It's over. Everything is fine.

I don't have much time but I didn't want to leave everyone hanging.

To make a very long, very frightening story short we've had quite a health scare with Itai after he starting having debilitating headaches and complaining of double vision after a minor illness a few weeks ago.

Two visits to the pediatrician, two visits to eye doctors, an entire morning at the specialty children's eye hospital (after they had us jump a 6 month queue to be seen right away), one MRI (again, you must jump the queue and be seen within the week) and one visit to the head of pediatric neurosurgery at a leading children's hospital (this afternoon) later we can now say conclusively that he is completely healthy.

He apparently had some form of viral meningitis which has now resolved, which is what caused the headaches and exacerbated the vision problems. He's also got the same weakness with the muscles in his eyes that I have, which is what caused the underlying double vision, and will most likely have to do eye exercises (as I did for years as a child). We'll find out at our follow up visit to the eye hospital at the end of March.

Most importantly and overshadowing all else though, he is FINE. His brain is FINE. There are no lesions, tumors, or anything else that there shouldn't be. There is, to quote the neurosurgeon, absolutely no cause for concern.

God I'm glad that's over.

Thank you everyone for all the support and virtual hand-holding, even without knowing what you were supporting. It meant a great deal to me.

Fleeting Beauty

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Just a few moments before I happened to pass by yesterday this flower was probably at the peak of its beauty, beaming at pedestrians from a nearby hedge, but now it lies forlorn on a sidewalk, its moments numbered.

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Treasure beauty wherever you find it, for it may be gone in the blink of an eye.

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Yes, a bit maudlin. As you may guess from the tone of my post, our stressful situation has not yet been concluded, but hopefully will be by Thursday afternoon (oh how I hope so). Once it's all safely over I'll tell you about it.

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Salt and Pepper, Tagine-Style

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One from the archives this week, newly reprocessed.

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Click to enlarge.

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No post today

Sorry folks, no Ruby Tuesday today, or any other post for that matter.

We've got some major stress this week, I'll be here when I can and will hopefully be able to tell you that it's all over in a few days.

In the meantime send some good thoughts our way, would you?

Olive Branch Redux

Click to enlarge

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I was really hoping to show you something other than a piece of one of the plants growing on my patio for this week's mono entry but the weather has been so unbelievably wet and miserable that I can barely set foot outside, let alone take my camera out. Inside it's nearly as bad - my home doesn't get great light under the best of circumstances, so this week it's been positively sepulchral around here. Couple that with atomic levels of stress and the fact that we somehow blew out our living room light fixture this weekend and it's no wonder that I'm not feeling very inspired behind the lens. Instead I've been delving back into the archives and looking for inspiration in the processing of existing images, looking for that special something hidden inside that I missed the first time around.
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I processed this olive branch as a lightly green tinted monochrome as a nod to its organic nature, and then added a bit of a film grain to give it more of that edgy retro feel you find in late night detective movies, or at least the edgy retro feel I suspect I'd find in late night detective movies if I ever managed to stay up late enough to watch them...
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Any of that making any sense? No? Nevermind then. The weather is supposed to clear briefly later in the week and my stressful situation will hopefully be happily concluded by then, so with any luck you may get something completely different to look at next week. Either that or I'll be curled up in the corner in a fetal position rocking back and forth and muttering under my breath.
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Dreaming of Summer (product review)

A few weeks ago the folks over at Skin MD sent over a bottle of their new Shielding Lotion + Sunscreen for me to try, and for the past few weeks that's exactly what I've done:

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As a lotion it goes on lightly and absorbs quickly and completely, so that you don't end up feeling greasy and at risk of having your coffee mug slip right out of your hands (or is it just me that that sort of thing happens to?). It left my skin feeling soft and smooth and smelling slightly of summertime. I'm not sure why exactly it reminds me of summertime, but it does. It probably has something to do with a faint aroma of sunscreen lotion and since it's so subtle it's actually quite pleasant. In fact, as a sunscreen would probably be my preferred use for Skin MD. Other than my hands, which are horribly dry and cracked most of the winter and need very intensive treatment, I don't tend to moisturize daily (yes yes, I know, I'm getting older blah blah blah). I am however careful about using sunscreen in the summer - it's a must with our strong Israeli sun - and I like the way Skin MD goes on without feeling all gloppy and greasy like other sunscreens. Because it's thinner it's easier to spread out too, you don't end up feeling like it's all just staying where it landed on one narrow strip of thigh.

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Now if it would just stop raining long enough for the sun to come out... (yes, yes, we're in a drought, desperately need the rain, spring will be here soon enough and with it the dry season, etc etc, but really, couldn't we have had our winter's rain spaced out over the course of say, a WINTER, rather than all concentrated in one wet miserable week, would that have been too much to ask?)

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Click here if you're a blogger and would like a sample of Skin MD of your own to review.

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Maya

This isn't quite traditional sepia but I love it's softness. I took a washed out photo of Maya from last summer, desaturated it and added a slight sepia tint, and then used layers to add a faint tint back in. I really love the way it turned out, subtle, with just the barest hint of color.

Murano Glass Vase, circa 1960's (the vase, not the shot)

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Click to enlarge

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

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Date Palms

Last week I showed you a closeup of the trunk of my own triangle palm. For this week's mono shot I'm sticking with the palm tree theme but writing it larger - I've got not one but three full size date palms for you. These babies don't grow in a pot on the roof. (To clear up some apparent confusion, they're not mine either. While I do have date palms all around my neighborhood, these particular ones are in a campground in the north of the country.) Date palms are the palm trees of legend - the trees which bear the fruit used to make the honey that this land of milk and honey is named for. (Did you know that the honey in question wasn't bees' honey but date honey? It is, and it is made on the kibbutz where I lived briefly many years ago. You can read about my adventures in the date packing house here. Coincidentally that post from January of 2008 mentions the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat, the New Year for the Trees, which we just celebrated again last Monday, and yes, we had wonderfully plump madjoul dates on offer.)

Eight

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Yesterday my son Itai turned eight (and no, I have no idea how that happened. I swear he was just born last week.), and with eight my husband and I reached a new stage in our parenting journey - the stage that stabs an icy cold tentacle of fear into the heart of every parent.

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The slumber party.

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We've done the horribly big, horribly loud, invite the whole class of 35 + assorted extra kids, hire a professional entertainer party. Lots of times. It's loud, it's chaotic, and it's expensive, but it's all over in two hours.

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This year he (we) kicked it up a notch and went all out. It started when I agreed to a party with 5 or 6 kids. I know his friends, they're sweet kids and not too out of control, I was confident that we could rise to the challenge.

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Only one small snag. My son is what you might call popular (how this happened I have no idea, his father and I were much closer to the other end of the scale). Once he started inviting, he couldn't stop. If he invited this one he'd have to invite that one, with that one then also that one, so that he wouldn't be left out. And so on. (And they told two friends, and they told two friends...)

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In addition to my own two kids we ended up with eleven invitees - all of whom said yes! (Aack! Panic panic panic!) Thankfully when the day came one was sick (ok, not thankful about that, but you know what I mean), two were no shows (so very Israeli) and one announced that he couldn't stay overnight. That left us with a total of 10 kids in the house, nine of whom were going to be rowdy sugared-up second graders. We stocked up on balloons (the long skinny ones are great for safe swordfights and other low-impact creativity), ordered pizza and let 'em loose.

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It was utter bedlam for several hours and there were two kids who couldn't manage to get along and drove me nearly insane (one of whom decided at 10:30pm that he couldn't fall asleep and asked to go home. Umm, sure. And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out kid.) Most of them never did settle down to watch movies, but eventually they calmed down a bit and by 11:30 everyone was sound asleep, not to stir until well after 7:00.

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Nothing got broken (except a stupid beanbag snake that sprung a few leaks and shot plastic pellets all over the house), no blood was drawn and no one went to the hospital, so all in all I'd say it was a success. Most importantly the kids had fun and everyone went home smiling (and if I'm very lucky this will now start a trend and other kids will start having sleepovers at least, even if their parents aren't up for a full-blown slumber party).

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And to top it off, Itai actually asked for the world's easiest cake this year so at least on that front I got off VERY easy:

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Fossilized seashell

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I look at this and I'm reminded of all the hours I used to spend as a child looking for shells at the beach, or better yet for fossils whispering to us from the depths of the ages. I love the subtle delicate shaping of this one, making it look almost soft. It almost defies comprehension, how something as ethereal as the imprint of a shell or a plant can survive through the millenia, creating a memory of itself from the very soil in which it lies. How long did this small treasure have to wait, unseen, for me to find it?

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Thousands of years?

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Hundreds of thousands?

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Perhaps even millions?

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Or perhaps maybe just a few weeks ;-).

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Take another look and see what you think.

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I started experimenting with focal black and white this afternoon, veered off into sepia, and from there one thing led to another until I ended up with my "fossil".

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I am so loving photoshop...
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Spring

If you're looking for my WW offering for 18 February please look here.

I put the wrong link in the first time. Sorry for any confusion.

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Click to enlarge

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And right on time*, too, today's storms notwithstanding.

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

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* Tu B'Shvat was yesterday
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Red Velvet Cake

Because I prefer not to dwell on what are likely to be utterly abysmal election results in Israel's national election Tuesday...

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In the spirit of Valentine's Day and Ruby Tuesday and Hapoel Tel Aviv and all things red, I give you:

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Red Velvet Cake

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My thoughts:
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Recipe: (see above link for the full recipe) While the batter started out quite red, the finished product was a much more sedate reddish-brown. I did use gel coloring instead of liquid (as per the gel option in the recipe), but the gel is pretty potent stuff so I doubt that was the reason. Whatever the color, it was delicious. Rich, but not overly heavy, and the cream cheese frosting was divine. If I make it again I'll stop at two layers though, and use the rest of the batter for cupcakes - that third layer looked very elegant, but it made the cake ridiculously high.

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Decoration: I'd intended to stick a fondant rose on the top of the cake but forgot to get one. Luckily our GNI hostess with the mostess had a perfect pomegranate just sitting on her counter waiting for my cake to come along, and the idea that we use it. It was a stroke of brilliance, the slight tartness of the pomegranate was a great balance for the sweet frosting.

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Proof that the batter really did start out red

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And the kicker? I'm on a diet - out of this entire cake I only had three bites! I've still got leftovers on my table and I am very steadfastly not eating them. Sheesh.

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Palm Tree

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Click to enlarge

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When we think of palm trees we, or at least I, think first and foremost of waving green fronds. For this week's mono entry I thought it would be more interesting to instead look lower down - at the trunk. The fronds up top get all the glory, while the trunks are just the utilitarian and oft-overlooked end of things. When you do take a moment to really see them though, they're all about texture, making them a perfect subject for a monochrome shot.

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Oh, and if you're wondering, the tree is in a pot on my patio and its top looks like this.

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When perspective smacks you right between the eyes

I was going to write a whiny woe is me post about a series of minor calamities which befell my lunch a few minutes ago, followed by an announcement that I was headed off to the gym, which I'm sure would have been both the literally and emotional high point of most of your days.

As I ate what I was able to salvage of my lunch though I popped over to Twitter, and read Kelly's updates about the devastating bushfires ravaging her area. The death toll is now up into the eighties (dear god...) and while her house is safely out of the path of the flames some of her friends and neighbors are still unaccounted for. Kelly is afraid to go to work tomorrow, scared to find out who won't be there.

And the most horrific part of this whole horrific story?

They believe the fire was intentionally set.

You'd better go back and reread that last sentence, it doesn't seem to sink in the first time.

Yeah. Suddenly my crappy lunch doesn't seem so crappy after all.

Stay safe my friend. I'll be holding you and everyone in that terrible fire's way close in my thoughts.

Just a little tease for Tuesday

I've got a crackerjack subject for this week's Ruby Tuesday post.

Here's a hint ;-).

Sooke Region Museum

This is the museum that houses the old time kitchen I shared in last week's Sepia Scenes. Fitting, isn't it? I had to leave the windows in color though, they had the most spectacular reflections, it would have been criminal not to share them with you all.

Cottage Wall

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Click to enlarge

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Taken on a hike from Fiesole, in the hills above Florence, to Maiano.

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

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Not as high as it used to be

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Jay and I picked up this simple woven pen holder during a trip to Thailand (Jay has just informed me that he bought it from the crazy old lady in Chiang Mai with teeth stained dark red from what had to have been many decades of chewing betel nuts) back before we had children. It was never anything particularly special, just a place to stick all those odd pens that seem to accumulate around a house. For years it sat on the counter within easy reach, ready for that number that just had to be jotted down right away.

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Later, when we had kids, it seemed imprudent to leave a large collection of pens just lying around for budding young artists to find, so in the interests of childproofing (and safeguarding our walls!) we stuck it up on top of the refrigerator. A bit awkward at times, but easier than worrying about who was getting into what. And it worked. For oh so many blissful years, it worked. If Itai, who is turning eight this month and quite old enough to be trusted with writing implements of all kinds, needed to write or draw he'd either grab a pencil from his backpack or ask me to get one down, content in his knowledge that the world would bend itself to meet his every need.

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Maya, who is just five, is cut from a different cloth. No first child little emporer syndrome here, she is the queen of I'll Do It Myself Land. It's a very different sort of country than the one we used to live in - sometimes exciting, sometimes frustrating, rarely dull.

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The other day I heard a noise in the kitchen and turned around to find that Maya had dragged one of those tall kitchen stools you see in my header over to the refrigerator, climbed up, and taken down the pen holder. When asked why, she calmly explained that she needed the red pencil it held.

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Even after nearly eight years of living on this planet it would never have occurred to my older child that he could actually drag a chair over to the refrigerator, climb up, and take down whatever he wants.

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Maya constantly pushes the envelope. She doesn't accept unwanted limitations and she perserveres until she succeeds. Ultimately, I'm confident these qualities will take her far in life.

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In the meantime though I'm going to hide the keys to the car.

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Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby red stories.

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Rosh Hanikra Grotto - from the inside out

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Rosh Hanikra, on Israel's northern border, is a magical place - rock grottoes, crashing waves, kayaking spelunkers, history, even its own ghost story.

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It was almost cheating to pick this image for Monochrome Maniacs though, since shooting from inside the darkness of the grotto towards the bright sunlight resulted in an image that was nearly completely desaturated as is. A formal shift to black and white, a slight boost to the contrast, a (nearly invisible on the blog) frame, and done.
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