more on the lemon tree

In my last post I was talking about how much I liked The Lemon Tree. Here is the NPR link to the original story, sent to me by my friend Paula who is also reading the book. It's great to hear their voices!

http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/on-writing

4 books and a pair of mittens

My nephew Jonah is turning 4 (four!!) and the girls and I made him this pair of mittens from a felted sweater from Morgies (Good Will). I got the idea for combining it with the book The Mitten from Write Mama Write http://writemamawrite.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/mitten-tutorial.html



I've been reading a lot of great books lately:

The Heretic's Daughter--great historical fiction about the Salem Witch trials written by a descendent of one of the accused--I got to hear her speak at Porter Square books--fabulous!
The Lemon Tree--the story of the Israeli family who moves into an old Arab house in 1948 and the Palestinian family who were forced out
The House at Sugar Beach--a memoir about a Liberian childhood
The Zookeeper's Wife--true story of a Polish couple who hid Jews in their Zoo during the Polish occupation, beautifully written

hangin' out at home

The weather has taken a turn for the cold and I twisted my ankle and well, I already mentioned the puppy, all of which are conspiring to keep us at home. I've been reading The Heretic's Daughter, which is excellent, historical fiction about the Salem witch trials written by a descendant of some of the accused and The Magic of Fire, a beautiful book about hearth cooking, with lots of recipes and folk lore. We made cookies and bean stew with beans I ordered from Rancho Gordo.

Rebecca sewed a skirt using the free pattern at http://www.oliverands.com/.

I made 2 pairs of mittens and one pair of fingerless gloves out of felted sweaters. The mitten pattern is from Warm Fuzzies by Betz White.

Sophie woke up one morning recently and said "I want to sew a pair of pajama pants!" And competent kid that she is--here they are.

summer ramblings

Well summer is flying along and I finally got my rain barrels from www.nerainbarrel.com. They are totally nice there and they work to keep rain barrels affordable--at $66 they are half what they are other places, but you have to pick them up at one of their drop offs. They're almost done for the year, but next summer . . . if you need a rain barrel . . .

I totally recommend Merle's Door--maybe the best man and dog book I've read. I got the cds of it out of the library and now the kids are listening to it too. Totally makes me want to move to Wyoming. I also really liked Goat Walking about how to head out into the desert with just a couple of goats and what smart animals goats are and how to live with them.

I finally went to the www.montaguebookmill.com. "Books you don't need in a place you can't find." Definately worth a visit if you're out in western Mass. It's a beautiful old mill. They have lots of used books and comfy chairs to sit in while you check them out.