We went to Yom Kippur services online again. It was lovely and safe. At the end of Kol Nidre, we turned off the service and I played our favourite version of “Adon Olam.” I don’t know why it took me until this week to think of this, but I have the recording. I might as well use it and make myself happy.

The next day, after we recited the “Unetanneh Tokef,” the rabbi started singing Leonard Cohen’s “Who By Fire” up on the bimah. It took my brain about three or four seconds to catch up because it was pretty much the last thing I expected to hear in synagogue. Suddenly the service was in English and 100% more Leonard Cohen-y. But it was a nice moment of everyday life and holiday colliding. When I went online at night, a bunch of people in various parts of the U.S. posted that their shul did this, too, which makes me wonder if there’s a rabbi listserv out there.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Odds & Ends and Midweek Meltdowns” (The Road Less Travelled)
• “Lemon Juice Gets in Your Eyes!” (It’s Inconceivable)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Family Building with a Twist states in a very honest post, “I should probably delete all of this. It’s a vulnerable moment for me, and I dislike that.” Don’t worry; she changes her mind by the end of the paragraph. Which is a good thing because it’s a record of the ups and downs of a season. She’s getting through it, even though it’s hard.

Lastly, Bereaved and Blessed writes about her child turning 19. One of the amazing things about long-time bloggers is getting to see their kids grow up. She writes: “I appreciate it may not help a lot knowing what a wonderful person your mom thinks you are and I also believe that one of these days more of your peers will see in you all the amazing things that I do.” It got me feeling weepy. Happy birthday!

The roundup to the Roundup: Leonard Cohen when you least expect him. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between September 30 – October 7) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.

I’m writing this ahead of time because Yom Kippur started last night.

Last weekend, ChickieNob and I tested out 7 trailers, trying to choose a new television show to watch together. We landed on Bad Sisters on Apple TV. (Side note: We really loved the first episode. Funny and dark and interesting characters.) The show’s opening music is a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Who By Fire.”

How timely.

The song is Cohen’s version of the “Unetanneh Tokef,” a prayer central to the High Holidays. Who will be written in the book of life for another year, and who will be lost before the next Rosh Hashanah. The prayer talks about how all of that is decided during these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

It’s a prayer I’m struggling with this year — actually, I do every year — because I feel time so acutely right now. I didn’t as much when the twins were little, but they are older and I am older and everyone I love is older. But we’re living the next eight months or so in a period of deep unknown. Where will the twins be next year? What will have changed? What will not be as bad as I fear? What can I not predict at all right now, still standing on this side of the change? Having to sing about not knowing things, having to reflect on everything humans don’t know on a yearly basis is really really hard.

That’s what is on my heart today.

ChickieNob and I bought ourselves a new book — A Winter’s Promise. I’ve always been drawn to the cover but didn’t know a lot about it. It’s held up as the French Harry Potter or His Dark Materials in terms of world building.

But what sold me on the book was something I read in a review. The main character’s scarf, which is always with her, has its own personality: “Objects have souls. Ophelia’s scarf, a loyal and excitable creature, becomes just as integral and three-dimensional a character as Ophelia herself.”

And I thought, how brilliant is that? If the objects you carry with you behaved like objects — unlike an animal, they would not need to eat or sleep or make noise — but they can talk (I assume?) and reassure you and keep you company? I would love my water bottle to be able to listen to me vent, or have my pen discreetly give me advice on the go. This is kind of nerdy Melissa-as-a-kid’s dream come true.

Cannot wait to dive into this.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I think I found this on A Strong Sense of Place, which makes sense because… travel. It’s a fun tool if you have two locations and you want to know what you’ll pass along the way. I’ve used it for two points in our area to see what is around me, and I’ve put in a common road trip we take to see what is along the way.

It kind of does make your drive fun as the name proclaims.

And I’m totally bummed that we went right by the oldest hat shop in the world this summer and didn’t even know it.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

We have an appointment to get the flu vaccine and COVID booster in one day. Either vaccine was going to ruin the next day because I have a reaction to both vaccines. So putting them together makes sense — I’m going to have a bad next day, but only one bad next day vs. two bad next days.

Unless, of course, doing them together creates double the reaction, and I have deep regrets. Is it like mixing beer and… milk? Like you could drink a lot of beer and feel queasy, and you could drink a lot of milk and feel queasy, but drinking beer + milk = vomiting.

Has anyone else had both shots in one day?

And what about the arm thing? I was planning to get both in one arm, reasoning that I’d rather have one arm not hurt than both arms hurt. I may not get a choice on this, but in case they ask what I want, has anyone gotten both shots in one arm? Or in both arms?

Planning ahead.