photography

Red Fish and Careless Talk

Or is this an orange-colored fish?

Just for fun, from the same museum, a World War II poster:

For more photos with a little or a lot of red:

Review with Yellow Fish

On My Blog

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• The post is called Hermit Crab – see an inspiring, beautiful watercolor by Carol Feldman.
• I am happy to see Batya participating in Ruby Tuesday – be sure to visit her photos with red, too!
• A Texan visits the Dachau Concentration Camp. (hat tip: Louis La Vache)
• Ilana-Davita posted a recipe for chicken with red peppers, which I made on Friday. I grilled it and then baked it a bit in the oven right before Shabbat. Tasty, though I think next time I should add more garlic.
• A disturbing post on Jews Leaving Sweden – talks about Malmo, which I read about in Caldwell’s book (see below).
• A discussion about modesty (tzniut or tznius) on Rachel’s blog.

Book Bits

Books I’m reading: I read most of the stories in The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories by Max Apple. I would like to write a post on the story called “Stabbing an Elephant.” Can anyone guess what the story about stabbing an elephant is about? Hint: which Jewish holiday?

I started reading My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar, a birthday present from a dear friend (thank you). It is a captivating book; Ariel Sabar tells his story and the story of his father with great flourish and engaging description.

I finished Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West by Christopher Caldwell – I highly recommend it, though the topic is a disturbing one.

SkyWatch with Many Birds

Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies, bird-filled skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.

Last week my son said he heard a bird making a strange noise. I went outside with my camera and found many birds (thanks to Michelle for identifying the birds as starlings) making noise.

The birds congregated in a pattern.

Then one bird flies off.

Now the sky is filled with birds.

Watch them taking off.

The late afternoon sun makes the wings look golden.

Red Skier

“In August 2007, Jiminy became the first private US business (and only ski resort) to invest in its own megawatt class wind turbine.” (from Wikipedia) The three wind turbines shown on a neighboring peak are newer than the original turbine; one skis right past the first turbine which is on the top of the ski mountain.

My two sons getting a lesson in parallel skiing: the ski instructor is in the green jacket, my sons are wearing bright blue and black with red striped jackets.

For more photos with a little or a lot of red:

Review with Stuck Leaf

On My Blog

  
I didn’t have much time to blog this week, as my kids are off from school and we went on vacation to the Berkshire Mountains.

If I had more blogging time this week, I would have done a Nature Notes post about both Tu B’Shvat (the Jewish holiday of the trees) and Parshat B’Shalach, before which one is supposed to feed the birds. Here is a nice story about the Maharal, feeding birds, and teaching children.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Describe Person Experiment. You are still most welcome to participate!

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Mother in Israel quotes a news report: “…what will kill people is not an earthquake. What kills them is the building” – this is similar to what Rutgers Professor Lee Clarke said about buildings in the Midwest.
• The colors of Robin’s flower and Ilana-Davita’s Swedish shed photos are similar in palette, yet the photos are so different in subject matter and in photographic style.
• Mimi cooks up a Tu B’Shvat feast; and G6 has all the seven species ready for her table.
• Raizy shares the wonderful world of parenting teens and cell phone texting charges; we can relate.
• I really enjoyed Michelle’s videos after the rain then during the snow. She’s funny, whether she means to be so or not… listen to the goldfinch who didn’t get the January memo.
• Having been born Jewish, I often find it curious why someone would convert…”There are Jewish roots in my family, on my Dad’s side,” says Rachel. <- I suppose that helps
• Eva Abreu in the Home News Tribune wrote about how people use Twitter to connect and produce new business relationships. She included the example of how I connected with Kacy Campion Renna of CCW Insurance, and I wrote up a post about Eva’s newspaper story.
• Last by not least (or in Hebrew, Aharon Aharon Haviv) Batya hosted KCC #50, the 50th Kosher Cooking Carnival.

SkyWatch at Jiminy Peak

Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.

Review with Magnolia Buds

On My Blog

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Ilana-Davita asked some good questions about the parsha (which is Bo, about the end of the ten plagues and is quite violent).
• I finally finished reading Laish by Aharon Appelfeld, which is reviewed beautifully here by Jew Wishes. I cannot even begin to imagine being a 15 year old without parents who is raised by this caravan, but in some ways it is similar to Aharon Appelfeld’s story, who also lost his parents quite young.
• Mrs. S. is playing one of my favorite games, Othello. But she seems to be changing the rules.
• Muqata has an eye witness account about the IDF field hospital in Haiti: “A doctor and nurse from Germany came. They heard this is best hospital in Haiti. An emergency room team from Colombia arrived with all their equipment and asked if they could set up next to us to be part of our hospital. England is the enlightened country in Europe, the one which has an academic boycott of Israel; twenty British doctors and nurses asked to work with us.”
• Melissa wrote “It Takes a Community.”

Thursday Challenge: Winter

Corner of South Park and Eighth Avenues in Highland Park after December 31, 2009 snowfall. I loved the bright green against the white and gray.

Thursday Challenge theme is WINTER (Ice, Icicles, Snow, Tobogganing, Skating, Frost, Winter Clothing,…). And next week is MESSY.

Windows in Backyard

Windows on a shed in a backyard in Highland Park and far window on a house – can you guess what time of day it is?

For more window views, visit:

Cape May Zoo Pics

I’ve been wanting to post my photos from our trip to the Cape May County Zoo in southern New Jersey from last August. I hope you enjoy the tour.

I think they painted a mailbox zebra colors and wrote “Zoo Donations.” The zoo is free, so donations are greatly appreciated.

I don’t know what kind of bird this is, but it was wandering around, mingling with the zoo guests. Maybe a guinea fowl?

This is a bald eagle. It was hard to photograph him in his cage.

The flamingos were fun to watch. See that gull who looks like he owns the place?

Here’s Mr. Gull again, resting with the flamingos.

I cannot remember the name of this animal, but it had tons of energy.

Giraffes are beautiful animals.

Animals behind fences, like the leopard, were harder to photograph.

This zoo guest had a great time. Photos of family come out nicer when everyone is having fun.

NJPlaygrounds has more photos of the zoo and the nearby playground.

Thanks for coming with me to the zoo!