Remember When Cameras Had Film? Years ago I took a darkroom photography course at Lehman College in the Bronx. Every few days we would get an assignment to shoot an entire roll of black and white film within some artsy framework. Film then came in rolls of 12, 24 and 36 frames and for class …
Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary My good friend Stephanie Coggins had been telling me about the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary at the corner of Isham Street and Seaman Avenue. The Church of the Good Shepherd in the Inwood section of Manhattan donated its vacant corner for this project. Here, Keith de Cesare has been planting a garden filled …
Unexpected Benefits of Reading Ivrit Magazine I have previously mentioned my monthly subscription to Ivrit Magazine, published by the Jerusalem Post. The initial purpose for subscribing was to improve my spoken Hebrew by increasing my vocabulary necessary for day-to-day conversations. While I had an excellent education in Jewish Day Schools, I was more conversant with …
Beautiful Israeli Spring Flower One of Israel’s most iconic wildflowers is the cyclamen or rakefet in Hebrew. It fills the landscape from the Golan Heights, the Galilee, Judea and Samaria south all the way to the northern Negev. Its bloom time is January through March and it grows with a distinctive flower in white, violet …
Meeting our Main Character Scritch! Scrabble! Scratch! It was a beautiful summer day and I was quietly reading indoors in a room filled with golden sunshine. Blessed with good hearing and knowing that if I am hearing something odd, I may be in for a surprise. I looked around and walking across a window shade …
We all have heard about making lemonade when handed lemons by life. Sometimes an unusual gardening opportunity appears during our weird weather.
Our world is generally divided into land, air and water. While we see and are aware of birds that utilize the air, we are generally unaware of those creatures beneath the surface of the water. We miss a lot!
Chanukah Symbol Chanukah is the story of religious freedom. It is demonstrated through the miracle of oil which burned for eight days despite the fact that the quantity of oil available should have been enough for a single day only. Perhaps it is time that we give some thought to the oil itself that was …
This summer I had a large clump of an unknown plant in one of my garden’s sunnier locations. I was reluctant to tamper with it in case it was actually something wonderful. All summer it kept growing until it was about three feet tall. Finally, around September it budded, then flower and it seemed that …
Summer Sighting We have had a bird feeder for many years now in consonance with about 50 million other Americans. I can sit by my kitchen window and see who shows up as I drink my morning coffee. Whimsical Bird Feeder Robin eating Magnolia Seeds – Courtesy of Sura Jeselsohn Before the installation of the …