Continuing to read through my blog roll

Reading through my blog roll is like a trip through memory lane. So many wonderful treasures to be found there. I really need to have things "in my face" to remember them. How to come up with a way to visit these blogs on a more regular basis? Oh, I know .... add about 5 hours to my day! That should do it.

The holidays are over. This week "real life" begins again. In the meantime, I will read through blogs and pretend that I have no responsibilities.

For at least 15 minutes a day.

Check out the innovative art work on this site. http://www.judaicajournal.blogspot.com/

This menorah is one of my favorites.

Conquering computer clutter

In keeping with the new year theme, the time has come to go through the files on my computer and delete everything that's not needed any more.


Starting with my blog roll.


I collect blog addresses like I collect recipes. Click, click, click. Save, save, save. But then I rarely have time to check them all. So that has been the first mountain to climb on this organizing journey.


I've managed to about half the number by removing those no longer relevant, useful or interesting. Much more manageable.


One that will remain is ffoz.org. And now they have a video teaching segment that promises to add much to my spiritual diet.


Check it out.


http://ffoz.org/blogs/2008/12/mishlei_musings_-_balancing_lo.html

So I cracked another book cover already!

Or at least, I popped the CD in the computer. A novel even! "The Chrysalis" by Heather Terrell and Timothi Graham was a very interesting "read".

Loving historical fiction as I do and enjoying also the technique of combining the past and present in alternating chapters, this book satisfied both of these and went one more. It spanned three time periods. The Chrysalis is a painting done by an obscure painter in the late 16oo's (if I remember correctly). Therefore one chapter takes place there with the development of how the painting came to be. The second time period is just previous to WWII when the painting mysteriously disappears when its Jewish owner has his property confiscated (or does he???). The third time period is the present day story of an art auction house that is investigating the true owner of the painting. So there are many layers of plot development to the storyline and much to be learned about art, WWII, art auction houses, investigation and more. It carried me along nicely with my knitting click, click, clicking away.

The one thing that disappointed me was the fact that the artist and painting were fictional. There really was no painting called the Chrysalis that I could find.

Book theft, book madness and cheese...

Books about books - what more could a booklover want? "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak almost slipped through my fingers. In the first few pages we learn that the narrator of the book is Death himself. Weird, I thought. Worth my time? Give it a few more pages, I decided. And I was hooked. This book bursts with words and word pictures. Some authors use the technique of personification to add color to their stories. This book has personification on every page. It's alive with it. If you love words and the images that words conjure up you will love this novel. At the same time it is a heartbreaking story of a young girl growing up in Germany during WWII. "The Book Thief" touched my heart. Take note that Chapters rates this for ages 10 - 12. I found it in the Young Adult section of the library. I wouldn't want my 12 year old son to read it. The language is sometimes questionable and it's too sophisticated a storyline. There are plenty of other books on this time period that would be more suited to this age group.

"The Bookwoman's Last Fling". A murder mystery about books! I love it! John Dunning obviously loves books and horses, as that is the framework of this book. Can we ever have enough books? Is there such a thing as too many? This book will probably give you a bit of a twinge if you're like me and have books everywhere. I finished it in several days and consider it a great summer read. I'll definitely look for others in the Cliff Janeway series.

So that's the book theft and book madness. Where does the cheese come in? In this fast paced world you MUST read (and reread) or in my case, listen to the audio of, "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson. The short parable speaks about change and how we react to it in healthy and unhealthy ways. His amusing metaphors will linger with you and cause you to rethink your reactions to the unavoidable changes that come along in life.

Getting inside someone else's skin

My sixteen year old son and I both enjoyed "Zack" by William Bell. We probably got different things out of it because of the difference in our ages and life perspectives. I'm sure he related to the main character - a teenage boy just starting to stretch his wings and crave independence. The historical aspect of the novel was significant, with a lot of research having gone into it. Basically, this is the story of a young black youth coming to terms with his ancestry - his father a Jew and his mother African/American. I felt it gave me a better understanding of the race issue especially comparing Canadian to American outlooks. This is definitely a young adult book - there are girl/boy episodes that younger children shouldn't be exposed to. And there is a little bit of "language". All in all, though, this is a book well worth reading for the development of the concept and even for the poetic language he includes. Bell paints many mental images through his use of words that certainly add to the depth of the book.

Purim isn't just for the Jews

This weekend I reread a "book within a book" - The Book of Esther in the Bible. What an inspiring story of standing up for what you believe in! Standing up against all odds in spite of danger. I love the celebration of Purim which is the time when Jews (and Christians who call Abraham THEIR father) all over the world remember what Esther did and the freedom that she gained for the Jews of her time. All Jewish holidays have their customs and special foods and Purim is no different. And each time in history brings new ways of looking at old practices. Check out this blog for extraordinary interpretations of traditional Purim and Passover objects.

I made hamentashen cookies for my kids in Sunday School (we watched a NestFamily DVD on Esther). The poppyseed filling they were very leery of but the raspberry and apricot were a great hit. Hamentashen are a somewhat picky to make. The dough is best if you chill it for a few hours and then roll it out in several batches. I used a drinking glass as my circle cutter - make sure to dip the glass in flour each time. Put a SMALL teaspoon of filling on the circle of dough, pinch three sides up to make the triangular shape, bake and enjoy. I like them best fresh, but they're tasty the next day too. Make lots - everyone will want more than one or two. I saw a recipe on the net somewhere for cherry filling cookies - I'll try those next year.

In the Twinkling of an Eye

Some books just beg to be picked up and "In the Twinkling of an Eye" was one of those. Although a paperback, it has the look of an antique book because of the way they have photo-texturized the cover. It also has a "good heft", meaning it just feels good in your hands. I picked it up at a homeschool convention on spec, never having heard of it before. The back cover spoke of the rapture and that intrigued me. Sometimes you buy a book on impulse and it turns out to be exactly what you like to read. This book reminded me very much of "In His Steps", which challenges us with the question "what would Jesus do?". "In the Twinkling of an Eye" is set in the late 1800's and puts forward the question "are you ready for Jesus to come?". What made the book especially stimulating for me was all the Jewish insights that were brought out, as I have a deep interest in anything Jewish. In fact, one subplot in the book was the developing awareness of several Jewish people that the Messiah had indeed come two thousand years before and will come again. While I didn't find the book to be riveting, it certainly raised some provocative ideas and was challenging in its position that all the conditions are in place to indicate that Jesus could be coming back at any time.