At the end of my last but one post, Bernice and I were standing on the doorstep of our new second home in Penamacor. Before we could knock on the door, our son Micha’el had opened it wide, and we stepped inside to a welcoming log fire, an even warmer welcome from Micha’el and his wife Tslil, and a more cautious appraisal from our 8-month-old grandson, Tao. We had been very anxious as to whether Tao would remember us from the five weeks the kids had stayed with us immediately before they left Israel for Portugal, five weeks earlier. Seeing him now, very quietly looking us over, we were not at all sure. However, within a few minutes, he came to us for a cuddle without any fuss, if still a little cautiously, and was soon all smiles, which is his default mood. Micha’el assured us that he clearly remembered us, because he was normally very shy with strangers. We thought Micha’el was humouring us, until later we saw how subdued Tao was with genuine strangers, and realized that he must remember us.

Content warning: Bernice assures me that I am allowed one grandfatherly dote, and, since Tao is the real reason we have embarked on this adventure (sorry, Tslil and Micha’el), I thought I would indulge in it sooner rather than later. Feel free to skip.

Tao is the happiest, most naturally curious, most intelligent child imaginable. He has inherited his father’s physicality, balancing happily on two feet and one hand while totally absorbed in exploring a toy with the other hand, and scaling the fifteen stairs in the house for the first time a few days after our arrival, with care and caution but complete confidence. Bernice reminded us that, when she took Micha’el to Tipat Halav (mother and child clinic) for his 10-month check-up, he started by climbing the filing cabinet, at which point the nurse decided they could probably skip the test for gross motor skills and balance.

Tao also has amazing focus and perseverance, and can spend five minutes trying, and failing, to take the large bowl out of his toybox, without giving up but without becoming angry or frustrated…and eventually succeeding.

He shows the same level of concentration when I sing to him. He quickly learnt that Hickory Dickory Dock, The Grand Old Duke of York and Ride a Cock Horse are accompanied by really fun actions, and starts laughing as soon as I begin one of them. After initially resenting yet another person laughing at my singing, I realized that he was relishing anticipation, which I was soon milking shamelessly, making him wait an unconscionable time between ‘The clock struck one’ and the accompanying ‘Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing’ at which point I gently shake my head and his body. While my mouth forms and holds the ‘B’ shape – lips turned in and pressed tightly together – Tao sits on my lap, watching my mouth as intently as if he were a cat tensed to pounce, patiently waiting for the mouse to emerge from its hole.

OK. That’s it for the dote.

On that first evening, we chatted with the kids, ate the last of our food from home, unpacked our new bed linens, made our bed, and collapsed into it.

Our Sages say that One who prepares on Friday, will eat on Shabbat. This is not simply a warning parallel to the famous verse in Proverbs: Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider his ways and be wise. It is also a reminder of how shabbat ideally shapes our entire week. We look forward to the coming Shabbat, anticipate its pleasures and ensure that we make the preparations necessary to be able to enjoy it. In light of all this, it is no surprise how much we enjoyed our first shabbat in Penamacor. Because we certainly prepared for it. We had bought the house furnished, and that included a kitchen with appliances, utensils and crockery and cutlery. This proved very useful to the kids, who are not observant Jews; it meant that they could move into a fully functioning house. However, since Bernice and I are observant, before we could use the kitchen we needed to kosher what could be koshered, and replace what couldn’t. So, on our first morning in the house, we launched our second military campaign.

Stage One of this operation was clearing out the old, and sorting it into three piles of utensils and equipment: what could be koshered; what the kids wanted to store for when they move to their own home; what was too shabby or too hideous or too arcane to be useful. This third was a very small pile, since Micha’el and Tslil fervently believe in recycling resources and are possessed of a fertile imagination that sees potential in the least likely objects. For Micha’el at least this is, I must confess, an inherited trait. It is only in recent years, and only to a limited degree, that Bernice has succeeded in persuading me that we do not have to keep every piece of bric-a-brac, in the fond hope that the day will dawn when all that I am missing to build my better mousetrap is an old broom handle and four rusty screws. For the best exposition of this syndrome I know, anyone who has somehow missed Michael McIntyre’s riff on the Man Drawer should watch it immediately, here.

Stage Two was an outing to the local corner shop, to buy an entire range of cleaning, scouring, scrubbing and disinfecting lotions, potions and implements. That was the fun part!

Stage Three was actually applying to the kitchen everything we had just bought. At school, I always preferred pure maths to applied, and the same is true of cleaning: the theory is so much more fun than the practice. Having said that, working as a team, and seeing the results, and knowing why we were doing this, made it all easier, and, in a relatively short time, we were done, and ready for the really fun part – unwrapping everything we had ordered online to be delivered to the house.

Turning to the 20 or so Amazon parcels, we started unpacking: a food mixer, a set of egg cups….and everything in between. As we unpacked, we were able to decide on where to place things, bringing all of our experience of setting up a kitchen together over 47 years, on seven different occasions (five very different homes, in two of which we renovated the kitchen after several years). Once we had finished, it was very satisfying to see Tslil’s delight at having a properly organized, fully equipped kitchen.

All that was missing now was food! However, that had to wait until the following day, and Bernice and I made do with pita and cheese that we had bought in the kosher shop in Lisbon, followed by fruit.

The only other task we achieved on this, our first full day in our new home, was to put up mezuzot…but that will have to wait for my next post.