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Oxford, Cotswolds, Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick Castle Day Trip from London
- Details
- Reviews
- Photos
- Hotel Pick-Up
- Day trip (destination A to B)
- Hotel pickup included
- Led by a Blue Badge guide
- Soak up the atmosphere on a walking tour
- All entrance fees included
Your first stop of the tour is Oxford. Known as the 'City of Dreaming Spires,' Oxford is home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world. On arrival, step out of your coach and enjoy a walking tour of the city center with your guide.
Plug into your state-of-the-art headset and listen to your guide talking clearly as you pass by the elegant, timeworn buildings and courtyard that have inspired generation of scholars, including Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, Hugh Grant and Kate Beckinsale. See the Bodleian Library and Christ Church College, where Harry Potter scenes were filmed and where Albert Einstein studied.
Next, enjoy a brief stop for refreshments (own expense) before hopping back inside your coach and traveling through the rolling hills of the Cotswolds, an area steeped in gentle English beauty, history and heritage. Look out the window to admire the thatched-roof cottages and charming inns. On arrival in Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of the famous playwright William Shakespeare, visit Shakespeare's Tudor-era home, with its typical parlor, bedrooms, kitchen and buttery. After, enjoy some free time for lunch (own expense) at one of the many charming eateries.
Then it's a short journey to medieval Warwick Castle, whose magnificent towers and ramparts remain mostly intact. Travel back through 1,000 years of history as you cross the footbridge to a bygone world of banquets, battles and ceremony. Climb the winding staircase to the Princess Tower, or, if you're feeling brave, visit the spine-chilling dungeons where prisoners were tortured. You might wish to take a stroll through the castle's lovingly tended gardens, where archery, falconry and jousting take place in the summer months.
Your day trip then concludes back at Victoria Coach Station in the evening.
Recent Photos of this Tour
Schedule details
Select a month to view a calendar of availability and departure details.
Pricing information
Click the link below to check pricing & availability on your preferred travel date. Our pricing is constantly updated to ensure you always receive the lowest price possible.
Pricing information
- Hotel pickup (selected hotels only)
- Professional guide
- Transport by air-conditioned coach (maximum 50 people)
- Use of a headset
- Walking Tour of Oxford
- Entrance fees to Shakespeare's Birthplace and Warwick Castle
- Gratuities (optional)
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Entrance to Christ Church
- Hotel drop-off
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Children under 16 years must be accompanied by an adult
Cancellation Policy
If you cancel between 3 and 6 day(s) in advance of the scheduled departure, there is a 50 percent cancellation fee.
If you cancel within 2 day(s) of the scheduled departure, there is a 100 percent cancellation fee.
Additional details
Traveler Reviews
Reviewed by: Wendy R, July 2016
It was a really long day, but well worth it! Our guide was terrific and our driver got us safely to and from each location safely and securely. All sites were must see experiences. The only negative is that there was no bathroom on the bus and since the ride home back to the city of London is so long, I felt uncomfortable not having access to a bathroom.
Reviewed by: edwernychuk, July 2016
Loved this tour! Tony was the best tour guide we have ever had. The trip was amazing and we learned so much on history too. Tony is passionate about history and knows his history well. It didn't feel rushed. Was about the right amount of time and the day flew by.


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The SCARC Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 1985 to provide planning and funding for current and future programs for people with developmental disabilities who are currently served by SCARC, Inc. and SCARC Guardianship Services, Inc. The SCARC Foundation has a Board of Trustees comprised of influential business and community leaders who are committed to the necessity of providing a firm financial future for our organization.
SCARC Foundation Night at Sussex Miners Game
Join us for a night of baseball with the Sussex Miners on July 21st and help raise funds for SCARC Foundation. Game time is 7PM.
Read More. >
2016 Pat Romano Sr. Memorial Golf Tournament
Join us on September 21st for a great day of golf!
Read More. >

subset: commoncrawl


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Econo Lodge Elizabeth City, Albemarle Sound
During renovations, the hotel will make every effort to minimize noise and disturbance.
- Free continental breakfast, free WiFi, and free parking
Main amenities
- 38 guestrooms
- Air conditioning
- Front desk safe
For families
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Iron/ironing board
- Hair dryer
- Coffee/tea maker
- Cable TV service
- Flat-panel TV
What's around
- Heart of Elizabeth City
- Museum of the Albermarle (1.6 mi / 2.6 km)
- Waterfront Park (1.8 mi / 2.9 km)
- Elizabeth City State University (2.5 mi / 4 km)
- Jim Catfish Hunter Museum (15.6 mi / 25.1 km)
- Newbold-White House (17 mi / 27.4 km)
Econo Lodge Elizabeth City, Albemarle Sound
Hotel Info: 855-239-9479from $70
- Standard Room, 1 Queen Bed, Smoking
- Standard Double Room, 2 Double Beds, Non Smoking
- Standard Room, 1 Queen Bed, Non Smoking
- Standard Double Room, 2 Double Beds, Smoking
Also popular with travelers from the USA
At a glance
Key facts
Hotel size
- This hotel has 38 rooms
- This hotel is arranged over 2 floors
- Check-in time starts at 3 PM
- Check-out time is 11 AM
Required at check in
- Credit card or cash deposit required
- Government-issued photo ID required
Travelling with others
- Children (18 years old and younger) stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding
- Pets allowed *
Extra people
- Roll-away beds available, charges may apply*
- Free WiFi in public areas
- Free WiFi and wired Internet access in rooms
- Free self parking
In the hotel
- Free continental breakfast
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- In-room accessibility
In the room
- Air conditioning
- Coffee/tea maker
- Iron/ironing board
- Hair dryer
- Flat-screen TV
- Cable TV channels
- Desk
- Free WiFi
- Free local calls
- Access via exterior corridors
Nearby hotels
Econo Lodge Elizabeth City, Albemarle Sound's small print
Also known as
- Econo Lodge Elizabeth City
- Econo Lodge Hotel Elizabeth City
Mandatory fees
Pet deposit: USD 25
Optional extras
Rollaway beds are available for USD 8 per day
Pets are allowed for an extra charge of USD 25
We have included all charges provided to us by this hotel. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.
Is the description of this hotel not correct? Tell us


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Dr Suelette Dreyfus is an expert on whistleblowing and technology, data retention, privacy and national security.
More Information
Jane Gardner
Media Advisor
University of Melbourne
03 8344 0181
0411 758 984
The University of Melbourne is part of an international research team who will work on the SABRE project – the first ever direct-detection dark matter experiment in Australia.
The scientific effort for SUPL also includes the Universities of Adelaide, Swinburne, and ANU; the key scientific organisation ANSTO, as well as international partners Princeton University and the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN).
The lab has also attracted the attention of scientists from the United Kingdom who have recently expressed interest in a further new dark matter experiment being hosted at SUPL.
Northern Grampians Shire Council Mayor Emerson said the announcement of further funding brings the town of Stawell one step closer to being the home of a Nobel Prize-winning project. "A great deal of hard work has gone into making this project a reality. It's a very exciting time for all involved."
Project leader professor Elisabetta Barberio, who is a Professor of physics at the University of Melbourne, said the project had been supported by Australia right from the very beginning.
"Not only will SUPL place us firmly on the world stage in regard to fundamental scientific research, it will strengthen bilateral relations between Italy and Australia. The impact that SUPL will create is immeasurable," she said.
The effects of SUPL will be not only be on the scientific front.
A recent study from the Office of the Chief Scientist reported that the total direct and flow on impact of the advanced physical and mathematical sciences sector amounts to over 22 per cent of Australian economic activity, or about $292 billion per year."


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Cicero, IL - "insurance" search results
About Insurance
You need insurance to protect yourself and to protect the investments that you make. It's fairly easy to see why this qualifies as a necessary expense. After making a large purchase, such as a car, boat, or home, you will need to get an insurance policy that covers the purchase you made. If you finance any of these purchases the lender will require that you obtain a policy that names them as the lien holder. This guarantees that in the event that your home burns down, your vehicle is stole or is in an accident, the lien holder will be paid for the balance that is due on the loan. It will also cover damages that may occur to your home or vehicle. For example, if you are in a car accident, your insurance company will pay to have your car repaired. If you happen to have damage to your home from a wind storm, the insurance company pays to have the repairs completed.
Allstate Insurance
2240 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60616(312) 225-6400 Write a review
Allstate Insurance Companies
2240 S Michigan Ave Ste 203, Chicago, IL 60616(312) 225-6400 Write a review
State Farm Insurance Companies
3430 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 60616(312) 567-0276 Write a review
Malone Derrick Insurance Agency Inc
3430 S King Dr Ste 1S, Chicago, IL 60616(312) 567-0276 Write a review
State Farm Insurance Companies
25 Washingtown, Chicago, IL 60602(312) 236-5222 Write a review
More on Insurance
Another form of insurance is health insurance. You can usually obtain this type of insurance through your employer. Most companies will offer you health benefits if you are a full time employee and if you have worked there for more than ninety days. Each employer will have different cost for their health benefits, but you can typically insure yourself for anywhere from one hundred dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars per month. You can have your premiums deducted from your paycheck weekly or bi-weekly. Your employer will also give you a description of your health insurance plan that will explain exactly what your benefits are and what your responsibilities are. You will have to pay a co-pay to see doctors, which is usually between twenty and fifty dollars, and co-pays for medication. Your medication co-pay will usually be around ten dollars per medication. You will also have a yearly deductible. A deductible is a pre-determined amount of money that you will have to pay out of pocket before the insurance company will pay for any services rendered. For example, if you have a thousand dollar deductible, then you will have to pay one thousand dollars of out of pocket expenses before your insurance company will pay for your doctor or hospital bill. There really is no way around it; you always need insurance in order to protect your investments and your health.


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Adaptive TDMA Bus Allocation and Elastic Scheduling: A Unified Approach for Enhancing Robustness in Multi-Core RT Systems
Next-generation real-time systems will be increasingly based on heterogeneous MPSoC design paradigms, where predictability and performance will be key issues to deal with. Such issues can be tackled both at the hardware level, by embedding technologies such as TDMA busses, and at the OS level, where suitable scheduling techniques can improve performance and reduce energy consumption. Among these, elastic scheduling has been proved to provide satisfactory results by dynamically reducing task periods at run-time to ensure the highest utilization possible of the processors. On the other hand, elastic scheduling lowers the degree of predictability and increases the complexity of the analysis at the system level.


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Parents plan "walking school bus"
Parents are planning on walking kids to school now that Lawrence schools have limited school bus availability.
phera 7 years ago
Anyone interested in starting a Walking School Bus program is encouraged to attend the training workshop at the Lawrence Public Library on July 30 from 6-9 PM. Full details are available on Facebook at http://bit.ly/busFB
Boeing 7 years ago
Training on how to walk?
I like this idea though. Keeps the budget cuts in place but the kids safe(er)
Shardwurm 7 years ago
Wow...people actually taking matters into their own hands and making something happen instead of crying and pouting.
Did I just wake up in 1975?
password 7 years ago
But what about the bad weather? Are these walking school busses still going to operate? sometimes the weather will be bad (lightning, ice, etc.) What then?
Orwell 7 years ago
Will I get a ticket if I pass one while it's stopped?
Susan Rickman 7 years ago
Great job, guys!
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I Can Tell from Some of the Pixels
This post has 31 words. Reading it will take less than one minute.
GD Star Rating
…and from seeing quite a few shops in my time, that this looks shopped:
Yes, I turned mediocre wine into excellent ditto by the magic of real-life Photoshopping.


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If all continues to go well for TERX as investors become aware of their energy saving lithium products this can easily pass $1+
TERX do your DD this company is very very explosive... Huge gains can be made if traded correctly.
A lot of naysayers on TERX ticker symbol, but NUMBERS DO NOT LIE... This baby is moving up.
Did some dd on TERX actual technology and product potential and it is DEFF worth taking a look at at these levels. I may initiate a long position for a multi week month hold ...
TERX nice chart. Nice uptrend. VERY little resistance ahead until .60. Big money making potential on this lithium energy saving automobile company. Highly scalable company.
Confirmed TERX is being promoted by some of the best IR groups and lists in the industry. There's no ceiling on where they might take this. The same group did PLSB.
With the Unusual market maker activity on TERX. This company just recently had a ticker change and has one hell of a story behind it. 52 week highs could get crushed.
TERX is moving up at a pretty quick pace. It has ALL the criteria for a successful investor campaign. A reverse split, a ticker symbol change, a sexy story and a great lithium car battery product. The gains could be explosive.
Check this important info about $SONS HELPS investor to gain in the market
see this thread to see inside!
I got it for free. Thank you


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'Greenwood is designing sustainable development for the world.'
Green Woodworking is a craft of carpentry which works unseasoned timber into finished items. Greenwood reduces the use of power tools in a wood working project. Work can be done outdoors.
The stock is riven from a freshly felled oak.
Unseasoned wood is wood which is preserved to maintain high moisture content. Timber is kiln dried down to 12% moisture content. Unseasoned wood is preserved by storing wood in a water-filled trough. This wood cuts easily as compared to the wood that has lost its moisture, and as the wood gets dry, t becomes tough to cut.Green wood is easy to shape with hand tools.
With a passage of time, moisture leaves the wood which in result shrinks it,w hich is a benefit for Green woodworker to ensure tight joints in their woodwork.For effective shrinkage,one-half joint can be over dried leaving the encapsulating components green. Green woodworking technique involves splitting and working with the grain,it causes minimum distortion of wood during shrinkage.The techniques of green wood working include building boats, houses, and expressive arts.
Recommended tools of trade:
There is a lot of waste when a sawmill is used to reduce log into boards.The riving waste obtained can be easily converted to fuel, but saw dust is difficult to convert into fuel.The Greenwood is easy to plain, but the surface finish is not good.It's tricky to aim for appropriate moisture content, due to change in seasons.
Bodging is a green woodworking occupation. In this occupation, Chair components are made in woods and exported to workshops where chairs were assembled by furniture makers.
'Green Wood' is a project which was run for years in Honduras and Peru.
The organization trains people living in tropical forests techniques of chairmaking and other green working projects.This project aims to achieve sustainable development using Green wood.They apply small scale
woodworking technologies and creative marketing to support forest management and sustainable development in the area.
A basic tool kit for Green woodworking would consist of following tools-
- A froe
- A side axe
- A draw knife
- A set of turning chisels
- Spooning knives
Cherry, Birch, and sycamore are good for small carved items such as spoons. Oak is good for outdoor work because it is durable.
Green woodworking is an activity which connects our whole mind and body. It is mentally relaxing and an experience not unlike meditation.


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This profile was last updated on . .
Is this you? Claim your profile.
J.P. Turner & Company LLC
Direct Phone: (888) ***-**** ext. ***
Email: r***@***.com
One Buckhead Plaza 3060 Peachtree Road, NW 11Th Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
United States
J.P. Turner & Company, L.L.C. was founded by Timothy W. McAfee, CEO and William L. Mello, President. The origin of the company name, JP Turner, is derived from the names of the children of its founders: Jody Patrick Mello and Turner McAfee. Decent valu... more
JP Turner Company, LLC – Investment Banking Contacts
www.investment-banking.jpturner.com [cached]
Senior Vice President, Fixed Income - Ray DeRobbioPublic Finance Department/Municipal Financing Municipal Underwriting Sales and Syndicate Manager (732) 742 - 8959 firstname.lastname@example.com
David Derobbio
Acxiom Corporation
Luke DeRobbio
Robot Fight & Fitness
Robert DeRobbio
Opera Providence
Nanci DeRobbio
Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts
Jason DeRobbio
University of Tampa


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No results found.
No results found.
No results found.
Lynne Thigpen
The Chief
Greg Lee
Scott Leonard
Sean Altman
Barry Carl
Jeff Thacher
Vanessa A. Williams
Guest Star
Locations in Norway:
Glåma River
Hopperstad Church (Kneemoi)
Ledal Manor (Warrant)
University of Oslo
Ancient Marathon
Kon-Tiki Museum
Jostedal Glacier
Frogner Park
Viking Ship Museum
Arctic Circle
Holmenkollen Ski Jump
North Fjord (Wildebeests)
Akershus Castle
Land of Kings
Troll's Ladder
Chief: There are 15 places here in Norway where you might find Kneemoi, the Warrant, or the wildebeest. Uh, wildebeests. W-- Wildebeestees. With-- Whatever. Here are a few of them.
Chief: (in a worried voice) Greg, don't come into my office, right away.
Greg: Uh, you know, I think something's the matter with the Chief. If you guys would just hold on here, this is, uh, rather confusing. Just-- I'll be right back. Hold on. (enters the office) Chief, what's goin' on?
Chief: Oh, I'm glad you're not here, Greg.
Greg: Uh, Chief, don't you mean you're glad I am here?
Chief: No.
Greg: Wait a minute, this is very strange. Say, Chief, do you like lima beans?
Chief: No!
Greg: A-ha! I happen to know the Chief loves lima beans. Lemme try somethin' else. Uh, Chief, are you a waterbug?
Chief: Yes!
Greg: Aha! I also happen to know the Chief is not a waterbug. I sense a pattern here. Chief, you're saying the opposite of everything you mean, aren't you?
Chief: No!
Greg: Aha! I thought so! Now, (looks around the office) what could possibly-- Well, Chief, here's the problem right here. It's your polarity! (comes up to a panel of two switches) It's on negative!
Chief: Oh, please, don't switch it!
Greg: Ah, don't worry, I will.
(turns the switch to positive)
Chief: Bring on the lima beans!
Greg: Hey!
Chief: Oh, ho, that's better. Oh, ho-- Oh. I almost forgot.
Greg: Yeah.
Chief: Every time you watch the show, write down what got stolen and from where. When you've collected 4 loots and locations, write them down on a postcard with your name and address, and send it to ACME Crime Net, P.O. Box 4300, New York, NY 10163.
Greg: Every day, we'll pick 5 people whose list are correct and send them each a Carmen T-Shirt. Here's who won today.
(the contest winners are revealed)
Chief: Congratulations to the winners.
Greg: (sees a different switch below the polarity) Hey, Chief, what's this right here?
Chief: Oh, no. Don't touch that dial, Greg. It's very delicate instrument, (Greg turns the dial to fast, which causes the Chief to move and speak fast forward) and you might do something wrong with it. Greg, don't touch the dial! If you do that, it will get broken and we'll never be able to fix it! Greg! Greg! Put that dial back right now!
(Greg does so)
Greg: Sorry, Chief.
Chief: (normal voice) Greg?
Greg: Hmm?
Chief: Go away.
Greg: All right. I'll go away. I'll be right out the door, Chief.
(turns the dial to slow before he exits the office)
Chief: (in a slow-motion voice) Sometimes, he makes me so mad.
Greg: (returns to HQ; in a high-speed voice) Okay, guys. Remember, we're still after Kneemoi and the wildebeests. Fortunately for us, though, ACME Bug Net has just intercepted this phone conversation between Kneemoi and Carmen Sandiego. Watch.
Chief: (before she, Greg, and the Gumshoes can prepare for departure to Norway) Greg?
Greg: Yeah?
Chief: There's mustard on your sleeve.
Greg: I'm sorry. (rubs his sleeve) I'll check that out later. Thanks, Chief.
Kneemoi: Oh, another planet, another prison cell. Maybe I could spend my sentence getting to know Carmen better. Look for her in North America.
Clue Informants:
The Chief
The piranha
The Shadow*
The Roach Hotel
Vanessa Williams
*New informant
User Score: 2776
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User Score: 1


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Choose your preferred language. We speak English (US) and 41 other languages.
Most often used by people in the United States
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6 reviews
Featuring a front terrace with a swinging seat, this Homer, Alaska three-bedroom house provides a full kitchen and an ocean view. Free Wi-Fi is provided. The Pratt Museum is 10 minutes' drive away.
"location with a deck overlooking the bay was perfect. Plenty of room for three couples"
Review score
5 reviews
Overlooking Lake Beluga, this Homer, Alaska two-bedroom cottage offers a fully equipped kitchen and is 4 miles from halibut fishing opportunities. The Homer Spit is less than 5 minutes' drive away.
"We went there for a family reunion and we thorough…es.Having the full kitchen was really convenient."
We've negotiated with thousands of hotels to get the very best deals. We call them Secret Deals and they only last for a limited time.
You can get these deals for free by subscribing to our newsletters. You can even choose your favorite destinations to receive personalized deals.
Don't worry – your email address is safe with us. We'll never share your private information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


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I was hoping we would break through .34, but we will in good time. Cheers to all my fellow longs (you know who you are), and everyone else... GO #$%$ YOURSELF! LOLOL
It most certainly was tag. Cheers to you as well!
I was so happy that this morning I got another 5000 shares at .30 , I was like cool when I saw .34 what a break out'
Lucky kar! Good call.
Congrats to all
Nice foresight, Kar!


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Marbles Mega Sleepover: Ultimate Slumber Party
Sat May 02, 6:00 PM - Sun May 03, 9:00 AM
Marbles Kids Museum
Junior, Daisy, Brownie, Brownie, Daisy, Junior
Wake County
Take a troop of giggling girls, stir in silly stories and goofy games, add a dash of dancing and you get the perfect pajama party! Create new friends and memories while working on the Making Friends or Social Butterfly badges or the Vi Petal. Explore the museum, complete badge activities and play games all while making new friends. End the evening with an amazing dance party! After sleeping in the museum, wake to a continental breakfast and special screening of an IMAX movie. Dinner, snack, breakfast and a Marbles patch are included.


text: AdChoices Terms of Use Privacy Policy Hide TOP 10 Top 10 Entertainment Top 10: Retro Compilations Share Tweet 0 Shares 8. Final Fantasy Chronicles Courtesy of IGN The name of this compilation is somewhat of a misnomer; it's actually more of a Square compilation than a Final Fantasy one. Chronicles brings together one of the greatest FF titles, Final Fantatsy 4, with one of the most complete role playing games in existence, Chronotrigger. Interestingly enough, both video games were ported from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a rare occurrence given Chronicles is a Playstation-only release. Either way, both games offer intriguing stories, classic turn-based or real-time fighting (with a few gameplay upgrades) and brand new anime and computer graphic cut scenes, designed by acclaimed artist Akira Toriyama, that were not included in the original releases. It became one of Sony's Greatest Hits in 2003. Next Page TOP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Comments Share your opinion Your name More Like This Entertainment News Trending News: The Fallout 4 Trailer Is So Good They Couldn't Wait Until E3 Read More Trending Stealth Killing, England In The 1800s, Gangs - What's Not To Love?! Read More Recommended Does Madden 15 Live Up To The Hype? Read More Entertainment and Celebrities Fatalities Have Never Been This Hardcore With New-School Kano In Mortal Kombat X Read More Entertainment and Celebrities If You Have A Playstation These Are Not The Games You Are Looking For Read More Entertainment and Celebrities These Games Are E3's Bread And Butter And For Good Reason Read More Around the Web Special Features Special Feature The Ultimate Guide To Hooking Up Online Read More Guy Gear The Best Watches Under $500 Read More


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Saturday markets with organic fruits and veggies, the mystical Macal River, ancient Maya ceremonial caves and... More Info »
Family-owned for several generations, we have been providing a unique "Home Away From Home" holiday for guests... More Info »
Surrounded by jungle and water, our jungle lodge / hostel is a nature wonderland and bird watcher's paradise. Maya... More Info »
At The Old House we offer 8 bed dorms all with large, private, in room lockers. We also have one double bed private... More Info »
Video guides, travel podcasts, city maps & free city guides. What to eat, where to stay and things to do and see - our travel guides have it all.Find a guide »
With the sun shining 80% of the time, Miami is the hot spot to go if you want a tropical getaway. It gets over 3,200 hours of sunshine a year, making it one of the top places to...Read more »
We offer the most comprehensive selection of hostels on the internet with over 33,000 great places to stay in 170 countries. The ultimate online resource for hostels everywhere.Find great value hostels »


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I've gone through the related questions on this site but haven't found a relevant solution.
When querying my Solr4 index using an HTTP request of the form
The response contains all the different countries along with counts per country.
How can I get this information using SolrJ? I have tried the following but it only returns total counts across all countries, not per country:
The following does seem to work, but I do not want to have to explicitly set all the groupings beforehand:
Secondly, I'm not sure how to extract the facet data from the QueryResponse object.
So two questions:
1) Using SolrJ how can I facet on a field and return the groupings without explicitly specifying the groups?
2) Using SolrJ how can I extract the facet data from the QueryResponse object?
I also tried something similar to Sergey's response (below).
List<FacetField> ffList = resp.getFacetFields();
log.info("size of ffList:" + ffList.size());
for(FacetField ff : ffList){
String ffname = ff.getName();
int ffcount = ff.getValueCount();
log.info("ffname:" + ffname + "|ffcount:" + ffcount);
The above code shows ffList with size=1 and the loop goes through 1 iteration. In the output ffname="country" and ffcount is the total number of rows that match the original query.
There is no per-country breakdown here.
I should mention that on the same solrQuery object I am also calling addField and addFilterQuery. Not sure if this impacts faceting:
solrQuery.addFilterQuery("user-bio:" + "(Apple OR Google OR Facebook)");
Update 2:
I think I got it, again based on what Sergey said below. I extracted the List object using FacetField.getValues().
List<FacetField> fflist = resp.getFacetFields();
for(FacetField ff : fflist){
String ffname = ff.getName();
int ffcount = ff.getValueCount();
List<Count> counts = ff.getValues();
for(Count c : counts){
String facetLabel = c.getName();
long facetCount = c.getCount();
In the above code the label variable matches each facet group and count is the corresponding count for that grouping.


text:
WCMC 1230-AM may not have the most listeners, but it certainly has very loyal ones. A big reason the 1,000-watt Wildwood station has those listeners is Jim MacMillan, the station's program director and host of "South Jersey Journal" from 6 to 10 a.m. daily.
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SculptPad HD
By Moodkie
Open iTunes to buy and download apps.
SculptPad HD is an intuitive art game, available for iPad. Sculpt, paint, model, draw and much more in your very own 3D interactive studio. Enter into competitions to win real prizes, get feedback from real artists and share your sculpture on Facebook in 3D.
Over 20 tools to choose from, and new ones added regularly!
• Sculpting: Choose a piece of clay in the colour and shape you want, then realistically form it into something new using SculptPad's selection of sculpting tools.
• Painting: Our painting tools accurately simulate real-life painting, from the short strokes of a round brush to the continuous spray from an airbrush.
• Palette: Use our realistic palette to create your own colours, or select primary colours by selecting a tube of paint.
• Models: Select from a variety of models to place on your sculpture in whatever scale you want. How about adding a forest of trees, or creating a city of skyscrapers? We're constantly adding more objects to place on your sculpture, so remember to update SculptPad regularly!
• Rotate and Zoom: Use your finger to rotate your sculpture around, allowing you to admire your work or to simply get a better angle. Pinch it to zoom in and out of a specific region; essential for adding detail.
Save your sculpture so you can load it again at a later date. Upload your sculpture to SculptPad Online so you can share it with friends through Facebook, or enter competitions to win real prizes!
iPad Screenshots
Customer Reviews
Sculpted HD
Great sculpting software! Wonderful way to get out of your head, and do art without having to buy all the materials. The graphics really work well. Don't know how an experienced sculptor would feel about it, but for somebody who wants to play at it, it's great.
Doesn't Work
I've tried everything I can think of to make it work, but I only get a screen with development credits and nothing else.
- $1.99
- Category: Entertainment
- Released: Jun 15, 2011
- Version: 1.0
- Size: 36.2 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Joel Tebbett
- © 2009 Joel Tebbett
Compatibility: Requires iOS 3.2 or later. Compatible with iPad.


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I come to you with an achy head. I've written and used some software (.net 3.5, VS2010) where I added separate (Data) project which accesses a SQLite database. It's been working PERFECT until tonight! I don't lie - for absolutely NO REASON whatsoever I've started getting an age old error:
Error 4 The type 'System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteCommand' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'System.Data.SQLite, Version=220.127.116.11, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=db937bc2d44ff139'. C:\ALL\Dev\Working Dir\BeatBits\BeatBits\MainForm.cs 50 13 BeatBits
Does ANYBODY know what this is, why it's suddenly appeared (with no code changes) and more so, how I can FIX this ONCE and FOR ALL?! :-(
Cheers in advance peoples for your help!


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Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel Go to Couples Therapy Again. Does It Work This Time?
- 03:22 PM, Jul 26
Black Tie Dinner Celebration
Photo credit: Winston Burris / WENN
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Pop Culture
Odd Mom Out Returns & Ginnifer Goodwin's Baby NewsBy Gerri Miller
Find out who's guest starring on Odd Mom Out this season and get the scoop on Goodwin's new babe!Go To Pop Culture
Tag Archives: Family
My Son's Bris: Why I Was Not Prepared for This
Before Jack was born, I thought I prepared as much as I could for his bris. With the help of my mother-in-law, Pennye, we compiled a list of invitees, researched kosher caterers, and created to-do lists. Pennye bought paper goods, readied the room with tables and folding chairs, and lots of gauze pads. She also explained the ceremony to my parents so they would know what to expect. (I also had to do some research myself, as I had never been to a bris before.)
Once Jack was born, we were able to set a date for the bris (which takes place on a baby's eighth day), and she and Sam created the order of the ceremony, finalized the details with the mohel, and gathered RSVPs. Everything was prepared, except me. Nothing could have fully prepared me for that day.
I wasn't mentally prepared to be one of the centers of attention just three days after coming home from the hospital after giving birth. My brain was mush after a week of not sleeping and trying to adjust to this new lifestyle. All I could think of was whatever Jack required at the moment. Why is he crying and how do I make him stop his crying? Is he hungry? Why is he not eating? Should I swaddle him? Rock him? Change his diaper? There was minimal spare room in my brain to make small talk with the 60+ guests during the bris.
I also wasn't spiritually ready to hear the mohel (the Hebrew word for someone who performs a ritual circumcision) explain that our son was to be raised Jewish. Part of me knew that our son was to be raised Jewish. I had even said these words out loud. Sam and I had discussed this at length. We came to the conclusion that Jack was to be Jewish and I was comfortable with that decision. But, when the mohel started talking about how this ceremony physically marks Jack as a Jew, for first time it finally sunk in. Our child will not be Catholic; he will not be receiving the sacraments (baptism, first holy communion, etc.). He will not share my spiritual journey or that of my parents. Rather, Jack will be on a similar spiritual path as Sam, one that, despite many discussions and much private study, is still somewhat foreign to me.
Finally, I wasn't emotionally prepared to hear those painful screams of my first born, as the mohel performed the physical act of Jack's circumcision. At that moment, I had escaped to the darkness of my bedroom, and was convulsing in tears, wanting it to end. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to hold him, feed him and tell him that I would protect him from all the harm and dangers in the world. I wanted to create a protective bubble around him, so that he would never ever get hurt again. Instead, the experience made me feel alone and helpless. My body felt like a wreck after the birth, my mind was mush, and now my heart was breaking.
After the mohel finished, Sam brought Jack to me so I could feed him. The three of us shared a quiet moment together before I wiped my tears away, mustered up a smile and brought Jack back to the party, where he was passed around and photographed like a prized possession. I spent the rest of the party making small talk with whatever space was left in my brain.
Looking back, the ceremony was beautiful. Sam's extended family was there to celebrate, including Jack's great grandmother, great grandfather and great-great aunt. Jack's namesake's daughter spoke wonderfully of her father and wished all of Uncle Jack's best qualities to be passed on to little Jack. My parents and some of my siblings were in attendance, supporting our decision to raise Jack as a Jew. We even honored both sets of parents during the ceremony. It was wonderful to have everyone here upholding the oldest Jewish tradition, and I have no regrets about our decision to do so, though I wish I could have been more prepared.
Congratulations! It's a …
The conversation went something like this:
Amy: So we're just going to be surprised when I give birth, right? Like when the doctor says, "Congratulations! It's a ___!!"
Matt: Have you lost your mind? No, we're not going to be surprised. Isn't being pregnant at 40 surprise enough for you?
Amy: (laughing) Well, I didn't know what Roxy and Everett were until they were born. You knew with YOUR son?!
Matt: (laughing) Uhhhhh, yeah I did! I NEED to know. NEED. How else are you supposed to prepare???
And then I sat there overthinking, a skill I've mastered, while remembering my previous pregnancies. I remember the panic I felt as a first-time mom-to-be, not totally secure in my decision to "not find out" and continually telling people my standard line of, "Well how many things can you truly be surprised about these days?" But I went with it, even as I started a baby registry with the urging of friends and family who were eager to celebrate with me. I picked out generic yellow and green everything, with frogs and duckies all while telling myself that I didn't believe in perpetuating traditional gender roles but deep inside longing for pink, or blue, or ruffles or dinosaurs.
My freak out continued as my belly grew, wondering how I was possibly going to get all the things I was going to need as a first-time parent without having a baby shower—our traditional Jewish families didn't believe in having one, as Jewish culture can dictate superstition for some people. No bringing baby stuff into the house! It's bad luck! We settled on the garage as a safe zone as my due date loomed closer. My mom kept assuring me, don't worry Amy, stuff will just arrive. I didn't believe her for a minute.
In the meantime, my worry grew, as my Jewish ex-husband and I put a mohel on hold (my gut told me it was a girl but, let's be real, it was a 50/50 shot in the dark) and discussed plans for a potential baby naming ceremony should we not be planning a bris, and I did my best to go with the flow and embrace tradition. All the while I truly wanted to ignore everything I was taught to believe and just do what I wanted to in order to ease my mind.
But true to my mom's word, Roxy was born and I became best friends with the UPS guy and I'm pretty sure the recycling truck was tired of picking up boxes. Baby items kept showing up after she was born, and plenty of pink was there among the green and yellow. Roxy's naming ceremony happened as close to eight days after her birth as possible, because I was a true believer that if a bris needed to happen in eight days for a boy, I wasn't going to differentiate. I felt solace in my Judaism and was comforted by my decisions as the weeks went on, certain that at least I fulfilled connections of generations that came before me.
Two years later, I did it again with Everett—this time feeling a little better knowing I had the essentials already in place (and justifying because Roxy still used a lot of it) but still feeling an empty longing while painting his future room my favorite color orange and some jealousy over attending other baby showers knowing I wouldn't be having one. I kept trying to make peace with tradition and telling myself it's OK—if it's a boy, the blue dinosaur onesies will be on my doorstep after this baby is born. I listened to our families and let tradition guide me, and lo and behold, Everett was born, there was plenty of blue, the mohel on hold showed up on day eight and all was right with my world.
Fast forward almost seven years later.
I'm laying on the ultrasound table with nervous anticipation. It's my third child but it's been awhile since my days of diapers and bottles. I'm on the edge of a total meltdown and I can hardly look at Matt, afraid if we make eye contact I'm totally going to lose it and start crying because it feels so new.
"So are we finding out?" the ultrasound tech asks us, as she guides the wand across my belly and pictures of the baby appear on the screen. Matt and I lock eyes and I look away quickly and answer before I can change my mind.
"Yes. Yes. Yes. He (pointing at Matt) needs to know. And I can't have him know and me not, so let's do this. Tell us. Tell us."
The room is silent. In my brain I'm thinking please say it's a girl. Please. It will be so much easier if it's a girl. Matt already agreed with me that our child will be raised Jewish, but parameters haven't been worked out and reconciling my desire to connect to tradition while honoring his beliefs has never been more overwhelming. Come on. Say it. Girl. It needs to be a girl. I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with the reality of boy. Putting the mohel on hold. I don't know if I can do this. Girl. Girl. Girl.
I'm doing this chant on repeat in my head. Yet in my heart I know what she's going to say before the words come out. I woke up at 3 a.m. knowing. The definite knowledge of what this baby is. And my gut is rarely wrong.
She zooms in and points to the screen.
There it is she says. Congratulations, you're having a baby boy.
Matt laughs and says, "I knew it."
So did I my love. So did I.
My heart is overflowing with joy, our perfectly imperfect family is growing, and ladies and gentlemen, we're having a boy. Everett is beyond thrilled. Roxy whined that she already hassssss a little brother, but it's OK mommy, I'll love him anyway. Matt jokes to me about having a "brisk"—doing it on purpose to make me laugh and lighten my worry as I roll my eyes and say "It's a BRIS!!!!" as he questions me about the food that I tell him people are going to show up with on day eight.
I have no idea how any of this is going to actually happen, or who the mohelim in Maine are or the myriad of questions that we still have unanswered or have yet to discuss. Bring on the blue dinosaurs and bottles. A baby boy. I stare at the printed ultrasound picture, hugging it close to my chest. The unknown has time to wait. Matt grasps my hand and kisses my forehead. I can't wait to meet you my baby boy.
For more information, check out IFF's Guide to Birth Ceremonies for Interfaith Families.
Sending My Daughter to Jewish Preschool Reconnected Me with My Roots
By Rebecca Rolland
My daughter Sophie will be 3 this November. My husband Philippe and I have decided to let her start half-day preschool (she's begged). Still, we're late starting to look at options. I can't settle on anything, and as a doctoral student in education, I fear my knowledge of the research—my vise-grip on "how things should be"— has gotten in the way.
Ironically, in the world of parenting and education, it seems as though you can really know too much, or at least can be too critical. Then, I see an ad for a Jewish preschool not far from our home.
My own religious past is complicated. I was raised Protestant because of my father, but my mother's entire family was Jewish. My maternal grandfather and his brother were the only ones who survived the Holocaust, traveling from Hungary to Ellis Island in the hold of a ship. As both my grandparents died when I was a child, I was never able to ask any more. If I had a story to tell about my past, it would be one of absence and loss, of lacking knowledge—hardly the only story I want to pass down.
"Let's check it out," I tell my Catholic-raised husband, who was actually taught by nuns in his early years. We'd decided not to push Sophie towards any faith, but the school looks like a good option, emphasizing respectful interactions, strong routines and a balance of strictness and care. At least that's what the website says.
In my work, I know the importance of high-quality early education. As decades-long studies have shown, such as the Perry Preschool Study, children who were placed in a "high-quality" program were found to commit less crime, have higher educational attainment and income and need less welfare assistance than a control group.
And yet, I know that a child's experiences include far more than a single classroom. Developmental psychologist Uri Bronfenbrenner, in his "ecological systems theory" developed in 1979, describes how everything in a child's environment affects her development, ranging from the microsystem, or her immediate surroundings, through the macrosystem, or remote issues such as the national economy, which affect a child's experiences in surprising ways. Choosing a preschool means choosing a microsystem, where Sophie will have thousands of interactions with teachers and peers over the course of the day.
No pressure, I tell myself.
When I visit the school, I stand in the temple while the children sit in a semicircle singing Shabbat songs. Their voices mix together, high and low, and bring me to tears. The narrative I had about myself, about my past as a source of loss, didn't have to be the one I passed down. My past—and the culture surrounding it—could be a source of joy, of learning and of life.
Even more, seeing the school in action helps me change my narrative about what Sophie needs, and what I need as well. It's not about what should work for a child, I concede, but what actually does work, for the child as well as the family. It's about the values we want to move toward, the history we want to honor and the past we want to bring to light. What resonates for one family might mean nothing to another. In the ecological model, context is everything.
We decide to send Sophie to that school in the fall. My own life comes full circle, in a twist that I couldn't have predicted. In attending a Jewish preschool, Sophie—blonde and blue-eyed like her father—will have a chance to touch her past through her present, to eat apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah, smell sweet spices for Havdalah and play in a sukkah for Sukkot. I never went to temple until college. In helping Sophie know her past, I'm returning to a system of traditions that I, in my own life, have ignored.
The Jewish part of my history has been buried until now, and with it, my story about myself. Without searching for a preschool—and without finding this one—we probably never would have made this decision at all. Not only that: as we light candles for Shabbat, and as we tear into a loaf of challah bread, I'm helping change my story of the past into something sweeter. History can be a chance for celebration, not simply mourning. Those traditions are coming alive for us once again.
This article was reprinted with permission from Kveller.com, a fast-growing, award-winning website for parents raising Jewish and interfaith kids. Follow Kveller on Facebook and sign up for their newsletters here.
Rebecca Givens Rolland is a mother, writer, speech-language pathologist and consultant on parenting and education. She currently lives with her family in Boston.
A Surprise Announcement (aka a Love Story)
Once upon a time, Amy, a divorced Jewish girl from Jersey, met Matt, a divorced Irish Catholic boy from Philly, in the unlikely state of Maine. They went on some dates. Amy tried to convince herself Matt was too "nice and normal" and Matt ignored her and made her dinner and bought her flowers.They both realized pretty quickly that they were living a real-life Disney movie and suddenly the two found themselves blissfully in love, minus the talking animals of course.
Matt and Amy knew that they had a partner in each other, to support one another, laugh with, cry with and everything in between. They introduced their children to each other, they met one another's families.They created a new life for themselves, together, figuring out how to start over in a serious relationship after divorce while already having kids and embracing the chaos, the unknowns, the differences and the sameness. Matt moved into Amy's house, and to this day, continues to help her create what has become an actual home, reflecting the uniqueness of the kids and adults who live there.
This month, I celebrated my 40th birthday with Matt and my kids by my side. The significance of turning 40 has been huge for me, making me feel like I'm crossing some kind of real grown-up threshold and am caught between not quite feeling old enough to truly be the adult I imagined, while balancing paying a mortgage, organizing the household and parenting. Having Matt in my life to share it with makes the transition smoother, and as I have been reminded numerous times, 40 is the new 20 (without the ability to understand snapchat). So this week, with me settling into this new decade, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to really make things interesting for our family and friends, because that's how we roll around here.
Using the power of social media, we enjoyed shocking everyone by announcing that we're expecting this fall, which was as terribly fun to share as it was unexpected news (yes, our immediate families all knew prior to our announcement). And let me tell you—doing this at 40 with a 9-year-old and a 6 1/2-year-old at home is sooooo much harder than it was when I first started the journey of being a mom. I'm exhausted all the time and I somehow blocked out the joys of morning sickness, body aches and maternity jeans (actually, that last one I'm kind of in love with). But I'm feeling pretty good overall, and as my belly grows so does my excitement and nervousness about our expanding family.
Before Matt and I found out we were new parents-to-be, he joked to me one day that if we ever had a kid together I could pick the religion if he could pick the sports teams. A die-hard Philly fan vs. a New York sports fan was going to be hard enough with us living in New England, but there's truth in laughter and my answer with a smile and a giggle was sure, darling, fair deal—never imagining that at 40 it could ever be reality. Yet here we are, finding ourselves with a child on the way, facing these very real questions about how we're going to parent and what kind of impact our interfaith relationship will have on our baby on the way.
Our families have their own opinions and questions, many of which haven't been vocalized, yet their subtle, careful questions paint a clear picture of uncertainty. Friends have been surprisingly more to the point, with direct questions expecting exact answers. My two kids, with their strong Jewish identities had their own Jewish birth stories, with a community naming ceremony for Roxy and a bris for Everett, both on the eighth day of their lives. Matt's 10-year-old was baptized in the tradition of his own religious lineage, and it's all Matt knows when it comes to connecting birth and religion.
We've discussed our own connections to these traditions and our journey of figuring out our "what next" has truly begun. What felt abstract about our interfaith relationship before is now "in your face," and while I feel confident that our communication is strong and that we have the ability to be open and understanding with each other, there's so much on the table that truly overwhelms me.
Raising a child is hard enough, even when the parents come from similar backgrounds. Add in divorce, co-parenting and a couple committed to each other who come from different worlds and aren't engaged (can we please just deal with one major life change at a time?). Welcoming a child into this conglomeration? Well, this 40-year-old pregnant woman and her amazing boyfriend are doing a killer job of navigating, if I do say so myself.
Matt keeps me grounded through it all, with his calm demeanor and his "Stop worrying about everything, of course we'll figure it out and I just want you to be happy" attitude. And he's right, I know he's right. I'm going to trust in him, and in this.
We might not have it all figured out, but this baby is already a blessing. The ride might be bumpy, but the destination will surely be joyous.
Community Comes Together for Baby's 1st (Interfaith) Passover
A funny thing happened when I had a baby. People in my neighborhood whom I had never spoken to started speaking to me. They had seen me walking around Brooklyn since I myself was a baby. They had spotted me on my bicycle, buying candy and I'm sure some had seen me in my various teenage phases of trying cigarettes and dyeing my hair. Since I live three blocks from my childhood home these same people have now watched me carry my daughter around the neighborhood from the day she was born. Now though, they speak to me.
This week is Passover week and I am shocked to find that in every store I enter with my daughter strapped to me I am asked, "What do you need? What are you looking for?" Sales people pull things off the shelves for me and when I make my final purchase, my cart filled to the brim with potatoes, horseradish, parsley and all of the other Passover delights, the cashier says, "We will deliver it to you by four o'clock, you live on Avenue M., right?" They know me and have known me my whole life, though we have just now exchanged words.
The sense of community in my neighborhood during Passover is overwhelming. At night when the first Passover seder begins one can walk down any block and look into people's windows to see the same table settings, the same Passover plate and the same book we all read from. This year Passover is extra special for my family because my daughter and my twin nephews are new editions to the table and we are passing down the traditions of my family through them.
My significant other, Adrian, had to work which was unfortunate. Being from a Mexican Catholic family he appreciates both food and family. But he joined my mother and me in the morning as we prepared the matzah kugel, marinated the brisket and chopped onions. My daughter watched and squealed.
Our food delivery came at four o'clock as promised and my mother said, "We've never gotten delivery from Avenue M." I just pointed to the baby as if to say "Now it's a different ball game, Ma."
It's been a long time since we've had babies at the seder table in Brooklyn. My mother usually does the first seder and my aunt does the second seder in Long Island. But this year I cooked the entire first seder with some help from my mother. I am a new mother and so I wanted to do the cooking. It is an enormous amount of work because a lot of people come to our seder and it made me appreciate my own mother and how hard she worked every holiday.
Because my daughter is from an interfaith, multi-lingual family we have a special hagaddah for her. That's the book we read from on Passover. Her book is in Spanish, English and Hebrew. It was special to share the Passover story with my daughter and Adrian so that they can understand what we celebrate and why.
That's another thing about my neighborhood. My interfaith family has become the latest gossip. Sometimes it's hard to break the barriers of age-old tradition and make room for new tradition. I understand that when I walk through Midwood with Adrian and my daughter, people stare. People whisper. People can be cruel. But the lesson of Passover is that we should never let ignorance lead us. The only way Moses parted the Red Sea was because he believed in what he was doing and ignored everything negative around him.
My daughter is a light, a path to a new world. There is a Jewish proverb that says, "A little bit of light pushes away a lot of darkness." It is this light that compels the people in my local grocery stores to speak to me for the first time in 30 years. It is this light that wins over the many losses my family has endured over the years. My daughter and my nephews are new lights who shine at the Passover table and ask for the first time, "Why is this night different from any other?"
Choosing to Celebrate Love on Easter Sunday
When we were studying Judaism together as a young couple, it made sense to buy into an "all in" model for a Jewish household. For our future children's sake, if we were choosing to raise them with a religion, we would stick to just one. It would be less confusing, and they could be engaged in a specific spiritual community where they could experience a sense of belonging. This would be better for their development, and would empower them to make well-grounded decisions about their spirituality as adults.
It also made sense that we would respect the religious beliefs of family members who were not Jewish by sharing in their celebrations and participating as guests. Guests who were also loving relatives. We would speak openly about their holidays and lovingly about Eric's personal history celebrating those holidays.
This relatively black and white idea seemed clear when our children were theoretical creatures. Seven-and-a-half years into our very real parenting journey, what I have found is that stepping thoughtfully into the gray area of this proposition not only strengthens our connections to our extended family, but also strengthens our nuclear family connectivity.
The "all in" model assumed we did not let Christian holidays into our home life, but we did celebrate them in our families' homes. This simple idea is complicated by the 2,000 miles between our home and Eric's parents' and sister's homes.
On days like Easter Sunday, we can get our heads around the Easter Bunny not coming to our house, and around the impossibility of teleporting to Colorado. But both Eric and I have trouble getting our heads around not doing something to mark a day so important to our heritage and celebrated by our closest family members.
So here's where we are right now, as of Easter 2016. We don't celebrate Easter with a visit to church or the corresponding new Easter dresses. We do cherish the Easter eggs we get from Eric's parents, and the celebrations we share with friends who celebrate the holiday. And as a foursome, we celebrate that it is a day to think about and be with family, and to do something out of the ordinary that celebrates our lives together.
For us, this year, it was a fancier-than-usual breakfast with all the bells and whistles. Considering this breakfast, I can't help but think two things. First, I have witnessed as a parent how much children benefit from whatever black and white explanations we can provide for things as complicated as religion. On the other hand, if the gray area between celebrating something "all in" and not doing anything is finding an extra reason to celebrate love and family, there can't possibly be anything negative about spending quality time in the gray.
My Catholic Boyfriend Moves In
In post-divorce life, it occurred to me that it had been over 13 years since the last time I went on a date. Not only did I have no idea what I was doing in this new life, but the rules had changed. Online dating was the norm, and as a busy mom of two who still didn't have a very large network here in Maine, it was the reality of meeting people and getting back out there. I fully intended to find love in my life again with a significant other and didn't rule out the possibility that one day maybe I'd even remarry, but in the meantime I wanted to have FUN, boost my confidence a little and learn about myself in the process.
I signed up for myriad online dating sites, and even allowed my mom to convince me to join JDate, knowing that the prospects of meeting a Jewish man where I live were pretty slim, and even laughable when my 100 percent match on the site was my ex-husband. After my Jewish/Jewish marriage ended, I wasn't focused on finding a lifelong mate – and honestly never thought twice about interfaith dating. After all, most of my past boyfriends weren't Jewish, and besides, I didn't want to close myself off to the possibility of meeting someone great who might not share in my religious beliefs.
So my dating adventure began. It was sometimes downright disastrous and funny, often thought provoking, and even yielded a handful of friendships. Some of these dates turned into short-lived relationships; others etched their way into my heart and stuck around for a long time. But through it all there was one constant: My children come first and they will not be part of my dating life.
It's not that the kids were clueless and thought that Mommy sat home every night that they weren't with me. (I share residency with their dad 50/50 so the idea of having time to go out was new to ME too!) But their concept of mommy having a boyfriend was that I loved listening to Adam Levine sing on the radio. Roxy, being almost 9, was a little more intuitive, realizing that just maybe I was going on dates and was sometimes even brave enough to ask me about it. Everett's 6 and cares more about playing Legos and avoiding girls with cooties, so with him it was a non-issue. My answers to Roxy were always vague, even when I was in a relationship with someone, because I had no intention of crossing that line. I didn't want the kids to feel threatened that my affection was going elsewhere, I didn't want them to be freaked out that there could be another male figure in their lives knowing they were still dealing with the aftermath of divorce, and quite honestly, they are the center of my universe. No man was going to be remotely part of their lives unless I knew he was "the one" and not going anywhere for a long, long time. My separate dating life remained that way and it was perfect.
Until the day I met Matt.
There's that whole cliché of when you meet your person, your future, your soulmate and you just KNOW. There's no explanation, there's no magic formula and sometimes it just happens. Usually when you least expect it. In Yiddish there's a term for this, called finding your "bashert." And when I met Matt, well, just like that the rules changed. Because I knew. And he knew. But we've both been there, done that, so there's no rush for something sparkly on my ring finger, even with the knowing.
We treaded carefully with the kids – both with his son and my two kids. I told them he existed, and their questions were: Does he make you happy and treat you nice? My thoughtful children made their first meeting easy and fun, as we joined friends at a major league baseball game. Everett conned Matt into buying him a giant ice cream and Roxy wormed her way into being his bestie. Relief and easy banter between the three of them over the months since has become the norm, with all three kids getting to know one another, Matt meeting my family, the kids and I meeting his family, and daily life has gone on without missing a beat. They accept each other fully and the kids don't even think twice about Matt not sharing the same faith.
It's more than I could have hoped for, finding a love like this and learning what makes us family. We made the decision that over the next few weeks, Matt will be moving in, because the reality is that being together, in the same place, just makes sense. It wasn't an easy decision to come to, because first and foremost this is where THEY live. I sat them down and talked to them about it last week, letting them know about this new plan. I was nervous to tell them, but shouldn't have been as they simultaneously cheered and when I asked if they had any questions about this new living arrangement, their only concern was: Please tell me he's bringing his TV because it's bigger. We can get more channels now, right?!? Oh my cable-deprived children will be quite all right with this transition, but as I look around my house, I've come to some realizations.
As I write this post, today is two years since I bought this house, built from the ground up with decisions made by me AND the kids on what color the roof should be, what kind of countertops, what flooring. I made this house happen somehow on my own, one of the scariest, bravest things I've ever done. Yet up until this point it has never felt truly like home. We live here, it has our stuff in it, but the thought of Matt moving in and us decorating and rearranging furniture truly excites me. Being able to share in the process with someone is special and turning this space into warmth and family and comfort? I have no words to describe what that means to me. I'm ready for this next phase but also know there's going to be plenty of questions and discussions as we start this part of the journey.
I have always had a Jewish house. The kids and I are Jewish and I worked professionally in the Jewish community for a long time, so I guess it makes sense. There's a mezuzah on the front door. There's a whole shelf in the living room filled with Jewish ritual objects, from menorahs to Kiddush cups to Havdalah sets. I have a pile of artwork, some in Hebrew that I still haven't gotten around to hanging up. There are wall hangings and wooden camels brought back from trips to Israel. There are yarmulkes and Siddurs (prayer books) on bookshelves in several rooms. There's no question when you walk in that Jews live here. And I never questioned it before now.
I can't think of even one of my friends of another faith, especially here in Maine, who have homes that I'd walk into and immediately be able to identify them as Christian. I don't know many people who keep crosses on their walls or Buddhist altars in their mudrooms. Yet I have a Jewish house, one that my Irish Catholic boyfriend will soon move into. I know that we will find a balance with his comfort zone, and that come December, where the Christmas tree will go. My Jewish home will morph into something that will reflect all of us, with each of us adding pieces of ourselves to the blank canvas of the rooms and walls that surround us.
Matt and I might not share the same religion, but I'm hopeful that as we continue to grow as a couple, the one thing people will notice when they walk into my house a month from now, six months from now, is that it's really a home, filled with joy and love and understanding.
Do We Need an Interfaith Community?
Where do Jewish-Christian interfaith families turn to find a community of like-minded souls? A church and a synagogue? A third-space option such as Unitarian Universalism, or an interfaith Sunday school that includes both traditions? What about muddling through without religious community, either due to living largely secular, busy lives or an inability to find out what might work best?
These questions have been on my mind lately as my family has participated in a tiny, fledgling interfaith group in Chicago's North Shore. The group started enthusiastically last summer with a planning meeting and several families, only to see attendance decline over the course of the fall.
What happened to the initial enthusiasm? The group met monthly, alternating between a local synagogue and Episcopal church, both of which congregations had histories of friendliness to intermarried couples and families. We gathered for an hour once a month, with crafts for our children and conversation about holidays for the parents.
The idea—to learn about holidays based on the liturgical years of Judaism and Christianity—seemed promising at the start. Holidays offer one of the easiest entrees into an unfamiliar religious community, so the topic held promise.
Yet over the course of the fall, participation drifted away. My family attended eagerly at first, but at the second meeting, and then the third, my children wondered where we were going. Who would we see? Which church was this again, and had they been there before? Why couldn't they stay with their parents, and why did they have to go off and do crafts with a babysitter they couldn't remember? I sympathized with their questions: Even with nametags, I didn't feel confident that I remembered the other participants from month to month.
One afternoon in December, both of my kids had colds and felt exhausted from their swimming lessons earlier that Sunday morning. My husband wanted to stay home and cheer on his favorite football team in their run for the playoffs, and knowing how he felt about his team, didn't want to drag him away from the important event.
As it turned out, only one family attended that afternoon, a new family looking for an interfaith community. No one else, except the clergy, were in attendance to greet or welcome them.
What had happened? The group started with perhaps a conflicting set of goals. Would the group offer a "third option" for interfaith families along the model of The Interfaith Union School in Chicago or Washington, D.C.,'s Interfaith Families Project? What would be the role of the two clergy who offered so generously of their time? Certainly, they each welcomed all the families to their own congregations, a Reform Jewish congregation and a liberal Episcopalian parish.
The success of groups like this require families like mine to think about these questions, even if obliquely. What kind of interfaith community do we want? Do we want a third space option through which our children can learn about both traditions? And wouldn't this option be convenient: we hardly have the time or clarity to set down roots in one congregation in one tradition, much less in a third?
For families already involved in other congregations in the area, the idea that they could also find both time and emotional energy to invest in a new "third space" option alongside other religious commitments boggled my mind. If any family can find time for possibly three religious groups, plus the myriad other activities with which modern family life consumes itself—from work to school, friends, sports, extra-curricular activities and other options unexplored—my family wasn't one of them.
In fact, my family's consistent participation in organized religion remains a question mark. While our daughters dance on Saturday mornings and swim on Sundays, what sometimes seems to be a slippery slide into being religious "nones" dances around the edges of our schedule. As much as we love our children, we parents long to do other things with our mornings: visit museums, go on bike rides when the weather warms, and as we make this list, finding religious community slips farther down on the list. Our dance steps falter and we crash headlong against the difficulty of doing even most of what we would like to do, much less doing it all.
I don't know what will happen to this particular fledgling interfaith religious community. So many variables come into play as each family decides what to do with their own lives, schedules and priorities: to participate in religious community, or not participate at all? How to fit in what can seem like just one more activity, one more commitment among the many deserving possibilities that need our time?
No one family's answer will fit for all, but perhaps, with luck and effort, enough similarities will emerge and a way forward will coalesce for a critical mass of interfaith parents and children.
How has your interfaith family answered the challenge of religious community in a busy world?
Healing the World is Our Every Day
Last Spring, I had the privilege of representing my synagogue at a remarkable social justice conference organized by the Reform Movement's Religious Action Center, called Consultation on Conscience. Highlights included three days of world leaders, Jewish and not, educating the attendees about social justice issues, workshops on making a difference in our communities, luncheons for idea sharing between congregations and lobbying on Capitol Hill.
I flew to Washington, DC, without the kids, explaining that mommy was going to be learning about different ways to help people with a whole bunch of others from synagogues around the country. They didn't flinch knowing I'd be away for half a week, because by now, my kids have figured out that their mom's DNA is made up of living tikkun olam, "healing the world" – and that it was going to make me happy to be able to teach them what I learned and hopefully as a family put it into action. Little did they know how much of an impact this conference would have on all of us, almost a year later, or what we'd ALL learn by doing.
I came home energized, with a renewed passion for social justice, which is what these types of events are supposed to do. There was an expectation that in return for my attendance at the conference, I would implement some kind of program or event at my synagogue. What has followed throughout the summer and into the school year has been a comprehensive three-pronged tikkun olam program once a month in place of regular Hebrew school classes involving education, action and advocacy for grades 1-6.
I'm so proud to watch it grow each month, as we explore topics together as families that the kids themselves asked to work on; things like hunger and homelessness, animal welfare and the environment. These topics are explored a step further by looking at them with a Jewish lens, and what Judaism teaches us about how to react, question and more. What makes this truly unique is that we're doing this specifically as a FAMILY program, at a Reform congregation where the membership here in Maine is probably at least 60% interfaith families (it truly may be higher), and EVERYONE participates.
It's a special thing to see parents and children (as young as 6 to 12 years old) discussing difficult issues, trying to come up with solutions, learning together and recognizing that no matter if Dad is Jewish and Mom is not, or Grandma and Grandpa take the kids to Hebrew school because neither parent feels closely connected – that there's a place for everyone at the table because we're all in this world together. We remove politics from the picture and let the kids be the stars of the show. Their voices are heard loudly and clearly as we give the kids the chance to speak their minds and be heard, in a world where adults often tell kids how they should feel or what they should think. While the Jewish concepts bring us together, it's the issues the kids care about deeply that unite us.
After a recent monthly program that they were particularly excited about, Roxy and Everett (my kids) asked me if Matt (my boyfriend who is not Jewish) knew what tikkun olam was. And I had to answer them honestly and say no (at which point they freaked out at me and thought it was crazy) because it occurred to me that not once over the course of our relationship have I explained to him what's become a pretty central concept in our family. It's not like he doesn't know that I go to my synagogue every couple weeks and work on putting together the activities for these programs. It's not like he doesn't know that I'm involved in planning this stuff. It's not like he doesn't know that volunteering and helping others is something the kids and I do. It's not like he doesn't know any of these things about me or the kids. But I've never said to him the words tikkun olam, and I'm not quite sure why.
The kids seem to create their own separations between what is their "Jewish" life and what is their "secular" life, knowing that often times things bleed together. I have a harder time creating a separation, because so much of my life is formed by my Jewish identity, yet when it comes to my relationship, the kids think it's clear cut. Sometimes I still think I'm living in a weird gray area where I wish I didn't have to explain things – to him OR to the kids. In those moments I step back and remind myself of what happens during those programs, when the families are coming together from different backgrounds and religions and are still one cohesive unit. And I remind myself, this is truly what family is: learning with and about one another as we grow together. Tikkun olam isn't always just healing the giant world, it's also healing our OWN worlds as we find ways to explain ourselves one another.
The Ghosts of My Grandmothers or How We Named Our Newborn
Some people believe that when a child is born the angel of death and the angel of mercy stand in the room side by side. During the delivery of my baby I watched the monitor as her heart rate dropped and lifted with every contraction. "The cord is wrapped around her neck," the doctor said, "don't worry this is very common."
In Hebrew the Malach Hamavet, the angel of death, is a warning. He is sent by God to show how precious life is. He is the angel who made himself known to David, Samuel and Moses and he was in my delivery room making everybody nervous.
My partner, Adrian, who is originally from Mexico is not afraid of the angel of death. The Catholics in Mexico have a Saint that signifies death; they call her "La Muerte" and she is a good luck charm. Day of the Dead in Mexico celebrates death. People bring food to the graves of the ones who had passed. They actually cook the favorite meals of the deceased and bring them to the cemeteries as a celebration.
"Don't worry, don't worry…" Adrian said even though with all his faith in God and the Virgin and even La Muerte I could see fear in his eyes.
How could I not worry? This was my first child. I had carried her for nine months. I had taken all of my vitamins, exercised, eaten right and slept well. I wanted her journey into this world to be safe and harmless. That would be too easy though. Even when my doctor asked me three months before delivery if I had a birth plan, I said "No" and she said, "That doesn't matter. Anything you plan never goes as planned anyway."
I did what any Jewish girl from Brooklyn trapped in a room with the Angel of Death would do: I called on the ghosts of my Grandmothers.
Grandma Helen had been a social worker. She was a Barnard Graduate when women were not pushed to go to school. When her son, my uncle, had some trouble she sold her wedding ring to send him into therapy. Grandma Rosie raised four boys, two of her own and two of her sisters'. She read the stocks every day and always had Tanqueray gin and Canada Dry tonic water in her fridge until the day she passed away.
The greatest thing about being with Adrian is that his beliefs and my beliefs often merge and intertwine. He didn't think it was at all strange that I had propped up photos of my two Grandmothers in the delivery room. He knew La Muerte was there and she was cunning. I felt the Malach Hamavet and he was filing his nails waiting for my next move.
When the ghosts of Grandma Helen and Grandma Rosie showed up, death packed up his things and left. I pictured my Grandmothers barging in with plaid suitcases and polka dot dresses pulling a cigarette out from Death's lips and pointing to the door. My Grandmothers basically took over and stood behind the doctor as I pushed for forty minutes. On the last push as the baby came out I saw the cord around her neck. A nurse reached over to take the baby and the doctor smacked the nurse's hand away and untied the cord from my daughter's neck faster than I thought was possible. In my heart I knew it was my Grandmother untying that cord. No doctor in his or her right mind would smack a nurse's hand away. Grandma Rosie would do that.
If my newborn had been born a boy we would have named him David, for my father and Zacharias for Adrian's grandfather. Because the baby is a girl her name was easy for us to choose: Helen Rose. She took Adrian's last name to symbolize both of our cultures. She took my two Grandmothers' names to symbolize strength.
What's unique about interfaith families is that there is always more than one way to do something. Two faiths offer more choices. Now on the Day of the Dead we won't only bring traditional Mexican dishes to Adrian's deceased family members, we will bring plates of food to my Grandmothers as well. On Day of the Dead we will cook for my father, for my grandfathers and for my Uncle Mark. The menu will be a mix of pastrami on rye, borscht, perogis and other favorite dishes of my family.
Baby Helen Rose will witness a coming together of cultures, a mixture of faiths and we will continue to highlight the importance of both as a presence in her life. She will learn the Hebrew prayer for mourning called "Kaddish" and we will light candles in memory of those who have passed on. When she is old enough I will show her photographs of Grandma Helen and Grandma Rosie and explain that these women live on in her. They come back to life once a year on the Day of the Dead. They put down their plaid suitcases and straighten their skirts and like most Jewish women in my family they ask the same question when their ghosts arrive each year: "What time do we eat?"


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Mom's Pork Chop Casserole
Total Time
Prep 15 mins
Cook 45 mins
A childhood favorite of mine. Brings back memories of cold winter evenings and warm family dinners. Mom always had a hot dinner on the table when Dad got home from work and every one would enjoy the bounty. Use bone-in chops because they have the most flavor. Serve with a crusty rye bread so as not to waste a drop of the yummy juices! Hope you enjoy this scrumptious and easy to prepare comfort food!
Ingredients Nutrition
- 6 pork chops
- 3 large potatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 2 large onions, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Season chops with salt and pepper.
- Brown well on both sides in skillet.
- Layer chops, potatoes and onions in dutch oven.
- Pour tomatoes over top.
- Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender and chops fully cooked.
Most Helpful
I wanted something simple to do with pork chops and I am so glad I chose this recipe. Pure comfort food as its best. The flavors meld together beautiful. Thanks Chef this is a keeper.