The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln

The semester has come to an end! Finals week was... interesting, to say the least! My poetry class had a reading at the end of the semester. It was my first reading, which was completely nerve-wracking but wonderful as well. The audience (and the poets) laughed, cried and journeyed to strange lands. The wonderful Sarah came along to cheer me on. Apparently, she almost literally cheered me on. Thank you again for not doing that! ;)

After finishing a paper that night I came down with the stomach flu and was in bed for two days. (Note to self: research immunity boosters for next semester. I think I was sick with one thing or another for a majority of Fall!) Next came work and then, my Jewish History final papers, one of which was on the book The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln. I read the book in one night so that I could write my paper and I have to say that reading the book in so short a period of time did not do justice to the book. It was extremely interesting to read a first-hand account of what life was like at this time and it was actually quite easy to read. But it was a bit much to read in one night! I would like to read it again, more slowly, reading a book at a time. This particular quote stood out to me because it represents Gluckel's outlook on life throughout the book and is one of those "putting things into perspective" quotes that really hit me:

“Even if our sages say « it is better not to be born, » meaning that men have so much to endure in this sinful world, still I thank and praise my Creator that He made me according to His will and beg Him to take me under His holy charge.”

So, coming up this week I promise I will write about one of my favorite photographer's and I'll start working on some book and movie reviews.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

While finishing up my poetry manuscript today (yep, that's right, my senior project is done!) I decided to do some baking. I've had my eye on this biscotti ever since the recipe was posted. I do all my mixing by hand, instead of with an electric beater, but other than that I stayed true to the recipe. The biscotti is excellent! I definitely recommend trying it out. I'm sorry the pictures aren't that great today; this pair of contacts has been bothering me.

Electricity, How I Love Thee...

Winter has hit the Midwest! It arrived fast, with a huge snowstorm on Friday. The snow was waterlogged and heavy. On Saturday, it took out power for many people in the Cities, including me. I didn't get it back until Monday.



This was my first view of the snow outside when I walked upstairs Saturday morning.



I thought it would be fun to write with by candlelight with a glass of wine. It got old after a poem and a half.



By Monday we were tired of living without electricity. We were one of three houses on the block that didn't have electricity so our neighbors connected power cords and brought them to our house so that we could live like cavemen. We were able to set up a crock pot and a coffee pot to heat water so that we could make tea.



Our hibiscus survived the cold!

By the time I got home from swimming on Monday, the electricity was back on! I wondered why it was so much harder to live without electricity here than it was whenever the power went out in Senegal. I came to a few conclusions. 1) In Senegal, appliances (like the stove) use gas so you can still cook. 2) Power outages take place frequently so some places have generators. 3) It's not freezing cold. (Of course, it's really hot and without electricity you can't use a fan for relief.)

This experience has reminded me of how thankful I am for electricity!


It's been awhile since I've blogged but that was done on purpose, I just never explained it here. I decided to take a little hiatus from the blogging world so that I could focus attention on my own personal writing. I had to write a 20 page book of poetry for my senior seminar (my draft was critiqued last night and it went well!), I wrote a book in October and I'm participating in NaNoWriMo right now.

But next week I have off of work and school so you can expect to see me around at that time. I have a few things I'd like to share about books, movies, a talk that I attended by Nicole Krauss (author of The History of Love) and why I predicted the top three couples on Dancing With the Stars.

A Wonderful October Weekend

It's been an unusually hot October but maybe the nice, chilly Fall weather is coming. It was a little on the chilly side yesterday, though still beautiful. Today, I was wearing sweatshirts and socks, and made a mug of one of my favorite cold weather drinks, chai. {Of course, I had to drink it with a cookie straight out of the freezer, my favorite way to eat them! My mom always wondered how the cookies disappeared from the freezer when she'd make a batch and put some in there until recently when she saw me taking one out.}

How was your weekend?

Mine was actually quite fun! It wasn't productive school-wise but I did have a great weekend for writing. I had Friday off so after class on Thursday I came home, made a pot of coffee, and spent the night working on my novel. I made a lot of progress, which felt really good! I also created a full outline for the rest of the book this weekend, so it's nice to finally have a little template to follow.

On Friday I met with Sarah for lunch where we spent a few hours talking about our books and planning for the Sanctuary season premiere. For the premiere, we had a classy meal of pizza, Pirate's Booty and Twizzlers, accompanied by wine. The wine is what made it classy. ;)

After work on Saturday, my friend Mary and I stopped in at the wedding reception of an old friend from our high school days. Our high school days BEFORE graduation. In our before graduation high school days the three of us were like the Three Musketeers, so it was fun to catch up! We talked about the crazy times--running around outside wearing only socks in January, stumbling upon one of their brother's stacks of... well, erm, questionable videos... while looking for a cartoon. When the time for the Dollar Dance came we left and went to the mall for a bit of quick shopping, dinner {with a cute waiter!}, and a run through the bookstore to look at what's there.

Today brought church with Sarah, lunch with my mom at an Indian restaurant we've been interested in trying out and studying. Lots of studying. However, studying time was cut into by a headache that I slept through to get rid of. Sleeping for awhile this afternoon will probably present a problem when I try to go to bed tonight. At least I might be able to complete some of that homework that I missed working on!

I hope everyone out there has a great week ahead!