Saturday was not a fun day at the Dunn household. My fever continued to rise during the night and early morning, finally peaking at 3° above base temperature. I remained in bed most of the morning as aches, headache, and fever declined to near normal. We played bridge with the Morrises in the evening.

By Sunday, the effects of the COVID booster has dissipated. We attended church, and played pickleball at Diamante in the afternoon; there were 16 players for two courts meaning a lot of waiting and not much playing.

Late afternoon we participated in a potluck for the HSV crowd at Palm Creek hosted by the Starrs. It was so much fun seeing everyone together again, including the Seitz’s who had just returned from Arizona. 

Monday was mostly about church business, with a little pickleball and some golf at Desoto Golf Course thrown in; our play is so inconsistent.

Heavy rain early Tuesday morning shut down all outdoor activities, and I used the time to catch up on computer “stuff” while Kay attended a monthly PEO meeting. Late Tuesday afternoon and into the evening, we participated in a Seder ritual at church. The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot) in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder is the traditional Passover meal that includes reading, drinking 4 cups of wine, telling stories, eating special foods, singing, and other Passover traditions. It is held on the first night of Passover (and the second night if you live outside of Israel), the anniversary of Israel’s  miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago. During the course of the evening we had:

• four cups of wine
• veggies dipped in saltwater
• flat, dry cracker-like bread called matzah
• bitter herbs, often horseradish (without additives), dipped into charoset (a paste of nuts, apples, pears and wine)
• a meal that included grilled chicken with mushroom sauce, roasted vegetables, rice, and peach cobbler 

The Seder ritual is one of our favorite and most meaningful celebrations.

Since I’ve made few photos in the last five weeks, here are some throwback photos from a trip we made to the Southwest USA in 2008; these are from Mesa Verde National Park in New Mexico, a magnificent exhibition of Native American ruins.