As I got off the bus from work yesterday, I saw a small cat colony near an apartment building. Camera bait!
Here they are, with a lovely tuxxie in the middle:
Play-wrestling:
The tuxxie lifting a forepaw:
The sweet tabby winking for the camera:
The Friday Ark. The Carnival of the Cats, which will be hosted by the king of catbloggers, Laurence Simon, before he hands it off for the new year.
Yes, I realize it’s pretty late in the holiday, but it isn’t over yet. So:
Women and Wonder: A Family Hanukkah Website. It has great stories from Jewish sources and features terrific music, too.
Lights: The Miracle of Hanukkah, an outstanding short animated film now available on DVD. (Full disclosure: I know the creator of “Lights.” But I saw the film, and fell in love with it, long before I met her. When I finally did meet her, it was in a context that had nothing to do with the film, and I didn’t find out that she had made it until some time afterwards.)
“I do. That’s who.”
Check out the current edition of the Carnival of the Cats, up soon at Bad Kitty Cats.
It’s one I hadn’t exactly planned on, but...
Good thing I have my computer glasses. The world is in a bit of a soft focus right now, but it’ll do until tomorrow morning.
And they’re bifocals, too.
Rats.
UPDATE: Got an eye exam, the old frames soldered and the new frames and lenses should be ready in a few days. But by the time all that was over, I was feeling so dizzy and ill that I couldn’t go in to work. I guess the computer glasses didn’t work so well as spares after all. Oh, well.
Now that Blogger has gotten its act together once again, here are the photographs from the last several nights of Hanukka, including this one.
Second night:
Third night:
Fourth night (taken in daylight, before Shabbat):
Fifth night:
I never thought I’d see this happen.
Wow.
But of course this isn’t just about tooting my own horn. Yesterday was Ray’s yahrzeit. It’s been two years since he died.
If there’s any accomplishment here, it’s mostly Ray’s. I had the easy part; all I had to do was sing and skedaddle. Ray was the one who put the whole thing together, note by note, breath by breath and track by track, working extremely hard for hours, days and weeks, putting his whole heart and soul into it.
And it’s not only that, of course. Ray was my friend.
I will always be grateful to him. And I will always miss him.
Go read this... but first, make sure you have some tissues handy.
Shabbat shalom.
Need a sunbeam? The Lady in Red will hunt one up for you.
Looks like she has spotted her quarry:
The quarry:
Ah! It moved. Look out, Lady!
Patience, patience...
Gotcha!
Here she gets one on video:
Isn’t Lady a great sunbeam hunter? I think so.
The Friday Ark. The Carnival of the Cats.
My dear friend Joanna started a forum about organic foods and environmental issues just a few short weeks ago, and already she’s made it into Israel21c:
Other Israelis are also helping to make a difference in the way their fellow citizens are informed about protecting their surroundings. American immigrant Joanna Katzen recently established a website forum for English-speaking Israelis concerned about the environment, interested in organic foods and similar issues. (A parallel site for Hebrew-speakers has been around for a while.)
“The response has been amazing,” she told ISRAEL21c. “Over 100 people joined within less than 48 hours. The forum is apolitical. I hope the exchange of ideas, and thoughts will promote organic farming, responsible consumerism, spirituality and holistic thought. If we can bring about a change in the way people treat the earth; if we can expose more people to this lifestyle, who knows how this ripple effect can affect our lives, hopefully even the prospect of peace in the Middle East.”
The article also mentions Linshom (“to breathe”), a Hebrew-speaking website dedicated to making sure that Israel’s no-smoking laws are enforced.
In other good news—cat-related, no less!—a local cat-welfare organization is about to begin a spaying and neutering program in one of Jerusalem’s downtown neighborhoods.
Slowly but surely, we’re making progress.
Lady in Red, beware! The Skritch Monster is coming to get you!
She’ll skritch the top of your head...
... rub your ears...
... skritch your chin...
... rub your fuzzy tummy...
... watch you knead the air...
... and listen to you purr.
Yes, the Skritch Monster is coming for you, Lady in Red. Be relaxed. Be very relaxed.
The Friday Ark. The Carnival of the Cats.
Take a sunny day, add a few flower bushes, and what do you get? Camera bait!
Here are some more bee pics. Here’s one on an elecampane bush. If you look closely (or enlarge the photo by clicking on it), you can see the pollen baskets at the bee’s knees.
A bee on a lavender stalk. Note the knees.
Back to the elecampane bush: the face of a bee.
I think this may be my best bee shot to date:
The Friday Ark has sailed! On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats will be at CatSynth.
While I waited for the bus to work this morning, I noticed an elecampane bush in flower. The bees were busy working the blossoms, and I decided to continue my quest for the perfect bee shot. A bee in the air:
On an elecampane blossom:
Then I noticed this critter. It looks like a bee, but it isn’t. Notice the stripey eyes; bees have solid black eyes. Also, it didn’t take off or fly like a bee. (Hmmm... does that make it a wannabe bee?)
Farther down in the bush, well camouflaged, was a grasshopper. I only noticed it because it jumped near me.
(Click all images to enlarge.)
(Now that I think of it, this makes a good Hallowe’en post, because I’m bug-phobic. Yup, bugs scare me. The bigger the bug, the louder the scream. But please don’t get any ideas. If you want to hear me scream, just ask, and leave the critters outside where they belong. OK? Thanks. Whew.)
When I passed the restaurant again this morning as I left work, I saw one of the workers there come out with two cans of cat food and an aluminum pan. He got to work straightaway as four members of the local colony crowded round:
Kitty symmetry again: two silvers, two grays, and they’re even on the same sides!
A view from the rear. One of the grays is looking at me.
Now one of the silvers checks me out:
One of the grays finishes eating and starts washing up:
I couldn’t resist adding these last two photos. Here, three of the cats look up as passersby make a bit of noise:
Here, the cat who didn’t look up before is looking up now.
When I had to go to Tel Aviv for a narration job last week, I decided to head in a few hours early and spend some time at the top of the circular Azrieli Tower (there are also a triangle and a square), looking down on Greater Tel Aviv from the observatory. Here are some pictures I took while I was there.
(Click on any photograph to see a larger version.)
Looking out to sea:
Another angle:
The Ayalon Freeway:
Looking out toward Ramat Gan and the Diamond Exchange:
The Tel Aviv North train station is at the center of this photo:
A guide you can hold in the palm of your hand. This little gizmo plays recordings that tell you exactly what you’re looking at, plus a good deal of background material:
Finally, the elevator showing the number 49 just before it began its descent. If you look carefully, you can see the photographer from at least two angles—and no, I didn’t plan it that way!
Oh, yes, the voice-over job went just fine.
