Photo of the Day - October 11, 2012

I Feel Human Again

I haven't blogged since July!  Wow, now I remember why.  My life took a huge turn on July 31.  At work, my director retired and on August 1, I was named the Interim Director of Broward Cultural Division.

What a great honor is has been to serve in this capacity.  I absolutely adore my job, the people I work with, the cultural organizations and the artists.  These are the wonderful people who make up the fabric of the creative industries in Broward County.  These are the people who help to contribute to the $230 million economic impact to Broward's economy.

Along with the new title came new responsibilities but the previous responsibilities didn't disappear.  This is in no way a complaint.  Instead, it is simply an observation.  As I look back on the past two months I can see how much we have accomplished as a team.  I can see how we have all stepped up to make sure that the goals and mission of the Division continue to thrive and move forward.

However, I also know that my time has become extremely precious and I have to segment my day, my evenings and my weekends into partitions so that I can accomplish what needs to be done and not let myself get overwhelmed.

So with all that said, I have placed my artwork on hold.  I do take lots of images with my iPhone with Instagram which fills the void -- for now.  But I do miss what I love to do.  I miss the peace and quiet of taking a walk with one camera on each shoulder and wander, sometimes aimlessly, and snap at images that please me.  I miss sitting and staring at nature to wait for the right moment.

Well, today, when I came home, a little bit earlier than usual, I threw on ratty clothes, my sneakers and one camera on each shoulder.  Off I went to explore.  I never know what I will find or who I will meet and today didn't disappoint me!

I found these folks paddling in our lake behind the homes.  They were having a lovely time, giggling and pointing at things in the trees.  They really had no idea what I was about to find!  

As I rounded the lake to look up into the trees to see the birds I having lovingly dubbed, "the monkey birds" because they sound like monkeys to me, a man came out of his home and called to me.

He said that there was an alligator following me around the lake!  I turned to look and sure enough, there it was.  It was HUGE!!!  Very scary because I was very close to the edge of the lake.

But then I got to talking to him, his name is Treavor.  He recently retired from the Army and told me that he had served in Afghanistan and lost many solders there.  I thanked him for serving.  He shrugged it off and said that it is what he had to do for our Country.  What an interesting neighbor.  I enjoyed meeting him.

I wandered a little more before I headed home, but not before I snapped a few more images that made me feel human again!

Always, always follow your art.  As an artist, I understand that you HAVE to do your art.

Photo of the Day - June 30, 2012

A Jamaica Bay Weekend

My cousin has a home over in Fort Myers.  His company actually owns and manages mobile home properties.  But this place is incredible.  The homes do NOT look like mobile homes.  And the corporate home that we stayed in was luxurious and had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a huge living room, a full kitchen, laundry room and a screened in back porch overlooking a waterway.

We had planned to go over there earlier this summer, but we had to reschedule and it happened to coincide with the same weekend of Joel's brother's memorial.  So my dad came along with us to get out of Broward for the weekend.

We drove over on Friday evening when Rachel got home from work.  We picnicked in the car on Publix subs and got there at about 9:30 p.m.

Early the next morning, everyone was still asleep so I made myself coffee and went outside on the back porch.  I saw something moving in the water, and sure enough it was an alligator!  I got as close as I dared and took a whole bunch of shots, but this one is my favorite.

Later in the day we drove the golf cart around the property and I took the photos of the wine bottle tree and the tiny pineapple growing in the pot.   We visited the pool, the shuffleboard courts and their clubhouse which has a huge stage in it which Adina was more than happy to perform for me from!  Back at the house I took photos of the rooms  because I know that no one would believe how big it is!!

I could go back there any time.  I find it extremely relaxing.  Joel and I went to the pool on Sunday morning before anyone woke up and I sat in the Jacuzzi and Joel sat in the pool.  After a quick trip to Trader Joes's in Naples and lunch at the First Watch restaurant (which was rated the best breakfast in South Florida), we were back on the road to Broward.  Short, bittersweet and relaxing.

Photo of the Day - June 28, 2012

Leshinsky Day

After 13 years, Joel FINALLY met all of his nephews and nieces!  All in one day!!  I digress.

About a month ago, Joel received a call from Craig about their brother, Gary.  After a very long and brave battle with cancer, Gary passed away at the age of 55.  Gary, who had lived in the Naples area for more than two decades, left a beautiful legacy.  He rescued, raised and bred large cats -- lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, snakes and other animals, not to mention a deer that he taught to eat meat (and lovingly named that deer, Meat).  When he was too ill to care for the animals, he donated them to another preserve, which is where the memorial for Gary was held.

So Craig and his wife, Stacey, and their six (yup six!!) kids drove down last week to finalize Gary's affairs. 

Last Thursday, they decided to take a drive over to our coast to spend some time with us.  We all went to the pool and then had a barbeque at the house.  It was a lovely evening and Rachel and Adina had fun getting to know their cousins.

I didn't take photos of all of the kids, but I got most in these photos. 

Photo of the Day - May 26, 2012

F.A.T. Village Art Walk

Luckily my daughter, Adina, loves to go to artwalks with me.  We have been to so many artwalks throughout South Florida.  This time she asked to bring her girlfriend along.  It was fun to have a newbie with us.  Just watching the reaction on her face to all of this new input was fascinating.  She has not been exposed to any of this at all and she was amazed at the graffiti artists, the crowds of interesting people and the food trucks.

I was actually quite pleased with the large turnout for this artwalk.  The last time that I attended there were not so many people there and no food trucks.  This event had a buzz, an energy and character.  

I ran into so many artists that I knew so the girls walked around without me, but I eventually caught up.  These are just a few of the images that I took throughout the evening.

Apparently my friend, Andy, was there and right next to me snapping away happily on his iPhone because when I got home, I saw his images and one of the puppet show had to be taken right about when I snapped mine!  But as I said, there were so many people there, I just didn't see him.

Photo of the Day - May 5, 2012

Super Moon

Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard that there was a "Super Moon" this past Saturday night.  I wanted to go to the beach to watch the moon rise over the ocean, but my family didn't want to go.  

However, my friend Richard did.  But there was a catch.  First I had to go to dinner with my family, then I had to go to the Cricket game with Richard, which I understand since he is the mayor and needed to be on the stage to hand out the medals to the winners.  Then I was able to get to the beach. 

Okay, so we didn't quite get to the beach until about 10 pm and the moon was way up in the sky by then and the superness of it was sort of lost.  But I did manage to snap a couple of cool shots that I felt were worthy of posting.

The first couple of shots are of the Mayor of Lauderhill and the Broward County Commissioner on stage with both Sri Lanka and Jamaica (first funner up and the winner, in that order).  There was a lot of excitement and music and good smells from Caribbean cooking.

Then when we finally got to the beach, Commercial and A1A, we wandered around near the pier.  I showed Richard how to set Lynn's new camera on manual and then change the shutter speed and aperture so that he could take photos of the moon.  I did the same and I like the photo I took.

The other photo is of two guys under the pier clam digging!  I know that my mom used to do that with my father way back in the 1940s on Far Rockaway beach.  But I had never seen anyone actually do it.  I was a bit fascinated.

Finally, I took a shot of the ocean with the moon on it.  Not my favorite, but its okay. 

Our evening ended with frozen yogurt, mango and vanilla for me with almonds.  It was worth every bite.

Photo of the Day - April 15, 2012

Random Photos

So I spent this morning on the couch with my coffee from my new Tassimo coffeemaker, reading the newspaper (on my iPad) and looking through photos that I have never uploaded. I decided to upload them here today.

The first is of one of Adina's watercolor paintings which I find amazingly haunting. This is for her AP Art class. I took this photo before she turned it in to her teacher.

The next two are from Easter Sunday. Joel had given Adina a bottle of bubbles that were colored with food coloring. We went outside to try it! Very cool colors I might add!! Don't try this inside your house and definitely do not wear white clothing either!!

Photo of the Day - April 8, 2012

Easter Sunday

So what do the Jews do on Easter Sunday??  We sleep late, eat our matzoh and then go outside and enjoy the spring day!

Well, that is what I did anyway!

I wandered around the neighborhood looking for something to shoot.  I was enjoying the cool breezes and strong sun.  Didn't matter if I shot one photo, I was happy.  But I did and I also fixed my light meter that refused to work properly on manual.  Somehow I changed the exposure levels to Plus Three!!  Oy vey, all my photos were way, way overexposed because my camera was trying desperately to compensate and it didn't make any sense to me.

I finally figured it out after about an hour.  This is the end result.