Macro Monday

A couple of weeks ago, I found this little flower, waiting to open in front of my house. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't resist taking a shot:

I'm glad that I did - it makes the "after" shot more exciting, I think. Don't you agree?

Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them, and get a better view. And do check out more macro photography of the week, at Lisa's Chaos. Happy Macro Monday, everyone!

Shadows At Last

Here's a shot of some trees that I found a couple of weeks ago, basking in the sunset. Well, I guess it's not the trees themselves, but you can get a pretty good idea of what they look like:

Feel free to click on the photo to get a better look! And do check out more Shadow Shots of the week, at Hey Harriet. Happy Sunday, everyone!

One last flower, and a Skywatch for Friday

Well, at work, my Christmas Cactus continued to open up and charm everyone.

By the end of the week my original bloom was beginning to find neighbors!

What fun!

On the Skywatching front: here is a lovely sunset that I caught last week. You see, I always wished that I were artistic enough to paint or draw, but now I realize that photographing nature is much more fun. There's no way I could dream this stuff up!

Kind of wispy, kind of dramatic. I like it!

Feel free to click on any of the photos to get a closer look. And do check out more sky-oriented photos from around the world at this week's Skywatch Friday. Have a great weekend, everyone!

A flower from today - take two

Well, we all remember what I found blooming yesterday morning at my workdesk. Today I came in and found things progressing nicely:

Lovely, right? And even cooler, as the day went on, it opened even more:

  

These always remind me of birds in flight! One of my coworkers asked why I was taking pictures, but most of them agreed with me that this was an exciting event :) 

Feel free to get a closer look by clicking on any of the photos. And do check out more macro photography at Macro Monday, hosted by Lisa's Chaos. And of course, more reddish photography at Ruby Tuesday, hosted by MaryT The Teach. Happy Monday and Tuesday, everyone!

A flower from today - really!

I came in to work this morning, and found that my Christmas Cactus (I wonder if there's a more Jewish term for this plant - maybe Chanuka Cactus?) had started to open its blooms! How exciting! I will certainly post the play by plays on its progress. Meanwhile, here's day one:

Feel free to enlarge the photos by clicking on them. And do check out more of Today's Flowers from this week. Have a great week, everyone!

Skywatch already!

That was a fast week!

Here are some wacky clouds that I found a few days ago, shortly after sunrise. They streaked all the way across the sky! Check it out:

So cool, right? And quite unexpected, to say the least. Feel free to click on any of the photos to enlarge them, and get a better look. And do check out Skywatch Friday for this week's sky-oriented photography. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Strawberries - The Next Generation

Hello there, Ruby Tuesday lovers. Remember those luscious strawberries from a couple of weeks ago? Well, I decided to take some of them and use them for my first effort at making strawberry jam. I used this friendly video as a start, and found myself well on my way. Pretty soon, they had turned into this, bubbling away on the stove:

After, I stuck them in a jar:

And then, in the light, they almost seemed to glow!

Delicious!
As always, feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them. And of course, do check out more Ruby Tuesday posts, at Work of the Poet. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

A mellow macro for Monday - under the wire

Here's a fast shot of a cute little flower growing in front of our building. It's yellow! So finally, I have something to post for Mellow Yellow Monday. *And* it's about as close up as my camera knows how to go, so I'm posting it at Macro Monday, too :)

Isn't that a cutie! Feel free to click on it to enlarge, and get an even cuter view :)

And of course, do check out more yellow photography at Mellow Yellow Monday, and more macro photography at Macro Monday. Happy Monday, all!

Shadow Shot - brown on brown

I keep finding more shadows at my desk at work - I guess I just spend too much time there :) That's okay - I'm glad that I have a place to share them. Here's my newest one:

I really like how the golden tea shines through onto the desk. I imagine that if my desk weren't such a similar color, it would be more dramatic, but I like this. It's kind of mellow. Don't you think?

As always, feel free to click on the photo for a closer view. And do check out all of the cool shadowy photography this week at Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday. Have a great week, everyone! 

Skywatch Friday - Sunrise this morning

Wow! As I mentioned earlier this week, the weather here in Israel has been very mild, and so there hadn't been a lot of dramatic sunrises and sunsets to photograph. Fewer clouds yield less drama, it turns out. Anyway, a couple of days ago things got very cloudy, very suddenly. This was emphasized this morning when I noticed this cool sunrise:

I couldn't decide which shot I liked better, so I decided to post them both. This is my blog, you know :)

Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them - they're even more dramatic close up! And do check out more sky-oriented photography at Skywatch Friday. Happy Friday, everyone - have a great weekend! 

 

12 Kuvaa #5

Here's my January installment of 12 Kuvaa - that funky meme that follows the changing seasons around the world. Those of us particiapating have been taking the same picture, the same time of day, around the same time of the month, every month. How fun is that?

This month has been unseasonally warm here in Israel - although it's been freezing and stormy all through Europe, here in Israel we've been wearing short sleeves, and even going to the beach! I know, it seems unbelievable, but it's true. And... it seems to be coming to an end. Yesterday afternoon a thick fog swept in, and by this morning everything in my neighborhood was soaked. Although it didn't rain (and likely won't this week, says the forecast) there was a heavy cloud cover all day. And so, here's what it looked like at 16:30, at my park:

Pretty dingy, right? You can see that most of the trees here have given in to Autumn. Also that it's colder and windy, and so there aren't any kids playing :(

Just to refresh your memory - December looked like this:

 November:

 

October:

And the first post, from back in September:

That's all, folks! Do go and check out the changing seasons from all over the place, at 12 Kuvaa. That's where I'm going now - catch you there!

More Macros and Rubies

I've done it again! I went looking for a macro, and happened to find a red one, thus producing an entry for both Macro Monday and Ruby Tuesday. This feels like cheating! Hmm... I'll try to be better next week, I promise :)

Anyway, here are the lovely roses that I found. They were actually almost directly across the street from yesterday's shadowy branch!

They look even nicer when close up, so feel free to click on the photos, and enlarge them!

And of course, don't forget to check out more great macro photography at Lisa's Chaos, and other reddish posts of Ruby Tuesday at Work of the Poet. Happy Monday and Tuesday, everyone!

Can you find the shadow?

I had a few minutes of free time a few days ago, and I decided to go shadow hunting. I found a few nice things, but this branch in particular really struck my fancy. At first glance, it's not so easy to tell which part is real and which is shadow :)

Right?

Of course, as always, click on the photo to get a closer view. And for more cool shadow photography, do check out Hey Harriet. Happy Shadow Shot Sunday, everyone - have a great week!

A Cotton Candy Skywatch

Well folks, it's Friday already. Here's the latest from my neighborhood - pink, wispy, casual clouds, caught just after sunset this afternoon:

As always, feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it, and get an even more floaty feeling :)

And do check out Skywatch Friday for more sky-oriented photography. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday Challenge - Free For All

That's easy enough, right? The theme of this week's Thursday Challenge is "Free For All - Any favorite photo you have taken." This is my kind of meme :)

And so, here's a photo of the beach at the Dead Sea, taken two summers ago:

I really like how the salt and the water reflect together. Click on the photo to get an even better view!


For more Thursday Challenge photos, do check out Dale's blog. Happy Thursday, everyone!

Window Wednesday once again

I was in Jerusalem this past week, and I found an old, deserted building, seemingly slated for demolition. Most of its windows are cracked or smashed altogether - it seems a shame. Anyway, I found one balcony that seems to still hold a hint of the charm that the building once had:

It's quaint and pretty, but there doesn't seem to be anything left to step on :)

*Added January 7, 2010: Truthfully, I don't know what the fate of this building is - only that it is currently very much abandoned. Here's hoping that instead of knocking it down, it's chosen for restoration!*

Feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it and get a better view! And do go to Mary's blog to see more Window Views... and Doors, too! Happy Wednesday, everyone!

A new meme

Here's a new one I discovered: Macro Monday! My camera isn't too terribly fantastic at getting close-ups, but I don't mind trying. And so, here's an entry that should work both for Macro Monday and Ruby Tuesday... Strawberries! 

Here in Israel, strawberries are now in season. This has been a great winter for fruit so far - the oranges, clementines, and pomelas have been sweet as candy. Now the strawberries have come into season, and they're just as yummy - lucky us! And lucky you, I photographed some especially perfect looking ones:

There you have it! As always, feel free to click on the photos, to get a juicier view :)


For more macro photography, check out Lisa's Chaos. And for more reddish photography, go to Ruby Tuesday, at Work of the Poet. Have a great week, everyone!

Flower of the Day - once more

I just can't get enough of this African Violet on my desk at work - it seems to get happier each day! I especially enjoy seeing its shy little buds start to delicately open, which you can see in the middle here:

Feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it, and get a better view. And do check out more flower photography of the day at Today's Flowers. Have a great day, everyone!