good company

we had a great time up north, D and i. and the kids had a great time with mormor and morfar as well, so everyone was happy. it was windy, clouds and rain one minute, sun and blue sky the next. i like that.

we rested, had good food, went for little walks (and drives), and read. i'm reading eat, pray, love. i really like it, but not sure it's the healthiest book for me these days: next thing you know i might be on my way to india to hang in an ashram... but it does inspire me in terms of searching for my own path - in baby steps at least :)

today is stormy with rain here and there. the children are home from kindergarten, my mom is leaving in a few days, so it's all about cozying up and enjoy those last few days with her. and yesterday i finally got a hang of the granny square crochet project - yay - and i am hooked (pun intended).

my dad will stay for another two weeks. i like that they overlap, it's nice to have them here alone too. and i think they like it too. not just here, but also being at home, in silence. i have that from them: i also always liked to be on my own (preferably when you know exactly when it will end). but for now, i will enjoy the company of my parents together with the little ones.

wishing you a weekend of good company, with yourself or those you love.

drops of water

the rain came, the heat wave broke. it's ok. we need it, the country needs it.

and then my dad came too, so both my parents are in the house. it's been busy with visitors and purim (expect a photo or two of dressed up kids sometime after the weekend). tomorrow D and i will be going away for a day, just the two of us, leaving the kids with the grandparents. i look forward to that.

thanks for the comments to my previous posts. i really appreciated that, and i know that you know what i mean :)

have a good one - xoxo

soft and beautiful

so i mentioned that i would like some arrows to show me the direction. i feel a bit like these little seeds as they float in the air: it's pretty, and it feels good to be carried by the wind, but it mainly makes me dizzy, it's hard to focus - and i cannot help but wonder, anxiously, where i will land.

i was just writing a looong post about the things i am considering and what is going on, but i don't feel ready or capable to talk about it (i am writing it as if there's something specific. there isn't, which is the problem). so i deleted what i wrote. i am confused, ambivalent, caught between what is good for one thing, what is good for another, and what is good for something else. what is good for family, what is good in the long run, in the short run, and what is good for me, now, tomorrow and next year. it is such a puzzle to make financial, emotional, family, relationship etc ends meet. to make a good compromise, to make everyone as happy as i would like them to be. including myself.

to match this kind of unfocused and blurry talk, i thought, i would share a few more shots from my first role of film. i know: under exposed and too close up - but there's something about them i like. maybe the stillness, the softness, is what appeals, what i need...

here is to soft and beautiful landings.

corner view - street photography

i found this a while back in neve tzedek. besides the pretty colored dots, i think it caught my attention because, well, i could really use some arrows to point me in the right direction these days. generally speaking.

there are many more streets to go - jane of spain daily knows the way.

all alone, all dressed up

purim is coming up. the boys have been making masks in the kindergarten, so every day i pick up kings, cats or mice. and then suddenly, yesterday, this little guy appeared on the dining room table. i suspect someone thought that even a playmobil man needs a costume. still, he is all alone, waiting. so i assured him, no need to worry: soon enough a clown, a pirate and a cat will come around and keep you company. just wait and see..

in the making

she's making granny squares. i wanted her to teach me while she's here, but i am mainly watching her while she creates. she is working so fast and effortlessly, it makes me feel clumsy. i think, i need to get some thicker yarn instead of this really thin cotton.

a taste of summer

we made limonana yesterday. limon is lemon in hebrew, nana is mint, alas limonana. we used the old lemons on the top branches of the trees. there are new green lemons on the lower branches, as these trees bare fruits twice a year, but then also old - and big ones - left at the top (because we were too lazy to pick those - until now ;).

they don't look so pretty, but they have taste and juice, and with some brown sugar and nana they made the perfect limonana. still some left, but we did drink a lot already, after all we are in a winter heat wave :)

...and it was perfect with the grilled turkey, avocado and tomato salad we had for lunch (with ice cream for dessert :)

little ladies

"probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken." m.f.k. fisher 

every time i collect our eggs, i feel like i am holding beautiful perfection in my hands. 

wishing you a perfect weekend :)

first film

these are from my first try with film. i found an old olympus trip 35 in my local thrift store, which a little googling told me is a simple, yet solid and - back in the 60s and 70s - very popular. it was cheap so i decided to give it a go. i have a lot to learn: it is such a different experience from the digital.

the complete lack of feed back in terms of light, focus and distance did, that i decided this first role of film to be a test - playing with settings and distance. and among the things i learned was, that i have to back off quite a bit ;) i would be more than happy to receive feedback and advice from you film shooters out there as i am beginning my second role of film.

corner view - wisdom from an elder

when i was around eight or nine years old i walked through the living room where my dad was watching a political debate in the television. the discussion was a bit heated and i asked my dad who was right. he said he didn't know, but that they all believed they were right. i asked again, but who is really right? and he said again, that he didn't know, only what he himself thought would be right, but that still didn't mean that it was, in fact, right; that most of the time there is no such thing as really being right. i remember feeling frustrated, as if he was keeping the truth from me, that he knew it, because, well, dads know what is right and what is wrong. right?

for some reason it stuck with me. he might just have been trying to avoid my question, but nevertheless, now that i look back, i realize it taught me a lesson. about respecting other people's opinion, to listen and see it from their side; that we must try to compromise between what is right for you and what is right for me. and to not impose your own opinion on others, but trust that they will, sooner or later, make up their own mind and stand up for what they believe. (and oh, how i wish, that this little piece of great wisdom would be practiced more. especially around these parts of the world).

jane of spain daily has a lot more wisdom ready for you.

ps: yes, i posted this family photo before, and dad, if you read this: i don't really consider you to be an elder ;)

pretty and clear

ok, it's official. i have succumbed to the aesthetics of the blogospere: i color sorted my books! now i just need a keep calm and carry on poster, and i'll be a fully accepted citizen of blogland ;)

ok, seriously, i was washing down the shelves yesterday and decided to try. i must have a librarian hidden somewhere inside, cause it was hard for me to let go of alphabetical order, genre and the like. this little librarian shook her head a few times in the process, so let's see if i can get her convinced. sadly for her, i am also not very good at thorough cleaning and organizing, so i am afraid it will take a while to get the books back to alphabetical order - if she manages to convince me instead (that this doesn't make any sense. at all. except it's pretty).

but, how then - if i am really a little bit lazy when it comes to cleaning projects - could it be that my windows are shiny and spotless? oh, that would be the mother (taking a well deserved break at the table after a day of cleaning my windows). and look at those big flower pots there on the outside window sill: that's my replanted flowers and pots. she did that too.

collecting - and bringing stuff home

there's nothing like the beach that gets my collector's gene going. i drag home everything from shells and stones to driftwood and bones. it is almost getting embarrassing and slightly ridiculous how much beach stuff i have on display. everywhere.

i think i passed the gene on to J. he finds all kind of things at the beach. sometimes shells, sometimes stones. but mostly his favorite objects are made of plastic. like an old bottle, a washed up flip flop, an arm from a doll, or plastic spoons.

we went to the wild beach saturday and by the time we left he had made himself a fine little collection. and honestly, who am i to tell him what is "right" and what is "wrong" to collect? even washed up plastic spoons can be pretty cool, no?

and when we are on the subject of collecting: i went to ikea the other day with my mom. i intended to by some fabric. by the time we got to the fabric i had already collected a zillion other small items. which i didn't know i needed, but right there, in ikea, i realized that obviously i did. you know, needed hyacinths, pale colored coffee cups, a pot holder for the hyacinth, and quite a few other things.

what's the deal with ikea? how do they do it? is it some sort of subliminal thing? oh, and by the way, the fabric was sold out. of course. now i'll have to go back in two weeks, but i will make it my goal to go in, pick it up and get out before they get to play any brain washing tricks on me. wish me luck.

need i say more?

just a quick hello from here. we went to tel aviv friday. to the beach where we used to live right next door. i still prefer the wild beaches, but it felt good to be back, to sit in a chair and have the snacks brought, while watching the kids, the water, the people. the kids had milkshakes and french fries, mom and i had coffee and toasts and D played beach volley ball. there was plenty of sun, sand diggin', bare feet and relaxing going on: we're in the middle of a winter heat wave with 25 degrees celcius. in february. need i say more?

oh yes, one more thing: happy v-day :)

silence

my special guest is here. she arrived a few days ago, and it's good. we're busy catching up, so i am probably not going to be here as much as usual the coming days. or maybe i will: when i say i am going to be busy with other things, it usually means that i suddenly have a million things to blog about :)

ps. did you notice that i have a blur thing going on these days?

corner view - repurposed

remember this white frame? these days it serves as an earring holder on my bedside table. it might return to it's original purpose at some point, but this makes sense right now. and it looks pretty.

and since we are visiting my bedside table, then let me tell you how much i look forward to read the sorrows of an american by siri hustvedt, and eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert. both received in the mail just a few days ago. but right now i am diggin' into the stories in unaccustomed earth by jhumpa lahiri.

i have had the leonard cohen book, beautiful losers, waiting for a while. i wanted to re-read it after the concert back in september, but so far it's only been a few pages randomly chosen. i also enjoyed the man with the dancing eyes by sophie dahl, but mainly because of the drawings by annie morris. to be honest the story wasn't really my cup of tea, but the words were pretty (probably not making sense, but that's how i felt after reading it). but this wasn't what i was supposed to write about right now, so let's get back on track, shall we?

this wooden box. (technically not in my house, but right outside, so it made its way into this post.)

i have a thing with old wood, and one day i saw three wooden boxes down the road. D met the people at the house where they were piled up, who then gave them to D. i got all excited. that was, until D asked if, hey, did i know what these boxes used to be? nope, i didn't, something special? oh yes, something special indeed. these wooden boxes used to contain missiles. and they are empty now. looking at them made me wonder what ever happened to the missiles that once were inside.

it made me sad, and i left them standing for a while. didn't know if i really wanted to look at them in my garden. but i decided to use them for plants and herbs. to change their purpose and make good use of them.

feel free to hum blowing in the wind now and call me a naive daydreamer, but now i look at them and hope, that one day, boxes like this will only be made for a good purpose. (and hey, i am not taking the easy way out: being a naive daydreamer in israel takes hard work and constant care).

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for more good use of things that used to be used for something else, go visit jane of spain daily.

dreamy days

a little while back i went to the beach with D while the kids spent the afternoon with their cousins at safta's place. i brought a book, some crochet work, sketch book and pencils. and didn't touch any of it. only the camera came out of the bag to capture some beautiful seaguls.

it happens a lot, when i go to the beach (sans children), that i bring tons of stuff and then just end up starring at the sea or walking, collecting shells and other bits of pretty.

then i unpacked my bag the day after and wanted to read for a moment. only to get occupied by the beautiful light on the table. sometimes i have days of being in this dreamy mood. at least as long as the kids are in kindergarten: the moment i get them home i have my feet pretty firmly planted in here and now activities.

have a dreamy day, my friends

feeling light

i went to the beach, and it was full of drift wood, shells and other beautiful treasures after the rain and storm last week.

the beauty of a feather becomes so much more apparent when the perfection is broken. curls, waves, irregularities.

my mom is coming tomorrow. i am so happy. the kids too. they have been counting the days. or rather asking every morning, is she here now? will she come today? i play the part of the patient soul - no, just a few more days. she'll be here before you know it. i think i am comforting myself too :)

fading out from here with some beauties picked in the garden a few days ago. the light seems to have brought a love for yellow :)