Sky Watch Friday

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Last week we drove to Crooked River and i took these of the first new snow on the Sisters mountain range.

Odd Shot Monday

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I don't know how many times i have gone by this and never seen this sign, they must of repainted and made it stand out more since they opened up the new parkway in Redmond, I thought it was kind of a cool and Odd shot.

Monuments and Memorials

The site of the Warsaw Ghetto, with Ghetto monument in background. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The site in front of the Ghetto Monument of the about-to-be-built Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Memorials to the Holocaust and to the Jewish communities destroyed in the Shoah are among the sites of Jewish heritage and memory in Europe that receive the most visitors.

I want to draw attention to two particularly thoughtful essays by Sam Gruber about their design, purpose and impact.

One is about what's missing from the Holocaust memorial in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Answer? Any information to inform the visitor what it is about.)

The other is about the complexity and changing style and emphasis of Holocaust monuments and memory in Warsaw, focuses on the Ghetto Monument, erected in 1948, the monument at Umschlagplatz, erected in 1991, and the planned new Museum of the History of Polish Jewry.

More Festivals

I just want to post a reminder that I keep updating the page noting Jewish culture and other festivals around Europe (and occasionally elsewhere) -- the link is in the sidebar of the blog. So far, I'm up to about 20!

I just added a link to the program of the Jewish Culture Days in Lodz, Poland, which runs from now until the end of June.

Today's Flower

Visit Luiz to sign Mr. Linky and see more flowers from around the world.

Italy -- Cherasco synagogue resources, visits

Photo: De Benedetti Cherasco 1547 Foundation

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I've come across a new web site dedicated to the Jewish heritage of Cherasco, in northern Italy's Piedmont region, and in particular to its gemlike little synagogue, located in the heart of the one-time ghetto, which was reopened in 2006 after a full restoration. Dating from the 18th century, the synagogue is noted from its beautiful carved bimah, with spiral columns.

Much of the site's content is still only in Italian, though it looks as if the whole site will eventually have an English edition. Of particular interest are the photo galleries (see the Galleria Multimediale) which includes before and after images of the synagogue -- as well as a detailed photo documentation of the restoration process.

The site was established by the De Benedetti-Cherasco 1547 Foundation, which also sponsored the restoration.

The Foundation was established in 2002 to commemorate the engineer Gian Giacomo Debenedetti, who died in 1998 and "who dearly loved the city of Cherasco and worked to promote its image and its initiatives in Italy and abroad."

Its stated goals are also to:

Express gratitude to the city of Cherasco, that since 1547 has welcomed numerous Jewish families within its walls, including the De Benedetti family

Maintain cultural ties with France, in remembrance of the armistice signed at Cherasco between revolutionary France and the Kingdom of Sardinia on 28 April 1796, an event that resulted in the introduction of the values of the French Revolution and in the emancipation of the Jews of Cherasco to the city

Develop ties with the country of Israel, initiated by the through the twinning of Cherasco with the city of Qiryat Gat

Guided tours of the synagogue are offered various Sunday afternoons in coming months -- June 14, 21, 28 ; August 30; September 6 and 13; October 18 and 25; and November 1. Private visits can be arranged during the week, by reservation.

Contact:
Codess Cultura Società Cooperativa
via S. Anselmo 6 10125 - Torino
Tel. +39 011 6699725
Fax +39 011 6508190
www.codesscultura.it

Camera Critters

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Well i couldn't help taking and showing this photo of Casey and Tom Tom I hope your all not getting bored with photo shots of Tom Tom as he grows, well they tell me he's growing but to me he sure don't seem to be getting any bigger, but boy he loves to eat though, he is going to be another Tittertat if i don't watch him. Anyway they are enjoying the window sill on a cold day Nevada built that ledge wider so they can all lay up there and enjoy the sunshine several yrs ago, all padded too, makes a good scratching post as well. LOL And if you look behind them, there are pictures of some of Nevada's Pen & Ink art he did many many yrs ago.


So today we went for a drive to look at a camper that this lady was giving away and ran into these beauties. I have never seen so many babies in one place and i didn't get the photos of the smallest ones, as i didn't want to scare the momma's, the next field over was a whole bunch of what looked like maybe day old babies... Poor things were born on a really cold day as it was freezing out there. They all had bells on, Now i really thought they were Llamas at first but i don't think they are, and i can't think of what they are actually called, Anyone know? This ranch was huge and they must of had about 2 or 3 hundred of these cute woolly things. Isn't this one precious looks like she is smileying at me. LOL