Still here

I'm still here, just a bit overwhelmed by life at the moment. I'll fill you all in when I've got more mental energy, but I'm likely to be scarce for another week or so at least. In the meantime, happy Passover and/or Easter to all celebrating.

Aack

Parents arrive this morning. Leaving for the airport in 10 minutes. This year is going to be complicated, will explain later, but think good thoughts for my mom.

Desert Sunset, March 2010

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Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.

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It's a one of these

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I'm not quite sure what it is either, other than to say that it's a detail from a blue one of these (mucked around with a bit by me):
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Whatever it is I liked its shape, it's got great lines. There were several of them, in various colors, scattered around the Dead Sea's Ein Bokek beach. Looking at them, they appear to be air vents, but for what I'm not sure. Maybe a bomb shelter? (Standard issue everywhere in Israel, no big deal, though usually they don't come with sculpted vent hoods.)

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

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Making the desert bloom

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This was the scene around our hotel's delightful outdoor patio (delightful in March anyway, I'm sure in the scorching heat of high summer it's decidedly less appealing).
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What makes it all the more remarkable is that just a few feet away everything looks like this
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More touches of red can be found here.
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The Mathematics of Bliss

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8 friends

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34 hours

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1 Dead Sea spa hotel

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2 treatments

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3 pools (regular, Dead Sea water, jacuzzi)

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0 husbands

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0 children

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6 metric tons of snacks

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497 cocktails

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3 inch average height of heels worn at dinner

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8 Broadway show tunes sung too loud (and probably off-key) around a very public outdoor pool

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3 drinks consumed in the pool (yes in) before onset of said singing

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10 minutes of unexpected fireworks

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18 minimum age of all hotel guests

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16 average mental age of a group of women on a much-needed girlfriends getaway

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0 cellphones permitted in public areas
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6 months - maximum amount of time we're willing to wait before we do this again

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However you add it up, it doesn't get much better than this.

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Sending my blog flowers

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I just realized that this is my 1,000th post. I've been doing this since November 30th, 2006. We've come a long way together, this blog and me. I'd tell you all about it if this wasn't Wordless Wednesday (or rather it will be tomorrow morning when I post this link over there), but since it is, I'll just share this:
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But since it's also Wordful Wednesday (see above) I'll tell you that while you're admiring, I'll be packing - I'm heading out Thursday morning for a glorious one night/two day girlfriends getaway to a Dead Sea spa. There will be massages, and treatments, hours wiled away by the pool with umbrella drinks, and a great deal of hilarity and good conversation. Everything you'd expect when eight good friends ditch home and family for a night in the lowest place on earth.
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Have a great rest of the week everyone. I'll be around to visit this weekend.
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Bottle brush anyone?

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I have no idea what it is, but I suspect it would be very useful if you happened to have a few old bottles in need of a cleaning lying around.
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More ruby red images can be found, as they are every week, right here.
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Many thanks to Quilly, who has solved the mystery. Turns out I wasn't far off in thinking it looked like a bottle brush - "This is a Callistemon, more commonly called the [red] Bottle Brush tree. (It comes in white, too.)"
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Bottom of a Basket

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Scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel basket for this week's Monochrome Weekly shot.

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Tomorrow, tomorrow...

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Your dad will be back, tomorrow, it's only a day night awaaaaaaaayyyy.

It has been a long eight days (feels like nine) for all of us, not least of which Jay, but unless anything unexpected happens (tfoo tfoo tfoo, throwing salt over my shoulder, etc.) by the time I open my eyes tomorrow morning he should be lying right there in the bed next to me.

Halleluyah.

He's due to land at 4:30am and should be home by about 5:30. The kids have promised to stay quiet when they wake up to let him sleep (bwahahahaha) but eventually their boisterous spirits (and the inevitable noise of a too-loud tv) will prevail and joy will reign throughout the land because Daddy is home at last!

Our birthday muffins are made (daddy doesn't really like cake, especially not first thing in the morning), a very unusual birthday gift has been selected by Itai, combined with a card nearly its equal selected by Maya, and much celebrating will be done. (Jay was away for his actual birthday, which fell on Purim this year so a double-whammy not having him home) and the kids are quite anxious to make up for it. I'm quite anxious to see his reaction to his birthday gift - photos will definitely follow.

Now all I have to do is finish getting Maya into bed, fold four loads of laundry, and do the dishes before I can fall into bed myself.
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Fiesta Dress - The Second Generation

My daughter Maya modeling Purim Costume #2 - a Flamenco Dancer
- and she's wearing the dress my grandparents gave ME 35 years ago!

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

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Because they're not just for Valentine's Day

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I'm still doing the solo parenting thing this week (and trying to squeeze in enough work hours in the midst of a shortened holiday week) so blogging time (and longer posts) remain a bit hard to come by. I couldn't miss Ruby Tuesday though - not with a whole batch of ruby red shots like this one just crying out for their 15 minutes in the sun.
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Hope you're all having a great week, I'll be by to visit as soon as I can.
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And on a not completely unrelated note, since several of you mentioned that you'd hang a shot like this one on your wall I've decided to list it for sale in my etsy shop where I hope it will live happily ever after providing inspiration on the wall of someone's sewing room. We'll call it bolts this time though ;).
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