Study of a doorway as avoidance mechanism

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Yes, there is a war on. No, my family is not in range. Yes, it's stressful anyway as I worry about those I know, and all those I don't, within rocket range or wearing a uniform and wonder how close the rockets will eventually come. I figure blogging and compulsive photoshopping is as good a way of any to not obsess about the war any more than necessary to stay informed and to avoid thinking about the fact that we the people of the world have apparently learned nothing in the past year (why should we, we haven't any other year?) and are going to screw things up just as badly in 2009 as we did in 2008. So much for the hope of a bright new year.

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So here. Look. Pictures.

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First, here's the straight out of the camera shot. Nice subject, but not spectacular. It's got character though, so let's see what it can do.

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This one really highlights the door's old and falling apart antique feel. Nice, but it still doesn't really do it for me. A lot of the story of this facade is told in its fading colors, I feel you lose too much of that by omitting them.

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Back to my lonely writer's photographer's garret (bonus points if you can identify the quote; hint: it's from a 1970's song) for another attempt.

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Bingo!

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This one I like. It's got grit. It's got color. It's got texture. And, it's still got that old and forlorn feel to it. Pay dirt.

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Which one gets your vote?

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My very best wishes to all of you for a happy, healthy, and above all PEACEFUL new year.
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Visit Sepia Scenes to see what's on everyone else's minds this week, photographically speaking.
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Lion Fountain

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Taken last week in Rosh Pina and mucked around with a bit by me this afternoon.

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(click to enlarge)

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying.

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War in Gaza

Hannah says it better than I can.

For those who have been e-mailing to ask whether my family is alright, I thank you for your concern and want to reassure you that we are fine. I live in the center of the country, about 15 minutes from Hannah and safely out of range of Hamas' deadly rocket barrage. My thoughts go out to all those in the south though, who live, and have lived for eight long, frightening years, under constant threat of attack as rockets landed on their homes, their schools, and their playgrounds, and who are now hoping against hope that a way will be found to stop the terror so they can once again live in peace.

Festival of Lights

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The 8th and final Hannukah candle was lit Sunday night, filling the final spot on the menorah, called a Hanukiyah here in Israel. To conclude the holiday in his own inimitable style my son, who is all red all the time, had hoarded all the red candles in the box - bringing them out for a final definitive statement of his loyalties, as if there were ever any question.

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I hope all of your holidays were as full of love and light, shining brightly from this year on into the next.
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Visit Mary at Work of the Poet for more ruby red photos.
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A big thank you to Pak Naks

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I'd hoped to get this post up before the holidays because these Pak Naks would make GREAT Hannukah or stocking stuffer gifts but with my parents in town for an extended visit things got away from me a bit. Now that the holidays are behind us though they're still just as cute as ever and would be a fun way for your kids to spend a little of that Hannukah gelt they got.

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So what are Pak Naks? Easy. They're adorable little texturized rubber decorations for things like backpacks and jackets. They attach easily with heavy duty velcro and come in over 40 different designs ranging from flowers to sports to animals to science to pretty much whatever you can think of, so you know your child will find one they like. Each one is named and comes with a cute little back story too, great for firing up the imagination.

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I won a set of six Pak Naks in a giveaway over at Sandier Pastures and I think my kids had almost as much fun choosing their Naks as they did getting them! Can you tell by looking at the photos of their backpacks that I have one sports-obsessed boy and a real girlie-girl? Both kids were avidly stalking the mailbox waiting for the package and when it arrived (much more promptly than this post I have to add) they couldn't put them on fast enough. I did try to suggest that they could put just one or two and then rotate them but neither child was interested. If one is good more is better. My daughter especially made sure to show them off to everyone she came in contact with the next day, including total strangers in the elevator!

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They've been on for a few weeks now and still look brand new. No fading or wear and tear and the velcro that holds them on is still going strong. At just $4 a Nak (on the website) they're easily affordable, and better yet Pak Naks is a mom-run business, too.

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My kids and I give them six thumbs up.

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Getting back to business

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My parents left this morning after a really good two week visit. We all enjoyed each other tremendously (well, there was that one evening when a few tensions surfaced, but nothing that wasn't quickly resolved). Seriously, we had a great time together and are eagerly awaiting their next visit just three months from now. It was wonderful seeing my kids and my parents beaming at each other and working hard to make up for lost time. My parents were especially amazed at the changes in Maya since last August. She was incredibly involved and interactive, much more enthusiastic about new ideas and a lot more tolerant of upsets to her routine. Watching them play together really warmed my heart, and theirs. While we've definitely seen the progress she's made this year it's sometimes hard to really appreciate how very much progress she's made when you see it develop in incremental steps. Hearing my parents excited about how much of a difference there was really drove home how very far Maya has come in the past four months. If just four months can make such a difference, I can only imagine where she will be at the end of the year, or next year, or the year after... What a joy to see the future stretching out brightly in front of us.

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While they were here my parents got to see Maya's school Hannukah party,

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and visit a local winery, where we may have had just a wee bit too much to drink. Luckily they had a great lawn out back complete with picnic blankets.

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and light Hannukah candles on our hotel room's miniscule balcony

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and teach Itai to skateboard (yes, his arm is completely healed now and I suspect he is playing soccer at (Hannukah) camp this very moment)

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and Maya to rollerskate (thanks to my dad, who had to make special arrangements to meet the UPS guy in a supermarket parking lot the day they left to get the skates we'd ordered - who'd have guessed that Maya's heart's desire, pink rollerskates, would be so hard to find here in Israel). Here she is collapsed on the ground after her first time out - turns out she was a bit sick that day and learning to skate pretty much did her in. She found out the hard way that it's a lot tougher than it looks. She'd gotten the hang of it by the next time though. (Don't mind the makeup - an older girl at camp did it. Really brings out her sickly pall, doesn't it?)

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And give Maya a dollhouse that my mother painted and decorated herself to look just like their own house, complete with the jacuzzi in the backyard - the perfect thing for playing "going to Grandma's house".

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All in all, a great visit. We were sad to see them leave, and are eagerly awaiting their return this April. In the meantime, Hannukah vacation is nearly over and it's back to business, and blogging, as usual.

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Fall, North of Israel, Late December

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Taken last weekend in Rosh Pina. This is about as good as fall colors get around here, and even this is a bit of an oddity. Of course "fall" was followed by winter, or at least our cold rainy version of it, just a day or two later.

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Watery tulip in Baron Park, Rosh Pina

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Click to enlarge.

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying.

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Happy holidays to all who are celebrating. More about our Hannukah trip to Rosh Pina can be found in yesterday's post.

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Rosh Pina

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Here's a sneak preview of our quick little getaway up to Rosh Pina. We stayed in a fabulously quirky little inn which was just crying out to be featured in a Ruby Tuesday post. I'll be posting loads more pictures and a bunch of perfect-for-blog stories in the coming days, but for now enjoy this quick peek. All of the photos in this post were taken on the grounds of the inn. You can tell the innkeepers like their bright reds and blues.
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Yes, that last one was also taken at the hotel - it was cold and damp outside but they heat the pool to a toasty 88F (30C) in the winter. It was utterly delightful, and when we got a bit chilled there despite the warm water we just hopped across to the jacuzzi a few feet away. Hard life, isn't it? Too bad vacations always end so quickly...

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Have a wonderful holiday week everyone, however you're celebrating.

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Heading out for a few days

Just as the weather turns from nice and warm with gorgeous sunny skies to coldier and overcast, but nevermind, we'll have fun anyway, and the hotel pool is heated high enough for winter swimming.

Back in a few.

Water with lemon

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I'm continuing with the selective colorization theme again this week (which is way too much fun to play with and therefore is probably either illegal or else fattening). I see that Mary's done something similar with her photo this week but has taken it in a completely different and very cool direction. Three cheers for the creative process and all it's twists and turns.

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My own photo this time is (obviously) a carafe of water with lemon sections - picked from our very own lemon tree on our very own roof! (Finally, something that didn't curl up and die when it saw us coming!) Instead of going with straight sepia I gave the background an old paper effect which I am really loving and just bumped up the levels on the lemons a bit.

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Enjoy, and check out this week's Sepia Scenes for loads more old-timey flavored goodness.

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PS I think I've figured out the clickable photo issue - if I'm right and you click on this one you should be able to see the full-size photo. If not, let me know and I'll keep trying.

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Detail of Hannukah Decorations

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Some red Hannukah decorations for this week's combined Ruby Tuesday / Wordless Wednesday offering (since I'm an idiot and didn't realize I'd set Tuesday's post to publish on Wednesday, might as well get some extra mileage out of it since I linked up to RT a day late).

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How cool is this! (great timewaster)

What a fun new time sink. Because of course we all have so much extra time this time of year. Come on, you know you can't help yourself.

(Original photo of Maya is mine, the photoshopping is from the application - I'm not that good LOL.)

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Checking in quickly

We're having a great visit, full of togetherness and fairy tea parties, stories and pro soccer games (Hapoel Tel Aviv of course). The warmth of their welcome from my children as they exited the terminal had both of my parents feeling like visiting royalty. (The children had been standing at the barrier stalking watching for my parents and the very second they saw them come out they flew under the bar and literally tackled them both. It was quite exuberant, to say the least.)

I'm preserving our memories with lots of pictures (a favorite is one of my father with a fuzzy pink purse - on his head). I haven't uploaded them yet but hopefully there are a few gems in there. (I'd check now but all my usb cables are in the closet in the room where my parents are currently sound asleep. Later.)

I'll have to cut this off now, it's time to go make like a grownup and work for a living.

PS I finally found a pair of sensible old lady shoes shoes with removable orthotics that I actually like - and better yet they're comfortable and don't make my feet hurt. They're Clarks, and look quite a lot like these, just with a leather criss-cross strap with a velcro closure instead of the cord. Oh, and they didn't have black in my size, so for the first time in probably twenty years I've got a chocolate brown shoe. It looks great and it's dark enough to hold me over for a bit though, so all's well in Shoeville. I'm just happy they don't make me look ninety years old!

Update: Found 'em! Mine are these. Not your grandmother's sensible shoes, eh?

Moving into stealth mode

My parents arrive in about 2.5 hours. No, the house still isn't entirely clean, yes, I'm rushing around like a crazy person. More importantly, they don't know I have a blog, so things will be going a bit circumspect around here for the next two weeks. I'll still be posting but my online time will be somewhat limited so I may not get around to as many of your blogs as I normally would.

There should be lots of good photo ops coming up though ;-).

After the rain, revisited (edited to add new image - scroll down)

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Same raindrop, different composition and different processing. I still think I like the color version better, but the sepia has its own form of charm. I'd like the composition better if it were less top heavy (too bad that just flipping it would lead to a drop of water strangely floating upwards, because it would definitely improve the rest of the picture), but it's already nearly 1:30 and I'm too tired to see straight. I just got back from hearing my friend's band play at a Tel Aviv brewpub. Fun evening, but a late one. Photographic inspiration will have to wait until I'm more coherent. I haven't done much shooting recently but my parents arrive for a visit on Friday so that's about to change. In the meantime, you get sepia tinted raindrops. That's the thing about this blog, you just never know quite what you'll get, do you? No? Me either. What can I say, I'm scatterbrained eclectic. And apparently more than a little punch drunk from lack of sleep, and utterly unable to put together a reasonable blog post. Should have just stuck the photo up and been done with it, quit while I was (at least partially) ahead. Oh well, nevermind. I'm off to bed now, and it seems not a moment too soon.

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Visit Sepia Scenes for, you guessed it, more sepia photos.

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Ok, now I'm really and truly going to bed.

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Goodnight.

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Ok, you asked and I answered. Here's a sepia version with a full color raindrop. Definitely interesting. Thoughts?

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Future Blogger?

Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying.

Making the mundane beautiful

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Ooh, ooh, when you're done here scroll down to the bottom to hear some big news!
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Today's Ruby Tuesday post continues the utility cabinet theme I started yesterday - this one is my favorite one of all. I love the vibrant colors and the tropical hideaway feel it gives to something as mundane as a big metal box. Just think how awful that metal monstrosity must have looked before getting its makeover, and now look at it. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive by.
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What puts a smile on your face in your neighborhood?
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Newsflash:
The inaugural issue of the new poetry and art journal Ouroboros Review is now out in its online version. Jo Hemmant and Christine Swint have done a wonderful job, the new magazine is a real treasure, and one I'm very excited to be a part of - two of my own images were chosen for inclusion (see pages 31 and 36), which thrills me immensely as I see the company I'm in. Here, come see for yourselves. Careful though, you won't be able to put it down again very easily.
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Don't say I didn't warn you.
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It's a wonder what a little paint can do

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A delightful thing has been happening in our area for the last few years (perhaps even all over Israel, can any of my Israeli readers fill me in?). Those ugly gray utility cabinets you (used to!) see all over town have been getting facelifts by local artists and high school art students, and what a change it has made. Instead of seeing something ugly and utilitarian we get to see these instead:
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(Names of the town, local school and artist have been removed or fuzzed out - I apologize for not giving credit, but I don't feel right about putting that much identifying information out there.).
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This one is a favorite of mine. I love the quote on the right-hand side: The Modern Age began the day that Nature became Scenery. (The left side says "The Wheels of Time in the Streets of the Galaxy".)

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I've got one more really stunning one, but I'm saving that one for Ruby Tuesday - be sure to come by tomorrow to see it.
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Of serendipity and remembering

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It's been quite a while since I've done any real writing. I blog all the time, but lately photography seems to be occupying all of the spaces labeled "creative expression" in my brain. Where once words and ideas swam freely images now travel - rising to the surface almost of their own volition, often preferring to stand on their own, unsullied by explanation.

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Once in a while it is possible to combine the two.

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Last night a group of my dearest friends gathered (as we often do) to share a meal, friendship, and a few bottles of wine. We dedicated our gathering to the memory of my friend's father, who just passed away after a long and difficult illness. To celebrate Frank's life, we made food that he, or others' fathers, liked best, looked at the beautiful photographs he'd taken and talked about his incredible eye for composition, and shared stories of fathers and families. It was a wonderful, loving tribute to a life well lived. At my friend's request, I brought my camera along so that she could share a piece of the evening with her brother and sister back in the United States. I took a number of photos of those gathered, including a beautiful one of my friend and her mother, who had joined us for the evening.

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Eventually the food was eaten, the wine consumed, the dishes cleared away, and the stories concluded. It was time to go home. I walked out with another friend. As we stood chatting on the porch for a moment she noticed a tree covered in the most delightful looking powder puff blooms. I noticed one in particular, set slightly apart and almost seeming to glow in the warm light of the streetlamp, a beacon of color shining out in the black night sky. I looked wistfully at the bloom, saying what a beautiful photo it would make if only I had my camera, when it occurred to me that I DID in fact have my camera slung right over my shoulder at that very moment.

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It was well after midnight when I set my things down in my car and returned with my camera to capture the bloom which had so enchanted me.

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I think Frank would have approved.

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This week's Writers Island prompt was "if only".

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Seen and Unseen

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Pulling one from the archives this week, since it works so well for both Sepia Scenes and Thematic Photographic's "shadow" theme. Photographing shadows has always been a keen interest of mine, I'm intrigued by the interplay between the seen and the unseen. (I think) this one is a potted lemon tree, or perhaps it's the clementine. I'm too tired cold lazy to go upstairs and take a look. Here are some several related shots taken a few months earlier as well.

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Self Portrait in an Elevator Mirror

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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying.

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Fading flower, with a twist (run for your lives - she's going all artsy-fartsy on us!)

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I thought I'd experiment with something a bit different for this week's Ruby Tuesday. The original shot wasn't very interesting, just a fading flower's last gasp. I like it better this way, it seems to have more to say.

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What do you think? Clever twist, or ugly (not to mention pretentious) trash?

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