Monday, October 27, 2014

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! #152

Welcome back to your favorite little meme!
Here we are, back in Seattle, on my family's trip there this past summer. I didn't actually take many architectural photos in the city itself, but we did go to the amazing Chihuly museum, and I've found some in the pictures that I took there. For those of you who may not know, Dale Chihuly is an amazing glass artist. Saying amazing does not do him justice, revolutionary and mesmerizing is more the direction that I'm looking for. We were fortunate to see an exhibit of his in the Tower of David museum of Jerusalem many years ago, and that was our first exposure to his work. Turns out that he's Seattle based, and that he has a museum right next to the Space Needle! So in we went. I photographed a sample of almost everything, but I certainly can't post everything, so I'm limiting myself here to photos that also have some kind of windows or doors :) As always, feel free to click on the photos, if you'd like a closer view!













And of course, since we were right there, and this *is* Seattle...


If you're ever in Seattle - scratch that - if you're ever in Washington state :) and you're looking for something to do that you really truly cannot do anywhere else - check out the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum! 

Anyway, now it's your turn. Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! by posting your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, linking here, and signing up in the widget, below. Then go and visit the other players, that's the best part :) Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Skywatch!

Here is the amazing sunset that we had last night:





And here are the skies from my window this morning:

 which soon exploded into:



For more sky-oriented photography, go check out Skywatch Friday, right now! Have a beautiful weekend, everyone!

Monday, October 20, 2014

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! #151

Hey there, welcome back to your favorite little meme!
Well, our crazy holiday season is over, and we've had a wonderful time! Now we're back to regular day to day life, and I've got my balcony back :) Let's pick up where we left off, on our vacation to the US this past summer. After a stopover in London, and a day trip in LA, we made our way to Seattle, the venue for my brother's wedding - yay!

We spent a little time with my husband's high school friend, who showed us around the Museum of Flight. Wow, that was cool! And lots of cool windows, to boot!





There's a particularly lovely bridge that crosses a road, and connects two parts of the museum:
 And from the inside:
And just a little closer - what's that?
We had a great time :)

Now it's your turn! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget. It couldn't be easier :) Thanks so much for stopping by!


Monday, October 13, 2014

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! #150

Welcome back to our little meme!
I'm taking a short break this week to share some local window and door news from here in Israel. These past few weeks have been a major holiday season in Judaism, kicking off with Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year. We then rolled into Yom Kippur, and a mere four days later, into our less-worldwide-known harvest festival, called Sukkot. In a few days we'll have Simchat Tora, which is a very fun and festive grande finale to this action-packed season.

But back to Sukkot - as you may recall, we build small huts, and each one is called a Sukka (the word Sukkot is the plural of Sukka). The walls of a sukka can be made of almost anything; I've even seen sukkot that were built out of bales of hay! Talk about good insulation :)


I'd say that the majority of sukkot here in Israel are pre-fab - they're generally metal poles that fit together, with cloth walls surrounding. These are lovely, airy and breezy, perfect for sitting outside and relaxing, just now, when summer is winding down and temperatures are comfy. As an example, here's the very basic sukka that we have here at my office:





The roof of the sukka, as you can see, is a trickier thing - it needs to be made of something natural, like leaves, or bamboo. It can't be solid, and it can't be man-made. When we sit in a sukka, we commemorate the 40 years that the Jews wandered in the desert, without roofs over our heads, completely dependent on God.

Anyway, since my family lives with direct exposure to a valley (as you surely recall) which provides serious winds, we make our sukka out of wood. We just semi-enclose our already existing balcony. And this year, I added another small window! As my brother pointed out, at this rate, our entire sukka will soon be transparent :)




My son, who is now almost a full head taller than me, asked that we not hang too many decorations from the ceiling this year, as he'll just bump into them :)

Thanks for joining me on this quick holiday tour! Please join me again next week, as we continue to see photos from our North American vacation, this past summer.

And now it's your turn! To play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! just post your photo(s) of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Then go and visit the other participants, that's the best part. Worldwide we are so different, and yet so similar - and it really shows in our architecture!

Have a wonderful, whimsical week, everyone!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! #149

Welcome back to one of your favorite little memes :)
As we continue through my family's vacation this past summer, we now reach our very brief stint in Los Angeles, where we stopped in to say hi to two of my brothers. Most of our time was spent with them, and touring with the kids, but I did manage to grab a few architectural shots as well. As always, feel free to click on any and all of them, if you'd like a (much) closer view:







Here's a small shout out to my very youngest brother:
And of course, albeit from afar:

That's it for now! Please play along with us here at Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! Just post your photo(s) of a window, door, or anything architectural, link here, and sign up in the widget, below. Welcome aboard, and thanks for stopping by!

Dew Drops - A Macro

Well, not really a macro - I don't have such a fancy lens. Let's call this a close-up of these early morning drops on the chairs of our balcony:
I especially like how you can see the bars of the railing in the teeny tiny reflections, all distorted... (feel free to click on the photos, if you'd like a *much* closer view!)
I've found a Macro meme, right over here at Shine the Divine. Go check it out, if you'd like to see more super-close photography. Have a great week, everyone!