Clean up on aisle six aka the aftermath

Nati and I passed the spot where the bomb squad did their thing the other day. While they did a good job in cleaning things up, there was still a small pile of multicolored "confetti" made of plastic and paper swept into a corner. I was able to snap a couple photos before the local street sweepers came around and did a better job.

As I said in my previous post, white board supplies and school books.

This time.

Thank God.

Possible art show

The municipality, along with the local Fringe Theater, and a few other organizations is putting together an art and music show of works by local women in honor of International Women's Day. I just sent in a submission request, along with lo-res versions of four possible photographs I'd like to feature.

What do you think?

Different route to school

Elchanan and I started off on walking a different route to school, so he could find different things to photograph. But after only about 5 minutes, he decided he wanted to take the city bus. So he got a few photos taken, but not as many as he'd taken in the past.

When you were a kid, how did you get to school?

Shuk with a camera

Words cannot express the absolute pride and joy I felt while watching Elchanan experience the local shuk with a camera in his hand. He was like a bee in a flower garden, flitting from one stall to another and snapping away. None of the vendors scolded or yelled at him to stop (which has happened to me on more than one occasion), and a couple of them even gave Elchanan encouragement.

What hobbies do you share with your children?

Behind the dried pineapple is dried (and probably sugared) watermelon, rind and all.

Abstract of lettuce.

Jews with Tattoos

I've always wanted a tattoo. When I was about 30, I got my first one. I'm much older now, and I've been wanting a second and third and fourth since that day.

It's not really done in my society, for several reasons. The first (and big one), is the Biblical prohibition. Leviticus 19:28 - "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the LORD."

The second reason is the forced tattooing many of our ancestors were put through during the Holocaust, when they were reduced to numbers in concentration camps. Tattoos just leaves a bad taste in many people's mouths because of this.

The third is because people seem to believe that if one has a tattoo, one cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

So as to the first reason, there is great debate as to just what the context is, and what it means in general. There are those who say the context of the tattoos is tied to the first part of the sentence; that is, the ritual of tattooing to commemorate the dead. There are those who believe the context is within pagan worship; that is, getting pagan iconography tattoos onto you.

The third reason is actually just Jewish urban myth. It's highly likely someone was told this when s/he asked about getting a tattoo, and whomever s/he asked tried to think of the ultimate deterrent.

And as to the second reason, I certainly can understand and respect it. I just feel that by getting a tattoo, by MY CHOICE, I reclaim something. Just like the LGBT movement reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of strength, when it was used in Nazi Europe to identify, mark, and disgrace gays and lesbians.

My younger daughter has been wanting a tattoo since she was about 15 or so. I told her she needed to wait until she reached her majority, and that she had to find something meaningful to her. Once she found the graphic, she would then have to spend a year looking it over, considering it, etc. and then if she still felt strongly about it, she could pay for her own tattoo.

Ten years later, and yesterday, she got her first tattoo. It's on her upper thigh. When I asked her why she got it there, she said because she wants to be able to see it, but she also doesn't want it to be visible to others. Then she said that for her next tattoo, she wants an inspirational quote.

I laughed, and she asked why. I said to her that her first tattoo isn't even 24 hours old, and she's already planning her next tattoo... she's hooked!

Here is a collage of photos I took back in 2014 of different Jewish people with tattoos. The top and bottom are the same person. The right-hand photo is a friend. The left-hand side is me.

So, do you have a tattoo? What does your family think about it? What does your culture feel about it?

Apparently dog poop is interesting

On today's walk to school with his dad, Elchanan decided to photograph a poop-covered rock. When I asked him why he chose to take that photo, he just laughed. Typical of an almost 9 year-old, methinks.

Give a child a camera...

Here are today's photos taken by Elchanan on our way to his school. The first and last photos have some great leading lines.

Week 52

The challenge for week 52 was black and white minimalism. It's actually one of my favorite themes.

Here is this year's photo:

Elchanan's photos

Here are Elchanan's photos from today (he'll be 9 the end of March).

Drive By

The theme for December 18, 2017 was "Drive By". The explanation of the challenge was taking a photo while IN a vehicle. Unfortunately, my week just didn't allow for that, so I submitted a shoehorn photo...

Photography with kids

Yesterday Elchanan started his photo project with Zach. Here are two photos he took.

I'm hoping that in addition to it feeding his creativity, and my teaching him the art of photography will make him a great photographer, it will also set a positive tone for his day that he can carry into the classroom. We have issues with him refusing to cooperate in class, and there's the ongoing morning tantrums about not wanting to go to school and/or the after school program. But I'm hoping that if we can distract him with something positive and fun in the morning, he'll carry that feeling throughout the day and behave better in class.

And tomorrow, I'm DEFINITELY taking my own camera on our walk to school.

Deflection

Not sure where Zach has been driving, but the car has TWO flat tires. And neither one of us has gotten paid yet, so for now, the car is sitting in its parking spot.

Tuesdays is a bit of a mess with regards to getting Elchanan to and from school because Tuesdays is a 12:30 dismissal and there's no after school program. And today, he has an added 3 p.m. visit to the dental hygienist for a much need cleaning.

The usual schedule of getting Elchanan to school would be a few days a week, Zach drives to work, so he takes Elchanan to school, and I take Netanel to his bus stop. On days when Zach cycles to work, we switch - I take Elchanan to school via city bus, and Zach waits with Netanel for his van and then Zach cycles to work. On Tuesdays, because it's a short day for Elchanan, we try and make a point of Zach takes him to school, and then I pick him up at 12:30.

For some reason, Zach thought I'd be okay with taking Elchanan to school by bus today, and picking him up at 12:30, AND taking him to his dental appointment. Needless to say, I wasn't okay with it.

The problem is, you're not allowed to take a bike onto the city buses, and either the front of the bus racks don't exist in Israel at all, or at least they don't exist on the local buses.

So it means Zach and Elchanan would have to walk (it's about a 15 minute walk to his school).

Which Elchanan was NOT happy about.

However, I DID manage to mostly deflect his tantrum, and make walking to school interesting, by telling him he could take his camera with him on his walk to school and take photos. Zach would then take the camera to work with him, and I would upload the photos he took to his own Facebook album. He resisted the idea at first, but soon warmed to it.

I'm looking forward to this project.

Boudoir Shot

For the theme of "On a tripod", I decided to go a bit tongue in cheek and using a tripod for my camera, take a photo of a second tripod, but in a "boudoir photoshoot" style.

52Frames, week 50

December 11, 2017

5 senses

This one was kind of a shoehorn submission, the photo I had in mind just wasn't working and the deadline was looming.

"On the lookout"
A pair of peregrine falcons have taken up residence on our building.


52Frames, week 49.
December 4, 2017

Action

Never work with animals or children.

52Frames, week 48
November 27, 2017

Under the microscope

My contribution for the challenge of "Shot with a phone". This was taken with a microscope attachment on an iPhone 6.

Life, Lemons... you know the rest

My contribution for this week's 52Frames challenge - Life

Back to blogging

It's been a really long time since I've written a blog post anywhere. Which is annoying, because I rather enjoy writing and I've been told I do it well. So, here we go again.

For now, this will be for photography stuff, food stuff, and since we just got this beautiful new sewing machine, garb and other sewing projects stuff.