HOT Internet is CRAP! Don't use HOT!!

My internet is not functioning, AGAIN. AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. I am at my wits end dealing with the (insert LONG string of expletives) cable company.

I'll be back when this is resolved, or I have switched to the competition, a day which is not at all far off in the future at this rate.

So so so angry, forget blogging, I work from home and can't work this way at all.

#&%^#$%@#%$#%@$%%&
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Saint Peter's Square - Bernini's Saints

Or more precisely saints, popes, martyrs and evangelists, sculpted by Bernini and his students to top the colonnade with surrounds the square outside Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Oh, and if you wondered where I've been, I was swamped with work (photo and otherwise) last week and then I snuck off to join Jay for a most wonderful weekend in Rome :).

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Medieval French Chateau, Brancion

The tiny hilltop village of Brancion in Southern Burgundy is one of the most magical, evocative places I have ever been. The entire village seems to have appeared straight out of history, a Middle Ages France version of Brigadoon, another wonder around each corner turned.

Visit my Society6 shop to bring a bit of the Brancion magic into your own home.

Click here (on Wednesday, I'm jumping the gun a bit this week) to see what other people aren't saying, and here to see what they are.

Le P'tit Paradis - Beaune, France storefront

Windows, doors, even a little red sign - this image was practically custom-made for a Monday blog post. We didn't stop into this lovely looking restaurant in Beaune, France, but I sure do love its exterior.

Click here to purchase this image from my etsy shop.

Have a great day!

Israel Memorial Day 2012

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Originally published on April 23rd, 2007. Sadly, only the number has changed. This year it is 22,993, including 126 soldiers who fell in the past year.

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2 minutes of silence, to remember the 22,305 people who fell in battle since the establishment of the first Jewish neighborhoods outside Jerusalem's Old City wall in 1860, the date of the beginning of the fatality count. 22,305 people who never got to grow old. 233 names just this year. Most were young, some were older veterans who finally succumbed to their injuries. Each one is too many. While to some of you in the United States this figure may not seem that large compared to America's losses in World War II or even Vietnam, the entire population of Israel today is only 7,150,000, making this a terrible loss indeed.

Yesterday my 6 year old son asked me if we would visit him in the cemetary if he were killed in a war. I cannot express how sad it makes me that he knows enough about evil in the world to ask that question at age 6.

As the country marks Memorial Day 2007 and prepares to celebrate its 59th year of independence, amid both celebrations and ever present security warnings it behooves us to remember how dear a price we paid, so that we can try ever harder to ensure that future generations don't have to.

Post-Passover Catch-Up

Whoa, where did the last month go? We had visiting parents (mine), travel nightmares (theirs, and note to the wise, ALWAYS make sure you have more than 6 months left on your passports if you want to avoid disaster), Holidays (capital H - Passover), holidays (lower case h - trip to southern Burgundy in France), a welcome home stomach virus (don't ask) and now my long-delayed day job project is finally kicking into higher gear. No wonder I'm tired...

We had a wonderful visit with my parents once they finally arrived, spending time together but also getting out to do some hiking and enjoy Israel's gorgeous spring wildflowers, finding hidden mosaics (more on that in a future post), visiting Jerusalem's Ice World (great fun, especially for the kids, and definitely worth a visit if you haven't been yet (it's on till the end of the month), especially if you have an Isracard and can get 50% off), touring the Old City, and even taking a (touristy but fun) boat ride off the Tel Aviv coast. Even better, they also watched the kids for five days so that Jay and I could go away. Since our Barcelona caper was off we went off to France instead (did I ever tell you about that? What a mess... We had tickets on the now-bankrupt Spanair and only found out they'd gone bust by accident. We did eventually recoup our money thanks to the credit card company but it was then too late to find affordable tickets to Barcelona, so we had to quickly rejig our vacation and flew to Geneva instead, where we rented a car and drove over to France for the week. All's well that ends well, but at the time it was a huge source of stress.). The weather in Burgundy was lousy, cold and rainy, but that just meant we spent more time eating and drinking (happy sigh) and I did manage to grab a few photos in between the raindrops... ;)

Click here to purchase this photograph from Around the Island Photography

So what have you all been up to while I've been away? Inquiring minds want to know :).

Click here to see more Whimsical Windows and Delirious Doors.

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