I Miss The Surprise Snows

Nowadays with the super-scientific, pretty accurate 10-day (and more) weather predictions, all the magic has disappeared from the snows which used to surprise us with their pristine beauty.

For me, surprise when suddenly it was snowing was one of the greatest things about the snow. It magnified its beauty.

from last year's snow of Dec. 2013

from last year's snow of Dec. 2013

Now, with all the warnings and predictions, people are so stressed out. A few weeks ago, the forecasters had claimed that last Shabbat (weekend) would be stormy and snowy, but it wasn't. There was a bit of rain, plenty of sun, but that was it.

And now the news has been full of snow warnings for the Jerusalem area. This has been going on for days. I work in a clothing store, as you know, Yafiz of the Rami Levy big-business, and heavy gloves are sold before they hit the shelves. People are buying "gotkes," that's the Yiddish for long underwear. You don't have to be an Ashkenaz (ethnic European) Jew to use the term. It's considered Hebrew, and I've even heard Arabs use it. Of course, we've sold lots of them. The same goes for heavy winter coats, sweaters and more. We have lots of fuzzy pajamas for women and girls, just perfect if you want to stay cozy and warm.

Too bad I don't have a large personal stock of hot water bottles to sell. Rami Levy ran out them days ago. People keep asking me if we have any to sell, so I send them to the nearby pharmacy in Sha'ar Binyamin.

I wonder how much snow will stick here in Shiloh. According to the forecasts, it'll only be "freezing" weather on Friday night, and not much precipitation is predicted for then.

Tuesday January 6						Wednesday January 7								Thursday January 8								Friday January 9								Saturday January 10								Sunday January 11								Mon. J. 12
Local time	08		14		20		02		08		14		20		02		08		14		20		02		08		14		20		02		08		14		20		02		08		14		20		02
Cloudiness,  %
Precipitation,  mm
Temperature,  °C	+10		+11		+8		+7		+8		+5		+6		+6		+8		+7		+6		+7		+7		+3		+3		+4		+5		+4		+6		+6		+7		+7		+6		+5
Feels like,  °C	+8				+4		+3		+4		+1		+3		+2		+5		+4		+3		+4		+4		-1		0		+1		+3		0		+3		+4				+6				+3
Pressure,  mm	686		685		687		687		686		686		688		690		692		692		693		692		690		688		691		691		691		689		689		687		688		691		694		696
Humidity,  %	65		66		44		56		61		84		75		70		68		71		79		77		81		93		70		66		72		94		85		84		85		77		78		75
Wind,  m/s	4		10		9		9		10		6		5		7		5		5		4		5		4		4		3		4		2		5		4		3		1		2		1		2
	SW		SW		SW		SW		SW		W		W		W		W		W		W		W		W		NW		NW		W		W		SW		SW		W		NW		NW		N		W
Sun rise / set	06:40		16:49						06:40		16:50						06:40		16:50						06:40		16:51						06:40		16:52						06:40		16:53				06:40
Moon rise / set	18:13		07:10						19:06		07:50						19:59		08:26						20:52		09:01						21:44		09:34						22:36		10:06				23:29
phase

But that hasn't stopped people from stocking up and panicking.

MODERN Israel Museum Restaurant

I've eaten at the dairy restaurant in the Israel Museum many times; I always enjoy my meals there. But the other night after the tour I took and an unplanned meeting with an old friend, my dinner partner and I decided on something else. A meat meal seemed just right, so we tried MODERN. Actually, she had been there many times before, but I never had.

MODERN is large; reservations are recommended; call 02-6480862. כשרות רבנות ירושלים Kosher, Jerusalem Rabbinut. There was lovely background music at just the right volume. I could have stayed there all night listening, even dancing... but nobody was dancing there. We were given a nice table by the far wall, just the place I like to be.

There was plenty to choose from the menu. Even though someone had recommended their salmon, it seemed wasteful to get salmon from a meat restaurant. My companion chose the Jerusalem Artichoke and Chestnuts Sofrito, which is served in a Copper pan with beef, Jerusalem artichoke, root vegetables, chestnuts and sweet potato fries.

I had Grilled Chicken Breasts with a quinoa-beet salad and a vegetable that looked and tasted like a cross between some sort of celery and fennel.

We sampled each other's choices and agreed that we had both chosen well. Everything was totally delicious!!

I was so proud of myself for ordering such a low carbohydrate meal to counteract all the overeating I've done of late, but the restaurant decided to give us a treat. Yes, you guessed it, dessert on the house.

How could I resist? Yes, it was all delicious.

Starting 2015 52Frames With a Self-Portrait and the Most "Likes" Ever

I've been part of the weekly photography group 52Frames for over a year now, without (bli eyin haraa-not to tempt the "evil eye") missing a week. A lot of the other members have very impressive photo equipment. All I have is a very simple, relatively inexpensive Canon IXUS 145 and my nothing to brag about smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy 2. For me "photo editing" is done on the simple free computer program,  IrfanView. I rarely do more than cropping the photo a bit. I have played with the colors a couple of times.

Generally, I think I'm lucky to have my "likes" reach double digits, but this week's self-portrait somehow got people excited. We were asked to have it tell some sort of story, too. So I held my high school yearbook photo. Here it is, and afterwards I'll show some of the rejects and how I produced that shot:

Self to Self PortraitThose were the days...I hope I haven't changed all that much, but as you can see, much has changed in the almost, but not yet, half a century since I posed for my high school yearbook picture.I used the camera's timer, Canon IXUS 145, turned off the flash.

Pre-cropping:

The "studio"

At first I posed also with a photo of my great-grandmother, but with the exception of this one, which has one upside down, the flash-actually the livingroom light kept glaring on the glass.

The "rejects"

Adventures in Havel HavelimLand, the "VV HH"

Yes, it's time for another wonderful adventure in Havel Havelim Land by Tzivia, which she named,

Haveil Havalim – the Vayechi Vantage.

Havel Havelim is the veteran, long-running, weekly international Jewish blog carnival, which floats from blog to blog.  It was established by Soccer Dad, who no longer blogs, but of late, only female bloggers have been hosting.  So, I challenge the male bloggers to prove you still have in you... nu... Any volunteers? Please let us know, either by emailing me, "HH Host" as subject, or taking up the challenge on our facebook page. This doesn't mean that women are to stop hosting, but I find it strange that a generation of men who aren't afraid to change a dirty diaper have given up this most important public social media task.

Sorry, but I had to get that off of my chest.

Just to let you know, Tzivia blogs on other blogs and has written quite a few books. Actually, her husband Akiva has written a book, too. It's about their aliyah to Israel. I'm almost finished reading it. Somehow it pushed away the other books I've been reading for review. Tzivia, thank you for finding the time to host this Havel Havelim. We all appreciate it!

OK, everyone, please be sure to share this edition of Havel Havelim, read, comment and share some of the posts. There are quite a few, and they are all pretty different. "Jewish blogging" is a very general term and can mean almost anything written by Jewish bloggers if the post touches on aspects of Judaism, Jewish Life, Israel, kosher food, Jewish Holidays etc.

We'll be announcing the next host on our facebook page.

Shavua Tov, have a wonderful blessed week.

Not Just Folding Laundry

As you must know by now, I work in a clothing store. It's a job like running a home, plus, and I'm just a lowly "saleswoman." Yafiz is a medium size store. we need a few people working all shifts. I once worked in a big department store in New York, OK, just a "small" A & S which was on Northern Blvd. and Community Drive/East Shore Road, Long Island, NY. It's not there any more. But that was a much larger store. Each department had has many workers as we have in our entire store. I worked in Housewares. My boss would have me set up the display shelves. He'd tell me to give them my "special touch."

Since then, besides all the other sorts of jobs I've done, I worked in a hat store, children's clothing store, bagel place and a fruit and vegetable store.

At Yafiz, I've become the unofficial "window-dresser," even though there aren't any windows to "dress." I dress the manikins and when I open stock, I try to pay attention to colors.

I can do a better job at that than folding the clothes. Folding is not my specialty. Luckily there are lots of workers who do it better.

Wonderful Discovery

The other day when I was at the Israel Museum, I made a wonderful discovery. Someone I had worked with almost twenty years ago works there, manning care of the "cloakroom." I discovered it by chance, while I was rushing to get to a museum tour that had just started.

The museum forbids people to wander around with large bags, and being that it's winter I also wanted to leave my coat. First I tried to use the lockers near the entrance, but those locks they have always give me trouble. And since it was already 5:03, I ran to the cloakroom, which is near where the tour was to start. I quickly put my stuff down, ready to dash to the tour as soon as I could, when I heard a familiar: "Hi!." I took a glance and just couldn't believe my eyes.

I told him I'd be back to talk after the tour. He gave me my plastic numbers/receipts, And I ran as quickly to the tour as I could. I found it easily. Afterwards my friend and I caught up until my dinner date was ready.

Touring The Israel Museum

I've been visiting the Israel Museum for forty-five 45 years, ever since I came to Israel as a student the summer of 1969. Before all the expansions, I knew it very, very well, but until this week I don't remember ever doing/attending one of their tours. They offer all sorts of "gallery tours;" check the museum site.

The theme of this one was the various art medium featured in the museum. We saw video, paintings, photography, micro-mosaics, textile and more. Here are some photos I took.

There is so much to see in the Israel Museum, you now need either a very long day or more than one visit to see it all.