Firebreathing, Midwidery, etc.

Yes, that's my husband breathing fire.


Well this post I have titled, Firebreathing, Midwifery, etc. Well onto the Midwifery. . . .

I have been reading several books latley the first, being "Spiritual Midwifery." by Ina May Gaskin. Now for a long time I have shied away from this book. It just looked a little too far out for me, (yes even for me, the woman who makes her own beet kvass) but I have to say that after getting past the somewhat dated hippy graphics and a bit of extraneous spriritual mumbo-jumbo lies an interesting collection of birth stories an a text that provides heaps of information for any and all pregnant ladies while doing a good job of demystifying several common myths about the birthing process. The best section in my opinion is in the back where she basically gives you a rundown of some of the medical facts of pregnancy and birthing. While being Catholic and thus unable to validate her somewhat wacked spirituality I also found it sad that the only people running around claiming that there is a spiritual dimension to birth are a bunch of hippes in Tenesee. Come on folks! No doub JPII has written something on this somewhere. . . . oh well. But anyway it was a food read. So this book gets a recommendation from me with the reservation that you always remember that people who talk about the monkey within are. . . . um. . . . . strange.

I also have been reading the InkHeart Series by Cornelia Funke. They are translated from German and a rather fun little fantasy series. In a day and age when the work of tolkein admirers often makes me weep with embarresment these books are refreshningly free of most fantasy sterotypes. I think I like them more because they are set in Northern Italy. Cultural bias and all that.

Yesterday I "fatto una bella pasta" with my new pastamaker and made a nice porcini sauce with white wine and garlic. Oh, it brought back memories of Pasta Christina down in Pontremoli. How I miss thee, dear Pasta Christina!

Oh and I almost forgot. I received a FABULOUS collection of Italian Children's Songs from my friend Mary and it is just so much fun. The girls and I put it on every morning while I make breakfast and we do "Testa, Spalla, Ginochi e piedi" for our morning calisthenics. (Head shoulders, knees and feet) Zita especially loves it as she is my little birrichina. I think it is available at www.Italianfortoddlers.com.