Some shadows in my shot

Well, they made a new traffic circle near my house, and I love it! I'm a big fan of traffic circles anyway, but this one replaced what had been a particularly dangerous intersection. Now it's safer and I'm happy! And I was even happier when they got ready to plant some greenery in the middle. Look at how cool this is:

Nice, right? I just love the geometry that's going on here. Feel free to click on the photo to enlarge it, and see how many shadows you can find :)

Naturally I'm posting this to Shadow Shot Sunday, beautifully hosted weekly at Hey Harriet. Have a great week, everyone! And don't forget to come back here on Wednesday to participate in the first-ever edition of Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors! See you then!

Skywatch Friday - and an exciting announcement!

Want to hear something crazy? It's December! Want to hear something even crazier? It's almost 2012! I remember as a kid thinking of 2012 as far, far beyond reality, when surely all the sidewalks would be moving sidewalks, and I would be old and accomplished. And here we are, still walking around, and frankly, not that old! I guess they weren't making it up when they said time flies.


Anyway, where were we? Oh yes - not only has the year flown by, but so has this past week. It's already time for Skywatch Friday! And fortunately, I have this awesome sunset to share with you, from only two weeks ago:

Isn't that just lovely? I really am fortunate to have access to this big open sky! 


Now here's the announcement: after the very friendly encouragement that I received on my previous post, I'm going to try to pull together the first edition of my new meme this Wednesday. I'd like it to include any interesting architectural images, and so I was thinking of calling it Whimsical Windows, Doors and More! But Sparrow wisely suggested Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors and I have to say that I really like the sound of that one! What do you all think? We still have a couple of days to figure it out, so feel free to add your suggestions to the comments below! 


Anyway, back to already existing memes :)  If you'd like to see more sky-oriented photography from all over the world, go check out Skywatch Friday right now! You'll be glad you did! And please do come back here next Wednesday to see some Whimsical Windows! Catch you then - have a great weekend!

Shadow Shot - Windchimes! And a question

Hey everyone! Happy Post-Thanksgiving! I just wanted to take a second to share this cool shadow that I found in my house last week - these pretty windchimes that my daughter received for a birthday present last year. Aren't they charming?

For more cool, shadowy photography from all over the world, go check out Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted beautifully at Hey Harriet. You'll be happy that you went!


By the way - I have a question for you all! Ready? Here goes: Mary used to host a weekly meme on Wednesdays, called Window Views... and Doors, Too! She recently had to close it down, and I miss it dearly. Maybe it's because I studied architecture, and maybe not, but I really do enjoy finding interesting parts of buildings to photograph! Anyway, I was thinking of starting up a new meme in its place - I'm thinking of calling it Whimsical Windows. My question is this - if I do, will you participate? A meme for one is surely no fun :)


Let me know what you think in the comments! If there's interest, I'd like to start it up soon!


Have a great day all!
-toby

Pomegranates for Ruby Tuesday!

As we know, Rosh HaShana is the holiday of pomegranates. I love pomegranates! But after Rosh HaShana is over, although they're still sold everywhere, I just don't think of buying them. I mean, the holiday is over, right? But this year, somehow I decided that pomegranates are good enough to keep eating, and so I've bought a few more over the last month. Yum! I've been putting them in salads and just munching on them, totally healthy, very yummy, and *very* Israeli! 


Opening a pomegranate can be a little daunting - what seems like a great idea can lead to a huge, juicy mess very quickly. Over the past couple of years, we've been using the underwater method, and it's served us quite well. But after reading this inspiring blog post, I decided to brave it alone. And it turned out pretty well!

(check out the white cutting board!!)

Naturally, I'm posting this to Ruby Tuesday, that weekly meme of reddish things, hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Go there right now to see more entries from all over the world! Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Skywatch - a sunset

This one is so pretty, I just can't resist posting it! Here you go - the sun setting as I was leaving work yesterday:

Nice one, right?


For more sky photography from all over the world, go check out Skywatch Friday right now! You'll be glad that you did! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shadow Shot Sunday - I missed you!

Oh, I really missed Shadow Shot Sunday! For those who don't remember, it's that cool as anything weekly meme, hosted beautifully at Hey Harriet. I haven't had time to post recently, and now it's been cloudy, but a few weeks ago, the theme at 52 frames (remember that?) was shadows, and I posted this:

Pretty cool, right? I figured I may as well share :)


Go check out Shadow Shot Sunday right now to go see lots of shadowy photography from all over the world! You'll be glad you did! Happy Sunday everyone, and have a great week!

Skywatch Friday - Sunrise!

Generally, I have a hard time dragging myself out of bed before 6:30. But last week, for some strange reasons that I won't bore you with here, I had to get up *very* early, and found myself baking chala at 5:00 AM. There I was, engrossed in kneading and braiding, when I happened to turn around. I hadn't realized that I'd be in for such a good show! It started out impressive, and kept getting better and better...

It was unreal! I have to start waking up earlier on a regular basis :)


Naturally, I'm posting this to Skywatch Friday, that weekly meme that showcases beautiful skies from all over the world. Go check it out - you won't regret it!


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Some tiny rubies, for Tuesday

Looking out the window at my office, I saw this innocent looking bush. 

But then something reddish caught my eye. I went outside for a closer look - check this out!

And elsewhere on the same bush, I found this

and this!

So to sum up, I'd say that this plant is lovely, but seemingly a little confused :)

Naturally I'm posting this to Ruby Tuesday, graciously hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Go there now to see more red photography from all over the world! Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Skywatch Friday - Winter is on its way!

Look at this gorgeous almost-sunset I found yesterday as I was leaving work! Ah, didn't we all miss those wintry clouds?

Naturally, I'm posting this to Skywatch Friday, that weekly meme that displays beautiful sky-oriented images from all over the world. Go check it out!
For those of you fasting tomorrow on Yom Kipur - have an easy and productive fast!
And to all of us - have a wonderful weekend, and a sweet New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well, after a long summer hiatus, I am back! We had a great time this summer, but it was pretty hectic. Now that we're settling back into our regular lives, I'm happy to re-embrace my blogging self!
And there's no better way to do that than with some weekly memes. Lucky for me, we just celebrated Rosh HaShana, when we eat some pretty colorful food. Among other new things, I made some round chala:

Then, to ensure a sweet new year, I added chocolate chips to some of them :)

And of course, Rosh HaShana wouldn't be the same without - pomegranates! My son seeded ours for me this year again, for which I am very grateful - it's a tedious and often messy project:

That's it for now! I think those chalot are just right for Mellow Yellow Monday 

and the pomegranate seeds for Mary's Ruby Tuesday 



Check them both out this week, you'll be happy you did!
Here's wishing all of you a happy, sweet new year, full of everything your hearts desire! See you back here soon!

Ruby Tuesday - Here I Am!!

Yes, I've been busy, and yes, I'm still busy! But I truly haven't forgotten you all, my good online friends, and so I just want to take three seconds to post this photo, exactly in time for Ruby Tuesday! Here you go - my big comeback!

It's the bougainvillea that I (very) briefly owned, a few weeks ago. I somehow convinced myself that bougainvillea wouldn't be completely miserable in a pot, on my balcony. And it seemed true, for just over a week, until... it became completely miserable, and I brought it to a coworker of mine who has a garden and was happy to adopt it! It sure was beautiful, though - maybe I'll go visit sometime :)


For more reddish photography, go to Mary's blog, Work of the Poet, where she faithfully hosts Ruby Tuesday each week. You'll be glad that you went! Have a great week, everyone!

The most exciting thing on our window

Ever!
It started out like this:

You may recall that we had a similar situation last year. But back then, our feathered friend just disappeared one day, leaving one egg behind (which my kids later brought to the Science Corner at school). So imagine our surprise, when we found this:

 and then, this!

(Feel free to click on those, if you'd like a closer view!)
Now, just so you all understand, this happened at just the same time that we adopted a new rabbit to befriend Caramel, and happen to be dogsitting for my father in law. And so now, over the past week and a half, the head count in our house has gone from 
two adults, three kids and one rabbit 
to 
two adults, three kids, two rabbits, a dog and three birds! 
We really should start charging an entrance fee :)


Naturally, I'm posting this window action to Mary's meme, Window Views... and Doors, Too! Go there if you'd like to see some more cool photography from all over the world. Have a great week, everyone!

A few shadows

Once again - it's been awhile. But I haven't forgotten you, my faithful readers! And just to prove it, I'm going to share some cool photos that I managed to catch on my way home from work, a couple of weeks ago:

I really am so happy to have found all of these funky shadows - none of which I would have seen if I were traveling by car!


Naturally, I'm posting this to my favorite meme - Shadow Shot Sunday! It's beautifully hosted at Hey Harriet - go check it out right now! And - have a great week, everyone!

Rubies in the shuk, Take II

You may recall the shuk, Jerusalem's huge open market. Well, Dave and I happened to be there again this past week, and I found - cherries! Check these out - have you seen a better candidate for Ruby Tuesday?

Those both look even better close up - feel free to click on the photos to get a better view!


Naturally, I'm posting these to Ruby Tuesday, Mary's ever popular weekly meme. Go there right now to see more reddish photography from all over the world. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Catching up on a shadow

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Yom HaAtsma'ut - Israel's Independence Day. A popular custom on Yom HaAtsma'ut is to go hiking, and explore this tiny but wonderful country that we live in. This year we went wandering around a place called Motsa with friends, and it was beautiful! Actually, we first stumbled upon a 9/11 memorial, which was a real surprise. I didn't know that Israel even had a 9/11 memorial!

It (a bit shockingly) contains an actual beam from Ground Zero.

(feel free to click on that one, if it's hard to read and you'd like a better look)

Anyway, we then moved on to being impressed by more natural beauty:

And at the very end, my friend Dena even found a shadow for me, making it that much more perfect :)

That's all, folks! Naturally, I'm posting this to Shadow Shot Sunday, that always cool meme hosted at Hey Harriet. Go check it out, for more cool, shadowy photography from all over the world. 


And - Happy 63rd, Israel!