Sketching Out Blog: Sketches of art, watercolor, photos, recipes, books, interviews, Jewish topics, and Highland Park, New Jersey

Post Pesach Pause

blooming trees in Highland Park, New Jersey
Blossoms on Trees in Highland Park, New Jersey

Those of us recovering? re-emerging? from having celebrated Pesach (no noodles, no bread, no pretzels, no oatmeal, no breakfast cereal except for ones that should be outlawed, no rice if Ashkenazi, no beans if Ashkenazi, no corn chips if Ashkenazi, no peanut butter if Ashkenazi, no popcorn if Ashkenazi and lots of cooking and food and meals) may be experiencing difficulty in reconnecting with the planet. I think a good night sleep tonight for me will help do the trick. More importantly, my kids finally return to school tomorrow, though my eldest sighs it was too short a break.

Any Pesach recuperators having a hard time looking at a potato?

Some great links:

I’m reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I finished Harriet Reisen’s Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. It left me with great admiration for Louisa May Alcott – she worked hard to support her family (never married – she supported parents and sisters), volunteered as a nurse in the Civil War, and in an era when women had few choices of livelihood, became rich and famous. She unfortunately became ill in her middle years and died at age 55 probably of complications from lupus.

Feel free to talk about whatever you like, as long as it’s not rude. (the people who comment on this blog make the world seem like remarkably polite folks – what a group of mensches, that is, good, polite folks).

phyllis says

what do you think of The Magicians? I enjoyed it. Like a grungier grownupier Harry Potter...

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Leora says

I found the Louisa May Alcott book held my interest much more, but I'll finish the book.

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Ilana-Davita says

Thank you for the link. I might try The Magicians when I want something different.
I lke your photo; both the colors and the size.
I also enjoyed your paragraph about the people who comment on your blog.

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Leora says

That paragraph about people who comment was written totally on a whim - sometimes those work out!

Glad you enjoy the photo. My kids were with me, and they protested as soon as they saw my camera. "You are going to take forever," they say.

All of Highland Park looks like that this week - many blossoms. Next week the blossoms will fall.

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Batya says

My father is having trouble remembering tat Pesach has ended and is surprised every time I give him bread.

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Leora says

I felt a little strange cooking spaghetti last night - something about my kitchen still felt like Pesach.

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Mrs. S. says

May we all be privileged to share besurot tovot, yeshu’ot, and nechamot (good tidings, salvation, and consolation).

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Leora says

Amen.

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Daniel Saunders says

I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to recall that Tamar Yellin went to my college at Oxford (so did Rupert Murdoch). I haven't read any of her books, though.

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Leora says

I think you would enjoy The Genizah at the House of Shepher, Daniel. It's about a codex that is passed down in a family. The main character is a biblical scholar. I've been thinking of re-reading it.

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Jew Wishes says

I am anxious to read the Louisa May Alcott book, and am glad you had positive things to say about it.

Thank you for the link. I enjoyed The Genizah at the House of Shepher, and Tamar Yellin did not disappoint me with Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes.

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Leora says

I was certainly more glued to the Louisa May Alcott book than I am to The Magicians, which I still have not finished.

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Carver says

The blossoms are so beautiful. You asked if I have deer that might eat my tulips. We don't have deer in my neighborhood, they are in the subdivisions that are newer than mine and are further out. I have seen squirrels dig up my bulbs so that could be the issue with some of the tulips.

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Leora says

Ah, you are lucky not to have the deer issues. A few blocks closer to the railroad tracks it is very difficult to do any gardening.

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