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

.

Click to enlarge

.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies from around the world.

.

It's a one of these

.

Click to enlarge

.
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):
.

.

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.)

.

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

.

Making the desert bloom

.
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).
.
.
What makes it all the more remarkable is that just a few feet away everything looks like this
.

Click either photo to enlarge

.
More touches of red can be found here.
.

The Mathematics of Bliss

.
.

8 friends

.

34 hours

.

1 Dead Sea spa hotel

.

2 treatments

.

3 pools (regular, Dead Sea water, jacuzzi)

.

0 husbands

.

0 children

.

6 metric tons of snacks

.

497 cocktails

.

3 inch average height of heels worn at dinner

.

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

.

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

.

10 minutes of unexpected fireworks

.

18 minimum age of all hotel guests

.

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

.

0 cellphones permitted in public areas
.

6 months - maximum amount of time we're willing to wait before we do this again

.

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

.