For RivkA



One of the things RivkA used to say that always made me smile was how even though she wasn't "a photography person" she loved looking at my photography.

I'm republishing this one for you my friend, on the day that we must bid you farewell, because I know you loved it, and that makes me smile through my tears.

White Lisianthus, processed with Florabella's beautiful Memory texture (how appropriate) at 20% and Vignette at 26% from Texture Set 1, plus a little extra fairy dust and lots of good thoughts.

She's gone. Baruch dayan ha'emet

Fly free RivkA bat Yeshaya, to a place free from pain, free from cancer.

You will be so very missed. May all those who loved you find comfort in the memory of your warm smile, your heartfelt hugs and that wonderful, contagious laughter. It was an honor and a blessing to call you friend, and I know that your memory will continue to inspire us all. 

Baruch dayan ha'emet.

RivkA Update

Wednesday Night Update

In addition to being a dear friend, RivkA is also one of the most passionate, brave, articulate, loyal and downright funny people I know. She is the kind of mother I hope to grow to be, and the kind of friend. Throughout her ongoing battle with metastatic cancer she has continued to let that inner light shine brightly, illuminating and inspiring all those she touches.

She needs our help now. She needs our prayers, our happy thoughts, and our love.

For you RivkA with a capital A, with all my love.
.

Put on your sailin' shoes

Look here to see what else people aren't saying this week, and here for Sepia Scenes. Bonus points if you get the reference in the title ;).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Not just talking the talk

When Jay and I found ourselves unexpectedly kid-free yesterday we jumped on the opportunity to escape from the demands of the week (Maya's party was a big success by the way, but exhausting) and run down to Beersheva, about an hour south of us, for an all-day folk music festival organized by a friend of ours at Ashan Hazman, a very cool little bookstore/coffeeshop on a quiet little street on the outskirts of this desert city. (Jeez, she doesn't blog for a week and then she squeezes an entire post into one sentence...) It was a really nice day, full of great music, good friends and fresh air.

Ashan Hazman (literally, The Smoke of Time. I'm guessing this is like the English expression "the sands of time". Any Israelis out there want to confirm?)

Right next door to Ashan Hazman something else really interesting is going on too - a group of local residents with a passion for saving the planet one neighborhood at a time have created the "Center for Neighborhood Existence" with a community garden, recycling bins for all kinds of different materials,shared composting facilities (sorted by type of refuse, signs in both Hebrew and Russian, no meat please and be sure to cover your contribution with dried leaves) and even a monthly free flea market.

Walking around looking at everything they're creating you just can't help but smile and feel that there is some hope yet for humanity. Not only could I not resist grabbing my camera, I was even invited to share the photos I took on their Facebook page (Hebrew only, or I'd share it with you).

Here, have a look so you can smile too.

See what I mean?

Let's call this one Ruby Tuesday too, this back to work thing is really wreaking havoc on my blogging! I'm working flat out on a project at the moment - going in to the office and everything, I miss my days of working from home terribly!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Traditional Dutch Clipper Ship

I'm still swamped with work and life (and Maya's 7th(!) birthday party starts in just an hour and a half, so this one's going to do double duty for both Ruby Tuesday and Sepia Scenes.


Back when I can...


PS Cold is better, down to a dull cough by now. Thanks for all the get well wishes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Go Ask Alice

Just messing around a bit on a Saturday evening, carefully ignoring the fact that I have an immensely busy week starting far too early tomorrow morning.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Blog? I have a blog?

Sorry to vanish on you. A big work commitment and a sick kid, not to mention an apparent fun little virus of my own if this stuffyheadcoldcoughfeverlaryngitis thing is not in fact just allergies (and even if it is it's kicking my butt), are conspiring to keep me busy and tire me out both physically and mentally. No worries though, I'll get my act together and find my lost equilibrium soon enough.

Traditional Dutch Fishing Nets

.

Spotted at the Zuiderzee Museum last month.

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Fun House Maya

More reds large and small can be found here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows

Just created a beautiful etsy treasury full of cozy browns and creams -
click and enjoy (and then I'd love it if you'd click over to my etsy shop to see what's new)!

All that glitters...

Brussels' Maisson des Brasseurs, rebuilt(!) by the Brewers Guild in 1695 after much of the Grand Place was destroyed in an attack by the French. The statue of the horse and rider on the top was added in 1901 and represents Charles of Lorraine, a benefactor. Today the building is a museum and chronicles the history of the Belgian brewing industry.

The facade shone so even under such dark and overcast skies, I can only imagine how it must glitter in the sun.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Just scared myself stupid, or, how I reaffirmed how important my blog is to me

Oh. My. God.

Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod.

Oh. My. God.

I just killed my blog. Killed it. As in dead. As in all of my photographs and all of the text, vanished into the ether, replaced by a stupid little widget I was trying to install. A little widget, as the ONLY content of every single post I'd ever made.

*excuse me while I hyperventilate*

The backup template - didn't work.

The blog itself hadn't been backed up in far (far!) too long.

*continues hyperventilating*

Oh my effing god.

But it's back.

By some tiny twist of fate the internet gods were smiling on me and I'd followed said widget's advice to paste the html code for the template into a text editor first, just to make it easier to find and replace the tiny bit I was looking for.

I copied that code. I pasted it back into the html editor.

It was wrong.

I tried again.

It was still wrong.

I tried five or six times. Wrong. Wrong. All wrong.

After what was probably the longest half hour of my life I finally managed to reverse the right number of edits to find the last correct version of the template and was able to replace it and all is again well in the universe.

(It IS well, right? All of you out there can actually SEE the posts now, right? Right???)

I've spent the past two days redesigning the template on my practice blog to see if I could create a more streamlined less cluttered look for this blog and apparently I got comfortable enough to get cocky.

Heed my lesson people. Back those blogs up, and for god's sake back up your templates before you decide to screw around with them!

Gent, Belgium

If a scene like this doesn't call out for sepia I don't know what does. And what the heck, since it's got so many windows, too...

(See, I told you I had a doozy for today.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Vintage Ice Skate, Dutch Style

Spotted at the Zuiderzee Museum last week.

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

The Red Roofs (and walls) of Gent

The first day of our recent trip to Holland wasn't in Holland at all - it was in Belgium. We flew to Liege, Belgium, not far from the Dutch border, and far cheaper than flying to a major city. Easier too, if you ignore the fact that we landed at the oh so charming hour of four in the morning (in the pouring rain). We weren't due to arrive at our friends in the Hague until evening so we decided to explore a bit of Belgium first. After a snooze in the car on a small Brussels street it was off to breakfast and a bit of exploring. We spent a few hours gawking at the stunning architecture of Brussels' market square (and managed to eat a few Belgian chocolates too while there) and then headed off to Gent's imposing Gravensteen Castle.


The castle is something straight out of the movies and really well done too - we particularly enjoyed the handheld video screens which let you watch a dramatization of castle life in the 12th century (with the actors amusingly stepping in and out of character). Itai would tell you that his favorite part of the castle was the torture room (quite gruesome actually) but if you ask me it was the view. (Come by on Thursday for a stunning picture-postcard shot of the rooftops of Gent - I've got a doozy for this week's Sepia Scenes.) 

Wouldn't you agree?

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more reds from around the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Amsterdam's Bike Parking Garage

I figured I'd start off my Holland images with a rare mid-trip blue sky day. We didn't see much of these while there, most days alternated between heavily overcast and actually raining. We did get lucky though the day we visited Amsterdam, and what a glorious day it was. We took the train in from Hoorn, where we'd rented a 2-bedroom cabin in a nearby campground (a great and very cost-effective option for families touring Holland by the way, fitted out with all the comforts of home - right down to the dishwasher!), and in just over half an hour we walked out of Amsterdam's Centraal Station, just across the street from this unbelievable multi-story parking garage - for BICYCLES! This place was crazy huge, holding some 7,000 bikes! (And as my cycling-fanatic husband discovered on his last trip to the city they also very helpfully give out free city maps.)

 

After leaving the train station we walked through town to Dam Square and then over to the Rijksmuseum with its mindblowing collection of Rembrandt's and other Dutch Masters, then it was time for lunch at a resto-pub and a very moving visit to Anne Frank's House before hopping the train back to Hoorn in time for a late dinner.

Hey Guess What!

I just came back from Holland (we had a great albeit quite rainy and overcast time - expect washed out mediocre photos to follow later) to find out that I'm featured over at Fine Art Photoblog today!

Thanks much to Brian and the FAP gang, it's always an honor and a treat to be featured among such incredibly talented photographers.

Now to catch up on everything I've missed this past week, starting with all  you wonderful Summer Stock participants...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.