Location: The park on the way home from school.Me (singing): . . . I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee . . .Four-year-old (laughing): You have clouds in your coffee?Me: Not me, the woman in the song. It means she's sad.The two children draw blank looks.Me: Do you like it when it's sunny … [Read more...]
Writing Group Exercise: Show, Don’t Tell
November 12, 2008 by
In our local writers' group Mimi and I have been experimenting with different approaches . So far, we have assigned free-writing exercises and discussed writing technique. Lately we have added critique. But we decided that looking at examples of good writing would be more useful than just talking. … [Read more...]
Paamonim:The long, shorter way to get out of debt
November 11, 2008 by
Paamonim is an organization, operating mainly in the national religious community, that helps middle class families manage their budgets and pay off debts. In Friday's alon Matzav Haruach, Rachel Klein wrote about Paamonim and spoke with its director, Uriel Lederberg."Dina," a single mother of … [Read more...]
Judge’s Garb an Issue in Child Abuse Trial
November 9, 2008 by
Ynet has news on the trial of the mother of twelve from Beit Shemesh who has been accused of child abuse.The mentally handicapped son is scheduled to testify. In an unusual move, the judge and lawyers will wear civilian clothing, because the traditional black cloaks normally required by law might … [Read more...]
Petach Tikva: Election Issues
November 8, 2008 by
In light of my previous post, Lion of Zion asked about the issues in the upcoming municipal elections.We will cast two ballots this Tuesday, one for the local council (27 seats) and another for mayor. This year 159,000 residents have voting rights, beginning at age 17. The incumbent mayor, Itzik … [Read more...]
Municipal Elections: Update
November 6, 2008 by
You don't need to register in order to vote in Israel--you just need to bring your teudat zehut (identity card) to the voting location. Usually, we get a notice listing the location and precinct number. So far we haven't, so I called the number of the Interior Ministry listed in the AACI … [Read more...]
Reading the "Little House" books
November 5, 2008 by
I've been reading the Little House series of books to my seven-year-old son Y. He loves them, even the rather slow descriptions of the prairie landscape in The House on Plum Creek.I remember a discussion on a Jewish blog about whether the description of killing and cooking a pig in the first book, … [Read more...]
Commenting on Comments: Building a Blog Community
November 4, 2008 by
One of my favorite things about blogging has been connecting with my readers. I especially enjoy the comments section here--it is often more interesting than the original post.When I first began blogging, I scanned the blog frequently for comments until I realized that I could set Blogger to send me … [Read more...]
Links: Feminist Siddur, Carnivals
November 3, 2008 by
Lion of Zion posts about an Italian siddur with a special blessing said by women, "thanking God for making me female and not male."A beautiful JPix Carnival by artistic Leora. I'm hosting the next one--please send posts with pictures to jpixcarnival@gmail.com. Blog Carnival has been down for a … [Read more...]
How Do Parents of Large Families Manage? Meet Tal and Talia
November 3, 2008 by
On Orthonomics a guest post about Orthodox homeschooling generated the following comment by "l": One problem that parents encounter is that in families where there are both older and very young children, the toddlers and infants often require many hours a day of the parents' care and leave little … [Read more...]
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