View from Ein Gedi

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Ein Gedi, looking down at the Dead Sea

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

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Impersonating a Traffic Signal

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A bunch of people asked for a photo of my newly undrab hair last week, and since I found myself scrounging the bottom of the old red barrel for this week's Ruby Tuesday I decided to oblige. It's actually the same red it usually is, but the first week is always shockingly, traffic-stoppingly bright. I actually quite like it, it's a shame it fades so quickly into a more sedate auburn.

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Oh, and ignore the late night, no makeup, grotty old sweatshirt and weird light reflecting off the bathroom mirror. Self portraits are not my forte LOL.

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Rock Hyrex in His Den

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These little guys were not shy at all this weekend. Here's another one peeking out from his den. Cute little furballs aren't they, though if you enlarge the photo you'll get a look at some very sharp looking little teeth.
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More of our desert oasis weekend can be found here, including a full color shot of one of this guy's relatives.
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Visit Monochrome Maniacs for more black and white goodness.
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It just doesn't get much better than this

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We're back from our weekend down in Ein Gedi, where we celebrated music and life in general on a beautiful deck overlooking the shockingly blue water of the Dead Sea (it really is a shocking deep blue, with a color that rich it seems almost scandalous that it is not in fact refreshingly sweet clear water) and looking across at the mountains of Jordan.

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(Notice the tent is "staked" to the benches - necessity being the mother of invention and all that)

It was a weekend where everything just seems to come together perfectly - good friends both old and new, good music, campfire singalongs that go on until the wee hours of the morning... A weekend so wonderful that minor annoyances like missing breakfasts just seemed to work themselves out almost of their own accord.

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The days were hot and sunny, with temperatures up into the eighties - perfect for exploring Ein Gedi's magical waterfalls and lazing around in the sun too.

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We even had a few encounters of the small and furry kind. We didn't get close to the ibex this time (turns out they were right by the entrance to the kibbutz where we were staying, but we weren't able to pull over quickly), but we got a real kick out of this little guy that we found along the trail. He's a rock hyrex and cute as a button.
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Don't ask about the nights, it was the desert after all. We froze our proverbial patooties off, and after a windstorm blew through the second afternoon and nearly collapsed our tent with Maya inside it we decided it would be prudent to move it - so the second night we actually camped INSIDE a giant quonset hut right by the indoor stage. It worked out perfectly - the first night we were outside just a few feet from the main stage, and the second night the kids were able to go inside to bed out of the cold while the adults made a racket outside, and then by the time the cold chased us inside as well they were sound asleep and not bothered by the music being played just a few feet away.
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Heck, they even made some music of their own before heading off to bed. Yes, my kids actually got up on stage and performed in front of about ninety people. They practiced for two days before making their big debut. Itai sang the theme song from their favorite cartoon (Huntik) while Maya danced. (They'd originally both planned to sing, but he managed to convince her that the act needed a dancer. They were by far the youngest performers there and they brought the (albeit quite indulgent) house down.)
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All in all a wonderful weekend. We can't wait to do it again. Stop by during the week for more photos and stories from desert adventure, or better yet, join us next year.
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(Yes, I realize there are no photos of the actual performances here. I didn't want to put anyone's pictures up on the internet without their permission. Rest assured I've got lots.)
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Goin' down, down, down...

We're heading down to a music festival at the Dead Sea in a few hours. Back Saturday evening. Should be some great music, great friends, and great photo ops. Boy can I use a weekend like that right now!

Catch you on the flip side.

PS It is utterly obscene how much crap a family of four needs to camp out for two nights - even though nearly all of the food will be purchased there!

Wild Purple Iris

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

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Got mail?

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That's right, these strange and very utilitarian looking contraptions are the Israeli Post Office's official outgoing mail collection points, or in simpler terms - mailboxes. This particular pair is outside my local post office, just a few blocks from my home. One is for intracity mail, the other for everything else. The little white plaques on the front announce the daily pickup times for each. Due to security concerns these mailboxes accept letters and flat packages only (hence the lack of a large door). All parcels and larger packages need to be sent from inside the post office, where the clerks can choose to inspect them.

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As a small cultural aside, for some unknown reason (probably cost) my city, unlike most in Israel, does not have home mail delivery. We all have mailboxes, but the only things we get in them are junk mail, the local freebie papers, and the occasional gas or municipal water and tax bill. Instead, the city (or possibly the Post Office? I've never really thought about who pays and why) provides each resident with a free post office box , and deliver the mail to the box. Mine is in a separate bank of boxes just outside the main facility, with a box that is ridiculously low to the ground and half-blocked by a large puddle after each rainstorm, but that particular PO box goes with my home so no way to change it to one more easily accessible. I've gotten used to it over the years I suppose.

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Odd too that the Post Office's official colors are red and white instead of the blue and white of the Israeli flag, but it does make for a fitting Ruby Tuesday subject this way.

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Turquoise Fence

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Yes, surprisingly, this simple fence outside a neighborhood grocery store is actually an eye-popping turquoise in real life.
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I'm not sure why I find this simple photo so appealing. I took it a few weeks ago on a whim and while I knew it wasn't a showstopper I still found myself coming back to it over and over again. Something about the geometry really speaks to me, all those lines and angles repeating over and again. While I love the turquoise shade the painter chose I think the conversion to monochrome allows the viewer to hone in more closely on the form and shape rather than on the substance.
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Perhaps sometimes it's more about how the art makes us feel than its inherent beauty. Something to ponder over a quiet cup of tea I suppose.
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Visit Aileni for more monochrome magic.
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PS Yes, I've finally dug myself out, for those who were concerned.

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Caution: Excavations in Progress

We're doing a major purge of old toys, clothes, and general assorted crap here. If I don't reemerge in a day or two please call the cavalry and let them know the world's largest pile of junk has apparently collapsed on me, leaving me trapped and too weak to call for help.

Don't laugh, it's a real danger.

You're laughing. I heard you laughing.

This isn't funny. I'm in real danger here.

Ok, maybe it's a teeny tiny bit funny.

Nevermind.

Bedouin Woman in Tent

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This photo of a Bedouin woman sitting in a traditional tent baking pitot (pitah bread) on a taboun could have easily been taken one hundred years ago. Only the roll of toilet paper she left on the table gives a clue that it is not in fact an old photo.
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In fact, it was taken this past December at the Joe Alon Center for Bedouin Culture in the Negev Desert in the south of Israel.
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Visit Sepia Scenes for more old-time goodness.
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Peekaboo!

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

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Probably not what the Beatles had in mind

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Taken on our ill-fated walk the other week (Click to enlarge)

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Since St. Patrick's Day is upon us Mary over at Work of the Poet suggested we go green for this week's Ruby Tuesday, so what better than green fields full of red...

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Wait a minute! Hold everything!

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Are those NOT strawberries??? When I took the shot, knowing them to be grown by families on that same moshav, I was sure they were, but now that I've blown up the shot a bit I'm not at all sure. Could they be peppers? Or even some kind of grape tomatoes?

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Aack! Now what? What to do, what to do... I had a snappy title lined up and everything. Aww hell, until someone tells me otherwise I'm going to go with strawberries. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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(Can you tell that I'm not exactly a country mouse?)

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Happy St. Patrick's Day, Ruby Tuesday, and whatever else you happen to be celebrating this week. And on that note, I'm off to go eat some of the delicious red strawberries (yes, this time I'm sure) that I bought at the greengrocer's this morning.

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Nearing the finish line

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A few weeks ago we joined some friends who live much further out in the sticks on a nature walk to celebrate (read: preserve and protest the development of) the unique character and vegetation of Israel's Sharon Plain. The walk itself was a bit of a bust - it was promoted on television and the crowds which turned out quickly overwhelmed the small site. The overcrowding wasn't helped by the weather either - after being rained out the previous week, that day marked the first of Israel's spring sharav's - terribly hot and dusty winds similar to Southern California's Santa Ana's which blow up from North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and suck every drop of moisture right out of the air, making you feel like you are being blown about in the world's largest clothes dryer. The temperature that day soared well up into the nineties (mid to upper thirties celsius) and after just a few minutes (and a few quick photos which you'll see in future posts) we packed it in and headed for the relative cool of our friends' home and a backyard barbecue. Here you see the end of our short walk, when a certain small blond child just couldn't take the heat, the dust, or the crowds anymore. Luckily she had a dad there to carry her out in style.
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Oh, and lest you get too jealous and become tempted to say that at least it was warm here, the sharav broke by the following day, the rain returned and the temperatures dropped a good twenty-five degrees.
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More monochrome magic can be found here.
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Dear Robin, 24 December 2007

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24 December 2007

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Dear Robin,

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I know you're having a bad day today. A really, really bad day. I know it's one of a long series of bad days, of self-doubt and recrimination and questioning. Days of wondering if there is in fact any light at the end of your tunnel or if it just keeps going on forever, never getting any brighter. I know you're afraid of the challenges Maya faces, the challenges that you face as her mother. Afraid for her. I know about the worries for her future, the fears. I know. I know that cold tentacle of fear that is slowly strangling you.

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I wish I had a way to reach back to you. To reassure you. To let you know that the road ahead is long, and I won't fool you, it's got its own twists and turns and it isn't an easy path, not for you and especially not for Maya, but that just a year later things will already look very different from how they appear today, with every sign that things will just keep getting better and better.

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Maya will spend the next year working her ass off. She will have speech therapy, and occupational therapy (that one is a story for another day), and weekly sessions with a developmental psychologist, and she will attend a special communications kindergarten where she will be in a class of just eleven children and where she will also receive twice weekly speech therapy (in addition to the weekly afternoon session she already has), occupational therapy, and art therapy. She will learn songs from the music teacher and sports from the gym teacher. She'll have a wonderful classroom teacher and aide. All of these people, and you and Jay, will help her break free from her shell and struggle, hard, to become the Maya still hidden deep inside right now.

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This is Maya today, just 14.5 months later, mugging for the camera as she bakes chocolate chip cookies with her dad. She's quite a ham your Maya. She loves to perform - she sings, she dances, she poses for endless photos. Heck, she begs to have her picture taken. She was moved to the very front row for her recital because she did her routine so beautifully. She goes skipping off to visit the neighbors when she wants a little treat (yes, the neighbor is still giving your children way too much chocolate, but at least she's learned to make them ask you if it's okay first, and you know she does it out of love), she makes up games and plays pretend, she loves princesses and fairies. She befriends other children in the playground and goes off to have adventures with them, yesterday she was even leading them on a hunt for an imaginary treasure box buried in the sand. This from the girl the experts just told you might never achieve symbolic play or be interested in other children.

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She comes home from school each day with stories of what she's done, actual real stories. She even tattles on other children who've misbehaved and has learned to tell children who are bothering her "you don't bug me - I'm not paying any attention to you!" and then to get up and walk away. She draws pictures and makes cards for her friends, which she writes herself (with a grownup helping with the spelling). She talks, and she listens. And if she wants something she can't have she's (eventually, she's still five after all) willing to bend or negotiate to reach a compromise.
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She's extraordinary your Miss Mouse. It's been only a year, but in all honesty if she didn't still look like the same golden imp she was before you wouldn't recognize her. She's incredible. She glows. She's comfortable in her own skin now, and happy, and it shows. She's completely changed, it's like she's a different child. It's like she's the child she was meant to be, the one that was hidden inside all this time looking for a way out. The child who spent Independence Day cowering in a corner didn't even flinch at all the firecrackers that kept going off outside in the runup to Purim, though she did say that she preferred the pretty colors of fireworks to the empty noise of firecrackers. Specifically she prefers the gold colored fireworks.

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Some things still won't come as easily to her as they would to another child, some other things may never come easily, but she is learning and growing and changing each day.

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And look closely - she's even wearing a blue shirt, one that she picked out herself (because yes, I actually dared take her shopping - at a crowded outdoor night market!). The girl who wore pink every single day for nearly two years is wearing a blue shirt today.

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Hang in there Robin. It's going to be a long, hard ride, and it isn't over yet, but the view out my window is glorious.
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Love,
Robin, March 2009
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I haven't scribbled for months, but this one finally woke up my long dormant writing muse. Who knows, perhaps she'll stick around for a while. I hope so, she's been missed.
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For a completely different take on this prompt, here is the post I did back in August 2007 for the Sunday Scribblings prompt "Dear Diary".
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Almost makes getting up at the crack of dawn worth it

Click to enlarge (it's worth it)

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I fell asleep on the couch the other night and woke up at 6:00 with a really horrible backache. I was about to crawl upstairs for a few extra minutes of sleep in an actual bed when I happened to glance out the window and decided it would be better to go for the camera instead.

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This shot was taken on my patio and is straight out of the camera. All I did was put the frame around it. Mother nature did all the photoshopping on her own, meddling would have been completely superfluous.
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Visit Skywatch Friday for other looks at this glorious sky we all share.
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Sepia Shadows

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What is implied is sometimes more powerful than what is obvious. The innate monochrome character of this shot seemed a natural choice for this week's Sepia Scenes, too.
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Come back tomorrow though for color in all its grandeur - I've got a doozy coming up ;-).
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Purim 2009

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Happy Purim!

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

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Scooter

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I found this scooter parked outside my building on my way back from that same photo walk which yielded yesterday's sock photo.
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An appropriate choice for this week's Ruby Tuesday, wouldn't you say?
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The Day the Rain Stopped

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I shot this a few days ago just around the corner from my home. This flat is in an older building that has certainly seen better days, but it stood out for being the only one given over completely to laundry, right down to the bars on the windows. Everyone else in the neighborhood seemed able to make do with their normal laundry lines. If they had dozens of socks drying somewhere they weren't hanging in their window like so many potted plants.
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My more charitable half is reminding me that the reason I was out shooting that day was because it was the first sunny day we'd had after days of heavy rains, so perhaps they really did need to do that much laundry that quickly, but my other less charitable half thinks...
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Probably just as well not to tell you what my less charitable half thinks.
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Look here for more monochrome madness.
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How we spent our Friday, a/k/a why Robin breathed in too much bleach

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To properly set the scene, you should understand that Friday is a semi-weekend day here. For children it's a (slightly shorter) schoolday, but most adults, particularly those in office jobs, have the day off. (No, we don't get a longer weekend than you, our weekends are Friday and Saturday, on Sunday it's back to work again.)

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Friday is also the only day that Jay and I can often sit down and have breakfast together. Sometimes we go out to one of the local cafes, other times we stay in. Yesterday was a stay in day. There we were, sitting at the island (that very same one you see in the header above you, albeit slightly less pristinely clean looking), enjoying our breakfast when we heard a very loud THUMP.

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Something just fell down, I said.

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(I've always been quick on the uptake.)

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Well, I guess it's down now. (Again with the razor sharp mind.)

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We finished our breakfast and then went off to investigate.

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Hmm... Nothing obvious in the kids' rooms. Nothing in the hall closet. Nothing in the spare room. What the hell could it be? I figured I'd better check the bathroom closet. Nope, nothing in there.

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And then I happened to glance over at the counter and let out a shriek, because what I found was this:

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(Ignore the cleaning supplies and other assorted crap, I didn't think to snap any photos until we'd already started trying to fix it.)
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See that giant gaping hole where my sink is supposed to be?
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Yeah, this sink, the one that you now see sitting on the FLOOR of my bathroom, and last time I checked, the floor was not the appropriate installation point for a bathroom sink. Damn thing fell right out.
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(Let me point out here that while my husband and I have many wonderful qualities, mad DIY skills are not generally counted among them.)

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Jay managed to scrap off most of the old caulk but there was still a fair amount left, not to mention a whole heap of mildew where mildew should never have been. None of the standard cleaners we had around, including the anti-mildew spray you see pictured above, made a dent in it. After realizing that his efforts were futile, Jay headed off to consult with the experts over at Google and discovered that a homebrew of one cup of bleach to 3 cups of water, with the addition of a few tablespoons of laundry detergent, was rumored to do the trick lickety-split. Since he'd already spent about an hour an a half scraping caulk and still had to head to the hardware store to buy "whatever I need to reattach my sink", he asked me to get out my trusty cauldron and brew up some of this witches potion and then take a go at getting the mildew off while he went out to pick up Maya from school and go to the hardware store.
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I was willing to do my fair share of the work so I mixed up the potion and went to work - in a small, poorly ventilated bathroom. To top it all off I even closed the door behind me so that I'd have more room to work! (Are you seeing where this is going? Probably. Me, I wasn't quite bright enough... Have I mentioned that I have asthma and breathing is already not my strong suit? Yeah. Like I said, not so bright...)
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I got to work scrubbing, and - nothing. Nothing at all. Not a millimeter of mildew was removed. I was determined though. Jay had asked me to do it believing it should work and I wasn't going to concede defeat within the first five minutes.
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So I kept going.
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And going.
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And going.
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At some point I realized that the mildew was actually on some remaining bits of silicone and that I'd be better off scraping them off with a penknife than continuing to scrub. Because I knew that I'd still need to scrub more mildew from the back of the cabinet itself I decided not to throw out the bleach solution and left it in a bucket in the tub while I continued to work - in that same small, poorly ventilated bathroom.
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By the time Jay came back and had the sense to make me stop I was completely nauseous and very light-headed. I stumbled out, wandered around the house for a bit complaining of how sick I felt, and then finally gave up entirely and headed up to bed, and of course we all know what happened then...
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Oh, and while we were at it, we also found this lovely sight, which will have to be dealt with sometime soon.
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Ugh.

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It's Saturday now, and Jay has removed the car jack (!) that he'd been using to hold up the freshly reglued sink. It's holding. So far. Keep your fingers crossed...
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18 and 40 - Holy smokes!

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I wasn't feeling well this afternoon (breathed in too many bleach fumes, but that's a story for another day - come back tomorrow for that one, and believe me, you can't possibly guess what it's about) so I headed upstairs to lie down for a while.

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When I glanced out my bedroom window I was surprised to see a plume of dark gray smoke coming up from what looked like an office building in the nearby industrial zone.

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I figured that with smoke that obvious someone had already called the fire department, but I went ahead and dialled anyway just in case. (Actually, I first called Magen David Adom - our "Red Star of David" ambulance and paramedic service - because I misdialled, but they gave me the correct number for the fire department.)

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When the fire dispatch answered I could hear an absolute madhouse in the background - lots of people talking, yelling and calling out all at once. After waiting on the line for at least a full minute listening to them the operator finally came on and barked out "only if it's urgent!" I quickly asked if they knew about the dark smoke in [name of town], she barked back yes and hung up. Yikes. They sounded awfully busy...

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My civic duty for the day done, I went to bed.

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About an hour later I heard my husband telling my son to go upstairs and tell me there's a fire and to close the windows (he'd been out and didn't realize I'd been sleeping). I mumbled back that I knew about it and had already called the fire department, but the way the two of them were carrying on about the fire seemed a bit over the top for what I'd seen, so I stumbled over to the window for another look, and saw this:

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Holy smokes, can you see those flames shooting up there?!? That wasn't what I'd seen earlier, no wonder Jay was so insistent on closing all the windows.

And all those sirens I'd heard while I was drifting in and out of sleep? They were attached to eighteen, yes EIGHTEEN, fire trucks bringing in over FORTY firefighters, not to mention the hazmat team, the police and teams of paramedics!

We originally thought our neighborhood gas station had gone up in flames but it turns out it was a chemical plant in the nearby industrial zone, and there was a serious concern that all those billowing clouds of thick black smoke were toxic. (Side note: I never even knew that there was a chemical plant in there, despite driving by it every time I go to the grocery store. It's in the midst of a bunch of hi-tech buildings too. I can't imagine how some city planner could possibly have thought that having a chemical plant that close to a residential neighborhood was a good idea. Thankfully upon testing the smoke was found to be non-toxic.) We live safely well out of range (zoomed way in to get these shots) but the fire department evacuated everyone who lived within 100 meters (100 yards) of the facility for fear that the fire would spread. Luckily they were able to contain the flames and it was finally extinguished a few hours later. More luckily no one was hurt, although I'm guessing there was substantial property damage.

And all this was in addition to the household excitement we'd had a few hours earlier...

Visit Skywatch Friday for photos of what are hopefully much clearer, bluer skies than mine.

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Hamentaschen Recipe

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Since a number of you asked yesterday, here is my Helene Eichler's hamentaschen recipe, courtesy of the Dor L'Dor (Generation to Generation) Cookbook put out by the South Palm Beach County (Florida) Jewish Federation several decades ago (I'm guessing, since my grandmother gave it to me nearly that long ago). This is one of those treasures of traditional community cooking - while most of the "regular" recipes are outdated or simply not something I'd ever want to make (not being a big fan of either schmaltz or 1970's style "healthy" processed convenience foods), for those old from-scratch holiday standbyes nothing beats a grandmother's recipe, unless it's an entire collection of grandmothers' recipes.

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Here's Helene's, whoever she was, with my changes in parentheses:

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Cookie:

2/3 C shortening (I used butter)

1/2 C sugar (I used demarara)

1 egg (I used an egg - ha ha fooled you)

3 Tbl milk or water (I used 1% milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C sifted flour (I used 1.5 C white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat, but you could go half and half if no one in your family is Maya put off by the darker appearance of whole wheat.)

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Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add egg and continue to beat until smooth. Add water/milk and vanilla and gradually mix in flour until a ball of dough is formed. Chill a few hours or overnight (or about 45 minutes in the freezer if you're like me and don't plan ahead). When ready, form the dough into 2-inch balls and roll out to about 1/8" thick circles. Place a dollop of filling in the center of the circle and bring the edges together to form a triangle, pinching the seams to seal any leaks.

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Optional: brush tops with melted shortening or slightly beaten egg before baking. (I didn't bother with this step, I don't think it needs it.)

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Bake 20-25 minutes at 350F (180C) until golden. Cool 5 minutes on tray before transferring to a wire rack.

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Filling:

Here's where Helene and I diverge - I used ordinary chocolate spread, the hands-down favorite of every Israeli schoolchild I've ever known. It's similar to Nutella but cheaper without the hazelnut component. All Israeli kids scarf this stuff down as a sandwich spread - except for mine, because their mean and rotten mother won't buy it for them. They have to get it at their afternoon program instead, which their mom feels is already quite often enough.)

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Helene's more traditionally Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) version*:

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2 C poppy seeds (sorry, I hate poppy seed filling)

1 C water

1/2 C honey

1/4 C sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 eggs

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Combine poppy seeds, water, honey and salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring to prevent scorching. Let cool before adding eggs, beating in thoroughly. If the eggs make the filling too thin, return to the heat and cook while stirring for a minute or two.

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* Note: Various fillings can be substituted for the poppy seed - jams, such as apricot, prune or cherry, are also traditional and work well. In Israel you also see halva as a filling, though as I said most children prefer chocolate.

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Hamentaschen (updated with link to recipe)

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Click to enlarge

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* Hamenstaschen are the three-cornered cookies traditionally eaten on the Jewish holiday of Purim, occuring on 11 March this year. And yes, I did notice that Maya was sneaking tastes of chocolate filling every chance she got.

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Update: You asked (in comments), and you shall receive: I've posted the recipe here.
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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what everyone else isn't saying this week.

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Caution: Danger of Death

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Click to enlarge

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I've been meaning to take a picture of one of these signs for years. I know the purpose behind them is quite serious, utility poles and high tension power lines are certainly nothing to trifle with, but the wording has always amused me. I mean really, how can you not laugh at a warning that says "Danger of Death!".
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Head over to Mary the Teach's for more ruby red goodness.
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Fig Tree in Early Spring

From this just a few short weeks ago, to this:
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I finally caught a 10 minute break in the weather during yesterday's (or rather the entire flippin' weekend's) storm and was able to run outside to grab a few quick photos.

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The weekend's cold and miserable weather brought some much needed rain but I must admit that I'm setting my sights on the next weekend when the skies will clear and the temperatures will hit the upper seventies (25 celsius). Picnic season is right around the corner, I can feel it, and I can't wait. I'm itching to get back outside with my camera family again.
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Visit Aileni for more monochrome magic.
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It's raining, it's pouring

And my muse is apparently snoring.

It's been much too dark and wet for photography so by rights I should dust off the old writing portion of my brain and crank out something worthwhile, but it just isn't coming. I miss the days when I would merely glance at a writing prompt and the text would start to flow almost of its own volition.

Yeah. Not happening.

I think part of it is the weather, my mood has always been very susceptible to what's going on outside, but part of it is probably also the crash that inevitably comes after a big adrenalin rush, and god knows we had that last week.

We managed to have a great weekend despite the weather - we started things off right Thursday night when we met up with the always lovely Phyllis and her very cool husband Michael (who it turns out went to camp with all my best friends from high school - we'd even attended some of the same Sweet Sixteen parties way back when. He'll actually be meeting up with a very dear friend of mine next month, such a small world...) and another friend of theirs for an evening of laughs and good fun at our favorite pasta joint. It was great to celebrate our good news (about Itai) with them, I only wish they lived close enough to hang out more often. Do you think their temple would spring for trips over here every few months so that we can go out to dinner more often?

Friday was a fairly wet, low-key day. A trip to the gym, errand-running and the usual kid-ferrying, but not much else.

Yesterday was Jay's birthday so we had a few friends over for an "indoor picnic". It was utter bedlam, but good happy bedlam. Maya was a bit put out though when she found out that her dad had elected to have birthday ice cream (homemade strawberry - yum!) instead of cake. Totally goes against her "more cake is better" worldview.

Today it's back to work, back to the gym, and back to the electronics store with the Ican'tbelieveitdoesn'twork fancy-shmancy mp3 player that Jay had asked for as a birthday gift. Hopefully they'll just exchange it, I'm going to be really ticked if they try to make me send off a brand new just opened yesterday item to the lab.

And now speaking of work, it's time to put you all out of your mental misery and end this mindless drivel so that I can go do some.

Later taters.