We also walked the “boardwalk” in Long Beach several times, having a picnic-supper there on one beautiful evening, while watching one of the many volley-ball games in progress.

We spent considerable time catching up on long neglected household chores, and fulfilling our medical and dental appointments.

Now we are readying ourselves for a busy 2008/2009 school year. We leave this Saturday night after our Sabbath for a short visit to Germany, where I will be speaking Monday morning, September 8 at Bergen-Belsen to school children being bused in.
Tuesday, I will be speaking to students at the Schlossgymnasium in Wolfenbüttlel, and Wednesday morning and afternoon, to students at the Gesamtschule Franzsches Feld in Braunschweig.

On this visit to Germany, we will travel to Trobitz, the small farm village in eastern Germany, to which we were led by Russian troops after having been liberated on the train we were on for 2 long weeks, without water, food, medical supplies, or sanitary facilities. And this is where my beloved father succumbed to typhus, 6 weeks after liberation. My father, Walter Blumenthal, is buried in a small Jewish cemetery in Trobitz, along with about 60 others; those who died earlier on were buried in mass graves.

A week after our return, off to Greenville, South Carolina, for the first of 2 visits to South Carolina for the ensuing school year.

So it will be off with the hat and casual clothing seen in this month’s photo, and back to my usual school wardrobe. I am certain it will be the same for many of you, and I extend my best wishes to you for a productive, stimulating and fulfilling school year. 

In my next newsletter, I hope to give a more detailed look at our 2008/2009 schedule, but that travel will first begin after our Jewish New Year of 5769 occuring on Tuesday, September 30th, followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Sukkot.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a healthy, prosperous, healthy, good and sweet New Year.
And let us all hope, pray, and work for the time when our children, grandchildren, and all succeeding generations, grow up with respect and tolerance for one another, in a world of love and peace.

Fondly,
Marion 

Don`t you cry.
One of these mornin`s,
You`s gonna rise up singin`
Then you`ll spread yo` wings
An` you`ll take to the sky.
But till that mornin`,
There`s ain`t nothin` can harm you
With your Daddy an` Mummy
Standin` by. 

Written by George & Ira Gershwin and Heyward DuBose - from the hit musical, Porgy and Bess .