Festival of Lights

Today is the first day of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. In the UK it also happens to be the shortest day of the year... so it’s a time when we all need light in our lives in more ways than one.

Chanukah lasts for eight days. We have special candlesticks called Menorahs or Chanukiahs. When I was in Jerusalem in October I bought myself this lovely new Chanukiah. [Did I mention that we went to Jerusalem?! I did! Whoops, I do keep repeating myself!] 

The photo doesn't really do it justice. It's soooo pretty.

The middle branch is the lighter candle, called the shamash, which is used to light the other candles. Each night an extra candle is lit until on the eighth night there are nine candles burning. It’s a really fun time for the children who look forward to a small gift as each candle is lit.

Chanukah commemorates a miracle, a historical event that took place over 2,300 years ago. The Jewish temple in Jerusalem had been ransacked. When Judah and the Maccabees reclaimed the temple they found that all the oil had been contaminated except for one small jug which held enough for a single day. There’s always a light burning in a Jewish place of worship and so the oil lamp was filled and lit. Then a miracle happened as the tiny amount of oil stayed lit not for one day but for eight days, enough time for fresh oil to be prepared.

But when we light the Chanukah candles today we also celebrate the power of light. If our house is in darkness we stumble and fall over each other. The same can be said of the world. If we light a candle to light the world... 

if we ALL light a candle to light the world, 

then there’ll be no more darkness, no one will stumble, none of us need fall. Maybe one day.

Here’s a fun message from a cartoon character called Rabbi Infinity that shows us how light is more powerful than dark. It's called A Little Light.

Whatever festival you’re celebrating, or about to celebrate, may it be a happy, healthy and peaceful time for everyone.

If we cared

I’ve had a go at one of Jenny Matlock’s weekend challenges. I can't get Blogger to put a link on her badge but please visit her blog. There’s always something there to make you smile. This week her challenge is to post up a piece of writing in any style as long as it’s less than 100 words and includes the phrase:

It doesn’t have to be that way

‘Excellent!’ I thought when I read her prompt. ‘I now have an excuse for one of my regular moans.’ So here goes:

Why is it nation fighting nation,
Always man versus man,
Another journalist’s sensation
As the bad news hits the fan?

We say we care about each other
But that clearly isn’t true.
What with brother killing brother
I’m afraid for me and you.

If we cared we’d not permit
All of that murderous display.
It’s our world we’re messing up. It
Doesn’t have to be that way.

What does your computer screen wallpaper say about you?

Some people don’t bother to upload personalised wallpaper [background] for their computer. They’re content to make do with the Windows default one. My theory is that these people are practical and business-like and don’t want to be distracted by personalised add-ons.

I, on the other hand, am neither practical nor business-like and I’m more than happy to distract myself with personalised add-ons! I’m certainly spending rather a lot of time trying to decide on suitable screen wallpaper right now. It all went wrong when the dog died just over a year ago and I couldn’t bear to look at his adorable face on my laptop screen each day. I decided to go impersonal. I started to photograph flowers in the garden but I soon got bored with each one. The following three are some of my better attempts. [I've never been much of a photographer!]

Autumn Dahlia                        Clematis head                             Daisy

Every few days I would be out in the garden, camera in hand, but now that it’s winter there’s nothing inspiring out there to photograph so at the moment I’m using a picture from that lovely holiday we recently had in Jerusalem [did I mention that we went to Jerusalem?!?] I’m sure that I’ll soon be changing it again. I may go for ducks next time because, as I said in a recent blog post, ducks make me smile and we all need an excuse to smile while we’re working, don’t we!

• What wallpaper do you have on your computer screen?
• Do you keep changing it or have you had the same one for so long that you hardly notice it?
• And what does that say about you?