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'Wise' Cracks

A cooking quote from our Kitchen-Anomalies section

"The philosophic spirit of inquiry may be traced to brute curiosity, and that to the habit of examining all things in search of food."

W. Winwood Reade (1838–75), English traveler, author. The Martyrdom of Man, ch. 3, “Materials of Human History” (1872).

The Current Contest

Our current contest is on until May 1st. Enter for a chance to win an autographed copy or the new cookbook.

Check it out on the Contest page.

Buy The Books!

If you don't yet have a copy of  The Chef Who Died Sautéing, or the Companion Cookbook,
and would like one:

Click here for Purchase Options

A Variety of Links

Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily are the proud "parents"
of several other webs and subwebs.
Click below to visit these sites.

A Chance of a Ghost

Ariel Quigley - the heroine of the Ariel Quigley Mystery Series -
talks to ghosts, and she’d like to meet yours!

New-Wisdom

This is a site developed to accompany Honora's college level classes
in World Cultures and Humanities.

ScienceWorks

Elementary Science Units
& Instructional Resources for Teachers and Parents

Hemi-Sync Products and Programs

Hemi-Sync is a state-of-the-art audio technology
that enables us to mobilize and direct the power of our mind.

Visit these authors' websites!

Just For Fun...

Of Interest...

What We've Been Up To (Our Madcap Adventures)

  
Honora & Susan

The Lovey

I didn't include a picture of the Lovey Award in the last newsletter, so, per a request or two, here it is:

It really is a "Love-ly" blunt instrument!

The International Edible Books Festival:
Muncie, IN Venue

On April Fool's Day, people all over the world celebrate books as part of the International Edible Book Festival. On this day, book lovers are invited to make edible forms of their favorite books or characters.

We attended the venue in Muncie, Indiana

Susan - News from the Garden

What a week! Tuesday we had a thunderstorm, a hail storm, and a lot of rain. Then winter returned and we have had sub-freezing temperatures the last two nights! Fortunately, the plants seem to have survived - so far. The tulips are out in full display, as are the violets.

The fruit trees I planted in the back last year are very leafy,

and the Rose of Sharon and azaleas that have been hiding on the back porch all winter, getting ready for their first outing are waiting for me to decide exactly where to plant them. I had put them outside in tentative locations, but we brought them in again when the weather turned cold.

One thing I really every spring love is seeing the blossoms on the trees.  (Quince, Lilac, Dogwood, Redbud, Apple, and Heather. Oops, I forgot to photograph the Hawthorne!)

The seeds I ordered last month have arrived, and I'm ready to get plant some okra and green beans, as well as get started on an herb garden. I expect the tomato and pepper plants to arrive any day. Updates will be posted as they grow and prosper. I built a trellis out of PVC piping for the climby stuff - the beans and tomatoes. Hopefully they won't all fall over this year.

I have also been informed that my order from Brecks  - "SUPREME GLADIOLUS COLLECTION" - has been shipped, so I can look forward to planting a lot of bulbs soon.

One other job that awaits is purchasing about 20 bags of mulch and laying it in the garden area around the front of the house.

When that is all done, I can sit back and wait for the trees, the flowers, the vegetables, and the weeds to entertain me for the rest of the summer!

Honora— News From My Computer, and my Family

Every quarter for the last 18 years I have written an article for the Network of Light for insertion in Pathways Magazine, a quarterly journal and resource guide for the greater Washington DC area. If anyone has any announcements having to do with health, spirituality, self-development, environmentalism, or personal growth, I would be willing to consider them for inclusion in my column. Please email me at honora @ sunweaver.com.

The stack of books for research for "A Short History of Sex in Literature, Art and Symbol" grows ever taller, and the text ever longer. The one advantage is that it covers everything else on my desk!

On Saturday my son Michael and his wife Amber, my daughter Bridget and her 2 children, Robin and Ryan, and Bridget's business partner will visit from Indianapolis, and we will celebrate Passover with Roast Garlic Lamb (fortunately Susan will do the cooking so I don't have to.) They all plan to stay a couple of days, so that on Sunday the boys can have an Easter egg hunt. And since Easter derives it's name from the goddess Ishtar, we will be honoring several religions this weekend.

While it may appear from the schedule below that we have a couple of days open this month, that isn't really so. On April 14th we have one of our operas in Bloomington (Madame Butterfly), and since we need to be in Indianapolis on Monday, we'll stay over in that area for a couple of extra nights. We do actually have 10 days in May and a whole week in June that we will be free to write. Or it looks that way at the moment.

The nice thing about settling your personal problems through writing mysteries or thrillers is that you don't incur karma!

Where We're Going...

On the Road

Book Talks & Book Signings

April 4th, 4pm-9pm
Nurses' Fair - Evansville, IN
(We'll be presenting Hemi-Sync tapes and CDs as well as our books.)
 

April 16th, 4:00-6:00
Beech Grove Library,
Beech Grove, IN
Book Talk

We're working on lining up a few venues for our visit to Alexandria, VA
following Malice Domestic.

Places

Our next trip will be April 19th to 28th. Honora, her husband Jay, and I are taking a trip to New Orleans. Among other things, Honora and I want to research New Orleans for a concept we have for an historical mystery set in that city about 100 years ago.

Updates

Check our Tour and Events pages to see where we're heading for the rest of the year - we will update it regularly as we figure out just where we're going to be. And if you'd like us to head to your area, let us know where you live, and what bookstores or libraries we could do a signing in, and we'll try to get there at some point. Nowhere on the continent is totally out of the realm of possibility, even though some places may be a bit hard to reach!

A Recipe from Bernice's Kitchen

 Chicken Cordon Bleu

 
4 double chicken breasts (about 7-ounces each), skinless and boneless
salt and black pepper
8 thin slices Black Forest ham
16 thin slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup flour
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, and using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat for each breast. Take care not to tear the meat or create holes. Put 2 slices of cheese on each breast, followed by 2 slices of ham, and 2 more of cheese; leaving a 1/2-inch margin on all sides to help seal the roll. Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight. Squeeze the roll gently to seal it.

Prepare the coating: 1) Season the flour with the salt and pepper and spread it in a flat dish. 2) Mix the breadcrumbs with thyme, salt, pepper, and oil (to help the crust brown). 3) Beat the eggs and water together in a bowl.

Lightly dust each chicken roll with seasoned flour, and dip it in the egg mixture. Gently coat it with the bread crumbs. Carefully transfer the rolls to a baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until browned and cooked through. If desired, cut them into pinwheels before serving.

Suggested serving: Buttered noodles and green beans.

Ariel's Metaphysics Corner

Tarot

Card 6 - The Lovers
© 2007 Honora Finkelstein

This card is about relationships and polarities in life on the physical plane as well as a union of opposites in the psyche. On a purely physical level, it represents the working together in harmony of male and female partners, but on a psychological level it represents the integration of the masculine and feminine archetypes within the self for a fully realized personality. When the masculine and feminine principles and energies are balanced and working together, a union of the opposites occurs, a sort of alchemical marriage that in Jungian terms can bring about self actualization.

In a reading, the Lovers card stands for healthy relationships, marriage, commitment, and good health, though if the card is reversed, it represents just the opposite of these ideas—broken relationships, divorce or separation, a lack of commitment, and poor health.

The Lovers in the picture are clearly representational of our first parents, Eve and Adam, with trees of Life and Light behind them in a Garden of Eden state. Above them is an angelic being, usually said by authorities to be the archangel Raphael. The angel represents superconsciousness.

Raphael is associated with the element of air. Air, of course, is the breath of life—the first thing a newborn child must do upon entry into the physical plane is to breathe in. Raphael’s name means “God heals” or “the shining one who heals.” Connecting this angel with the balance of the polarities of life suggests that the union of opposites is a healing experience. The angel is dressed in a purple robe, suggestive of the higher vibration available for humans to access via the path of esoteric knowledge. The angel’s red wings represent spirituality, the ability to take flight or transcend the physical world through maintaining one’s spiritual connection to the All that Is.

The sun shining brightly behind the angel is the source of all life. It is also the light from which the consciousness of the human being comes when it enters the physical plane and to which it will return when this sojourn on earth is complete. Hence, it represents the unity behind the diversity of physical life. The cloud beneath the angel is the illusion created by the physical world, the “glamour” that is cast over one’s eyes during a physical life.

The Adam figure is, of course, the physical male and original man. But on a psychological level, he represents the conscious mind, as well as the left-brained portion of the human being—that portion with which we function in the day-to-day world through speech, reading, writing, and mathematical computation.

On a physical level, the figure of Eve represents the human female. She is the original woman. On a psychological level, she is the symbol for the subconscious mind, as well as for the right-brained portion of the human being, which is our connection to all non-linear knowledge—past, present, and future. And it is through that feminine right brain that the human being accesses the higher spiritual realms. Hence, the figure of Eve is looking upward toward the angel—it is she who can connect to what the angel represents. The Adam figure looks to the Eve figure because the rational left brain cannot access higher realms without going through its feminine right-brained side.

The trees behind the two figures represent the Tree of Life/Light and the Tree of Knowledge. Behind Adam is the Tree of Life and Light, which bears leaves of flame. The fact that there are twelve leaves suggests the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which hold sway over human personality while the soul is in the physical plane. Behind Eve is the Tree of Knowledge, which bears five apples and around which a serpent is entwined. The serpent from time immemorial represents life energy, as well as wisdom. (Please note that in this Tarot card there is no association of evil with the serpent and no burden of failure for Eve to bear—the soul of the human being need never be in a fallen state so long as it keeps its consciousness on its spiritual source.

As was mentioned with respect to the pomegranate on the tapestry behind the High Priestess, the apples on the Tree of Knowledge represent the lure of the five senses. Eating is the one thing human beings do that engages all the senses—we see the beautiful red apple; we smell its delicious aroma; we hear it crunch when we bite into it; we feel its skin with our fingers and once we’ve bitten into it with our tongue and mouth; and we taste its juicy goodness. So the apple really represents the sensual life of the physical plane. And there is nothing wrong with enjoying or delighting in the pleasures of physical life—so long as they do not become addictions and distract us from our true purpose for being on the physical plane. And that true purpose is to deliver ourselves of our gifts and talents and to bring that which is above into that which is below, or conversely, to make that which is below reflect that which is above.

The true purpose of working in relationship with another human being on the physical plane, especially in a marriage relationship, is to better be able to accomplish one’s true purpose for being on the planet. We call our marriage partner our “helpmate,” but in medieval times, the term was “helpmeet,” or in other words, the person who helps us meet our karmic obligations and assists us in our life’s lessons.

All the astrological associations of the Zodiac sign of Gemini, the Heavenly Twins, apply to this card. These relate to separation and distinction at the intellectual and emotional levels and to the dualism in the physical body of everything that is in pairs: arms, hands, shoulders, lungs, eyes, ears, legs, feet, etc. We are dualistic creatures, polarized by all the pairs of opposites that confront us during our physical life.

The way to balance the polarities is through loving relationships and healing connections to others, as well as through trusting our connection to the all-knowingness of the superconscious mind, which helps us transcend the dualism of the physical plane.

Fan Corner

Please sign our GUESTBOOK and let us know what you think of the book, our website, this newsletter - what ever!

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Also, please feel free to chat with us regarding anything at all. We'll reply to all our email, and try to answer all your questions, share some adventures, have some fun.

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