To Speak Up Or Not To Speak Up

So far I have written and deleted this post three times. I can't find the right words to truly express how I am feeling at the moment. I have never been a person who holds their tongue, I have always spoken my mind - even if no one else agrees, I am usually not very tactful either which isn't a great thing, but hey, that's me. Right now, I just feel that I can't say what I want to and it doesn't make me very happy at all.

I am feeling quite flat, pretty annoyed and a bit angry - as I said, I can't give exact details right now, but it is related to blogging. I might elaborate a bit more in the next couple of days, I will have to wait and see. I am sorry this is not a more positive post. Sorry for the rant, I am sure you will leave wondering what on earth my problem is.

Anyway, I hope you like the photos above, I took them a couple of days ago. They are photos of a beautiful amethyst embossed glass bottle from our antique bottle collection, from Melbourne circa 1910.

Until I am feeling a little more lively, that's it from me...


.... Just another day ....

JIB's Vote 'Baleboosteh'! - Sticky Post

Please note: This is a sticky post and will stay at the top for the next few days, normal daily postings are below this one.

VOTING CLOSES THIS SUNDAY 29th APRIL!!

As we are all aware it is JIB time. Nominations have now finished and it is now voting time from the 22nd April to the 29th.
I am happy to say, my blog is nominated for Best Photo/Graphics Blog and also Best Personal Blog.

I know I have only been blogging for 10 months but, If you would like to vote for me in either (or both! :P) categorys please click on the titles below. Even though I have no expectations of winning any award, votes would be greatly apprecited and each one counts! Thankyou to all who have voted for me so far!!

Vote for me for Best Photo/Graphics Blog here
Vote for me for Best Personal Blog here

Voting is very quick and easy - no registration is required.

And while you are there... Please consider voting for my cute and lovable husband Mr Bagel (BagelBlogger). He puts a HUGE amount of effort, time and work into his blog and deserves an award for his efforts far more than I do. He is nominated for:

Best New Blog
Best Designed Blog
Best Of The Rest Blog
Best Overall Blog

Country Mail Box Photo Series - week four

It seems like this week has been such a busy week. The girls went back to school on Tuesday after school holidays, then it was ANZAC day holiday on Wednesday and then there was yesterday...don't even get me started on that. And I am still trying to get the house tidy back to the way it was before the school holidays!

With all that has been going on this week, I had forgotten to post this weeks Country Mail Box photos. If you missed previous weeks, you can find them here: Country Mail Box Photo Series - week one, Country Mail Box Photo Series - week two and Country Mail Box Photo Series - week three.
This weeks photos were taken on the highway on the ourskirts of our little town.

Amber had a check up yesterday, it is 4 months now since her open heart surgery. She has since had a reduction in some of her medication, which is great, but one of her other medications was a bit too low and has been increased a little bit. She is supposed to stop taking some of her medication by about June, so that is something to look forward to! She is on three different medications at the moment, but after June I think she will just be on Asprin to keep her blood thin. Other than that she seems to be doing ok at the moment - lets hope it stays that way.

Today is another busy day so I had better get off this computer!!

Shabbat Shalom
Have a great weekend!

.... Just another day ....

The JIB Awards Have Been REALLY HACKED This Time!

I got up at 7.30am this morning to get the girls off to school. While I was getting breakfast ready, I booted up my computer and went to check on the JIB's. Much to my horror, I discovered that the entire website is gone - it has been Hacked.

I quickly went to a few of the committee members blogs to see what they have to say about it, but it seems noone yet knows/or is talking about it.

Bagelblogger has more info on it and will be updating as more news comes to hand, so go over to his site and read his latest post "The JIB awards have been hacked"

It is very sad considering the amount of work Akiva in particular had put into it, but, unfortunately it seemed bound to happen.

********* UPDATE *********
- It now appears that Bagelblogger may have found some rather 'personal' details belonging to the hacker of the JIB's...

- Good news, JIBs site now seems to be back up...hmmm


.... Just another day ....

Welcome To The 6th Edition Of JPix!

Welcome to the 6th edition of JPix!

After hosting JPix 5, I enjoyed it so much I put my hand up to host JPix 6 too! I hope you all enjoy it and like last time, discover a few new bloggers you had not previously come across before.

JPix is a fortnightly carnival started by BagelBlogger, for Jewish bloggers and the photos they take. So if you're Jewish and you have photos you want to share, wether they be family, historical, art, funny, quirky, whatever, make sure you get them into the next edition of JPix!

Previous editions of JPix can be found here, 1st edition - hosted by BagelBlogger, 2nd edition - hosted at BagelBlogger, 3rd edition - hosted by Me-Ander, 4th edition - hosted by Life-of-Rubin and the 5th edition hosted by me.

Thankyou to all the people who have submitted photos/posts and secondly I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

The photos featured here in this post are just a small sample of what you will see in the bloggers posts - you need to click on the links to see all the photos!

Here we go...

What better way is there to start of this edition of JPix other than with a celebration!
Irina has some gorgeous photos posted over at IG Nobel Experiment of her Birthday Weekend (and all the beautiful presents she recieved)! Happy Birthday Irina!

A Simple Jew is back into the swing of things after his short break over Pesach with two great 'Black & White Picture of the Week' posts - "Budding Dogwood" and "Cul-de-sac". ASJ has quite a talent with the camera and the way he sees things, so make sure you have a look at his photos.

Cosmic X always has great photos of Israel, this past fortnight he has posted "Another Picture From The Holy City Of Tel Aviv", "Pic Of The Day", "Some Pics From The Mosad HaRav Kook Book Sale", and "Rot In The Heart" - all of which have great photos, so pop over to Cosmic X and have a look!

Rafi G has posted some amazing photos in his post "My Spontaneous Middle of the Night Trip to an Arab Village" posted over at Life in Israel. This is a really interesting photo post, don't miss it and while you are there have a look at this post: "The Woman from the Amona photograph."

The lovely Batya over at Me-Ander loves to take a few snaps here and there, this fortnight she presents "Paying Tribute To A Chalutz Pioneer" and also "Israeli Flags this 59th part 1" and "part 2", two great photo posts for Israel's Independence Day.

Akiva at Mystical Paths has some lovely photos in his post "Pictures: Prayer".

Also over at Batya's other blog Shiloh Musings, she presents us with "Fleeing the TV".

Frumhouse, after browsing the last edition of JPix was Inspired to Post a Few Israel Trip Pics posted at Little Frumhouse on the Prairie. Also at Little Frumhouse on The Prairie you will find "Israel Flash Slide Show " - both are great photo posts and both are not to be missed!

The Babka Nosher presents Our Foreman posted over at A Bisele Babka - a very cute couple of pics!

Mottel over at Letters Of Thought shares with us "Picture of The week" - and it is truely beautiful, certainly worth a look. Mottel's Father also took some stunning snaps in Sedona.

David over at Temunot has many great photo posts, I am not sure which order to put them in - it is hard "Tying it All Together".
David's wife is obviously a fabulous cook and very creative too, have a look at his post "Say it with Cake...." YUM!

He also shares some great photos of a Bris Milah he and his family attended in Chevron last year in his post "No Bagels but What a Memorable Bris".
Lucky last from David, is what I consider one of the most interesting photo posts this edition - "The Kibbutz Lavi Shul Furniture Factory". Don't miss this post!

Evan at Planet Israel has more fantastic photos and takes us on "A Walk Through the Muslim Quarter".
He also takes us on a tour of the old neighbourhoods of Yemin Moshe, Nachlaot in his post "A Day on the Streets of Jerusalem".
While you are there also have a look at his most recent posts "Hiking Nahal Ein Hogla" and "Beit Hogla".

Sara With No H has some more of her stunning pics in her posts "Imagine" and "On top of the world..." Beautiful as usual.


Soccerdad, shows us his daughters artistic ability in his very colourful post "My blog as refrigerator".

Sarah presents Step Up posted at Sarah's View, it has a very eerie sense to it.

Last of all for this edition, I would like to point you to an article A Simple Jew was kind enough to email to JPix. It is a YNet News article - "Longing Photographers Miss Israel"

'In honor of Independence Day 2007, we asked a number of Israel's finest photographers - specializing in a range of fields from news to nature scenes - to choose one picture from those that they had shot in their lifetime. One picture that reminds them of the Israel that they miss. ' - Ynet news


That's it for the 6th edition of JPix, I hope you have enjoyed it. The next edition, JPix 7, will be hosted by the talented David from Temunot, which I am really looking forward to. Should be great! Get your submissions in, submit your photo posts to be in the next edition of JPix!!

Rafi G from Life in Israel will be hosting JPix 8 the following fortnight, so that is something else to look forward to, keep it in mind.

Thankyou to BagelBlogger. If you would like to host an edition on your blog click here to contact BagelBlogger. It is really quite easy and fun to host!

And don't forget to submit your photo posts to be in the next edition of JPix!!



Just another day ....

ANZAC Day - ANZAC biscuits 'The Army Biscuit'

Our ANZAC biscuit tin from last year

It is ANZAC day here is Australia today, and I decided to make a batch of ANZAC biscuits for the kids and of course take photos to go along with it!

There are a few theories on the origins of ANZAC biscuits ('The Army biscuit') but it is certain that they came about during the First World War, around 1914/15.
Some say that they started as biscuits made by the Troops in the trenches with provisions they had at hand to relieve the boredom of their battle rations. And some say they came about due to resourceful of the women on the "home front" in an endeavour to make a treat for their loved ones that would survive the long journey by post to the war front.
Whatever the origin, they have won the hearts of Aussies the globe over as the pseudo National Biscuit. And here is how to make them, it is really easy.

The finished product cooling on the wire rack

Chewy ANZAC Biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Method

Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.

Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat.

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup.
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading (as you can see in the photos, I just didn't leave enough space between mine).

Bake in a moderate oven, 180C / 350F, for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.

Tips

The American tablespoon is a little smaller than our tablespoon, so be generous with your Golden Syrup (or Honey) and Water.

An original recipe for much harder biscuites can be found at the Australian War Memorial web site

Above, Ready to go in the oven and Below, Just out of the oven!

What is ANZAC Day?

Anzac Day, April 25th, is a day that is very dear to the heart of Australians, a day when we remember those that have fallen in times of war, in service to their country. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.

ANZAC means much more than that, it is what it means to be a Digger - a Battler. The official Gallipoli Campaign historian, CEW Bean once said the ANZAC spirit "stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat".

The Gallipoli Campaign

Anzac day is held in both Australia and New Zealand on the anniversary of the first major offensive to use ANZAC troops on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915.
When World War I began nine months earlier, 4^th August 1914, Australia committed 20,000 volunteer troops to the war effort under the control of the British Armed Forces. Those troops were soon on their way to Egypt where a plan was underway at the request of the Russians to neutralise the Turkish war effort and effectively take them out of the war.

At 06:00 hours on the 25th of April 1915, the First Expeditionary Forces of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, now known as ANZAC Cove, to an unexpected welcome. The plan was for the ANZAC's to attack the Turks across the peninsular destroying the Turkish defences in the Dardenelles and leave the channel open for the British to sail into Constantinople and remove Turkey from the war completely.

However, the British plans were made based on outdated tourist maps of the area, and instead of landing on open grasslands the ANZACs found themselves facing rolling hills and steep cliffs covered with prickly bushes and defended by a very tenacious Turkish Army.

What was planned to be a quick and decisive strike soon turned into a stalemate.

source 'Aussie Slang Website'

.... Just another day ....

Get You JPix Submissions In!

It is JPix time again! On Thursday (26th of April) I will be hosting the 6th Edition of JPix - YAY! I am really looking forward to it! I never knew putting carnivals together could be so much fun. :D
SO, do you have any photos you have taken and posted recently?? Submit your photo post to JPix or if you have photos that you have been meaning to post, now is the time to do it - just don't forget to submit to JPix!

Once you have submitted your photo posts to JPix don't forget to come back on Thursday to check out the round up - I can tell you already that due to the amount of submissions so far this is going to be another big round up, so it should be good. If you missed the 5th edition of JPix you can catch up here. If you would like to host an edition of JPix on your blog click here to contact BagelBlogger.

For now, that's it from me - I have heaps of work to catch up on now that the girls have gone back to school today, and of course, I have a lot of work ahead working on putting together another fabulous edition of JPix.



.... Just another day ....

Grapes From The Judean Hills

Well, it is time, the girls go back to school tomorrow - two weeks of school holidays always seems like such a long time. Amber has been asking Jade everyday, "Do we go to school tomorrow?".

I know of many parents who have trouble getting their kids excited about going to school, thankfully my girls LOVE school. They love learning - reading, spelling, maths, art - anything... we are very lucky. I think a lot of their enthusiasm has come from the fact that when they first stared at school they received heaps of encouragement from my husband and I. I would often say to them "Oh, you are so lucky to be going to school, I wish I could go to school again like you - you are going to have so much fun!", and it really seems to have had a very positive effect on them. Schooling is such an important thing and I think it is best that they achieve the very best they can right from the start.

It sure will be very quiet at home again with two of them at school, but at least I will be able to catch up again on my cleaning!

Anyway, above are a few photos I took the other day, yep, I know there are 6 photos, but I just couldn't decide on which ones to leave out :D


.... Just another day ....

The Kosher Cooking Carnival's 17th Edition!

Welcome to the 17th edition of the much loved Kosher Cooking Carnival!

It is quite an honour to be hosting this months edition, a special thankyou to Batya from Me-ander for not only starting this carnival all those months ago but also for her help in sending me links for this edition.

The Kosher Cooking Carnival comes out monthly and guest-hosts are welcome. Here's the list of the previous KCC's: KCC #1, KCC #2, KCC #3, KCC #4, KCC #5, KCC #6, KCC #7, KCC #8, KCC #9, KCC #10, KCC #11, KCC #12, KCC #13, KCC #14, KCC #15 and KCC #16!

You can check out what's new and old on Blog Carnival, and you can also add the automatically updated KCC "widget" and/or listing to your own blog.

Now, lets get straight into it. There have been lots of links to include, I hope I haven't left anyone out, if I have, I apologise in advance.

Passover

Passover may have come and gone, but there is still Passover blog talk and these recipes may be a little too late for Passover this year, but are just too good to not include, and after all, there is always next year - print them out and put them in your recipe book!


There was a lot of talk recently about the decision Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, the rabbi who heads the Machon Shilo made last month regarding the eating of legumes during passover, Batya shares her thoughts on the topic with us in 'Maybe he shouldn't have started with Kitniyot'.


Gillian Polack from over at Food History presents Passover preparations and shares with us a great biscuit recipe of her Mothers - sounds delicious!


Batya at Me-Ander wonders 'When To Switch?' which brings up some very interesting points and thoughts on when is the best time to switch your kitchen to Pesach mode.

She also gives us a peek into her home with 'Pesach so far' and shares a great chicken soup recipe in 'Food, Family and....'.

I think we are all aware of Batya's brillance in the kitchen, she has proven to be a very creative cook as she has shown with her veggie pies in her post ' Pre-Pesach Creativity or The World's Easiest Vegetable Pie!' YUM!


Where do I start with Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen??

My goodness, Ted has been very busy, check out his post 'Right Before The Seder' and all the wonderful photos that come with it!

He also shares with us a fantastic 'Fruit Salad' recipe, not forgetting to mention the Grandma (Bubby) Sarah Video Series Of Passover RecipesGrandma (Bubby) Sarah's Potato Kugel', 'Grandma (Bubby) Sarah's Matzah Balls' and 'Grandma (Bubby) Sarah's Gefilte Fish'


Catherine over at Albion Cooks presents us with her version of 'Farmers' Market Matzo Ball Soup' - looks wonderful!


Lydia at The Perfect Pantry delights us with her Matzoh Brei recipe - delicious!


Gluten-Free By The Bay has put a lot of effort into producing a HUGE round up; 'Gluten-Free Passover Recipe Roundup 2007', this is a must see!


Now for something a little bit different, Ariela from Baking and Books shares with us 'Ethiopian Siga Wot'.


Tamara Eden may be sick of Matzah but she's sure getting creative and cooking up a storm with her Matzah Pizza, Parmesan Grilled Matzah and Matzah Brittle.


Soccer Dad asks 'Why is this food different from all other food' in which he includes a couple of great photos of Potato Kugel and some delicious soup.

The Chocolate Lady presents 2007 Vegetarian Peysekh Survival Guide, which includes many recipes such as 'Bananaless Walnut Banana Cake for Passover', 'Very Nice Potatoes', 'Root Vegetable Puree' and more!


Jewish Blogmeister updates us on 'Le Maraislll: The Lawsuit continues...' and also presents us with a great eBay oppertunity.... To bid on The Rights to the First Pizza After Peasach..., wondering how much it's selling for?... go have a look!

Adena over at the MotherThoughts blog has written a very interesting post about growing up in a kosher house. Now that she is married she doesn't keep kosher, read her story in her post "To Be or Not To Be...Kosher."



Josh over at The Food Section has a very interesting post up about the special kosher for Passover edition of Coke that is sweetened with sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.

The Martha Stewart web site also has some great recipes including a whole section on Passover Entertaining which, I know is a bit late for this year but may be handy for reference next year. They also have recipes for all year through.



Now that Passover is over, lets move on to some more everyday recipes!



Dan from Tsmicha.com has posted a excellent recipe 'Dafina! - Kosher Moroccan Food Recipes' (Moroccan cholent [Sabbath stew]), sounds perfect for the cold winters days that are soon upon us here in Australia!


Frum Satire has posted his own interesting indepth reviews of various pasta sauces, check it out!


A Bisele Babka shares a great bread machine recipe for Challah. I must admit, I to have a bread machine and I love it, I use it every Friday for making Challah, it make the job so easy!


The lovely RaggedyMom also sent me this great recipe:

Flounder in Spicy Tomato Sauce

adapted from the "Spice and Spirit" cookbook

I use this as a substitute for gefilte fish more often than not. I season it a little more heavily than the cookbook calls for, omit the water, and use less fish. Double as needed. My kids are young, but have grown to really like the spices and vegetables too. It's especially tasty when served hot.

1 lb box frozen flounder fillets (or other fish)

2-3 Tbsp. oil

1 large onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cinammon

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 15-oz. can tomato sauce

Defrost fish and separate fillets. If desired, the fish can be cut up resulting in more of a stew.

Heat oil in large skillet, and saute onion and pepper until soft. Add garlic, then remaining seasonings. After a moment, once the vegetables are well-seasoned, add tomato sauce. Simmer 10 minutes until smooth and incorporated. Stir from bottom to bring up vegetables.

Lay slices or chunks of fish over the seasoned sauce in skillet, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until fish seems done (flakes with a fork).

Delicious alone or over rice. Make sure you have extra challah on hand if this is a Shabbos appetizer - we love to dip ours in the sauce!

Sounds wonderful!


Psycho Toddler recently featured in the article What Doctors Eat in Milwakee Magazine.


As an Australian, I found Gillian Polack's post "Jewish Butcher Story" about two shochetim who arrived in Australia in the 1960's quite a funny tale, pop over to Food History and have a read - you will enjoy it!


Andrea Dickson from Wise Bread has a great post up talking about her wishes to become a vegan once again - and has posted a number of different recipes for peanut sauces in her post Perfect Peanut Sauce.


Elisson presents us with "Comfort"... in the form of home-made-from-scratch chicken soup - the perfect cold weather comfort food.

Batya always comes up with great recipes, she has "A Couple Of Recipes" posted over at Me-Ander - the vegetable kugel sounds and looks fantastic!


This following recipe was sent in by Fred Reifenberg. I am not sure if Fred has a blog - I wasn't sent a link, but here is his recipe - it sounds wonderful, I can't wait to try it out!


Go stuff your smoked salmon

6 oz. smoked salmon, chopped
One half cup mayonnaise
One half cup Parmesan cheese, grated
One quarter cup green onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. fresh dill, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 large Belgian endives

Combine all ingredients except endive in a bowl and mix well. Fill endive with mixture and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Endive is a form of lettuce that has small oblong heads. When the leaves are pulled away from the head they resemble a small boat; just perfect for stuffing.

The Skinny: Use light or low fat mayo.


The Kosher Blog has a great review on the latest kosher joint in his area Smokey Joe's BBQ. An indepth review illustrated with loads of beautiful photos.

Recipe Zaar is a excellent web site that has a dedicated section to Kosher Cooking and recipes - in fact they have over 4000 kosher recipes and loads of colourful photos so certainly worth having a look at.

Last but certainly not least is not a blog, but a great web site with loads of interesting links The Orthodox Union.

Part of their network is OU - The worlds best known kosher trademark.

They have a great web site which you can find information on The Basics of Kosher, Behind the Union Symbol, Kosher Videos, Newly Certified, Kosher News and Events, and of course Kosher Alerts, plus much more, make sure you check it out.

That's it for this months edition of the KCC. If I left anyone out, I apologise, please submit your article again to be included in next months edition.

If you'd like to host an edition of KCC, please contact Batya at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com.

And of course, send your kosher food links to shilohmuse at yahoo dot com or via blog carnival, since this carnival is based primarily on submitted contributions, not searches. And please don't forget to remind your readers to visit and try out the recipes.

Happy reading... and cooking!

.... Just another day ....

The Rustic Scarecrow

Well, there's not much going on here right now worth blogging about - except... it is the last week of school holidays! So anyway, I have decided to post a couple more photos.

These photos were taken a few weeks ago of the scare crow down next to our chicken pen. Our landlord is a builder and I am pretty sure he has made this scare crow himself. Mr Scare crow is actually life size, so you wouldn't want to bump into him in the dark! Lol!

Anyway, I would like to also mention the Caption Contest over at BagelBlogger, pop over and enter - it is a great photo of Ronald McDonald check it out! Very funny!

Also, don't forget to get your kosher recipes in for the next Kosher Cooking Carnival which I am hosting and which will be up on Sunday.

That's it from me for today, have a great weekend!

Shabbat shalom!


.... Just another day ....

Country Mail Box Photo Series - week three

Welcome to the third week of my Country Mail Box series!

If you missed week one or two you can find them here: Country Mail Box Photo Series - week one, Country Mail Box Photo Series - week two.

As I have said previosly, I am running a weekly photo series of country mail boxes in my area - we have some really cute, weird and unusual ones around here!

Here are this weeks photos, this one is just down the road a bit from my house:




.... Just another day ....

The Old Farm Gate

We have many 'farm gates' here on this property. Most of them never get used. The gate in the pictures above leads down to the river. In the 4 years I have lived here I have never taken that trek, I have been told it is quite a trip - very rough and over grown, no real path and very very steep. Maybe one day before we leave I will get around to taking that trip, who knows....

As much as I am looking forward to moving back to Sydney, there are a few things I will miss about living here. I will miss the peace and quiet, the scenery, the quiet roads and I will miss seeing the cows come over to the farm gate, peering into our yard with their big brown eyes.



.... Just another day ....

Memory Trigger

Often people associate a certain song with a certain time in their life or a certain person that has been in their life, some times it is a particular place or smell. I know if I smell Pinetarsal, it brings back a very strong memory of me sitting in the bath tub when I was about 4 years old with a extremely bad case of Chicken Pox. Pinetarsal, is what my Mum would pour into the bath to stop the itching of the Chicken Pox.

Yesterday, I noticed some really pretty flowers out in our garden. Not just any flowers though, they were Dahlias. I haven't seen Dahlias in years and these particular flowers for me, bring back memories of staying at my Nanna's house when I was about 5 years old. She had a row of these beautiful flowers growing down along side of her old dilapidated garage - I can still see it quite clearly in my mind. They remind me of the warm sunny days I spent outside playing in her yard - digging up the fresh carrots from her veggie patch - sneaking the big red strawberries of her strawberry plants and the big bowl of freshly made warm custard that would be inside on the table waiting for me.....

(click on images to see larger)

.... Just another day ....

**JPix Carnival** - The 5th Edition!!

Manhattan In Winter- Golden Path by New York Minute

Welcome to the 5th edition of JPix!

I am quite excited and honoured to be hosting this edition of JPix, I hope you all enjoy it and also discover a few new bloggers you had not previously come across before.

JPix is a fortnightly carnival started by BagelBlogger, for Jewish bloggers and the photos they take. So if you're Jewish and you have photos you want to share, wether they be family, historical, art, funny, quirky, whatever, make sure you get them into the next edition of JPix!

Previous editions of JPix can be found here, 1st edition - hosted by BagelBlogger, 2nd edition - hosted at BagelBlogger, 3rd edition - hosted by Me-Ander and the 4th edition - hosted by Life-of-Rubin.

There have been quite a lot of submissions this fortnight, so firstly thankyou to all the people who have submitted photos/posts and secondly I hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

The photos featured here in this post are just a small sample of what you will see in the bloggers posts - you need to click on the links to see all the photos!


Now, lets get straight into it!

Batya from Me-Ander shares with us 'Signs of Pesach in The Air' - looks like the kids were having a great time!

Batya also takes us on a trip to replace the old Pesach kettle in 'Pesach so Far' which has a lovely photo of her husband making charoset too!

A Mother In Israel shows us some photos of her gorgeous children the family photos included in her post 'Pesach Scenes'.


Chaim over at Life-Of-Rubin has some great pics in his post 'Chag Sameach! Boro Park Chometz Fire Pics!' - pop over and have a look!

Now we can't have Pesach without Matzah!
David over at Temunot has some great photos from the visit he made to the Charedim Shmurah Matzah Bakery in Boro Park.... 'Hot, Fresh Shmurah Matzah'!

David also shares with us 'Chesed, Pizza and Celebrity', a series of photos in which he and his family participated in the 'Adopt A Soldier' program.
Among the photos is a beautiful snap of his daughter presenting the coupon to the soldier for a large pizza and large soda!

Rafi G from Life In Israel has been busy at 'Pesach Softball', and what a win! Congratulations!
He has obviously been quite busy over Pesach as he also went to the Kotel twice during Hol Hamoed to daven 'vasikin'. His photos are incredible, check them out!

Mottel's photos over at Letters of Thought brought a real smile to my face when I saw them... check him out playing the part of Moses in his 'Exodus Photos'.

Mottel also shares some incredible photos in his post 'Windows of Vilnius: My Third Pesach in Lithuania'.

cG over at Zora has posted some beautiful photos of the family seder in the post Oh, it's been too long....
Super cute little Zora is now 3 months old as of Friday, check her Progress report!

Jacob presents us with WTF?!?! Guy shlepping 9-foot cross, a strange sight he came across at the entrance of Jaffe Gate posted over at Jacob Da Jew. I must say, when I saw it, my first thought was 'oh no... not again'.


One of my all time favorite bloggers, Evan from Planet Israel decided it was too nice a day to stay inside so got on his bike and went for a ride taking some snaps showing us the beautiful scenes around Pisgat Zeev.

There is almost 20 photos to see so make sure you pop over and take a look, while you are there be sure to have a look at his series of photo posts on Sderot, The Qassams, Attack and Response, Life Under the Rockets, and The Spirit of Sderot.

The photos he has posted say more than words ever could, these posts are a must see and bring an awareness to what daily life in Sderot is really like and what the people there face everyday.

Kumah also presents us with an indepth photo essay on Sderot; 'Sderot - Kassam Battered, But Still Blossoming - Photo Essay', as with the above posts on the topic, this too is a must see, there are heaps of really interesting photos posted, so make sure you check it out.


Batya from Me-Ander has been up and out of bed early with her 'Dawn Again' photos which are truly stunning, she also has had an 'Unexpected Visitor' ... wonder who it is?!... well, it is 'Springtime For Sure' and it looks like it is the 'Best Spring In A Long Time' too!

So you had better go have a look at Batya's photos - she also shares with us more great photos with us in 'The Good, the Bad and Then Back To The Kitchen'.
Over at Shiloh Musings Batya has posted New pictures of Chomesh from Yonathan Gormezano, amazing scenes.

Cosmic X gives us the Heads Up with this great shot of the Azrielli Towers and also the Klezmer Band At The Entrance To The Azrielli Towers.

Irina over at The IG Nobel Experiment has posted some beautiful photos that she took at Macy's Flower Show in her post 'Of Clients and Flowers'.

To pick a single photo post of Mandi's from Tel Aviv Daily Photo is just impossible - would it be Patriotic Car, Interesting Architecture, Israeli Island?? or maybe, Beatles Spotted in Tel Aviv, Jaffa Market or what about Sculpture, Summer Time or Flower Power?
I don't know which one to tell you to have a look at so you better just have a look at all of them!

Psycho Toddler, apparently known as the 'video gamer' of the Jblogosphere presents us with with us Hail to the King, Baby! which includes a very cute photo of a young PT.


Mr Bagel gives some insight to life in rural Australia and the pathetic services we recieve in The Joys of no Electricity: Or What to do when the Electricity goes out.

And to finish off another fine edition of JPix we will go back right to where we started, with New York Minute, and their stunning photo at the top of this post. They have some great photos over at their blog and seem to post new photos every couple of days, certainly worth a look.

Well, that's it for the 5th edition of JPix, I hope you have enjoyed it. Thankyou to BagelBlogger. If you would like to host an edition on your blog click here to contact BagelBlogger. It is really quite easy and fun to host!

And don't forget to submit your photo posts to be in the next edition of JPix!!