“What makes the desert beautiful,” said the little prince, “is that somewhere it hides a well" ( Antoine de Saint Exupיry," The Little prince")

Good Morning Phoenix- good night Albuquerque!

It was the second day of driving yet it was the first since the way from Carlsbad CA to Tempe AZ was for us some kind of a routine. We used to go there three times a year and visit with my brother and his family. The only family we had in driving distance. Now it will not be anymore.

For Phibi though it was the first time in her long life for going through such a long drive and Thunder shirt or not she was bit when we finally arrived at my brothers'. I always look at her trying to put myself in her "shoes", trying to figure out what is going on through her mind and what does she sees in her eyes. What is she thinking? What would she say if she could talk? Will she say "What the f…?" or will she say "Leave me alone please I am too old for this".

But she cannot talk and I try to explain to her what is going on hoping being such an intelligent dog she will make something out of it. I want to believe she enjoys herself a little bit.

As one who was born in the desert, the small desert called Negev in Israel; I love the desert and feel most at home in it. The dry air, the metallic blue skies, the ever astonishing miracle of the desert's plants, the mountains, the dunes, the emptiness so full, the never boring endless yellows, browns, grays, reds, sometimes greens. The place to ever see the bones of the land! The wonderful rocks.

 The second day was all deserts, big vast colorful, wonderful desert, even the forest on the mountains first contains the bands of Saguaro cacti on the lower slopes and then different pines and cypress on the higher picks are part of the complete whole huge desert now starting to bloom as spring comes in.

Desert or not, "The painted desert" of Arizona was where Phibi first met with snow. She wasn't a bit amazed as I was. For me the Petrified Forest within the pained desert was…I can't find enough superlatives to describe a place so beautiful, unique and inspirational. Thanks to Menachem's photos I don’t have to talk much. They are doing the talking for me.

It got late already and we had to step harder on the gas in order to get to Albuquerque, our destination for that night, so we joined in the nonstop trucks convoys along the I-40 that so sadly yet necessarily took the place of Historic Rout 66.

Without meaning to do it our rout east was most of the way along Historic Rout 66.

the old powerline along Historic rout 66

The passage from Arizona to New Mexico was felt only due to the welcoming singe.

 Otherwise it was the same stretching desert from one horizon to the next. In the last light of the second day we arrived to the hotel and had a good night rest.

I am sorry!

I thought I'll write the big journey jurnal on real time, but …I can't.

It all moves so fast....

Each day when we finally make it to the hotel room I just want to let my bit up body, my shaken bones to rest. I keep replaying all the scenes again and again and putting them in writing, an interesting writing seems impossible. I'll have to get there, to our final destination, make a home and then sit down in one place for awhile digest everything and post it so …I know I promised but it will have to wait. Having such a big adventure and blogging it at the in same time… is a bit too much for me.

As I said: I'll be back!

My American Cross Country journal- part1- I'll be back

This post it the opening to " My big American Cross Country" journal. My husband, our old dog Phibi and me in the Jeep.
The rest of our belongings have already started the trip yesterday on a monster truck driven by "Big Man" Jonathan. 

The big trip, our biggest so far. A journey away from the Sun Sets into the Pacific ocean toward the

Sun rises from the Atlantic. A 2800 miles drive from coast to almost coast, from Carlsbad CA to York PA.

Today was our last day in Carlsbad. It was our last day in California. We love California and in the last five years we tried to make the best of it.

From the beautiful beaches of Southern California, to the hills that follow, from the ocean to the vast Mojave desert, from lovely Sun Diego to beautiful San Francisco, from the wineries of Temecula to the wineries of Napa valley and those of Carmel- Monterey area ,

 from Highway # 101, to the highway # 1 and 5, From the great Yosemite to Sequoya national parks. From, Salinas Valley and Ocean grove- the land of John Steinbeck to Hollywood all Fantasy, reality, Desert and ocean- the great state of California

  

We have never had enough and yet it's time for us to move away east. And between here and there lies the vast country that we need to cross so …here we go. Gypsies on wills of a horse name Jeep.

But, "I'll be back!"

Happy Valentine's Day

I wanted to write about my failure in installing sparkling hearts into my Valentine's Day candles but all I can think of these days is the upcoming incredible change in our life.

I wanted to write about the my huge struggle with myself about my huge collection of books, most of them stored in boxes in the garage all alone in the dark, suffocating… no…no…no…with all due respect they are books not living creatures or are they?

But all I can think of is my incoming departure from Southern California…

                                                                 In a wintery day

                                                    and in spring and all year around

I wanted to write about how not a long time ago I heard from a very good friend of mine a story of how in a parking lot of the swimming pool in a Kibbutz in Israel she found boxes full of books near the recycling bin. She got very upset and…adopted them instead of letting them be recycled so she gave them some more years to live until the time would come when all her huge collection of books will suffer the same fate.

 So even within all this personal turmoil I managed somehow to create some Valentine's Day candles full of love and sparkling hearts combining in them some solution for the unwanted books.

And so, with Valentine's Day almost over...

we are almost ready to the big move from south west to sort of north east, and to the dream comes true of the great shore to shore, cross country road trip.

I began the countdown! 14 day to loading my Jeep with our most personal staff, Phibi, our old beloved dog and some provisions and…hit the road of 2400 miles to our to be new home in York Pennsylvania.

                                           Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!

Was a sunny day

Was a sunny day

Not a cloud was in the sky

Not a negative word was heard

From the people passing by

Looking outside from the garage/studio door Paul Simon's song started humming in my head. 

Ye I know its winter. Weather channels and weather people are very excited with all the exceptional weather happenings all around the globe but, here, in southern California we enjoy another sunny warm day in mid January yet my heart is aching.  I will have to say good bye to all this… very soon. Very soon indeed.

So I'll work till the last moment possible before I'll have to pack everything and get ready to go. 

Since the next event on the colander is Valentine's Day I am seeing reds and hearts. Reds and heart can be so…cheesy, so banal. Everyone is making hearts in reds or pink. Why can't I do what everyone else is doing? For days now I am thinking of reds and hearts and trying to put them together in a different unique way.

First of all the colors. Red of course and what else? I have to mix up the dyes into the Soy wax to get a nice red. It takes time for the wax to melt and while waiting I think about some other colors

 and how to combine the hearts, how to build them into the candles.

Colors Than the combination of them and the shapes. The first load of wax has been

melted and…a few drops of red, no not enough, a few more…that's it. 

  I have to try my plan first and only on one candle otherwise I'll come with something totally different from what I was seeing in my mind. Another disappointment? I don't need this right now. So patience is the word.

When all the wax was ready I chose moulds for the experiment. Poured a little bit of yellowish brown for the house of hearts, the with my tools I scraped away the lines of the hose and hearts, poured some grayish turquoise over to define the lines, waited a few minutes and poured the red. Not wanting to wait till tomorrow for only one candle I couldn't resist pouring some more, making them each one a bit different from the other. Now I have to wait till late at night or better tomorrow to take the candles out of the moulds and see the results for better or worse.

I will let you know!

And about the "saying good bye" to California we don't know yet exactly when but very soon we are leaving this southern spot of this beautiful, great state and moving to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and as much as I try not to think about it I can't help starting to get organize and make myself curious, exited and looking forward to this new adventure.

Happy new year

Hello

It has been a long very busy time away from here: from home, from my studio, from my laptop.

 My Etsy's shop is opened but the truth is I was far away from it. Did I lose the momentum of the Holidays sales? I sure did but that's a price I willingly, gladly pay for being a very active grandmother for the last… I lost count of the weeks. The year comes to its end, and being together with at least part of the family is a grand happy finale!

We had Hanukah together, all eight days of it!

 And then Christmas was marching in when one afternoon on the way to run some errands Ethan (almost 4 years old) out of the blue told me:" you are going to be the only one without a Christmas tree"

We couldn't leave it there so the next day we went and were probably the last ones to get a tree. For the first time in my life I actually had a Christmas tree in my own house.

 Ethan worked hard to make very original creative decorations and now we were not out there without…

 

The routine with the kids makes me feel blessed.

 From waking up in the morning with them all pink and fresh, smiling for the new day to keeping them busy around the house. Feeding them, go out for exercise and fun in the playground and then the long walks on the beach finding with them all the great shoreline life from rabbits and chipmunks on the shore cliffs to seagulls, pelicans and …whales… and more inside and above the ocean.

Now that they have gone to the park with their parents I put some more clothes in the washing machine, picked up some of the toys…auch my back! I straightened up trying to stand  as straight as possible…It isn't easy and even a bit sad to be so aware of my age. I am not old! I am not old! I am not! It is just my aging bones and muscles and joints. It is not me it is just my body who, sometimes refuses to serve me as well as it used to. But…I am not complaining. This is how it goes and all together it is what makes life worth living with the good and the bad, happy and sad – flowing on the stream of time.

This year with the bad moments, the sad moments, and the pure happy ones was a good year. Still is to the last day of it.

And then...comes a new one.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!