A Happy Birthday Surprise!

My birthday was about a week and a half ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to receive this little card from a coworker of mine. My first thought was, "where on earth did she find a carnation today?!" Until I looked closer, and saw that it was made of tissue paper! Wow.

Here's the card. It says: Sweet Toby - Congratulations - Happy Birthday! Health, Blessings and Happiness. Who could ask for anything more, right?

Oh, I know - I could ask how to make these amazing flowers! Which I did, of course, and now my kids and I have been filling our house with tissue blossoms :)

For more photography with reddish tints, go check out Ruby Tuesday, loyally hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Strange shadows

I found that the sleeve of my sweater was creating some interesting images when the sun shone directly on it. Maybe I need to use my time better... but I still think that these are kind of cool :)

I like the last one the best! Feel free to click on any of them if you'd like to get a better look.


To see more shadowy photography, check out that ever-cool meme, Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted over at Hey Harriet. And for more close-up photography, go see Macro Monday, at Lisa's Chaos. Have a great week, everyone! And Happy Holidays!

Skywatch - Angelic Clouds

It's amazing to me that the sunsets around here are prettier on Thursdays, on a regular basis. Do the people in charge of the Skywatch Friday weekly meme have some pull in the heavens? Here's what I found this afternoon - I really liked these wispy, angelic clouds:

Nice one, right? The one on the bottom left reminds me of an origami crane :)


For more interesting sky photography, go check out Skywatch Friday. Have a great weekend, everyone!

A window from overseas

So like I said, our household computer isn't working, and that's where I keep the photos that I've downloaded from my camera. And I have so many photos of windows (and doors!) that are just waiting to be posted! But alas, they're stuck for now.


However, my husband just reminded me that he has copies of the photos that we took on vacation a couple of months ago! Thanks, Dave! After quickly looking through his collection, I found this cool shot that I had planned to post:

That's my nephew, Eli, on a staircase at the Children's Museum in Boston. That sure is a fun place! I was especially grateful that Eli stood still for a minute to let me get this shot - here we have an especially nice selection of windows, both inside and out. Feel free to click on the photo, if you'd like a closer look!


And do go check out Mary's fun architectural meme, Window Views... and Doors, Too! It's a lot of fun, I know I'm going there right now. Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Sorry I've been away - here's a ruby!

Well, our household computer is on the fritz, and so I haven't had much chance to post anything. I missed posting to some of my favorite memes! And yet it worked out a bit tonight, and so I'm taking this opportunity to post something that thankfully wasn't yet downloaded from my camera :)


Here's a friend from my office parking lot, that land of red bounty. I wouldn't call one tree a full-fledged Autumn, but it was lovely nonetheless:

You too, can participate in Ruby Tuesday, Mary's ever-interesting meme! Just post a photo of something red, and link to her blog, Work of the Poet. Then go there, and sign up. Have a great Tuesday, everyone - hope to see you here again soon!

Ruby Tuesday, Post-Chanuka

Well, I'm on a lunch break here at work, but I wanted to quickly share these Chanuka rubies with you. Of all the photos I took while we lit Chanuka candles last week, I think that this one is the reddest:

And here's what that same menora looked like after the holiday, just before we cleaned it off. I really like looking at all of those stalagmites and stalactites!

And here's the pile of leftover wax that my kids salvaged from all four of our menoras:

You too, can participate in Ruby Tuesday, Mary's ever-interesting meme! Just post a photo of something red, and link to her blog, Work of the Poet. Then go there, and sign up. Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Skywatch: Morning and Night

I went in to work a little earlier than usual today, and found these neat-o clouds:

Lovely, right? But when I turned the corner and could see behind the buildings, I realized that the clouds were just a part of a bigger picture - the sun was still rising!

I was pretty pleased with myself for having caught it all. But imagine my surprise when I found a matching sky on my way home, just before sunset:

Right? Maybe it's just me, but I found it quite cool that they seemed so similar. And beautiful, naturally - feel free to click on any of them, if you'd like to enlarge them and get a better view!


For more sky-oriented photography, go check out Skywatch Friday, right now! You'll be glad you did!


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Some local windows, for Wednesday

It's very common for people to have pretty ironwork around here, in front of their homes, on windows and on doors. Maybe it's a Mediterranean thing, I don't know... Still, you see a lot of standard patterns, making ones like these really stand out. I like them a lot!

Lovely, right? Feel free to click on either photo, if you'd like a closer look.

I figure all the windows in these shots qualify this post for Mary's neat meme, Window Views... and Doors, too! Go check it out right now, to see more interesting photography from all over the world. Happy Wednesday, everyone!

A shadow - just in the nick of time

I really liked the interesting mat under the flowers in Cindi's house. The photo of that didn't come out so well, but look at the cool shadows that I accidentally caught while trying!

For more intriguing shadows, go check out Shadow Shot Sunday, that always-excellent meme, hosted over at Hey Harriet. Happy Sunday, everyone!

A short, squat ruby

Here's another one from Sharon, Mass. I found this one to be absolutely adorable!

Do you get it? I thought perhaps it was hailing a taxi, but it turns out that this fire hydrant's little flag is so that it can be found in the snow. How innovative! I grew up in Chicago, which gets plenty of snow, but I don't recall ever seeing any of these cuties.


For more reddish images, go check out Ruby Tuesday, graciously hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Sunset, this afternoon!

Check out the sunset I caught this afternoon as I was leaving work! It was really unbelievable - I'm glad I had my camera so that I could prove it to myself later :)

For more cool sky photography from all over the world, check out Skywatch Friday, that cool-as-anything weekly meme. Happy Skywatching, everyone!

A ruby - I didn't forget!

I found these in Sharon, Massachusetts, a little way into October. Can't you just feel the brisk air? I really have always loved autumn!

As always, feel free to click on either photo, for a closer view. And to see more reddish photography, go check out Ruby Tuesday, graciously hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Shadows - here's hoping for a bloggy week!

Well, I didn't post much last week. Life is just busy, what can I say? But I'm hoping that this week will be a little livelier. Let's start it off right, with a nice shadow.


I found these fire escapes in Chicago. Suddenly realizing that my kids had never seen anything like them here in the Jerusalem area, I decided to take a photo. And then I noticed the awesome shadows that they were creating, and I took one more :)

I like them a lot!


For more cool shadow photography, go check out Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted at Hey Harriet. You won't be sorry!


Happy shadow hunting, everyone! And have a great week!

Skywatch - this afternoon

Well, I've started working longer days at work. I used to come in from 8-4, and now I'm supposed to come from 8-5. But alas: the sun sets around 4:30, and I keep missing it! So I've been trying *very* hard to come in early, around 7, with the intention of getting out by 4. Needless to say, easier said than done...


And so, today, I was sitting at my desk around 4:20. Suddenly, I got a call from my friend Dena. "I just wanted to tell you," she said, "that there's some crazy sky stuff going on. I thought you'd want to know."


I grabbed my camera and ran out to the parking lot. The view isn't as unobscured as the one from my balcony at home, but still, not bad:

Wow, right? Click on the photo to get an even better view.


What can I say? Thank you, Dena! It's good to have friends, and especially ones who look up :) Here's hoping that I'll get better at scheduling my time, and won't need to employ spies...


For more sky-oriented photography from all over the world, check out Skywatch Friday! There are some amazingly talented photographers who post there - you won't regret the click. 


Happy Skywatching, everyone! Have a great weekend!

European Shadows

On our trip last month, we stopped over in France. We were pretty tired, to say the least, and had just enough time and energy to be bored in the airport, but not quite enough time or energy to go see anything interesting in Paris...


I did find some intriguing shadows while wandering in the walkways between terminals. So here's one of my impressions of France :)

(Do click on the photo to get a better look - it's more impressive that way!)


So all in all, it wasn't a total loss! And let's hear it for France's Charles de Gaulle airport, which is very friendly about giving 10 free minutes of wifi!


I'm posting this to that wonderful meme, Shadow Shot Sunday, graciously hosted at Hey Harriet. I highly recommend you go there right now, to check out lots more interesting shadows from all over! Happy Sunday, everyone!