Category Archives: Ramblings

Banning the burka

Movements are underway all over the world to ban the wearing in public of the burqa, the niqab, and other garments worn by some Muslim women.  Most recently, the lower house of Belgium’s parliament has just passed a burqa ban, although it will not become law unless / until it is also passed by the… Read More »

Review of My First Big Book: Jack and the Beanstalk

My First Big Book: Jack and the Beanstalk By Jeff Macon, Michelle Macon, and Monica Chang 23 pp. Allen Chao/Innovage $20 ISBN 1-58805-807-7 One cannot help but admire the courage of any author who strives to follow in the footsteps of Tabart and Jacobs by reinterpreting this timeless classic.  Jeff Macon, Michelle Macon, and Monica… Read More »

On sugar bowls and psychology

We have a ceramic sugar bowl with a loop on the side which holds a small sugar spoon. When the spoon is inserted with the open side of the spoon facing the bowl, it fits properly, all the way into the loop. When the spoon is inserted with the rounded bottom fo the spoon facing… Read More »

Destined for happiness

Sighted downtown today, a young couple holding hands, with “matching” T-shirts. Hers: “I always get what I want.” His: “It’s all about me.” This pair is surely destined for a long, happy life together.  

A present I would rather have done without

There has been a polite little family of mice sharing our house, aside from the domesticated variety safely ensconced in their aquarium. I call them polite because they never left droppings anywhere in plain sight, and because they resisted all human food, confining their snacking to the commercial mouse food in our bathroom closet and… Read More »

Too clever by half, then not clever enough

Upon our arrival in Cleveland last Friday afternoon after a three-day drive from Boston, we hastily emptied the car before the start of the Sabbath.  Imagine my dismay to discover that the duffel bag containing all of my clothes was missing!  I had put my clothes for the trip in my backpack, so that I… Read More »