"Coming and Going..." My Most Successful 52Frames Photo So Far!

I'm going to be perfectly honest, IMHO, some of my other photos are just as nice, and I don't understand why this one got so many great comments and likes. It's rare for any of my photos to break out of the teens in comments and likes, so I was rather surprised to see this one I took "walking home" in the airport taking off so nicely.

Batya Medad
"Coming and Going..."Greeting from Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport! Yes, I'm home, thank Gd. As you can see, the airport is designed so that passengers coming and going can view each other easily. I love photographing the airport; it is so beautifully designed.
Camera: Canon Canon IXUS 145
--------------
A new photo challenge in your inbox, each week. Join this amazing global community. Start here:http://bit.ly/52f-fbstart — with Batya Spiegelman Medad.

During the week I could take photos for the "" theme, I was in Arizona and then flew home to Shiloh, Israel. And I took lots of pictures with the theme in mind. It was hard to choose. I like these airport photos:

And I also thought it would be nice to shoot the view from the plane, but it looked a bit boring, especially since I was on night flights and had very little opportunity to look through a window.

There were also some amazing photos I took in Scottsdale, Arizona walking to the memory center where my father lives.

When I asked other framers for advice I just included the Arizona shots with the one of the Israeli airport. Advice was mixed. Considering the praises I received, I guess I chose well.

What do you think?

PS until now, my most successful/popular photo was the self-portrait from  2015.

It's not a better photo. The popularity was more because people were interested in how much I've changed in the almost half century since my high school graduation.

Lunch of Sorts

On my last full day in Arizona, lots of walking and shopping and visiting my father. My lunch was a small, if you can call 12 oz small, cup of Americano coffee in Target and lots of unroasted, unsalted almonds.

Goodbye New York for Now

 

I am at the next stage of my visit to the states, Arizona.  Of course I didn't get done all I had wanted to do nor saw all the people I had wanted to see in New York. But we were there for a gorgeous family wedding, which was the reason the clan flew from Israel.

I arranged Shabbat at a Scottsdale synagogue. Yes, total strangers, but the Jewish heart and hospitality. More of the travel saga to continue Gd willing.

Shabbat Shalom to all

Kosher in Phoenix, Actually Scottsdale, AZ

Just before Purim, meaning a few weeks ago, I went to Arizona to visit my father, sister and family. Since I was worse than jet-lagged after spending a night in Newark Airport about 36 hours earlier, I needed a good meal. We went off to Mozart, the lovely kosher dairy restaurant I'd been to in the past, but I noticed right next to it a new kosher restaurant, PAPRIKA, (480) 998-2559 7116 E Mercer Lane.

As regular readers here probably know, I've discovered that it's possible to get a better, more satisfying meat meal for less money than a dairy one would cost. That's especially if you want to cut down on carbohydrates. So, my sister and I decided to give Paprika a try.

It's next to Mozart for the simple reason that they both have the same owners, new owners from what we were told and I now have read on the internet. Actually, the WC-Restrooms for both are the ones in Mozart.

I can't remember exactly which  two types of meat I had ordered. I think one was beef and the other chicken, but I do remember that they both tasted very good. The meat was freshly cooked to order, and the salad was OK for an American one. 

The food is an American version of a simple Israeli meat place except for the soup, which if my memory is correct, was a borscht-beet soup. That tasted very nouveau, more the style Mozart is known for.

We were very pleased with our meal, recommend the restaurant and wish the owners well.

Yes, All Alive and Well, Thank G-d

I know the blog has been silent I have been traveling and haven't had computer access. I tried at one point to blog from my phone.

I had quite an adventure trying to get to Phoenix, AZ to see my father and sister and her family. I flew into Newark alright, but then my connecting flight was cancelled due to snow. I ended up in the airport overnight and caught the plane to Los Angeles in the morning. From there a plane to Phoenix. So my visit was shorter than planned.

Thank G-d the trip to NY was uneventful.

I do have a lot to write about , but it's hard on this computer and it is just before Purim...

May you all have a happy, healthy and joyous Purim.

Filling in The Details of My Upcoming Trip

I'll be flying to the states again. It has been a year plus a drop since my last visit. I still have a father there in Arizona, and we must do my mother's unveiling in New York.

last year's visit

Working out timing and logistics with my sister and all of the holidays and our commitments gets complicated. At least I'm no longer teaching. There was a year when our parents were still in New York, and between both of our vacation schedules we ended up with a barely twelve 12 hour overlap, and that was because she picked me up at the airport, or it would have had been even shorter!

Now our father is in AZ near her, but our mother is buried on Long Island with her old buddies from the Oakland Jewish Center. Way back when in the 1950's and very early 1960's she ran its Sisterhood and Hebrew School PTA. Many of those in OJC also were neighbors in Bell Park Gardens, where my mother was also very active and helped run the day camp and other projects. I like the idea that she's back in the "old neighborhood." When my father is ready, he'll join them there.

So this year due to the timing of the visit, I'm going to be in New York for Purim and two Shabbatot. I'm even going to do some public speaking at the Jericho-Syosset Chabbad, details click. I'm also planning on seeing a friend I haven't seen for close to half a century. We went to dancing school together when we were pre-schoolers and were neighbors not only in BPG but in Great Neck, too. I'll be based with family and another Great Neck friend in New York after the AZ leg of the visit. And of course I'll be rushing back to Israel to vote in the elections and then jump into the pre-Passover madness at work and home.

Chodesh Tov and Shabbat Shalom!

Coffee in Arizona

I wouldn't quite call myself a coffee addict, but it is medicinal for me.  Coffee is an important part of my morning routine.  It and the water I drink "keep my system moving."  I trust that most of you will get the gist...

Coffee is also one of my anti-jetlag tools/medicines.  Well-timed coffee can keep me moving until it's late enough to go to sleep when I'm very, very tired, and my body thinks it's in a different time zone. First of all, I believe in jumping right into the local time zone.  Resting only makes things worse.  I don't nap.  I may unintentionally conk out for a few minutes or seconds, but I don't lay down and get comfortable for a nice "deep nap."  I save up my exhaustion for nighttime. I go to bed by midnight and generally get a good six hours of sleep, which puts me back on schedule.  Sometimes I cheat and take half a sleeping pill to help.

During my recent trip to the states I spent over 24 hours door to door traveling from leaving my home in Shiloh, Israel and finally arriving in the motel I stayed at in Tempe, Arizona.

They had a breakfast but the coffee was nothing special and a bit dicey in the kashrut department, since it wasn't directly from a coffee machine you could see.  It was in one of those big thermoses. So I bought myself coffee every morning from some place down the road.

And I also, at the Tempe Marketplace, a big spread out mall/shopping center I got some great coffee in a branch of a coffee place they have even in Israel, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

That way I felt more at home.

Mozart Kosher Dairy Restaurant, AZ, Revisited Twice

A few years ago, when an internet search for kosher restaurants in the Phoenix, AZ, area helped me discover Mozart Café, I called them on the phone to ask if they were shomer Shabbat, Sabbath observant, meaning truly kosher. They said "of course" and sounded rather amused. This recent Arizona visit had me there twice, and I wasn't the only Israeli customer. There was a very famous Israeli rabbi there both times. So, no doubt that Mozart is the kosher dairy restaurant in the area.

I had the Salad Nicoise, (hold the potatoes, please) which is a fancy name for tuna salad.

My cousin had one of the wraps.  We both loved the food. The salad and its house dressing were delicious, though probably too sweet for our needs, but we didn't complain.  We ate it up. Finishing food is rather genetic by us.  In Miami I ate out with two cousins, and nothing was left on any of the plates.

Later in the visit I returned with a friend and ordered their Greek Salad.  It came with a plain unsweetened salad, nothing like the sweet one I had the previous visit.

I don't remember what she ordered. But for whatever reason, we decided to have dessert, but not a sweet one.  We ordered Zucchini fritters or pancakes.  I don't remember what it was called, but they were good.

I wholeheartedly recommend the restaurant.  Everything was delicious, and it's a very pleasant place to be in.

Kosher & Vegetarian
We are a Certified Kosher Dairy (Cholov Yisroel; Hebrew: חלב ישראל‎) restaurant. Which in return means we do not serve any meat. Almost our entire menu is Vegetarian friendly with an exception to some dishes that have seafood (not considered a meat in Jewish law). 7116 East Mercer LaneScottsdale, AZ 85254(480) 609-3879

Reflecting on The Visit

This has been a wonderful visit with family, just family, besides on Shabbatot.  It has given me much peace.

I'll write more when I'm home, G-d willing.

Planning Another Trip

With my father still alive in Arizona, I'll be going there again in a few weeks.  There were years I didn't travel abroad at all.  But since my parents became too old to travel to Israel I started going there once, now twice a year. My mother passed away early summer, so now it's just my very elderly father who lives near my sister.

This year I'll combine the AZ trip with visiting cousins in Miami.  I've never been to Miami, FL before.  I've always wanted to go, ever since my mother's oldest and younger sisters moved there with their families when I was little. One cousin and his family are still in Florida, and they have always been telling me that I'm invited.  They were in Israel a few years ago, and we had a wonderful time together.  This year I'm taking them up on their offer.

I have my Arizona Shabbat plans set with the people I stayed with last January, and I still have to set up the Miami, Florida end. That's what happens when you're the only strictly Torah observant Shomer Shabbat person in a large Jewish family.  But I'm not worried. G-d willing, it will all work out.  (Invitations appreciated.)

And as for the blog carnivals I coordinate, we have a debut hostess lined up for the Adar Alef Kosher Cooking Carnival,  Food Discovery, and I'm looking for a few volunteers for Havel Havelim.  If you'd like to host, please let me know, thanks.