Echinacea (cone flowers) with Rudbeckia (yellow spots) behind
My block is full of beautiful summer flowers: these echinacea are in the front of my neighbor’s house (two doors down), and the yellow “splotches” you see in the photo are the many rudbeckia (black-eyed susans) blooming in front of my home. I had echinacea growing in my backyard, but they were chewed up, either by deer or by our resident ground hog. Yesterday morning I yelled “get out of here” at the ground hog. I just bought a solar mole chaser. We might buy a love trap. My neighbor down the block caught 11 last year. What can I say, the ground hogs love living in Highland Park.
For more Summer Stock Sunday posts, visit Robin at Around the Island.
Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.
We went down to the Jersey Shore on Sunday, to visit my in-laws. I took photos of sunset while my kids and their cousins played in front of the house.
I took photos of some kids down the block who were staring at me taking photos of the sky. I then took a photo of the kids, sitting on their bikes, looking at me. But I don’t want to post kids I don’t even know. Too bad, it’s a cute picture.
Because I take photos of the sky, my own children have become more aware of the sky and the changes in the sky. I think my nieces were excited to watch me take photos of the sky. But the youngest really wanted pictures of herself; she had climbed high up in a tree.
Lots of people enjoy the Jersey Shore; my in-laws live a few minutes drive from Bradley Beach, New Jersey. Seeing small planes in the sky there isn’t unusual.
My daughter’s first grade teacher retired after 24 years of working at my kids’ school. To show appreciation for her, two of the mothers organized a surprise party last week at lunch time. Many of the parents chipped in toward the party, and some of us showed up for the lunch, but I was so happy that these two parents did so much organizing. One of the presents was a scrapbook with each page devoted to one child in her class. She spent ten minutes (or more) with the children looking over the scrapbook.
Only two other teachers have been at the school longer than she has. My daughter, when asked her favorite teacher from first grade, named all her teachers, including the assistants. She enjoyed them all. Not bad for a child who struggled with school and is finally learning to read.
For more photos with a little or a lot of red, visit:
Welcome to JPIX, the blog carnival of Jewish photo bloggers from around the world.
Batya:
Robin:
Ilana-Davita, G6, and Rahel:
Maya and Mike in Midwood:
Devo aka Pesky Settler and Proud Mommy:
Occidental Israeli, TRS and Mottel
Soccer Dad and Mrs. S.:
CosmicX:
Mother in Israel, Rafi and Imabima:
Baila and Jew Wishes:
Jewish Side and Mimi:
Leora:
If you see a photo you like, please click on it to visit the blog from which it came. You may find other photos you like as well, and perhaps an explanation of the photo. In particular it is always nice to leave a complimentary comment on the blog of the photographer about the photo. You can also leave the photo blogger questions about the photo on his or her blog.
Unless someone volunteers to host JPIX in the next few months, the next addition of JPIX will be in December. Batya has volunteered! See below.
I played with this photo in Photoshop so it is more about the motions of the soccer game than the individual faces. I was working toward achieving a painterly look. The soccer game was in Johnson Park off River Road in Piscataway next to Highland Park.
In this version I pixelated the photo and then used the history eraser tool to bring the figures back to a clearer image.
For more Summer Stock Sunday posts, please visit Robin’s Around the Island.
JPIX will appear on this blog on Sunday morning, so please come back and visit.
Upcoming in Highland Park: a clothing drive for Yad Leah in Israel from 9:30 AM until 12:30 PM. at Congregation Ohav Emeth
(someone remind me on Sunday to bring in some clothes for them)
Elsewhere
Gilad Shalit was three years in captivity on Thursday:
A Soldier’s Mother: A Son of Israel (a huge applause for her in all her hard, hard work in getting Gilad to be #3 in Trending topics in Twitter – I was honored to participate – it’s about letting the world know)
Iran: Its About the Women (hat tip: Ilana-Davita)
When we heard Dr. Kedar speak in Highland Park a few months ago, he had a similar message in general about Islam — they don’t want women to have freedom.
Stained Glass Window at Congregation Etz Ahaim, Highland Park, New Jersey
I photographed this one stained glass window at Congregation Etz Ahaim where we are members last Sunday. It was dark in the room, but I managed to capture this one panel of many that line the top of the sanctuary. This stained glass panel depicts the fourth day of creation, Yom Daled in Hebrew.
Genesis 1:16 –
And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.
This portion of the Torah is the one my son will be reading next October, when he turns 13, and we celebrate his bar-mitzvah.
Parsley tops green mugwort noodles and beet sweet potato sauce
Beet Sweet Potato Sauce
Ever want an alternative to tomato sauce for your spaghetti? Here’s an easy recipe if like me you often have a leftover cooked beet and a leftover sweet potato or yam.
Ingredients:
1 cooked beet
1/2 cooked sweet potato or yam
Put the sweet potato or yam in a bowl with the beet. Mash with a fork. If you don’t mind cleaning your food processor and prefer a creamier sauce, throw both in the food processor.
Mash until you get a lovely orange and pink sauce.
Meanwhile, cook your noodles. I used Eden mugwort soba noodles, which are a lovely shade of green, nutritious and delicious. When ready, mix immediately with your beet and yam sauce so the sauce warms up.
I topped mine with grated parmesan cheese and fresh chopped parsley. Get creative. Basil would be a great topper, too. You could also mix in a few drips of cold-pressed olive oil or some organic butter.
Serves 1-2.
Inspiration: Klara has a beet – carrot – onion sauce that she used to make as a tomato sauce alternative. See her comment on this post for the recipe. Since I often have a leftover beet and some leftover sweet potato, this recipe was a natural for me.
Love this new blanket flower, Gaillardia, that I planted in my garden this spring. Such brilliant red and yellow colors in one flower.
Soon I will have many, many of these black-eyed susans or rudbeckia growing all over my garden. Luckily, the animals (ground hog? deer?) don’t seem to eat them. They have already eaten my cone flowers, dill and marigolds. Discouraging.
Lambs ears produce these ultra-pink flowers; you either love ’em or you pick them away because they are a bit too brilliant. My snapdragons are beginning to show their colors, white alyssum are happily blooming in the front, and a few petunias reseeded themselves from last summer.
