COFFEE TALK

Not everyone comes to the synagogue or goes to City Council meetings... so my friend Angela LeFevre, new member of our local City Council, and I decided to go out to make it easier for people to meet us and talk informally. 

i had the idea to have a regular time at a local cafe - Java Love Cafe on 89A in West Sedona, and Angela said she had been thinking of doing something similar, so I suggested why don't we do it at the same time?  We agreed on the First Tuesday of each month from noon to 2 pm starting Tuesday, August 4, 2015.  

A local feature reporter, Zachary Jernigan, wants to do an article about it in the local Red Rock News. 

Angela and I got together to make final arrangements. I made us signs and we thought appropriate mugs were in order - a scenic Sedona mug for her, and an Oy Vey cup (gift from Shondra Jepperson) for me. 

Let's see if this Coffee Talk idea catches on!  

Vacation canceled, but good reason

Vacation canceled, but husband Itzhak is healing, and that's the important thing. 

He's home after 10 days in the hospital with a severe inflammation that caused his stomach and intestines to stop functioning.  I was so looking forward to holding our precious 6 month old baby granddaughters... but I had to be satisified with daily skype connections.   Itzhak is healing quite well at home, getting a lot of good care, has lost weight, and will continue to follow a well-defined nutrition program for diabetes.  I was able to lead the baby naming ceremony of our daughter Tali and son-in-law Craig’s twin baby girls Gabriella and Amalia by Skype.  Our son Amir also flew in for the family gathering.    

Gabriella and Amalia

Snapshot of Family gathering on Skype

Each day without fail I get an email from my mother Nika about her adventures… She adores spending 4 months at her cottage on Cape Cod in the village of Wellfleet.  Amazing how many people she meets - maybe walking around the marina, perhaps swimming at one of the ponds, sometimes at the Senior Center.  This week in mid-July my brother Will Fleissig, his wife Wendy and their daughters Ariel and Mia are staying nearby in Wellfleet. What joy for my mother to see them each day, hear their stories, watch the girls dance and sing, and just feel like close family.  It is hard for us all being so spread out from coast to coast.

  

I edit her blog entitled Life Begins at Ninety.  I gathered a few recent emails and photos and sent them out under the title "Each Day... Adventures!"

Here are a few excerpts from emails I received this past week alone! Pretty much unedited, so you get the flavor:

Subject: Fun Time

Hi   Such a nice  time -  being together  with 4 of  my Darlings-performing, singing  just having fun-  how long it does not matter.

Hope you had a good workout and please do something every day-  even  for 15 minutes.  

Much love  calusy  (kisses in Polish, pronounced tzawusi) Mamusia 

Nika at the Marina, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

 

Good morning  Monday July  20. Wellfleet Cape Cod

Tried  to swim together  with my children  but our timing was wrong.  So they went wave catching in the ocean  and I went to Great Pond all alone . 

I knew  someone will help me,  and so it happened I met a nice  lady who
recognized me  - She had read the book and listened to our talk.   She got me down to the lake safely.
              
In the water met Joan and Ed Weaving
Had a  beautiful swim and walk in the water to exercise  and then Ed offered to get me back to my car. 
I found our book-  dedicated it to Weavings and hope
they will visit me  soon in my studio.
Perfect morning  - Hope you are enjoying whatever you are doing  and we see each other later to “Show and tell”.
Bless you and thank you for making “life begins at 90” real fun. 

Smiling  Baci  Nika

   

--- 

Beautiful day.  just perfect-   Children catching waves   I went for my usual walk around the marina. Wearing cheerful pants I had bought with you in Oregon. A lady came to me and said “Hi Nika, my husband read your book,  is sitting in the car  (fell off the ladder has a broken hand and fingers) and told me to talk to you."

I remember falling off a ladder picking up a yellow shawl from the attic for a gallery opening many years ago. Fred was holding the ladder to help. Ended in the hospital with a broken wrist which was never properly put together  by a butcher-doctor.  We all do dumb things and have to pay for them dearly.

This lady  used to have a catering business in Connecticut and told me her daughter delivers a chocolate  bomb  desert to Wicked Oyster.  We should try it tonight.

I showed her Fredziu’s  plaque  and we  really  connected.

Now waiting for the children to see what the day will bring. 

Nika at marina, Wellfleet, next to plaque in memory of Alfred Fleissig

Plaque reads:

Alfred Fleissig 1906-1984

His love of Wellfleet and this harbor

has been passed down to the fourth generation.

Afternoon after 5:30  dinner  at Wicked Oyster--- elegant  gallery opening  across from Glenn….  then maybe  dancing at the pier if not too windy.  Wow-Love  Wellfleet!!!!!!!!  Calusy  Mamusia

--- 

I miss you -  talked about you at the opening of the new gallery  across from Glen.  Bettina and her husband.   They promised to visit me.   Saturday  new play opening.  Joanna will pick me up.  Life is interesting  if you do not close your doors!  Much love  M

Alicia adds:  Please reread that last sentence.  Worth embroidering or making into a banner! 

“LIFE IS INTERESTING IF YOU DO NOT CLOSE YOUR DOORS!!”

-         Nika Kohn Fleissig

- Nika Fleissig

Please Read My Blog Here:
http://www.lifebeginsat90.blogspot.com/

Order our book, From Miracle To Miracle: A Story of Survival (via PayPal):
http://www.FromMiracleToMiracle.com

Please view my art here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikafleissig/

Rabbi Alicia Magal www.jcsvv.org

928 204-1286
blog: http://www.redrockrabbi.blogspot.com


"A Jewel of a Shul"

Mission Statement:
The Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley is a welcoming, egalitarian, inclusive congregation dedicated to building a link from the past to the future by providing religious, educational, social and cultural experiences. We choose to remain unaffiliated in order to respect and serve the rich diversity of our members and visitors. 

Baby naming of grandbabies - on skype; Itzhak in hospital

http://www.magisto.com/album/video/LyYsDFcDA0Qtfj8GDmEwCX16?l=vsm&o=i&c=e?utm_source=magisto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=producer_shared_movie

See the above link (you may have to copy and paste it) for a short video made by our son Amir Magal of highlights of the baby naming of our grand daughters Gabriella and Amalia, born to daughter Tali Magal and son-in-law Craig Fleishman. 

Also celebration of my mother's 95th birthday (which was May 27th).  

Gabriella and Amalia all dressed up for the naming ceremony July 10, 2015

Tali and Craig introduce the babies to Long Pond in Wellfleet, MA

Gabriella meets great grandmother Nika on July 4, 2015

Nika meets Amalia, held by Tali, July 4, 2015

Skype computer screen - Alicia at bottom right, connected from Sedona
Family gathered in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on July 10, 2015:
from left - our son, Amir Magal, my brother, Will Fleissig,
Craig Fleishman holding Gabriella, Tali Magal holding Amalia,
Will and Wendy's daughter, Mia Kohn, Wendy Kohn, my mother Nika Fleissig, and Ariel Kohn

Sad that Itzhak got ill and we had to cancel our vacation to Cape Cod, but I was able to participate on Skype (see Skype screen shot above).

Itzhak was at the local hospital in Cottonwood, being treated for severe inflammation of the tissue surrounding the small intestine. He remained there from Friday, July 3 until Sunday afternoon, July 12.  I won't post photos of him all connected to tubes, but here he was on the ninth day, already able to walk around the hospital floor and the small courtyard.

Just as Itzhak was being discharged, Ed Bierman came to visit.
The walk was long, so friend Ann Crosman wheeled him to the room.
Itzhak and Ed got to wheel down the hall together.

Itzhak left a happy goodbye sign
by blowing up the rubber gloves