Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig

[xiphias]

So, we're back in Boston. Well, Melrose. Greater Boston, anyway.

We flew in yesterday, which was my grandfather's 80th birthday. The day before yesterday, my grandmother decided to throw him a birthday party. The way the flights worked, it turned out that Lis and I could make it. We went to The Wayside Inn in Sudbury, which is one of those inns in the area that have been around for about three hundred years or so. It's just about a full day's walk from Boston, and a full day's walk from Worchester along the Boston Post Road, which is why it's there. Nowadays, they don't get so much foot travel on the Worchester-Boston route, but they get tourists. The food's real good, too.

'Course, it being Pesach, Lis and I had to be a bit creative, and decide what we wanted to deal with. Mom didn't eat with us there; she decided to just drop by, say happy birthday, and go home to eat. Dad ordered a salmon fillet. Lis ordered a chicken breast and ate around the stuffing, but got enough flavor from it to know that we HAVE to come back some time when it's NOT Pesach. Me, I ordered the pork medalions. I got razzed by my uncle for that one -- the Buddhist uncle who was raised Catholic. But I did avoid most of the chametz, at least.

I'd actually gotten their prixe-fixe menu. Weekdays, they've got a $17 prixe-fixe offering -- a soup or salad to start (French Onion soup, clam chowder, house salad with cranberry vinegarette, or lettuce wedge with bacon and bleu cheese), a choice of four entrees, and a dessert. One of the desserts was Indian pudding. I don't keep kitnyot, so I got that for dessert.

(Okay, "chametz" is anything made from wheat, barley, spelt, oats, or rye that isn't matzah. Ashkenazic rabbis decided that many other things fall into the same category, including rice, beans, and corn. Those other things that some rabbis classify with chametz are called "kitnyot". I don't worry about kitnyot, since OTHER rabbis didn't use that rulling. Indian pudding is cornmeal and mollasses. I'll eat Indian pudding on Pesach; Lis won't. Lis had creme brulee, so she didn't suffer much from that.)

We slept at my parents' house last night because we didn't know if the house would be habitible, and we decided that we'd want to find that out during the day, rather than have me die in the middle of the night. So, after dropping Lis off at work, I went by the house.

I'm posting this from the library.

I started to feel dizzy as I walked up the driveway. I walked into the house, and went upstairs. And started to feel real woozy and faint. I called Lis as per our plan, and told her so; she told me to get out of the house immediately, and I started to do so. I fainted once, but didn't fall unconscious.

Total time in the house, ten minutes.

I'm starting to get real worried about this.

I also don't know how I'm going to accomplish all the things I need to accomplish today.

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I hope they eventually succeed in making it so your house doesn't kill you; this is not good.

Good luck with the accomplishings today, too.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Okay, "chametz" is anything made from wheat, barley, spelt, oats, or rye that isn't matzah. Ashkenazic rabbis decided that many other things fall into the same category

Actually, kitniyos is not the same category of chametz except in that Ashkenzic rabbis don't allow it. Kitniyos doesn't have some of the same restrictions of chometz. For example, one is not allowed to benefit in any way from chometz, so you can't give your pets chometzdik food during Pesach... you can't own it nor can you derive the benefit of feeding it to your animals. Kitniyos, on the other hand, does not have those restrictions. Not only can you own it, you may derive benefit from it. Therefore, rice-based food for your dog or cat? No problem. In fact, many rabbis hold that kitniyos won't chometzify your pesach dishes. You could, theoretically serve green beans to your sephardic guests without having to use separate dishes from your normal Pesach dishes. (Not all rabbis hold this way, and it is, of course, contingent on the kitniyos having been sufficiently checked for chometz).

So, really, it's quite a different category except inasmuch as not being allowed to eat either if you hold that way.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh HONEY. *hugs you gently*

If you and Lis need a place to stay, we are in the next town over.

A
Who had been planning to calll you tonight, but, well, I guess not.

[gingicat]

Seconded.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Naw, the plan was to go back to the hotel if we couldn't sleep in the house.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Eek. Any chance something can be done to help detoxify things instead of just waiting for it to clear?

[cellio]

Chemicals: eek. For those times when you have to be in the house -- by which I mean salvage operations but not waiting for adjusters to show -- can you apply whatever technology is used by workers in semi-toxic environments? I know there are masks with high-grade filters and stuff, and I suppose there's always the SCUBA approach if you need to control the air supply itself. Do you know anyone who has anything that might help?

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's bad. Any idea what chemicals cause that kind of reaction in you? Do you know if your insurance will cover getting rid of the chemical residue, assuming that's what's making you faint?

[(Anonymous)]

While I also share this hope, if it nevertheless turns out to be a killer, I must confess that I could not help but be captivated by the house going on a four-state killing spree, before ultimately being demolished by police while resisting arrest in a seedy motel room in New Jersey.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Even so, it's still *counts fingers* thirded.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

*snicker* That image cracked me up.