Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Memory Palace

The Memory PalaceI just finished "The Memory Palace" by Mira Bartok.  This book caught my eye because of the underlying story of forgiveness between two daughters and their mother.  Every family has their issues and it's painful to see families torn apart and not speaking but stories like this shows that there is hope for every family to find a way back to each other.

Mira and her sister were raised in a stressful family to say the least.  Once a musical prodigy, their mother suffered from schizophrenia and to escape they went to play at their grandparents house who were a pair to be reckoned with as well.  Mira seemed to get dragged into all the family drama while her sister lived in a world of make believe and seemed oblivious to it all.  As the girls entered college the stress of their mothers disease became too much for them.  She harrassed them and threatened to kill herself if they didn't come home.  The girls had to make a choice and cut themselves off from their mother.  They changed their names and disappeared.  Mira kept a post office box and continued to write her mother without ever revealing where she had moved to.

The book is a back and forth between life now for the girls and glimpses back to their lives growing up.  When Mira received word that her mother was ill and dying the girls went to be by her side in the hospital.  They found keys to a storage unit that their mother had filled over the years and was full of their childhood memories.  Toys, letters, photos that their mother had kept which brought their memories flooding back to them.

Somewhere in all of this the girls find forgiveness and realization of how their mother was robbed of her life by schizophrenia and as a reader you see the real effects of this disease on the person and their family.  They will never get those years back but at the end of their mother's life there was peace and hope for anyone else who needs to find that peace within themselves and their family.

http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Memory-Palace/Mira-Bartok/9781439183311

Monday, April 18, 2011

Not such a lady

Lady Gaga seems to be this generations Madonna.  Trying to always push the envelope and shock everyone with her videos, lyrics or live show.  I heard Lady Gaga's new song today called "Judas".  The chorus repeats over and over that she's in love with Judas....you know the guy who betrayed Christ...."Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to.  I’m just a holy fool…oh baby he’s so cruel, but I’m still in love with Judas, baby"  We shouldn't be shocked because we've seen this before with Madonna.....remember "Like a Prayer"?


But sadly these very uninspiration lyrics are from someone who is topping the mainstream charts and influencing millions of people who buy her albums and flock to her shows.  We always need to pray for these artists who are such a huge influence on this generation of young people and keep praying for the Christian artists that they would stay strong in this business and keep giving us great music that can inspire us. 


Monday, April 4, 2011

Maple Syrup time!

I've been seeing the commercials on TV for all the maple syrup festivals and sugar bush tours so we decided to check one out this weekend.  It was in Utopia between Barrie & Angus at the Tiffin Conservation Park.  I had no idea it even existed but the place was packed so apparantly i'm the only one in the dark.  You get a tour of how Maple Syrup is made, tapping the trees etc. and a full breakfast with the homemade maple syrup which was delicious! 


I was excited for the petting zoo, I love all the furry animals.  Well when we got there it was not a furry animal petting zoo, more like reptiles and bugs which I don't love.  My husband put his fears aside and got involved - I stepped back to take pictures and then left immediately because there was a large tarantula being passed around.