Some answers

Thanks for all of your comments concerning the last post! I shall try to answer your questions...

The decorations on the outside of the Sukkah are pictures of "the seven species" - grains and fruits that are special products of the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, pomegranates, figs, olives and dates.

The sign above the doorway says (in Hebrew) "Blessed are you as you enter." On the other side of the sign it says "Blessed are you as you depart."

The traditional greeting for almost all festivals is "Chag Sameach" (the "ch" being that deep throat-clearing sound and not "ch" as in "cheesecake") which means "happy festival". But saying "Happy Sukkot" is beautiful...thank you!!

Still not the cheesecake festival, but there is certainly no Rabbinical ruling FORBIDDING the eating of cheesecake in the sukkah....I will now always laugh whenever reading of Moses and the tablets, picturing him instead carrying a large round cheesecake. Hepsibah......she must have been the competing kosher caterer of the time...was she the one who sneaked up behind Mo and pushed him?

The very observant eat all meals and snacks in the sukkah, and actually sleep in it as well. But I am not very observant at all...so we eat in it on the first night, and then on and off during the week if the weather holds up. I should mention that it is almost invariably rainy and windy during sukkot...and, yes, it rained all day today. Naturally.

What did we eat last night? Well....chicken soup (again, of course), chopped liver (my mom's special), crispy chicken, roasted beetroot and pumpkin, green salad, chocolate mousse for dessert. You all asked for seconds, and we found Eurolush trying to hide a chocolate mousse in her handbag.....we were all terribly embarrassed for her and so looked the other way.

Thanks so much for your interest, humour and kind words.

Chag sameach!!