NIBIRU SYSTEM – Planet X in our Hemisphere and Visible

Yet ANOTHER one SOARS off of the Sun! 
Planet X Steller Cores (orbs)



Physicist Report 500: The Sun is no longer shining review



Planet X Reaches the Sun

The Top 10 Sweet and Savoury Recipes from 2018

Hello Dear Reader,

Firstly I want to say Happy New Year to all my lovely readers and followers, I hope 2019 is kind to all of us, that you and yours stay safe, happy and healthy. I love a new year and all the hope that comes with it, it is a chance to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. I've opened my new diary this morning and written up a few things that I want to get done today, that is something I also love, writing up the plan for the first day of the new year as I feel it sets the tone for the year ahead.

Just like last year, I thought I would do a round up of the top 10 favourite Sweet and Savoury recipes of 2018. I think they are all wonderful recipes, ones that I love the taste of and also love the how easy they are.  None of my recipes are hard, they don't use a lot of ingredients and don't take a lot of time to make either. I aim for variety so I think there is something for everyone.

I totally agree with you in loving the Veggie Shepherds pie the most out of all the savoury dishes I made last year, it is so delicious with loads of "meaty" gravy smothering the lovely veg, I think it is the rosemary, in particular, that invokes the "meatiness flavour" and you really don't notice the absence of meat at all.

In the sweet category, however, I have to disagree with you, my favourite recipe is the Sticky Ginger Pudding, I just love this one so much, that I made it for our Christmas Pudding this year. It was well received amongst extended family and was all gone by the end of our long Christmas Lunch. Nothing says "that was delicious" more that a clean dish.

Now on with your favourite sweet and savoury dishes of 2018-

Top 10 Savoury Recipes for 2018

1. Veggie Shepherds Pie-1150

2. My Best Falafel Recipe-738

3. Easy Thai Peanut Chicken Curry-527

4. Moroccan Spiced Cottage Pie-490

5.Thai Inspired Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato and Spinach-459

6. Thai Inspired Pumpkin Soup-398

7. How to cook fluffy Quinoa-397

8. Rissoles in Mushroom Gravy-384

9. Curried Beef Sausage Rolls-358

10. Slow Cooked Beef Bourguignon-358

Top 10 Sweet Recipes for 2018

1. No Mixing Bowl, Chocolate Cake-477

2. Apple Dutch Baby-457

3. Whole Orange Cake-439

4. And We're Off, But Just One More Thing Before I Go-321

5. Blondies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts-294

6. Lemon and Raspberry Loaf-278

7. Mocha Self Saucing Pudding-249

8. Sticky Ginger Pudding-243

9. Butterscotch Self Saucing Pudding-242

10. Banana, Date and Chocolate Loaf 242

Over to you dear Reader, what was your favourite recipe from my little blog last year? Sweet or Savoury?

Have a wonderful start to the New Year,

💕Fi

One Year Ago-The Top 10 Frugal and Simple Living Posts of 2018

Two Years Ago-Smoked Salmon Parcels with Horseradish, Lemon and Parsley Cream

Weekly Goals Update: Week 52

This year went by fast and so brought so many changes.  I am excited to see what 2019 will bring.

1. Disaster Preparedness

I went as far with this one as I could.  The weekly tasks were helpful.  Since my area has had two major hurricanes over the past two years, I have been able to practice putting this into practice.  

2.  Makeover the Garden

I was able to finally plant the garden pea seeds this past week.  I also planted some milkweed seeds and parsley seeds.  I transplanted some mint and my thyme plant.  

3.  Organize Recipes - Done

I put this off way too long and am glad to have finished it.

4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks - Done

I surpassed this goal and hope to spend less time in the grocery store next year.

5.  Focus on Saving

I tried to make saving more mindful after W was let go from his job.  I kept an eye out for sales and coupons on planned purchases.  Stuff became less important and people took center stage.

6.  Etsy Shop

I still have a long way to go with my shop, but I was encouraged by the start I had over this year.  I have plans to make it better in the coming year.  It is an ongoing learning experience.

There were my last round ups for 2018's goals.  Stop back by tomorrow to see what I have planned for 2019!

The Depression of 2019-2021?

Will We Learn from History —

The profound question which transcends all this day-to-day market drama over the holidays is the nature of the economic slowdown now occurring globally. This slowdown can be seen both inside and outside the US. In reviewing the laboratory of history — especially those experiments featuring severe asset inflation, unaccompanied by high official estimates of consumer price inflation — three possible “echoes” deserve attention in coming weeks and months. (History echoes rather than repeats!)

 – And What Will Soon Be History?

The behavioral finance theorists tell us that which echo sounds and which outcome occurs is more obvious in hindsight than to anyone in real time. As Daniel Kahneman writes (in Thinking Fast and Slow):

The core of hindsight bias is that we believe we understand the past, which implies the future should also be knowable; but in fact we understand the past less than we believe we do – compelling narratives foster an illusion of inevitability; but no such story can include the myriad of events that would have caused a different outcome.

Whichever historical echo turns out to be loudest as the Great Monetary Inflation of 2011-18 enters its late dangerous phase. Whether we're looking at 1927-9, 1930-3, or 1937-8, the story will seem obvious in retrospect, at least according to skilled narrators. There may be competing narratives about these events — even decades into the future, just as there still are today about each of the above mentioned episodes. Even today, the Austrian School, the Keynesians, and the monetarists, all tell very different historical narratives and the weight of evidence has not knocked out any of these competitors in the popular imagination.

[…] Echoes of Past Crises

First, could 2019-21 feature a loud echo of 1926-8 (which in turn had echoes in 1987-9, 1998-9, and 2015-17)?

The characteristic of 1926-8 was a “Fed put” in the midst of an incipient cool-down of asset inflation (along with a growth cycle slowdown or even onset of mild recession) which succeeds apparently in igniting a fresh economic rebound and extension/intensification of asset inflation for a while longer (two years or more). In mid-1927 New York Fed Governor Benjamin Strong administered his coup de whiskey to the stock market (and to the German loan boom), notwithstanding the protest of Reichsbank President Schacht).

The conditions for such a Fed put to be successful include a still strong current of speculative story telling (the narratives have not yet become tired or even sick); the mal-investment and other forms of over-spending (including types of consumption) must not be on such a huge scale as already going into reverse; and the camouflage of leverage — so much a component of “natural Ponzi schemes” — must not yet be broken. The magicians, otherwise called “financial engineers” still hold power over market attention.

Most plausibly we have passed the stage in this cycle where such a further kiss of life could be given to asset inflation. And so we move on to the second possible echo: could this be 1937-8?

There are some similarities in background. Several years of massive QE under the Roosevelt Administration (1934-6) (not called such and due ostensibly to the monetization of massive gold inflows to the US) culminated in a stock market and commodity market bubble in 1936, to which the Fed responded by effecting a tiny rise in interest rates while clawing back QE. Under huge political pressure the Fed reversed these measures in early 1937; a weakening stock market seems to reverse. But then came the Crash of late Summer and early Autumn 1937 and the confirmed onset of the Roosevelt recession (roughly mid-1937 to mid-1938). This was even more severe than the 1929-30 downturn. But then there was a rapid re-bound.

Read More at: ZEROHEDGE by Tyler Durden, Submitted by Brendan Brown, the Head of Economic Research at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International via Mises.org

Grand Solar Minimum 2019: What to Expect

EARTH REPORT – Global Food Shortages

EBT Food Assistance Shut Down USA will Mimic Global Food Shortage Reactions (770)


With EBT food assistance programs set to cease payments Feb 01, 2019 as Trump squares off with Democrats, neither willing to give an inch, it will come down to the people to decide which sides policies is correct to get the government open again and food assistance flowing again. Sudan experiencing bread shortages as the economy collapses, so this in my opinion is a dry run for governments across the world to see how citizens will react to food shortages, American style !

ZEROHEDGE: According to the Department of Agriculture, if this government shutdown stretches into February there won’t be money for food stamps. And it certainly looks like this shutdown could last for quite a while, because President Trump is not backing down on his demand for border wall funding, and the Democrats have pledged not to give him a single penny.

So a few weeks from now, approximately 38 million people could be suddenly cut off from the food stamp program. If that scenario were to unfold, there is no telling what could happen. After just a few days, government workers are already freaking out about having their paychecks delayed. zero hedge

deal.com = Food Production and Reduction Chart

1SE 2018

Hello Dear Reader,

I have been taking a little video of my normal, everyday life since February this year, that is when I discovered this very clever app. It was the lovely Leanne from Cottage Tails that put me on to it originally and like most things I love, I've just ran with it all year long. Next year (hello tomorrow) I will be starting a year long 1SE.

I think it is a wonderful visual of your day, week, month, year. The stuff you do everyday make up your life. In mine there is lots of food, family, fur babies, sunrises, sunsets, bird life, beach life, holidays, dog walks, flowers, garden talk, settling my late in-laws home, cups of tea, arriving at work, bread making, full moons, camping, housework, our home, The Bee Gees, Jamie Oliver and Nigella, wildlife, sewing, our tropical fish in the aquarium, birthdays, rain, rainbows and bees.

The very last video was taken this morning as I walked the little dogs, I see white cranes quite often but they are very shy and don't normally let you get too close, this one must have been one the hunt for breakfast as it was unfazed by me and the little dogs.

Next year, I intend to do a food only, year long, one second everyday, of what is on our dinner table that particular night. I will try to video it the same way each time for continuity, I am hoping at the end of the 365, a one second snapshots of food, it will look amazing.

Please enjoy this little video, made up of my ordinary, everyday life (well, maybe Bordeaux isn't my everyday life) it was a fun, lovely, exhausting and exhilarating year. One I am most grateful for and most proud of.

Have a lovely day,
💗Fi

One Year Ago-The Top 10 Sweet and Savoury Recipes for 2017
Two Years Ago-Lemon Myrtle Shortbreads

SHOCKING BLUE GLOW – Queens Transformer Explodes

Shocking Blue Glow

Rare phenomenon caused the shocking blue glow over NYC’s skies
NYPost (volume off because of shocking intro and shocking witness language)


Blue Beams Caught On Film: Take out Power Lines in NYC




Physicist Report 517: Transformers in New York targeted by laser weapons...

Weekend Book Review: The Minimalist Home

The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker promises a room-by-room guide to decluttering and refocusing life.  I think when most people hear minimalist they think living in a bare space with few belongings.  I appreciated that the author takes a different view and focuses on keeping things that are important to each individual.  The ideas discussed are not necessarily new or ground breaking, but they are presented in an easy to follow format.  The sections on maintenance and future are helpful additions.  I wanted to read this book after my home began to feel cluttered after two years.  I am anxious to dive in to the steps now that the holidays are almost over.  The chapter on the yard is a good one as this area is often overlooked in most books of this type.  I am excited to put the guidelines outlined in this book into practice to create a more peaceful home for myself and my family.

disclosure:  I received a review copy from the publisher (WaterBrook) but was not otherwise compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own!

CYBER ATTACK on Several US Newspapers – Explained

Cyber Attack on Several US Newspapers

Sunny Side Up Sunday

Hello Dear Reader,

My gardening apron is an old Masterchef one I used to use in the kitchen, it is fabulous for gardening as it has long deep pockets to keep tools or seed packets in

Today I am grateful that I am strong enough, strong enough to turn the soil in my garden, strong enough to work in a physically demanding job and strong enough to walk our two, incredibly robust for their size, dogs.

I am not all that strong really but to be strong enough is good enough. Yesterday I dug in 3 bags of animal manure into each bare garden bed, raked the soil evenly, then covered each bed with sugar cane mulch and watered it in. It was hot, sticky, smelly work but I got it done, LH opened the bags of manure and spread them over each garden bed, but I dug the soil over with a garden fork. Unfortunately I ended up feeling quite sick from the heat and slept for 2 hours after lunch. I think I am stronger than I actually am.

What are you grateful for today?

Have a lovely day,
💖Fi

One Year Ago-What we bought, spent and ate this week
Two Years Ago-This Weeks 5 Frugal Things on a Friday

Rabbi Kahana: Parshat Shemot – From Moses to Moshe Rabbeinu

An interesting take on the Parsha

BS”D 

Parashat Shemot 

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

From Moses to Moshe Rabbeinu

At age eighty, after many years of filling important, responsible, royal positions in the Egyptian government, Moshe set out from the palace to see what was happening in those regions far removed from the capital. He saw an Egyptian taskmaster smiting a Hebrew slave. Moshe was seized with wrath and killed the Egyptian.

1. Why was Moshe shocked by the sight of an Egyptian smiting a Jew? Did he not know that millions of Jews were being beaten daily?
2. If Moshe believed that he behaved properly in killing the Egyptian, why did he not bring the matter before Pharaoh, instead choosing to flee the country?

Was it just a “coincidence” that Moshe found himself in Yitro’s home?

In the miraculous episode of the burning bush that is not consumed, our sages say that for seven days and seven nights HaShem commanded Moshe to return to Egypt and Moshe refused. Is that possible?

How did it happen that Moshe could come and go from Pharaoh’s palace as he pleased? What is more, how could it be that Moshe severely rebuked Pharaoh in an insulting manner, yet Pharaoh did not lift a finger to punish him?

In Moshe’s first encounter with Pharaoh on his return from Midian, he warned Pharaoh: “I have told you to let My son go and serve Me. If you refuse to let him leave, I will [ultimately] kill your own first-born son” (Shemot 4:23). Yet isn’t it a fact that Pharaoh had no first-born son, but only a daughter, Bitya?

I suggest:

Moshe’s name from birth was Tuvia, but HaShem chose to call him Moshe, which means, “drawn out of the water,” as a hint to Moshe that he had been born to remove the Israelites from Egypt, but not to enter or bring the Jewish People into the Promised Land.

Moshe, as Pharaoh’s adopted son, was heavily ensconced in Egyptian culture. He had studied in excellent military and civilian academies and knew all the “right people” in Egypt.

We can assume that Amram and Yocheved had not been given visitation rights to teach Moshe HaShem’s Torah as it had been received from Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov. Moshe was brought up as the beloved son of Bitya, and many in Pharaoh’s court were probably aware of his Hebraic background.

Out of his love for Moshe, Pharaoh had distanced him from the harsh reality of the Egyptian regime enslaving millions of Jews under heinous conditions. He had further appointed Moshe to run “his household” so Moshe would concentrate totally on the palace and royal court and not on what was happening outside. According to the Midrash, Moshe served in many positions even outside Egypt.

Between Shemot 2:10, in which Bitya adopts Moshe as a son, and the very next verse, in which Moshe “is grown and begins to go out to his own people,” spotting the Egyptian smiting the Israelite, are eighty years that the Torah conceals. We do not know what happened to Moshe during those formative years.

The Jew’s beating led Moshe’s mood to swing between anger and disappointment, between frustration and embarrassment. What emerges from the text is that Moshe had been unaware that the Jews were being cruelly enslaved, and that on a daily basis many were being beaten and killed. As noted, Pharaoh had taken pains to distance him from the harsh reality that reigned in Egypt due to the decree of Pharaoh, himself.

Moshe’s world was about to collapse. Not because he had killed an Egyptian but because of the sudden awareness that the man who had been like a father to him, who had educated him and provided him with all of the world’s bounty, Pharaoh, was a cruel despot who was subjugating an entire nation, and what is more, it was the nation of Yosef, who had saved Egypt.

Moshe understood that he must approach Pharaoh and chastise him. Yet that was a mission impossible for two reasons: Moshe understood now that Egypt’s economy was based on slavery, and all of Egypt’s military and political power derived from its strong economic situation. Moreover, Moshe was incapable of castigating Pharaoh over the fact that Jewish blood was being shed because of Pharaoh. Moshe loved Pharaoh and Bitya and he identified himself as an Egyptian. Moshe was left with no choice but to flee Egypt to escape the reality in which he was indirectly a partner due to his associations with the monarchy.

Moshe fled to Midian and found himself in Yitro’s house. Who was Yitro? The Talmud in Sotah relates that Pharaoh had three advisers who were privy to the plan to enslave the Jewish People: Yitro, Bilam and Iyov. When Pharaoh presented his plan, Bilam agreed immediately. Iyov remained silent and Yitro fled to Midian.

Here Divine Providence directed Moshe, the escapee, to the home of Yitro, the escapee. Yitro knew Moshe from Pharaoh’s palace, and Moshe knew Yitro, as well. In the cold nights of Midian, as Moshe and Yitro sat around the warm hearth, Yitro thought to himself that the only person who could influence Pharaoh was his adopted son Moshe, the man sitting across from him, yet Moshe had fled from his moral responsibility. Moshe thought to himself that the policy of slavery was largely facilitated by Yitro’s not having opposed it, instead preferring flight. Moshe and Yitro were two men who had both fled from the moral responsibility expected of anyone with a spark of integrity and fairness.

One day, Moshe was herding Yitro’s flocks on Mount Chorev, i.e., Mount Sinai. Suddenly he noticed a wondrous sight – a burning bush that was not being consumed. When Moshe drew near to the strange sight, he heard a voice telling him to return to Egypt, to approach Pharaoh, to identify himself as a member of the Jewish People and to demand that Pharaoh let the Jews go. For seven days and seven nights he stood firm in his refusal, arguing by various means that he was not the right man for that mission.

And how indeed was it possible to refuse HaShem for even a moment, let alone seven days and seven nights?

As a rule, spirituality cannot be forced on a person. Everyone is given free will to choose between good and evil. What happened there on the mountain did not involve HaShem’s immediately commanding Moshe to undertake the mission, but rather His arousing Moshe’s pure conscience. For an entire week, Moshe’s conscience weighed upon him to do the right thing, the thing that had to be done, to approach Pharaoh and to demand that he free the Jewish People. Moshe tried to block out the truth within his conscience, but he ultimately gave in and decided that he must return to Egypt. Once he made that decision, HaShem revealed Himself to Moshe and made Moshe His emissary until the day of his death on Mount Avarim.

Moshe returned to Egypt, to the palace of his childhood, to his “mother” Bitya and to his “grandfather” Pharaoh whom he so loved.

One can imagine what occurred when Moshe entered the royal palace after being away for dozens of years. When Pharaoh was informed that Moshe was there, Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Bitya. Moshe approached them, and Bitya ran to hug and kiss him, tearfully exclaiming, “Moshe, my son! Moshe, my son! Where have you been?” Yet Moshe did not respond. Then Pharaoh alighted from his high throne and with a penetrating gaze said to Moshe, in a tone combining anger and pain: “Where were you? Not a letter! Not a single message! Look at your mother Bitya who raised you since you were an infant. Her eyes are red from crying over you!”

Pharaoh waited for an answer that did not come. So, he said to Moshe, “What do you have to say, Moshe?” Moshe looked at Pharaoh and at Bitya, and with tears in his eyes, said, “Let my people go!”

Pharaoh was shocked by what he heard. “Let my people go?” What are you talking about? We are your people!”

Moshe gazed directly at Pharaoh, raised his voice and proclaimed, “The Hebrew slaves are my people! If you do not free them, the HaShem of the Hebrews will kill your first-born son!” But Pharaoh had no sons. In actual fact, Moshe was announcing that if Pharaoh did not free the Israelites, he would no longer be able to view Moshe as part of the royal family. Pharaoh could not bear the threat that Moshe would be cut off from him, but to the same extent he could not sabotage the economic infrastructure of his kingdom – his Hebrew slaves.

In order to remove the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Moshe would need to trample Pharaoh’s glory and humiliate him in the extreme. But how would Moshe be able to trample the man who had given him his life as a gift, and had raised him and educated him as a son?

HaShem would have to change the way Moshe related to Pharaoh. Moshe’s attitude would have to sink from the heights of love to the depths of hatred. Pharaoh’s reaction to Moshe’s request to allow the Israelites a number of days of rest, “in order to serve HaShem” (Shemot 5:1), was to make the decree even worse for them:

“You are indolent!” retorted Pharaoh. “Lazy! That’s why you are saying that you want to sacrifice to HaShem. Now go! Get to work! You will not be given any straw, but you must deliver your quota of bricks.” (Shemot 5:17-18)

Moshe understood just how evil Pharaoh had become: “All your officials here will come and bow down to me. They will say, ‘Leave! You and all your followers!’ Only then will I leave.’ He left Pharaoh in great anger” (11:8).

Now Moshe was ready to unleash the plagues upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.

There was great love between Pharaoh and Moshe, which prevented Pharaoh from killing Moshe, even though the latter was there to turn everything upside down in Egypt. HaShem had planned everything. The redeemer had to be a man who had been part of Pharaoh’s royal courtyard, had been involved in all the workings of Egyptian statecraft, and who had a loving relationship with Pharaoh. Only such a man could survive the menace of entering the palace, uttering harsh words to Pharaoh, and emerge unscathed.

The emotional attachment between Pharaoh and Moshe ended in a surprising manner. Our sages say that the entire Egyptian army drowned in the Sea of Reeds except for one man who was spared – Pharaoh. HaShem saved Pharaoh out of an understanding of the great emotional connection that existed between Moshe and the man who had saved him, raised him, nurtured and loved him – the Despot Pharaoh.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5779/2018 Nachman Kahana

Weekend Book Reviews

Deadly News by Jody Holford is the first book in the Britton Bay Mystery series.  Molly has moved to Britton Bay as editor of the town's struggling newspaper.  One of her new co-workers, Vernon, is less than welcoming to Molly.  After she pushes him to dig deeper on a story, he ends up dead, and Molly feels guilty.  She learns that small towns have few secrets, but the identity of the murderer is one that seems to be staying a secret.  The mystery is strong, and the book moved along quickly.  My only issue was the very fast moving romance.  The start of this series was interesting enough to make me look forward to the second book.


The first book in the Eleanor Wilde Mystery series by Tamara Berry is Séances are for Suckers.  Eleanor (Ellie) is a ghost hunter working to pay for her sister's medical care. She is approached by wealthy Englishman Nicholas to rid his family home of a "ghost".  Nicholas' mother is sure that Xavier is real, but Nicholas believes something more is going on.  Ellie finds more than she bargained for in the English village.  The book has a clever plot twist that I will not share so nothing is spoiled.  Ellie is a likeable character, and the basis for the book is different in a great way.  I look forward to many more books in this series.

Santa Puppy  by Lynn Cahoon is a short story which is part of the Tourist Trap Mystery series.  Jilly, owner of Coffee, Books, & More, has volunteered to host a pet adoption Christmas party.  Among the dogs looking for home is Baby whose nameless owner recently passed away.  Jill is determined to find someone who knew the deceased man and give Baby a new home for the holidays.  This is a touching holiday themed book that can easily be read in one sitting. 


disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

What we bought, spent and ate this week

Hello Dear Reader,

It's been quite the "Same, Same but Different" kind of week here at SHI, we've had Christmas lunch for dinner for the last three nights, not that I am complaining at all, in fact I have loved every minute of it. Last night we finished off the roast lamb and home made gravy on toast for our usual "Leftovers/On Toast" night which, I must admit, is probably my favourite night of the week. I schedule this night on a Friday night, knowing I will probably be quite tired at the end of the working week. I love an easy night.

We haven't been grocery shopping yet this week, I wanted to use absolutely everything up first, so tonight I am baking the ham (boneless) we bought just before Christmas, we also have a big bowl of this Quinoa, Cranberry and Almond Salad to use up from Christmas Eve. This will probably do us quite a few meals then we might just pick up a few things to keep us going till next Friday when lovely hubby does the usual grocery shop.

What we bought

Shopping from the Northside Discount Fruit Barn

The Aldi Shop plus a container of Bacon from Marjax Meats

Shopping from Coles. The tea and coffee went to work for our beautiful Nurses along with homemade Gingerbread Biscuits and the turkey mince and cranberry sauce went into a batch of turkey, walnut and cranberry savoury rolls I made to take to work for our shared Christmas Lunch, if you would like I will post the recipe for these soon

What we spent

Northside Discount Fruit Barn-$18.66

Aldi-$59.02

Marjax Meats (Bacon-Pictured in Aldi shot + lamb x 2 , pork x 2 and ham x 1 for Christmas-not pictured)-$173.50 (we had already put a $50 deposit on the meat last week, yes the meat was expensive but it fed 20 people on Christmas Day plus oodles and oodles of leftovers)

Coles-$72.75

TOTAL-$323.93-thankfully Christmas comes once a year

What we ate

Friday-Leftover Baked Fish with Chorizo Crumb

Saturday-Leftover Beef Ragu on Toast

Sunday-Fish Burgers

Monday, Christmas Eve-Aldi's Salmon Wellington with my Quinoa, Cranberry and Almond Salad plus Banoffee for dessert

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday-Christmas Day plus 2 days of leftovers

Friday-we had the last of the roast lamb and gravy on toast

So very grateful for lots of leftovers this week, it's been like having a little holiday. Over to you, did you also have a week of leftovers?

Have a lovely day,

💗Fi

One Year Ago-This Weeks 5 Frugal Things on a Friday

Two Years Ago-Back into the Swing

Frugal Friday

W and I went out of town yesterday so he could deliver a couple of fishing rods.  We made plans to stop at a few stores not in our area.  My shopping was kept to specific items on my list.  I bought two ornaments on clearance for next year's ornament swap with my church's women's group.  I also bought Christmas cards.  I accept that I will not have time to make them since basic ones can be bought reasonably after Christmas. 


We ate Christmas leftovers. My family does potluck for meals and then everyone divides up what is left.  That way no one is stuck with way too much of one thing. 


We are expecting a week of rain and damp weather.  I did laundry on the sunny days so I could hang the clothes out to dry.  I will wash slightly smaller loads over the next week so I can hang them to dry inside.


W fed the chickens, peafowl, and turkeys a pumpkin.  We saved the seeds to plant this spring.


I used to buy a planner that included a daily chore list.  While it was helpful, I ended up not needing about half of it and found myself adding more in.  I am creating my own for 2019. It does not save tons of money, but every little bit helps.

Rabbi Winston: Parshat Shemot Plus

However, though they afflicted them, they [nevertheless] increased and grew, which made the Children of Israel disgusting to them. (Shemos 1:12)

LET’S SAY YOU’RE 60 years old, and you’re able to go back in time to your 10th birthday. What would it be like? Would you be able to relate to who you were, or to anyone from that era? It’s one thing to look at pictures from a previous period of life, but something altogether different to actually be back there.

What about the people from 100 years ago, or 200 years ago? Wouldn’t you feel like an alien compared to them? If you wanted to stay back then, wouldn’t you have to re-orient yourself and learn their ways, as if you went to live in another country altogether? It probably would not take much time before you’d become “homesick.”

When you look at a picture from the past, you view it with your mind, not your emotions, especially if you weren’t there at the time, or even if you were. In order to understand the picture, your mind will use its own data base to create a relationship to the image, which amounts to INACCURATELY superimposing current experience onto past events. 

People mistakenly think that if they can still remember something from years ago, then they can still feel what they did at the time. It’s possible, but only if the person was really aware at the time of what they were feeling, and it is still close enough in time to access the emotional memory. Otherwise, once we move on, we move on for good. 

When we moved to a street behind the shul in which I had gone to Cheder as child, I tried to see the area as I had as that child. I thoroughly remembered it, but though little had changed since that time, I could not recover the emotional memory. I could “see” it in my mind’s eye, but I could not experience it, as hard as I tried, as I once had.

And yet, we read about history from thousands of years ago as if it just happened last year. We assume that what we feel about it is accurate enough, and continue reading as if we’re getting it. We take for granted, or possibly don’t even consider, how monstrous the gap is between what we are learning and what we are feeling about it, and how inaccurate that gap makes our overall perception.

The Seder tries to change that a little. Unlike the weekly reading of the parsha that can cover hundreds of years in just 20 minutes using an emotion-less narrative, the Haggadah tries to put us back into Egyptian slavery—a little. But, we’re usually too busy enjoying the fun and freedom to notice or complete the mission.

Sympathy is a POWERFUL ability, but empathy is MORE powerful, a LOT more powerful. Sympathy never really changed anyone that much, but empathy does. Sympathy doesn’t mean you necessarily relate to an experience beyond your own. It just means that you can recognize what someone else is feeling, and pick a supportive response. Empathy means that you are THEM as they go through what they go through. 

That’s life changing.

Actually, it’s MORE than that. A LOT more.

Because, one of the faultiest assumptions we live with is that “today” is so very different from “yesterday.” Of course in many ways it is, but in some VERY fundamental ways it’s not, and the assumptions we have made are the reason why we have not only made tragic historic mistakes over the millennia, but the SAME ONES. 

And we’re doing it again today. 

We’re beginning, with this week’s parsha, our descent into the worst slavery ever known to mankind. Yet, at the same time, this  was the place where we became a nation for the first time. We didn’t multiply much back in Canaan like we did in Egypt, which only increased the more the enemy tried to stop it, thanks to Divine Providence.

That’s right, DIVINE PROVIDENCE. But, if G–D was with us all that time, through all that torturous slavery that last 116 years in total, why did He not step in and end it much earlier? We see what He EVENTUALLY did to Pharaoh and Egypt. Why didn’t He just do it a lot earlier? We started off on such a high with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov. Why did we have to reach such a low before getting back there again?

This is not a question that SYMPATHY can answer. It’s not something you can relate to by standing emotionally in 2018 and looking back in time to Egyptian slavery. It’s a question that only EMPATHY can answer, by transporting us back in time EMOTIONALLY, while fulfilling the Haggadah’s direction of looking at ourselves as if we too left Egypt. If we don’t, then we’re not going to have a good time leaving exile again, today, one last time on our way to Yemos HaMoshiach. 

This is the time to think about it. The next six weeks are called “Shovevim,” a word comprised of the first letters of the names of the next six parshios, from “Shemos” to “Mishpatim,” in order. The word itself means “wayward people,” turning this period into a special one of teshuvah. But the teshuvah of this time is not the Yom Kippur type, but another kind of teshuvah. And THAT will be the theme of PERCEPTIONS over the next six weeks, b”H.

CONNECTING THE DOTS – Wolf!

American troops first arrived in Syria in large numbers in 2015, to beat back IS, which had captured land the size of Britain. Today nearly all of their territory has been recaptured by local forces, many of whom worked with the Americans. 

About 2,000 Americans remain in Syria, mostly in the north. They guide airstrikes, hunt senior IS leaders and train the SDF, a predominantly Kurdish group of fighters. America’s presence was also intended to hinder Iran, which wants to create a land corridor running from Tehran to Beirut, to more easily send arms to Hizbullah, its proxy in Lebanon.

From an Israeli standpoint, having a powerful ally just to the north has its advantages as well. America is going to be more attentive to the common interests in Syria if it has to watch out for its own troops. Take them out and Syria becomes someone else’s problem, Israel’s in particular. For the time they were there, the US Army was Israel’s “boots on the ground.” Once they lose that, Israel has to pay closer attention to the shifts in Syria. 

That’s all, of course, from a secular standpoint. We can afford to talk messianically. The Israeli government has to think in immediate military terms. They have to be pragmatic, because the situation can change at a moment’s notice, with catastrophic results. Since we DON’T have to talk militarily, because it would change nothing if we did or didn’t, we can speak in messianic terms.

And should, because that’s all there really are, messianic terms. I know, I know, we’ve been doing that for YEARS and still Moshiach isn’t here. Conflicts have begun and they have also ended. What we thought were close calls have since become long shots, or no shots at all. Even I get tired of hearing myself talk like this year-after-year-after-year, and not seeing the results I expected and hoped for. Yes, you do start to feel like the little boy who cried “Wolf!”

But then I remind myself that the reason why the wolf got away with killing all the sheep is because people got tired of hearing the call to arms. The classic approach to the story is that you can’t believe a liar, even when tells the truth, and that is in fact the truth.

But was the boy in fact a liar? Paranoid perhaps, but a liar. He was entrusted with the flock of sheep, and any harm that would have come to them would have been on his account. He would have been responsible. So, can he be blamed for being overly anxious about a wolf that he knew was bound to come at some time? 

I don’t think so. On the contrary, if anyone is to be faulted, in my opinion, it is the townsfolk. If they knew they had appointed an outright liar to do the job, then they were definitely at fault. If they realized after a few times that he was a liar, they should have removed him from his position. By not doing so, again, they were at fault. If they thought he was overly jumpy, they should have also replaced him, or left someone to accompany him.

Leaving the boy in his position meant that they townspeople trusted him. If they trusted him, and knew that wolves were around, they should have come EACH time he cried “Wolf!” The fact they didn’t means that they were negligent, and therefore, deserved their fate.

No offense to Aesop, but if you think about it, the fable has flaws. The lesson is good, but not borne out by the story without some serious editing. Sorry. If you want to learn anything out from the story as it is, it is the nature of people to take things for granted that they get used to, and don’t want to have to deal with for one silly reason or another. 

Then the story teaches one of the most important messianic lessons of all time. It teaches about what the Talmud says, that Moshiach is one of those things that come when people stop looking for him (Sanhedrin 97a). Huh? But aren’t we supposed to anticipate his arrival ALL the time (Shabbos 31a)? How does that work?

It means that people gave up on Moshiach (Sanhedrin 90a). They got tired of the predictions. They grew weary of from all the potential moments for redemption that came and went. Like the townspeople in the story, they just figured the latest cry for “Wolf!” was also a false alarm, and they ignored it, and later wished they hadn’t. As they say, “better safe than sorry.”

So, we KNOW Moshiach has to come. For those keeping track of the years, we know we’re close to the end. For those who have also read my writings, I’ve showed you how we’re a lot closer to THE end than most people think. The “wolf” is out there, and you can be sure he has an eye on the flock, planning his entry. 

So, at the risk of sounding like that little boy in the story, I am going to tell you that the American pullout in the north, the place from which Moshiach is SUPPOSED to come, is no simple development. It is a moving around of the pieces … meant to shake up the situation, especially given how ridiculous the move seems to be.

I don’t know where it will lead, but it has my attention. You can decide to roll over and go back to sleep if you want. But if you decide to count sheep, at least count the ones the wolf ended up eating.