I learned through Twitter that the husband of Trip’n Mommy, sometimes known as Trip’n Daddy, has died after his battle with lymphoma. His name in real life is Barry Shuter. Sometimes, if you read enough of someone’s tweets, you feel like you know them. Trip’n Mommy has a blog called Trip’n Up, named after her triplets.
May his wife and children be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Update: Ruti Mizrachi wrote a post Barry, we hardly knew ye.
Ilana-Davita presents JPIX – The Spring Edition. See some beautiful photos by bloggers from Israel, the U.S., Ukraine, New Zealand and France. Oh, see three paintings, too! Enjoy.
Update: Batya has volunteered to do a JPiX in early August. Thank you, Batya!
Mrs. S. hosts the Kosher Cooking Carnival for the first month of Adar (we have two this year – extra happiness). There’s tamarind date cake, eggplant filled with bulghur, lemonade, brownies, creamy parsnip soup and more.
And in New Jersey we have: snow! What a surprise (not). I decided to travel around the world via blogs and see what the weather is like elsewhere.
 In Australia, on Gemma’s blog – flooding |
 In Canada, EG Wow – snowy creek |
 In France, Ilana-Davita – cold, snowy park |
 In Israel, Batya – blue skies |
For more Nature Notes:
Today was the first full day Ilana-Davita had her new header (that I designed) on her blog. And she wrote the post above to introduce the header.
Thank you, Ilana-Davita, it was a pleasure to have you as a client.
Chanuka is over, until next year, but I still have photos to share! This one is of the shamash; my husband and my three children are all holding their own as they say the bracha (blessing) before lighting the candles. The shamash is the helper and does not count as one of the 8 lights of Chanuka.
Yesterday I went to a lovely party. Some child had taken a whole plate of fancy chocolate candies and had nibbled exactly one bite out of each one. My friend the hostess was not amused. She considered putting up a sign: for adults only. I said maybe the parent should eat the candy if the child wants to try. Of course, then my daughter took one bite of a chocolate covered marshmallow candy without realizing it was marshmallow, and I had no interest in eating it. What do you think?
I loved this: do you hear in your house – “Are you going to put that on the blog?“
A belated thank you to G6 for posting this photo of night two of Chanukah as part of her Pirsum Project, a project to publicize the miracle of Chanukah. She posted some interesting photos such as a quilted chanukiah wall hanging in Jerusalem and this one of an heirloom chanukiah from the 1700’s. On her most recent post she promises: “There WILL be more photo memes in the future.”
And don’t forget to send your favorites to JPiX, the Jewish photo bloggers’ carnival. Next edition will be here on this blog on December 26th.
Miriyummy did a lovely Kosher Cooking Carnival. Thank you for including kid-friendly spicy potatoes and no-cook pea salad.
I met Debbie about 15 years ago at a class given by Rabbi Bassous at Congregation Etz Ahaim, when my eldest was a baby. You can learn more about Debbie by reading her Bayit and Garden blog, then scroll down to the bottom of any post and read one of her many other blogs. Or visit one of her stores on the right sidebar of her blog. Debbie always has something interesting to say, so I knew she would come up with some great answers to my writing questions. Enjoy.
1) When did you realize that you like to write?
I really don’t know. I do remember writing poetry and Haiku – I still remember a few – when I was 7 I wrote a poem about Helen Keller:
I also wrote a Limerick about Pesah (Passover):
But I don’t remember actually writing stories. I would make them up in my head to help me fall asleep, but I rarely wrote them down. I did write for the school newspaper in elementary school and college (not high school, strangely enough) and I even had my own little “newspaper” I did on a pad and called “the Deli News”.
2) When did you realize that you like to read?
I learned to read when I was about 4 (I learned to read Hebrew before I learned how to read English – I learned both from my parents) and I used to like to read signs and Dr. Seuss books. But when reading got harder (no pictures, lots of words per page) I lost interest. Well, I still liked reading biographies and other non-fiction that I DIDN’T have to read for school. I reacquired a love of reading as an adult.
3) Which authors influenced you in your youth? Which authors or writers influence you now?
When I was younger, I loved Dr. Seuss, but I also loved those orange covered biographies – my brother and I read the John Quincy Adams biography over and over again.
I was influenced at one point by Oscar Wilde, but also by Rod Serling and all those books and stories we read in Hebrew classes. I’m not sure who influences me now – I love JK Rowling and Angie Sage, Rochelle Krich, Sharan Newman, Anne George. I also was influenced by articles I have read, my tech writing instructor, and some of my high school teachers.
4) Have you ever taken a creative writing course?
Once, when I was in high school, I took a creative writing class as part of an art and music summer program that the city I lived in offered. I didn’t really learn much; the teacher was really more interested in drama (which she taught for a double period) and for the most part ignored the writing students.
5) Have you ever studied journalism?
I majored in TV/Radio, took some journalism classes, wrote for the newspaper and had a sports program on the radio once a week.
6) Do you find writing or talking an easier way to express yourself, or are both writing and talking similar vehicles of self-expression for you?
I usually find talking easier, but there are times when writing helps me organize my thoughts and points. This is particularly true when I’m writing about politics, religion or emotions.
7) Have you written short stories or poetry (or would you like to do so)?
Yes, I wrote my first picture book “The Princess Who Wanted to be Beautiful” and illustrated it myself. I also printed some copies out on my computer printer. I’m still trying to convert it (and another picture book, “The God Star”) to .pdf format so I can sell it on line. I also wrote a cookbook (that is available on line) and “The Single File” (a collection of singles articles I wrote) and “Zoning Out” (a collection of “Twilight Zone” style stories), which I would also like to find a way to sell on line.
I asked Debbie to provide a favorite quote or poem. Here are her selections:
Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)
And
NEVER saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.
I also love “Jabberwocky” “Father William” and the beginning of “The Walrus and Carpenter” (I don’t like the part where they eat the oysters) by Lewis Carroll (I can quote “Jabberwocky” word for word and large portions of the other two – I can also recite the two poems above).
Among my favorite quotes are:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
“I can resist anything but temptation.” Oscar Wilde
“You no canna fool me, there’s no such thing as a sanity clause.” Chico Marx
Veggies on Parade, design by Debbie• • •
Thanks, Debbie!
