Once again there are Reasons 2B Cheerful. Becky at Lakes Single Mum has taken back the baton for October and I've joined the linky as usual.
1
Blogging
I took up the challenge from Jax at Making It Up to blog for all 30 days of September. In the end I only managed 18/30 but that was good enough. My life just isn't that fast to have something of general interest to write every day. Still, the 18 posts were enough to boost my stats and increase my TOTS100 ranking for the second month running. I'm now only 39 tantalizing ranks away from being back in the top 500. So I'm going for another month of lots of blogging to see if I can break the 500 barrier for the first time in almost two years.
2
Another holiday
We went back to school on September 1st, we had a few days off for Rosh Hashana, nothing for Yom Kippur this year as it fell on a weekend, and now we have a whole 12 days for Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). Sukkot is only an eight day holiday but the day before and the weekend after made a great block of days off. Of course this is only for teachers. Everyone else with young children has to juggle childcare for a week while they are at work and the kids are off.
3
Lunch in the sukkah
We had a lovely day with friends today when we were invited to lunch in their sukkah. A sukkah is a temporary dwelling outside (a tabernacle) with a natural covering through which you can see the stars. It symbolizes the dwellings in the desert inhabited by the children of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt for 40 years after the exodus, until they reached the Land of Israel. (Funny how it didn't take Joseph and later Jacob and his other sons, nearly as long to make the original journey from Israel to Egypt.)
1Blogging
I took up the challenge from Jax at Making It Up to blog for all 30 days of September. In the end I only managed 18/30 but that was good enough. My life just isn't that fast to have something of general interest to write every day. Still, the 18 posts were enough to boost my stats and increase my TOTS100 ranking for the second month running. I'm now only 39 tantalizing ranks away from being back in the top 500. So I'm going for another month of lots of blogging to see if I can break the 500 barrier for the first time in almost two years.
2
Another holiday
We went back to school on September 1st, we had a few days off for Rosh Hashana, nothing for Yom Kippur this year as it fell on a weekend, and now we have a whole 12 days for Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). Sukkot is only an eight day holiday but the day before and the weekend after made a great block of days off. Of course this is only for teachers. Everyone else with young children has to juggle childcare for a week while they are at work and the kids are off.
Lunch in the sukkah
We had a lovely day with friends today when we were invited to lunch in their sukkah. A sukkah is a temporary dwelling outside (a tabernacle) with a natural covering through which you can see the stars. It symbolizes the dwellings in the desert inhabited by the children of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt for 40 years after the exodus, until they reached the Land of Israel. (Funny how it didn't take Joseph and later Jacob and his other sons, nearly as long to make the original journey from Israel to Egypt.)
Good luck in the Tots I had to peek at mine and I am *almost* back in top 250 after 2 years! Think for me Instagram keeps me floating high as well as being back and blogging almost daily...
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the long break and that special lunch sounds pretty awesome.
When you get back into the top 25o you get your number on the badge - my dream. Good luck with that. Me and photography are not soul mates so I'm not sure that Instagram is the way for me.
DeleteEnjoy your time off. I remember seeing sukkahs being built on people's balconies or patios when I was a kid. We lived near to a fairly orthodox Jewish Community so it wasn't unusual - but haven't seen one in a long time now. Fortunately we are having a very warm October with little rain so far so for those who have built them it should be safe for the whole time.
ReplyDeleteYes the weather was always a gamble in the UK too. Here it's got noticeably cooler but no rain yet. And yes, here too, sukkahs spring up on roofs, patios and balconies, and in every spare bit of unused land on the ground.
DeleteLove how I always learn from your posts. Well done on the blogging front and you should always make blogging serve you not the other way round.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few times when I wondered if the tail was wagging the dog but in the end I didn't write just for the sake of it.
DeleteIt certainly sounds as though the children of Israel got very badly lost in the desert.
ReplyDeleteAlso congratulations on climbing the Tots, to both yourself and Becky: I'm thrilled that you don't have to be a pro blogger to get back up there xx
Apparently they had to have a long bonding experience. And yes, I was also excited to see that Becky had climbed the ranks too. So they didn't make a mistake with mine. It's really a change in the rubric that favours our way of blogging - whatever that is.
DeleteThe Sukkah sounds beautiful, I want one in my garden! Well done on your blogging challenge, not sure I can manage 18, although I keep scribbling down post ideas at the moment and not having time to write them up. Lovely to be back in blog touch :)
ReplyDeleteI also write a long list of ideas and when I'm ready to write they seem too late and no longer relevant.
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