Weekend Doings

My apologies for not being more active this past week. I was spending some time with the family and, this weekend, like millions of other people, reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I finished it late last night [yawn]. For those who might be interested, I liked it and thought the story hung together well and there was enough humor to balance out the darker story line. Without giving away any plot lines, let me tell you that love is in the air, and in places you might not suspect. We also find out that Arthur and Molly Weasley eloped after a quick courtship. Their twin sons Fred and George turn out to be more sensible that we might have otherwise expected. One even comments that he is appreciating his mother more, now that he has to wash his own socks. As a mom, I had to love that comment.

As hinted, we do learn that Harry's mother was talented at charms, and why that is important in this part of the story, and we learn a lot about the history of Voldemort. There is a lot of psychology in this book, and I noticed a "sins of the father" subplot in the continuation of a previous generation's feud. We spend more time with Dumbledore and learn more about him as well. I found it well worth the time to read and to those who will say it is rotting our children's brain, I would reply that just about any reading is good reading, and could be the gateway to other, perhaps more classic works.

On another note, I sat through two kid's movies and, as is all too often the case, thought both were dreadful. One was the new Willy Wonka film. However, everyone else in the family thought it was better than the original and truer to the book. Since I haven't read it I couldn't say. Mr. Jane read it to the kids so they would know better than me.

I hope to be back with more of the usual political chatter soon, and there are still some bills that passed that I need to post. Stay tuned.