Are you drinking coffee?

Down to the beach for some coffee.

Surfing People

I grew tired of the wound picture.  

Tr:  Ata shote cafe?

I started getting annoyed that everyone's going to be on spring break this coming week.  Husbandman pointed out that I haven't worked all year, but it's the principle of the thing, I told him.

Later I remembered that in actual fact I am only happy about all my pals getting a restful spring break and I lightened up.  Plus I remembered that we're going to have a Game of Thrones marathon tonight and finish off the last 4 episodes of Season 3.  SCORE!  It's all good.

If you're on spring break, please keep us posted about your fun.  If you're like me and you're not on spring break, let's pretend we are on spring break and amp up the fun this week. It's only fair.

Can we walk there?

I created this today. 

Tr:  Efshar lalekhet lesham ba'regel?

It's Thursday Creativity Share.  So this is what we have going on.

First off, Husbandman and I watched a movie this week called Le Weekend.  SPOILER ALERT.  At the end of the movie, 3 characters dance a hip dance in a bar.  Come to find out, they're copying this cool cat dance from a french movie called The Band of Outsiders. Today I watched film clips of this classic French dance and tried to learn how to do it.  Didn't have much success, but maybe you will do better.  It's a good dance for people of all ages. If you're feeling hip and cool, give it a try.

Twitter Fiction Festival is going on right now.   I tweeted one fictional story, a modern twist on a famous nursery rhyme.

This modern take on a Mother Goose classic has a certain amount of pathos, wouldn't you say? If you check out hashtagtwitterfiction through the 16th you'll read some more examples of fine short fiction. If for some weird reason you're not on twitter yet, remedy that situation asap, I beg of you.

That's it this week. We've got a sketch, a dance and a story. Well done!

Where can I buy tickets?

Tr:  Eifo efshar liknot kartisim?

I'm offering this beautiful photograph of a carving on a broken, ancient amazing ruin as a token of my esteem to the New York Times.  This week I read 2 incredible articles that I can't stop thinking about because they're phenomenal.

The first is Boys In the Bunkhouse, about some developmentally disabled men who were sent to Iowa to work in a turkey murdering plant. They were paid less money than their peers for the same jobs and were treated with incredible neglect and cruelty for decades before they were finally freed and helped to have new lives.

The second is Reaching My Autistic Son Through Disney, about a family whose son Owen's obsession with all things Disney helped his family develop a kind of therapy that helped Owen communicate, learn and enjoy friendships and independence.

These 2 articles are such an amazing contrast in almost every way. The Bunkhouse story is as hideous and horrifying as the Disney story is inspiring and exciting.  One story tells us what NOT to do when someone needs extra help to learn and grow. The other story, tells us all that we SHOULD and COULD do in the same circumstances.

I loved both these articles.  I also love the videos that go along with the stories.  Check them out if you feel like it.

Where do you live?

Tr:  Eifo ata gar?

Matisse, slightly altered by yours truly, as in me.

I didn't watch The Bachelor this season. Come to find out, last night was the finale. When I woke up today, I saw the finale mentioned on twitter.  Then I made a cup of tea and started reading recaps.  I read about that stupid show for almost 2 hours.  Compulsively. I guess you can take The Bachelor viewer out of the country, but you can't take The Bachelor out of The Bachelor Viewer? The maxim doesn't really work in this instance, but suffice it to say my addiction to this idiotic show can not and will not be denied.  I'm fairly disappointed in Host Country for not curing me of my disease.

He's in the kitchen.

Tr:  Hu ba mitbakh.

Remember a few posts ago when I discovered the benefits of writing your google inquiries in the form of your desired truths.  You probably don't remember.  I googled "pistachios are good for you" and got some great confirmation that my love of pistachios should be indulged and fostered.  So that was great.

Well come to find out, today I googled, "It's good to meddle and interfere in the lives of your adult children" and I came up empty handed.  Zip. Not one web site confirming this desired truth. It's hard to believe that there could be absolutely zero benefits to meddling and interfering.  None at all? That doesn't make sense to me so I'm going to keep doing it.  Even though there's no scientific evidence that interfering in your adult children's lives is a good thing, it's ridiculously hard to stop and also I want my kids to know that I care about them.

Ruins of Megiddo, aka ARMAGEDDON!

I need to straighten up the place.

Tr:  Ani tsrikha lesader et ha'makom

We went to many places on our sof shavua (weekend) and Capernaum is indeed one of them.
Jesus grew up in Nazareth, but when he was grown, he moved out of the house over to Capernaum.  He lived with some of his pals, Peter and Simon.

Incredible ruins in Capernaum.
I'm trying to start a program where anyone who lives in Israel for one year gets to bring home a ruin of their choice.  

Husbandman kicking it old school in Capernaum.

Husbandman pointed to this feline and said, "There's the ever famous cat of Capernaum."  I was lucky to get this photo.

When we get home from various outings, there is often a plate of cakes of some kind waiting for us in our kitchen.  I'm hoping someone can keep this going for us when we return home this summer.  It's a great tradition. Toda Raba, Edna!

Do you have a pencil?

Tr:  Yesh lekha iparon?

Yes, you're right, it's time for Thursday Creativity Share! To honor the day, I used Sketchbook Express to make this awesome sketch of Husbandman and some flowers.

I'm obsessed with David Hockney and his iPad art.  You can check out a little one minute video with some great examples of his iPad art here.  One minute.  I think you can spare the time.

I made a great little vine movie the other night of a bug in our bathroom.  I posted it on twitter, so I hope you were all able to see it.  I hope everyone will make a vine this week because I love looking at Vines.  Here are some great ones from last year.  Viners are so creative with such a teeny bit of time.

Last but not least, we are on our way out to see the latest movie by one of the world's all time most creative directors, Wes Anderson.  It's going to be phenomenal!

So another Thursday Creativity Share is a wrap.  Hooray!

I'm a hard worker.

Tr:  Ani kharutzah (NOT!)

Did you know that work avoidance and procrastination are actually good for you?   Both may increase the creativity and quality of the work you eventually get done.  On the flip side, both can contribute to anxiety and self loathing, so you don't want to overdo it.

We've been away for 7 months now.  Though I enjoy writing, there are days, many days, when the writing thing doesn't work out to my liking. Like today.  And yesterday. My lack of productivity is really cheesing me off right now, and I am very sad to report that I haven't been the most pleasant companion to Husbandman this evening.  Husbandman's been helping me with my writing woes for over 30 years now so he's very supportive and accepting of my crankosity. Thanks, Husbandman!

My good news is that before I know it I'll be surrounded by some fairly fascinating peeps, known as Fab Fivers.  I'll be teaching fifth graders next year, half time.  I'm extremely excited and can't wait to see their little fiver faces.

I study Hebrew with a book.

Tr:  Ani lomedet Ivrit im sefer.

I wrote a one sentence story today.  Here it is:

After his ten hour drive, Asher was nothing short of giddy as he entered the museum in search of the watch fob exhibit.

I'm a teacher.

Tr:  Ani mora.

Huddle up peeps, it's time for the Monday Writing Report (MWR).  One thing to realize is that I have a slow long arduous (sometimes boring) writing process that involves several outlines on thinking maps, and then a more detailed outline with yellow grid paper written with a special mechanical pencil, and then typing up a more formal outline, and then revising that outline a bunch of times.  Where am I right now?  I just finished the first word document outline for this version of the proposal.  I've moved from yellow grid paper to keyboarding land.

I like Neil Gaiman's advice to "finish stuff."  He says writers learn by writing every day and by finishing stuff.  I'm glad to report that a 15 page outline is now an honest to gosh computer file. Tomorrow morning I'll start revising it and will probably revise 2 or 3 more times before sending it off to the publishing house for round 2 of editor feedback.  No light at the end of the tunnel yet with this new proposal, but the train is moving slowly along the track.  Right now it's wine time.

I'm ready. Are you?

Tr:  Ani mukhana.  Ve ata?

I love this door.

Figured out a valuable tech tip this very day, which I will now pass on to others. Here's how my new learning went down.

Picture this.  There I was, happily snacking on some pistachios. Around 3:30 in the afternoon. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I started wondering if pistachios constituted a healthy snack.  Of course I instantly turned to cyberspace inquiry. First I googled, "Are pistachios good for you?" I got a mixed bag of information, some of it quite negative, regarding pistachios. Then I wised up and googled "Pistachios are good for you."  Voila.  I found out that eating pistachios this afternoon is probably one of the best things I could do for myself.  From now on be like me and google your desired truth. Avoid internet questioning that can potentially open your day to disappointment.