I planted portulaca (also called moss rose) from seed late this year (late means June), so I only got a few blossoms. Here is one that was still alive in October. These flowers are delicate, open only in late morning and die when it starts to get cold. Sometimes they reseed – hopes for next summer.
For more photos Straight Out of the Camera:
A belated thank you to G6 for posting this photo of night two of Chanukah as part of her Pirsum Project, a project to publicize the miracle of Chanukah. She posted some interesting photos such as a quilted chanukiah wall hanging in Jerusalem and this one of an heirloom chanukiah from the 1700’s. On her most recent post she promises: “There WILL be more photo memes in the future.”
And don’t forget to send your favorites to JPiX, the Jewish photo bloggers’ carnival. Next edition will be here on this blog on December 26th.
Thursday Challenge theme is CONSTRUCTION (Houses, Streets, Commercial, Equipment, Vehicles,…).
I was going to do the house nearby that was wrapped last spring; but I went to photograph it, and I found the photos a bit dull. See result at the bottom of this post. So instead, here is a construction paper amusement park. It was created by my daughter when she had a “do what you want” day in her school art class.
See how the house looked “wrapped.” See how it looked with a mere wooden frame.
Miriyummy did a lovely Kosher Cooking Carnival. Thank you for including kid-friendly spicy potatoes and no-cook pea salad.
Our rabbi, Rabbi Bassous, gave 5 reasons why the rabbis chose to celebrate the miracle of the oil on Chanukah. An alternative question might be: Why emphasize the oil instead of the military victory?
(My apologies if I restate any of his talk incorrectly).
If you need further explanation or elaboration, feel free to ask the comments (especially if you don’t celebrate Chanukah or if you just don’t understand one part of what he said – I’m open to questions).
Yesterday it rained and then it poured and then it drizzled. During one of the drizzles, I spotted a cardinal pecking away at my compost. I ran to get my camera, and when I came back, it was in this small tree.
Almost as soon as I saw it, the cardinal flapped away.
In contrast to all the rain we got on the East Coast, Israel has been having a very dry, dry spell. Here’s a photo from our 2008 trip to the Dead Sea:
For more Nature Notes, visit:
Update: Jameel on the tragic fire raging in the Haifa region of Israel
Tomorrow night, December 1, is the first night of Chanukah. Are you ready? Set up those chanukiot, bought those potatoes and oil, found last year’s dreidels? If you celebrate Chanukah and own a camera: take a photo, post it on your blog and submit it to JPiX.
An unknown number of 8 year old girls will be descending (ascending? proceeding to? invading? gracing?) our home on Sunday morning. A treasure hunt has been prepared by middle son, and I will be short order cook in charge of latke and sufganiyot (doughnuts) creation.
We are looking forward to Shabbat guests that we haven’t seen since we visited them in their home in Hashmonaim in 2008.
Last summer we visited Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of George Washington. The estate is now an educational tourist attraction, and I learned all about how wonderful George Washington was, which left me feeling – could the man do nothing wrong? It is certainly important that instead of grabbing power and declaring himself king, as he could have since he had control of the army, he just said I’ll be president for 8 years and then I’m done. He also let free his slaves after he died, but one friend pointed out, that was after he no longer needed them. My son, who is studying AP American History this year, said he wasn’t a very good general, or else his army wouldn’t have been in such sorry shape when they were about to cross the Delaware. He was a good speaker, and so he roused them up for that one more important battle.
The photo shows the outside of his home facing the Potomac River. A man in a red shirt conveniently was surveying the scene just so I could use this for Ruby Tuesday:
Black and white zebras at the Philadelphia Zoo – this is my first time participating in The Weekend in Black and White.
