Dear All,

        As usual, 2008 had highlights and low lights.  We began the year at a New Year’s Eve party at Master Kim’s in Mt. Laurel.  Master Kim has been Stirling and Finlay’s karate instructor for about 4 years.  Stirling and Finlay at age 9 are high brown belts.  Their next test will be for black belt.  In order to take the test, they have to have a paper signed by teachers and parents saying they have been good and should be allowed to take the test.  That might be difficult for them.  Sitting quietly with their hands in their laps is not their style.  Linda began karate this year and is an orange belt.  She is still a lawyer with Dechert.  But the really good news is that Jeff has a job with BASF which is a chemical company.  Not exactly sure what he does, but he is in sales.

        By the way, that which is highlighted in Blue is a link to a web site.  Howard had a busy year.  He was in the Highland Park and the Evanston Art Walks.  Both were sponsored by Anatomically Correct.  In December, he was part of a show at Caruso Middle School to raise funds for a temple.  For the second year in a row, he was selected for the International art show at the Northbrook Public Library.  See Magic Finale at Caught in the Act.  Two paintings Farm Life and Family Sunset were on exhibit in the Barnsite Gallery in Kewaunee, WI.  Both paintings were done specifically for this show.   It was a long ride up there, but we made it worthwhile by stopping and spending the night with our friend Joan Shoemaker, who even welcomed our dog Vanilla.   Two of Howard’s oils were published in "East on Central", a journal of arts and letters from Highland Park, IL. Volume 7.  His 30 limited repro sketches of "music makers" seem to be selling A-OK.  See them at the following in Illinois: Family Piano Java Cafe in Waukegan, Music Center of Deerfield, Pieces Gallery in Highland Park, The Music Gallery in Highland Park,  Kurt Saphir Pianos in Wilmette, and “As You Like It Framery and Gallery” in Winnetka.  While we were attending “Ragtime” at the Starlight Theatre in Wilmette, featuring some friends from Kol Hadash, we discovered that "Footlights" program cover for June/July 2008 was one of Howard’s watercolors called "Stage Show." For November through December 15, Howard was juried into InchWorks sponsored by the North Shore Art League.   Paintings could not exceed 12"×12" which is quite a challenge as he prefers to paint much larger. The entry was called Autumn Flowers.  In January 2009 there is a painting on exhibit at the Wright Gallery at College of Lake County.   Several paintings were dropped off today for a show at Lake County Gallery of Fine Arts in Grayslake.  Also, you can see Howard’s art on the web.  Try putting “Howard A. Jacobs” in google images and the first few you find are Howard’s.

        For the past year, I have been working at the Lego Store in Northbrook Court.  What fun!  Right when I decided I needed a job; I found the listing on Craigslist.  Genealogy is still near the top of my list of things to do.  In August the IAJGS conference was held in Chicago.  That was great for me.  I took the train to Chicago (free for seniors) and the CTA (also free) to the conference.  I volunteered enough to go to the conference for free.  I heard wonderful lectures finding out more about the Sephardic Jews, resources at the library in Fort Wayne, reading and interpreting Cyrillic documents, got some documents from Lithuania translated, went to a Belarus Sig luncheon and met some terrific people.  In October, I was contacted by a professional researcher, Karen Franklin.  She was researching a part of the Pelofsky family.  She connected me with family in Texas.  One of the highlights of my year had to be the culmination of two years of study and the Bnai Mitzvah service for about seven of us.  My presentation connected the studying we had done with my genealogical research.  Each person had a chance to speak.  I was the oldest and the youngest was 16.  It was quite a night indeed.  Plus don’t forget to look for me on Facebook where I connect to friends, family, and genealogists.

        News includes the following:  Jim slid on the ice and broke some ribs, but he continued to play his horn.  He has played with broken fingers, arm, leg, and collarbone.  You name it.  Nothing stops his playing.  He played at Starbucks, Café Pyrenees, Alek’s, and Family Piano, and countless other places.  His combos continued, and he also played with Dick Peterson Orchestra, the Falconaires, Highland Park Pops, and Jazz Wave to name a few.  Lisa continues to teach dance, piano and Tai Chih Chah to young and old and everyone in between.  Jer’s mother had a heart attack at the beginning of the year.  I had cataract surgery.  Our friend Bingy had a reoccurrence of cancer.  Another friend, Stuart Chase, died in March and Jeff’s dad Ken had a stroke on Xmas and died at the beginning of this year.  Also, our dog Nutmeg died.  Patti lost her job in June and found out she had cancer at a routine mammogram.  The good news for Patti is that she is now cancer free. 

        In March, Linda, Jeff and the boys went to Tahoe for skiing.  Soon the boys will overtake Linda as the best skiers.  Jim, Lisa and family went to Madison where they saw their favorite radio show Garrison Keeler live.   In May we went to California for my 50^th Pomona College reunion.  Wonderful once again!  We also saw Johanna, Jim and Betty Glass.  Seeing Betty’s art work was a really special treat.  In July we had another weekend trip to New Jersey.  We finally got to go sailing with Linda, Jeff and the boys.  The weather usually fails us when we go.  We spent the night at the Bay Breeze B&B in Rock Hall.  Six is no longer doable on the boat.  October saw us back in Utah for the Jewish research trip.  While we stayed at Park City we visited the Kennecott Center Copper mine which is featured on our card this year.  It was beautiful.  In November, Linda, Jeff and the boys came to Highland Park.  We went to the Lego Discovery Center and stayed so long Linda and Jeff almost missed their flight.  The boys stayed with us for the rest of the week.  How fun was that!  They were excited to be with us alone and we felt the same.  I had all sorts of things planned, but we couldn’t do it all because they wanted to spend time with their cousins whose schedules are very full.  Then I flew back to New Jersey with the boys, stayed a day and returned home.

        Steven continued to work at Summit Ice Cream until it closed in October.  I think he misses the regular paycheck.  However, he is so busy with band activities that it would be difficult to work anyway.  Steven took an exciting two week Virginia trip with his 8^th grade class.  At the end, he visited with the Buchanan-Jacobs for a couple of days before returning home.  Steven graduated in June, so he is a freshman in high school.  Hard to believe!  His cousin, Ashley Cole, graduated high school.  We were the only representatives of the Spiegel family there for the party.  Steven had to try out for the Warren High School Band while still at PCCS; he made the top band, Symphonic Band I.  It contains mostly juniors and seniors.  Every concert the conductor has made some very nice comments about Steven.  He also is in two Jazz bands at Warren and in the MYA Jazz Orchestra and a Jazz combo.  He also, made the IMEA all district jazz band which is a real honor.  Plus he went again to ISYM jazz camp during the summer.  This fit right between summer school and marching band rehearsals.  All in all, Steven is a very busy guy.  And he even does well in school.  Once again, Steven and Jim played dueling shofars at the High Holiday services.  In addition, Steven had a paying gig for Xmas at a local church which is what Jim did when he was that age.

        Andy is in 4^th grade.  He’s plays the trumpet and got a 1^st in April in solo contest.  We were so surprised at how well he did because we hadn’t really heard him play before.  He has gone from beginner band to concert band in just one year.  With a little more practice who knows how well he could do.  In June he took a week long soccer camp given by some friends of Steven.  The first PCCS band concert without Steven was in December.  In order for Andy to see, he stood when he had to play.  Standing he was still shorter than the person seated next to him.  Andy loves that I work at the Lego store.  He particularly likes that he can help me build kits for the displays at the store.

        Besides Karate, Stirling and Finlay continued to play baseball, basketball, soccer and took swimming lessons.  In the summer they went to Golf Camp and Track and Field Camp.  They are now in 3^rd grade.  They took a theater class for a week, but didn’t get to perform because of bad weather they said the play was about “a rotten princess”.  After a test in Hebrew school Stirling said, “I’m not that bright when it comes to Hebrew.”  Finlay asked me to set up an email for him so that he could sell his card collection.  Stirling’s comment when asked if he had his coat on was “Indeed it is on.”  Finlay is taking an after school class called Bells and Boom Wackers which he loved.  Stirling wanted an electronic course or something which met on the day of Hebrew School.  Hopefully the next session will meet on another day.  When Stirling plays the violin and Finlay the cello, they look so cute and angelic.  Quite a site!

        Have you read any good books lately?  I liked the imagery in "The Madonnas of Leningrad", a novel by Debra Dean.  It was like walking through the Hermitage in Leningrad and witnessing the events.   “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lhiri was very different.  It was a series of short stories about Indians and Indian Americans caught in the abyss between the two cultures, an interesting look at a different culture.  I found “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish” by Abigail Pogrebin to be a fascinating look into how well known people connected with Judaism.  Each person connected in a different way according to their upbringing.  Many seem to be Humanistic Jews, although they didn’t call themselves such.  A really fun read was “Playing for Pizza” by John Grisham.  This was about a third string quarterback who goes to Italy to play football for a losing team and finds more to his life than just playing football.  It was very different from any of the mysteries that Grisham usually writes.  I just finished “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen, a story about Jacob and circus performers, remembrances’ of the elderly and dealing with people.  Listening to this book on CD and then reading the last few chapters was a wonderful experience for the end of the year.

        How about theater?  We saw some really good shows this year.  “Turn of the Screw” was interesting in the way that it was presented.  With only two cast members we could see the myriad people who affected the lives of two small children sent to live with an uncle.  I thought I would not like “Lion in Winter”.  How could anyone compete with Kathryn Hepburn!  I was wrong.  This was a powerful show.  “Picnic” was exceptionally well done and the sets were fantastic.  It all took place outside.  It was like sitting in the back yard.  Even the southern accents weren’t annoying.   Bingy’s granddaughter, Elise, was in Shakespeare’s “Winter Tale”.  It was very well done.  Even Howard, who doesn’t like Shakespeare, enjoyed it. We saw “Schmuck” in Philadelphia recently.  It was a very funny play about a comedian trapped in a New York diner in 1965 who is scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.  His companions are Lenny Bruce and Groucho Marx.  He asks them for help.  Definitely worth seeing anywhere, if you get the chance.  Also, in Philadelphia Linda, Stirling, Finlay and I went to see the Philadelphia Ballet perform The Nutcracker.  The boys had been “singing” the music which they heard in school.  So Linda decided to get tickets.  It is still wonderful, but my favorite part was watching the boys watching the show.  Another musical treat for me was going to hear Mike Bassin, accordionist extraordinaire.  I don’t know whether I have ever heard a live accordion player who wasn’t a friend.  For those who don’t know, I took accordion for 8 years and love the instrument.

        The year ended as it had begun.  We were at Master Kim’s house.  To one and all, have a happy, healthy 2009.