Spring is looming

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It's Tu B'Shvat (the New Year for the Trees - sort of a Jewish Arbor Day) this weekend (yesterday in fact) and the almond trees are in bloom - right on schedule.
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Not a moment too soon either, after the gray rainy weather we'd been having. Getting out into the fields on Thursday and seeing those trees bursting into flower was a true feast for the soul.
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Enjoy, and if you'd like to bring this feast of the senses to your own home pop over to my etsy shop - I'm adding several of them as we speak - including two real beauties that haven't yet made their grand entrance onto the blog.
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Future's Promise

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Visit Monochrome Weekly for more mono shots from around the world, and if it's around the world you're looking for don't forget to hop on the proverbial magic carpet and visit my One World One Heart giveaway. Be sure to stop back during the week too - the almond trees are starting to bloom and they're magnificent.
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Green and Blue

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The sun is back out and the skies are blue again.
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Visit Skywatch Friday for more glorious skies from around the world.
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Is it real, or is it Memorex?

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Taken after last week's rain (not to be confused with this week's rain). Isn't this reflection incredible? I can't believe how vivid it is.
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Have you entered my One World One Heart giveaway yet? Up for grabs is an 8x10 print of one of my photographs - winner's choice. Don't miss out!
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Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying this week.
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A splash of color to brighten your day

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Bougainvillea grows everywhere in my neighborhood - except on my roof(top patio). It sheds so badly that planting it would forever earn me the ire of my downstairs neighbors. One of the (minor) perils of urban life. Luckily for me though, I can enjoy it growing at street level all over town, like I did with this shot taken just the other day.
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Visit Work of the Poet for more Ruby Tuesday shots from around the world, and don't forget to play along yourself.
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To be filed under: very bizarre and downright unattractive

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Click to enlarge for the full "3-D" effect

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Who knew that the scum floating on a mud puddle could look so interesting. Not attractive per se, this one won't be hanging on my wall any time soon, but definitely interesting in a pond scum sort of way. I like the way the water in the puddle has become almost invisible, making this layer of goo appear to float just above the surface of the ground, like some three-dimensional toxic diorama. It's got great texture, too, almost like peeling paint.
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You never know quite what you're going to find when you look, do you?
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(Deleted a bunch of overly-angsty self-centered drivel. Trust me, you're better off without it.)

PS Camera's fine, and I'm an idiot. Embarrassing yes, but way cheaper this way. It wasn't the metering Mojo but you were close. Somehow I pushed and twirled a few things that shouldn't have been pushed and twirled at the same time and completely unknowingly set the exposure compensation to minus-4! I checked every setting I'd been playing with before I brought it in but since I'd never tried to change that one I had no idea it was so off. Feel free to toss the egg at my face, I'm just happy it's functioning and that all this lesson will cost me is the $22 for cleaning the sensors, which I'd been looking for a chance to do for months now anyway.
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How cool is this?!?

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Nu, what are you waiting for - click over and see what it is!

(And yes, I do have another blog. Nothing super secret about it, I use it to promote my etsy shop.)
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After the Rain

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It rained steadily here most of the week (great for this arid land, crappy for my mood) so between that and the relentless Saga of the Sick Kid (see pretty much any of this week's blog posts, I was reduced to talking about nothing besides my child's illness. I even bored myself.) photographic opportunities have been pretty light on the ground. I did manage to grab this shot on a super-speedy (15 minute) photowalk around the neighborhood, during which I also realized that my camera's light meter was completely malfunctioning. Had I tried to listen to what it was telling me this, and all of the day's images, would have been completely black. Luckily common sense won out and I used setting that made sense, rather than the idiocies the camera was suggesting.
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The camera's now off at the shop and I'm trying not to lie moaning in the corner, curled up in the fetal position, at the thought of being without it.
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Visit Monochrome Weekly to see how others see their world in black and white.
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Could things be looking up at last?

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Just sold two more photographs from my etsy shop (8x12's of this one and this one, in case you're wondering), the sun is shining (at least for now), the kids are both fever-free and in school (at least for now) and my husband and I are going out to breakfast as soon as I grab a shower.

Not sure how long this idyllic little interlude will last, but I'll take it!

Update: it lasted until 11:00, when we got a call that Maya was running a fever again (the same child who bounced out of bed this morning completely fever-free and begged to go to school). After that I managed to squeeze in a short (15 minute) photo jaunt around the neighborhood (results to be determined, I haven't looked yet) during which I realized that my camera's light meter wasn't working properly at all. I then left Jay home with Maya and raced into Tel Aviv to drop the camera off for repair (up to 7 days before it's back - aaaahhh!) and then started running the usual Friday errands. At least with our Friday night invitation cancelled (due to above sick kid) I'm not in any hurry to go anywhere...
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Wanted: One Blogging Mojo

I seem to have misplaced mine. Ten straight days of illness and I've turned into a self-obsessed mommyblogger who can talk about nothing else but her children and their illnesses. Gah. I'm boring even myself at this point. I suppose I should at least be thankful that they're old enough that I don't have to talk about potty training...

Seriously, this bout of the plague has just sucked the life out of me. Between the relentlessness of sick kids and sick me and the unbelievably crappy stormy weather that I'm not allowed to complain about because we need the rain oh so badly I am in dire straits. I haven't touched my camera, or really even been tempted to, in days. I pointed out a pretty cloud to Maya today and she actually asked me why I wasn't photographing it. I'm keeping my head above water workwise, but barely, and that's pretty much using up any stray brain cells I've got left. I'm telling you, I'm a zombie. These night wakeups are killing me, it's like having a newborn again, and if I wasn't convinced before that I'm too old for that (I am, and I was) I sure as hell am now. Good god...

I'm hoping to get Maya back to school for the morning (I really NEED to get Maya back to school for the morning, I have to go run a meeting while she's there) but I suspect that a full day is still too much for her and she'll be back home again for the afternoon.

I also really, really, REALLY need a chance to take my camera and get the family outdoors this weekend to recharge all our depleted batteries and relight my creative fires but last time I checked the weather they were calling for strong winds and cold cloudy weather.

Great. Just great.

Gah. I'm even boring myself. I have GOT to get rid of this cabin fever and get out of the house to do something that doesn't involve a meeting of any kind.

That, and I have GOT to get some sleep.

And on that oh so interesting note, it's time for bed. I apologize to everyone I haven't gotten around to visit, I have the staying power of a flea at the moment. I'll be by as soon as I can.
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Heading into Day 10 of Sick Kid at Home

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I finally sent both kids off to school today (one or the other has been home sick for the past NINE days - I'm losing what's left of my mind) but we didn't even make it an entire day before I got that dreaded phone call. So much for my happy dance. Maya's relapsed - the fever's back and she's added an ear infection just for a little extra fun. Needless to say she's home again tomorrow. Poor kid has had enough, and it goes without saying that so has her mother.
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I'm too tired to blog. Enjoy this instead while I go heat up her warm pillow, again, and then head over to Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying this week. (And while we're at it, I think this one qualifies over here as well.)
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A burnt orange type of red

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I found this tiny shell on the beach the other weekend. One look at that tiny spiral inside and I knew I wanted to shoot it. It's really small though, and my closeup filters aren't that great (I still can't afford a dedicated macro lens and won't be getting my extension tubes until April), so by the time I was finally able to start playing around this past Saturday I ended up completely frustrated, unable to make the images in my mind's eye a reality. I won't even tell you how many shots went straight into the recycle bin, I'll just say that out of all of them this is the best of the bunch.
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It's not what I was aiming for but I really do like it for what it is. I've still got the shell though so it may yet reappear in a new and improved image later on.
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Oh, and it's not exactly red either, is it?
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Failing to Sweet

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When she was younger and things were still so difficult, Maya never used to fail to sweet. Her default setting when things went wrong - illness, overtiredness, change in routine, weird phase of the moon, wrong pair of pants, whatever - was to begin screaming like a wild animal. To erupt into hysterical rages completely divorced of any connection to an actual transgression. Didn't get to close the car door? Hysterics. Not able to wear a sleeveless sundress in January? Hysterics. Anything at all, or nothing at all? Hysterics.

It was a rough couple of years. (Note the use of dramatic understatement.)

Eventually, through a huge amount of hard work on Maya's part and with the help of a number of truly wonderful professionals, we began to sense, and eventually even to see, changes begin happening.

I can't pinpoint exactly when it started. When we realized that the good days were outnumbering the bad ones. When those heartbreakingly awful rages stopped happening, when she began really communicating in meaningful sentences, when she finally became comfortable in her own skin, but today, at age six, halfway through kindergarten and avidly awaiting the beginning of first grade, Maya is a different child. A completely different child. While a few things will probably always come a bit harder to her than they might to another child she is gaining the tools she needs to face those challenges head on and then blow right through them, leaving all our worries and fears and preconceptions far behind her. Her kindergarten teacher is convinced she's going to grow up to be a lawyer and doesn't understand why we made such a big deal about the challenges she was going to face adjusting to a large, chaotic, mainstream classrom. Maya, if you ask her, says she wants to be a doctor. As for me, I'm not sure what she'll become but I have every confidence that she will accomplish whatever it is she sets her eye on. All that stubborness channeled into one direction will slice through her hurdles like a laser.

I've gotten used to this new Maya. Grown to know her, to know the girl that was hidden inside, looking for a way out. The one who cracks jokes and skips down the path to school and plans out her next birthday party ten months in advance. The one who's teaching herself to read in two languages and loves workbooks more than anything, except possibly fairies. Especially the blue one on the shelf at the toy store, the one she keeps wishing for every time she sees a star or finds an eyelash. In time the memories of the bad old days fade, replaced by newer, happier ones. Ones that promise that the good old days are yet to come.

Once in a while though, something happens to remind us of how hard-fought these gains were, and how very far she's traveled.

I had one of those moments this week. Maya has been home sick since last Wednesday. Feverish and congested and generally miserable physically. Despite it all though, despite how badly she's obviously feeling, she has consistently failed to sweet. She hugs, she cuddles, she asks for "love", and she returns that love a million-fold. Even when she's had to swallow awful-tasting medicine, or been told that she can't have a piece of chocolate because she needs to fill her body with good, healthy food that will help her get better, even when she's felt utterly miserable, she's remained sweet and kind and good and incredibly understanding of it all. She's failing to sweet. When things don't go her way, she's becoming sweeter, not angry. No rage. No temper. Just sweet.

My god...
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It's been a very long time since I participated in Sunday Scribblings. I'm not sure why the words were finally flowing tonight, maybe it's the fact that I haven't been able to get out with the camera this week, but whatever the reason I'm glad they are. It's good to be back.
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Inchworm Fence

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Half of us are still sick over here this week so I'm pulling one from the archives. Hopefully I'll be back to shooting shortly, I've got some great little shells I found at the beach last weekend that are just aching to be shot. Speaking of the beach, thank you so much Aileni for including my Three Fisherman shot as one of this week's Monochrome Weekly highlights. I'm delighted to be included among such outstanding company.
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This fence around my neighborhood playground has always reminded me of an inchworm with its series of arches. Simple, but with great lines. A bit later in the day it casts wonderful shadows, as well.
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How to perk up a sick person in one easy e-mail

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Robin,

Thanks for your entry to win a Keepsake Storage Chest from Sterling Pear on Tchochkes.com. Congratulations. You have been selected as the winner!

Can you please provide me with your U.S. address so that we may send you your prize?

How cool is that - I won this very cool keepsake chest! It's going to make a fantastic photo prop, and should be a great place to safely store all my photography paraphernalia too. (Yes, it's time to admit that heaping it on the bottom shelf of a wardrobe is probably not a viable long-term solution.) I've offered my parents a bribe cheesecake (a standard, and highly successful, "incentive" for my dad) to bring it over when they come for a visit this Passover, which means I have a little while to collect ideas for how/where/with what to shoot it.

So internets, let's brainstorm. How would you shoot it if it were yours, and what would you store in it?

PS Photo-posting will resume, at least sporadically, tomorrow. I'm still not feeling well enough to pick up my camera or do much in the way of editing but I do have a shot or two up my sleeve in my archives.
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Cough cough sneeze cough sneeze cough cough cough

(Sorry, I was just hacking my guts up over here.)

I cannot believe this. Not only was my son home sick Monday AND Tuesday. Not only was my daughter home sick today and again tomorrow, if not Friday as well. No, that's not all. The universe has decided that four straight days of kids home sick was not enough and decreed that I too should catch their plague - for the second time in three weeks!

I'm back to coughing, sneezing, coughing some more, sneezing, coughing again, and wheezing, and just for added fun I seem to be losing my voice. AGAIN. So unfair. Seriously, I really must protest, this is not fair. Not fair at all, and not the slightest bit fun, and is not doing good things for my work productivity either. (I work from home, so obviously I'm not getting very much done this week.)

I think the fates might be getting their revenge for me having spoken too gleefully about all those mid-January trips to the beach.

If so, it might just have been worth it, but just in case I'll whisper that very softly...

And before I collapse into bed a question for you, dear readers. When your spouse/person you share a bed with is sick, do you still sleep together or does one of you relocate? When one of us is sick the other one sleeps on the couch, both to get away from the incessant wracking cough of the plagued party (that would generally be me, the wracking cough one that is, not the couch-surfing one) and to avoid getting sick theirself. After all, someone has to stay healthy enough to take care of the rest, right? This seemed like common sense to me but from my mother's terribly shocked reaction when I happened to mention it I'm wondering if perhaps the rest of you are a bit more cavalier about the whole germ-sharing thing?
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Shefayim Beach, 9 January 2010

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

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PS I finally snagged an Etsy treasury spot - come check out this gorgeous collection highlighting Israeli creativity at its finest. (A treasury is a collection of items available for purchase around Etsy - it highlights items from other sellers according to whatever criteria catches your eye, in this case I've chosen to feature Israeli sellers. Be sure to check it out quickly, it's only valid for three days and there are some fabulous finds in there.)

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My New Best Friend

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I admit that it bears an uncanny resemblance to a snail wearing a space helmet, but it makes damn good coffee, and those cute little pods mean fresh tasting coffee with no grinding and NO MESS to clean up. Hurray for no mess. Better yet, it tastes like actual coffee not like the brown dishwater that my old filter pot was spewing out (and using DOUBLE the amount of coffee that it was supposed to to do so). Win!
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And of course, it's red. It's not a book, because I forgot we were doing that this week, but it is in fact irrefutably red.
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Back to the Beach

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We took advantage of another beautifully warm and sunny weekend and a visiting Swedish houseguest (no, we didn't actually take advantage of the houseguest, we just took advantage of her being here to get out of the house and go somewhere) to head for the beach again yesterday. (Who are you Mother Nature and what have you done with January? Nevermind, whoever you are please don't go anywhere!)
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This time we headed for Shefayim Beach, a bit further up the coast. Unlike Tel Aviv's built up coastline full of hotels, beachside cafes and bars and hawkers selling everything from ice creams to kites, Shefayim is utterly undeveloped and because of a relatively difficult access also a bit less crowded. It's also got tidepools to explore, shells (Maya decided they were radishes of all things and spent a great deal of time planting and watering a number of them. They must have planted radishes in school at some point because I don't buy them often enough for her to even know what one is, let alone how to grow it.) and apparently decent fishing. These three folks were fishing with poles but there was another man right behind them fishing with a net, and doing fairly well too judging by the number of fish flopping around in his basket.
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Two magnificent weekends in a row, our luck is bound to run out soon. In the meantime though we're enjoying every glorious minute.
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More monochrome shots from around the world can be found here. Go take a look.
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Ghostwriter

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My sky last Saturday afternoon. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.

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Chrysanthemum - this time I'm sure

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No question, it's definitely a chrysanthemum. With a subtle sepia cast.

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Did someone say bread crumbs?

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Click to enlarge, and then visit Wordless Wednesday to see what else people aren't saying this week.

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Rack 'em up boys

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After Saturday's beach adventure we headed across the street to our favorite bar family friendly dining establishment for lunch, happy hour cocktails (real American-style cocktails, and two for one!), touch-screen computer games and the chance for Itai to finally beat his father at pool.
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It was a red letter day all around, and so very much needed after last week.

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Just another Saturday in January

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Yes, I'm a bit slow jumping back in to regular blogging after the holidays, but the real reason that I'm not participating in Monochrome Weekly this week is that I couldn't bear the thought of not sharing these images in color. They're not great photos, grainy and taken at a distance while I stood guard over the 3 bikes and 2 backpacks my family left heaped on the sidewalk while they raced off towards the sand (the kids) and sea (my husband, who never misses a chance for a swim), but they do depict an absolutely magnificent day, the kind of day that demands that you drop everything and head outside to enjoy it.
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I won't lie, January isn't always this wonderful, it can be cold and rainy and downright miserable, and most days you do need at least a light jacket, but every once in a while the stars align and it all comes together in a gloriously perfect day and the whole country heads outdoors.
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We threw the bikes on the back of the car and headed for the beach ourselves. Jay and Itai roared up and down the beachside promenade while Maya and her training wheels and I went at a more scenic pace, examining pebbles, vendors' stalls, pigeons, and whatever else happened to catch our eye before she decided it was time to park the bike and head for the sand. Itai eventually joined her there and Jay stripped down and headed for the water. I watched from my sentinel's perch on the sidewalk, camera in hand.
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When everyone had had their fill of sea and sand we headed across the street to our favorite beachside bar where we managed to snag a table with a built-in computer for the kids to play while we waited for our lunch. (We love this bar - the drinks are great, the food is good, and the atmosphere during the day is very family-friendly, but speedy they are not. We always come prepared with something to keep the kids occupied as we wait, and wait, and wait some more for our food to arrive.) We ended up hanging around for a while after lunch so that Itai could shoot some pool - first with his father and then with the girl at the next table.

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Eventually it was time to go home and relax for a few hours before Jay and I headed out again to here some music in Tel Aviv, and then before we knew it the weekend was over and it was time start the work week all over again. As January weekends go though, I'll take another one like this anytime. It was EXACTLY what I needed to recharge my fading batteries, and is yet another reason why I love living where I do.

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