THE GOOD FEELING OF BLUE

Create yourself a lovely weekend!

Photos by Uri Eshkar

BLOGGING

99 Followers :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

I started blogging two years ago, my first post appeared on the 15th of February 2010. And I can almost not believe that one short of one hundred people checked in, liked what they found, and pressed the "Follower" button. About fifteen of them leave me lovely comments on a regular basis about almost each post I write. I made some wonderful blogger friends all over the world, Italy, Norway, Belgium, England (hi Bob), South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, France, Florida, California, Germany (hallo Irmi) etc. and at least four of them became very good friends for real. One of them I already met in person, which was absolutely wonderful. I send hugs and kisses to North and South Germany, to Norway and to New York several times a week in my thoughts or in an e-mail.

Why did I start blogging? Actually my friend Rosie, who lives some streets away from me was nagging me for some time: "Why don't you start a blog, you have to start blogging, it suits you", because she liked the stories I told her about our outings and hikes, and she loved my husbands beautiful photos. So one day I said yes - and she helped me to start. Thank you Rosie, you did know something, that I had not realized, that I would LOVE blogging!

So what is it about? English is not my mother language, so blogging is a very good exercise and practice. I love my country, the land of Israel, and my husband taught me many of its wonders and properties - nature, history, antique places and archeological excavations. I cherish my visits to the markets, shuks and little shops, and adore the people of many different origins who live around me. We are out and around a lot, from the desert in the South, till to the Golan Heights in the North, from the sea to the hills, and I like to tell about it. I love Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Haifa too, a day spent in those cities always makes me happy. I write about our animals, the dog, three cats. I write about family, about my grandchildren. I give even a recipe here and there. Yes, why not? I always like to try out recipes I find in other blogs!

My blog is free of discussions of politic and religion. I respect and sometimes admire other peoples opinions, but I don't make them necessarily my own. I choose my words carefully and write with kindness and good manners. I try to be not too private and I think about what will be of common interest. I love to show my husbands wildflower and other photographs, and to comment them. And I am glad to leave a little legacy. I hope, once when I am gone, my grandchildren will still look into this blog sometimes and remember their grandmother, discover unknown things and learn about many subjects. My blog is not fancy, it is simple and down to life. I am not a complicated and philosophical person and also not very spiritual, I see things mostly as they are, and that is the way I write about them. I am very much influenced and blessed by nature, a day or two out under the sky can be quite healing for me. I am thankful for many good things in my life.

I found some wonderful blogs I love, and I leave comments, because I like what I read. I enjoy all the comments I get (except those who are commercial or those who demand I comment and follow back - I want this to be my own decision). I am, like everyone else, fond of good feedback and a clap on the shoulder. I have friends who don't comment on my blog, but call me or write me an e-mail when they loved some special post. I thank all of you for liking my blog! :-)

And thank you Rosie for being persistent till I did what you wanted me to do - blogging!

And I thank my husband, because, as I have already said a few times, without his wonderful photos my blog would certainly not be the same!

MY WISH FOR THE DAY

Today I would like to go to a magic land - to an island of peace and quiet, where words which have or can have disturbing meanings, do not exist in the local language - like power, money, sex, religion, war, drugs, violence, abuse, racism, politics - because there is no need for them. And where words like peace and freedom, equality and the right to self expression do not exist either - because those things are for granted. I would like to be small and happy and live among the tulips without worries and trusting my neighbors... I would like to sleep on a sheet of kindness and have loving dreams about friendly faces. I would like to be thankful, just thankful, without naming the recipient for my gratitude, I would like to send out smiles and receive smiles in return - yes I would like to stay there for a while, enjoying deep and meaningful and meditative breathing - then I would come back, strong and healthy of body and mind, ready to deal with reality again...

 

Would you like to join me? 

Wild tulips at the Ktalav Wadi, photographed this morning by my husband Uri Eshkar.

THEY ARE HERE!!!

This blog would certainly not be the same without my husbands wonderful photos. Yesterday morning on his drive to work he saw something - so today he took his camera, hoping he would see it again. And surely he did:

Hundreds of thousands of storks are migrating twice a year over Israel - on their way from Europe to Africa in autumn, and back from Africa to Europe in spring. We love to see them soaring high up in the sky and we get excited when they touch down near us for a rest in the meadows.

 Photos by Uri Eshkar taken off highway # 4 near Ra'anana.

PLAYING AROUND

With fabric, lace, beads and buttons...

I did not bead that little patch, I truly don't remember where I got it from...

THANK YOU DAWN

http://latouchablesbagsandthings.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-heart-yael.html

DOILIES AND LAVENDER HEARTS

I like to go to the flea market and when I do I always search for aged buttons and old doilies - and often I find both. One day I discovered a very old and tattered box full of white and shiny mother-of-pearl buttons. I have used a lot of them and still have many left. Sometimes the vendor has a large crocheted tablecloth and she will cut it apart in segments - I suppose it is easier for her to sell the pieces than the whole thing. I have several times bought such cut out circles, they will look like an individual doily - but when I wash them - and of course I HAVE to wash them - they come easily apart. So now I avoid purchasing those and buy only doilies worked in one piece. Nevertheless they also often have holes and are disturbed, but sometimes they are perfect. I love to use them on bags, lavender hearts, small pouches, fabric boxes, clutches etc. I halve and quarter them and while I sew them to fabric I carefully secure the seams. I have used whole ones which were so appealing that I did not have the heart to cut into them. 

Some months ago I made a whole lot of small lavender pillows with doilies and scraps of Bedouin embroidery, if you like, you can see them here:

http://www.pazzapazza2.blogspot.com/2011/04/lavender-what-gift-of-nature.html

To cheer up those many rainy days we (luckily) lately had, I bought wonderful smelling lavender and made new lavender hearts, using some of the doilies I bought when I visited the flea market with my friend Jill some weeks ago - just squeeze them and breathe deeply! Mhmmmmm... :-) And they turned out so lovely! Sometimes when I find the doilies being to white for my purpose, I just tint them with black tea.

While working with the doilies I imagine the hands which made them. Those stitches are tiny and most of them are done so beautifully! Not all of them are crochet, sometimes I am lucky and find dollies done in lace work, so delicate and pretty. I dearly love them all and I admire and appreciate the work of the women who created them!

Ah, and I almost forgot - I am selling the hearts and I also have still some of the lavender pillows left - contact me if you love one so much that you wish to purchase it!

 (I have sold them, but I can always make more!)

DESERT STATE OF MIND

The southern Negev desert did not get much rain this year, almost none actually, and the earth is very dry and harsh.

The camels always find something to snack on, they are not spoiled. They can also get along without water for a long period of time.

The desert is not blooming plentiful like it does when the rain spurts forward the flowers and greens, but the beautiful desert tulip was there last weekend - actually thousands of them were peeking out of the stony ground. We were searching for a rare kind of iris and fortunately found some, just two or three - it was certainly worth looking - Iris regis-uziae, Iris Tuvia, איריס טוביה in Hebrew.

We drove home via the Dead Sea, stopping at a vista point above it for a coffee break in the late afternoon sun. 

THE PEACOCK - DER PFAU - HA TAVAS

Meine liebe Bloggerfreundin Irmi schrieb heute einen netten und informationsreichen post ueber denPfau - hier:  http://neckarstrand.blogspot.com

Und da fiel mir doch etwas ein und ich habe mal ein bisschen rumgesucht - na und da ist es ja:

Das dichtete und malte meine Tochter fuer mich vor ueber dreissig Jahren - sie war damals zehn Jahre alt - eine schoene Erinnerung...

(Zum Vergroessern klicken, dann kann man es lesen...)

TIME

More thoughts on time (by Sandra, Eva, Dawn, Carol and Elisa)
http://zsazsazsujuwelen.blogspot.com
("donating time" - I love that Sandra)
http://colourful-research.blogspot.com   
(great thoughts and advises)

http://latouchablesbagsandthings.blogspot.com 
(especially marvelous post)

http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com
(managing time)

http://www.peskycatdesigns.com

(lovely post)

Thank you all for participating!

Time is a measurement.

It takes four minutes to soft boil an egg, ten minutes to hard boil it. Some men have quick timing, some women never come... Babies are born in time, few before their time, or they are a bit overdue. 

People tend to have NO TIME! What does that mean? Each of us has the same sixty minutes an hour! Really? If they shoot you to the moon, or farther into space, you could have more time, or even experience timelessness! Who says so? Ask Einstein! Einstein versus Newton. Time - absolute or relative? Is time only an illusion? Is there no separation between past, present and future?

Ahhhhh, for me it is very simple! I am neither philosophic, nor scientific or spiritual about time. I leave this to smarter minds (just try to explain to me the dilation of time)! For me time is a measurement, period! Yesterday was yesterday, today is today! I know what happened yesterday and I certainly do know what happens today, right now! Tomorrow? Will see! Yes, sure, I too feel that  sometimes the minutes drag, and other times the hour speeds...

We have watches and clocks everywhere! We have night and day, and seasons. We can measure our time with the help of our devices and with natures orders. We should be quite able to manage the time we have. So why don't we have time? My husband talked with a colleague at work about a movie and she borrowed the CD from him. She gave it back after two months, and apologized that she had not seen the movie, she said, she did not have time for it. Ha???? Not an hour and a half of time to see a movie at home in TWO months? There must be another reason for it, I am convinced. I think she was not so much interested after all in this movie, otherwise she would have found time to watch it, ceaseless of her living circumstances and her daily busy schedule. We all can DECIDE how we spend our time, and we should. And time CAN be balanced between what we HAVE to do and what we WANT to do. It is not too hard to set patches of time aside for our own special needs and wishes and pleasures. Do you think you waste time? It depends. I think time we enjoyed spending is never wasted time. Sigmund Freud said: "Time spent with cats, is never wasted". I like that quote and I know, some of you will love it too and agree!! And I can think of spending time in many more pleasant and delicious ways - each of us can and each of us has different preferences and yearnings - and it should be possible to reserve a little time for them! Agreed? :-)

There are a lot of word constellations and combinations with "time". A blog post, a short story, an essay, serious, sad or humorous could be written about the major part of this list. And of course a very scientific treatise about some of them. Let's roll them around in our thoughts for a bit:

from time to time         

timing

loosing track of time

saving time
measuring time

play time

creative time

time machine

time for departure

spending time

having time

having a good time

loosing time

wasting time

good times

bad times
world time

difficult times
current time

wonderful times

time heals

time is clicking away

concept of time

time consuming

it's about time
infinite time
local time

changing times

in the old times

quality time
time perception

test of time
time conversion

time travel

precious time

being on time

valuable time

time is money
precise time

time together

digital time
space time

time flies

physical time

spiritual time
exact time

time is up

illusion of time

time ceases

theory of time

lonely times

frozen in time

timeless

working time

back in time

the right time

ancient times

time zone
forgotten times

once about a time

time will tell
time philosophy
out of time
first time
last time
time management
timer
time table
time capsule

... 

Time is one moment after the other, the previous one is lost as time, but stored in memory. I like what Martin Luther King once said: "The time is always right, to do what is right." If we could follow that concept, if we could believe in that advice, there would be plenty of good memories...

In the Talmud is written: "Who forces time is pushed back by time; who yields to time finds time on his side." What do you think that means? I leave this open for thought and discussion...
 ...

(The pretty watch and the beautiful hand belong to my friend Jill.)

PURIM

The Jewish Festival Purim is being celebrated right now.

After Queen Esther told the Persian King Ahasveros about his minister Haman's plot to kill her uncle Mordechai, a Jewish leader, and destroy the whole Jewish population in his kingdom, Ahasveros prevented this and granted the Jewish people to live in freedom in his land. 

Since then each year in spring the Jewish people celebrate their rescue and deliverance with the feast of Purim. The story of Esther, the Megillat Esther, is read in the Synagogues, gifts of food and drink, called Mishloach Manot, are given, a festive meal  and good wine are enjoyed, and it is the custom to wear costumes and masks to rejoice, which of course is a big issue and great fun with the children - my own grandchildren are no exception! (The police woman and the nerd!)

You can read the story of Purim here:   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim

or of course in your Bible, in the book of Esther.

TIME - YOUR THOUGHTS ON TIME

Do you have a little time for me?

I am calling you my blogger friends to participate in a little challenge: writing your thoughts about TIME in a blog post. 

We can "take our time" :-)  hm - let's say till next Monday. Then we could read each others thoughts, opinions, philosophies, and perceptions about time, and our personal relation to it. 

Yes, let us have a virtual get together and exchange our views about time on our blogs! Who is in? :-)  
Please do post your entries only next Monday, so we do not read each others thoughts before!

See you then!

AT THE EDGES OF OUR LITTLE TOWN

A small break in the rain - my husband took the dog and the camera for a walk...

Tulips ציבעונים - Rock rose לוטם - Orchids (bee orchid macro) סחלבים 
Photos by Uri Eshkar.