For Photos and Log of my year in Israel and the West Bank please go to the Blog Archive and look at the years 2007 and 2008.

ABC Wednesday - N

N is for New Haven

One month ago I moved to the City of New Haven in Connecticut. New Haven is home to Yale University, the Amistad Schooner and lots of 17th Century history of the first settlers to the new land. I've shown you a few photos of the immediate New Haven Green area. There are lots of great neighborhoods and history that will show up in later ABC Wednesday posts.A view down Chapel Street that runs along New Haven Green. The 17th century Puritan founders chose a nine square plan with streets and houses that surrounded the Public Square.The immediate building in the front is City Hall. The carillon chimes to mark the hours. I liked the old framed by the new building.
On New Haven Green there are three churches that sit side by side. One is Episcopal and the other two are United Church of Christ.

This sculpture sits in the city hall plaza. It's titled "On High" by Alexander Lieberman.

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ABC Wednesday - M

M is for My Mom Loretta Engler Warner

1919-1986

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ABC Wednesday - L

L is for Lace

My daughter is getting married in September and we've been looking at dresses. She has found her dress and she found some other beautiful lacy dresses too. You'll have to wait until September to see "the one"! For other great L posts see Mrs. Nesbitt at ABC Wednesday...quick...time is running out...go now...fast...before it's too late.

ABC Wednesday - K

K is for Kormorant. I was on Cape Cod in October and found the kormorants sitting on the sand sunning themselves. Then, something spooked them and they all took off. It looked chaotic at first but then they got it all together. I think that kormorant can also be spelled with a c as in cormorant. I've been saving these photos for my K entry so there you go! For more K entries you can see Mrs. Nesbitt at ABC Wednesday.

I SO didn't mess up these pillows.

ABC Wednesday - J

A J late and a dollar short.

That's what I am this week, late. Even though it is Wednesday still in Connecticut, I realize that most ABCer's post on Tuesday. So, here's a late J and not so creative, but...This is a photo of Jerusalem during a hamseen. Hamseen's are hot, dry winds that blow in from the desert and stagnate. They last for a day or two and then when the winds kick up but they are cool and they blow all the schmutz out of the air. The schmutz...sand!

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ABC Wednesday - I

I is for Isabella

This is Isabella, a little friend of mine. She's a happy girl eating her Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.

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Mrs. Nesbit at ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday - H

H is for hearing aid.

This is my friend Leonette. Leonette is 106 years old and is still reading books, making cards and their envelopes (she lived through the depression), and going to Bible study. A few weeks ago I went over to the assisted living home to have dinner with her.


She got all dressed up, grabbed her walker and right before we went for the door, she raised her hand to her ear and said, "Let's see, hearing aid and earrings, just checking." Then we were off to dinner.


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ABC Wednesday - G

G is for Graves

Call me odd but I have a fondness for stumbling around graveyards. I find it interesting not morbid and insightful into the ways which people honor and memorialize their loved ones. This post has photos of graves that I've visited in the past couple of years. Some are famous and some are not. The first three photos were taken at the Guilford (I know another G) Cemetery in Connecticut. New England cemeteries date pretty far back.

Here is the grave of Oskar Schindler. Schindler, a Nazi during the Shoah, saved the lives of 1,300 Jewish men and women. His story was told in the movie "Shindler's List". He is buried at Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel.

The cemetery on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem.

These are the graves of some of the fallen soldiers from many of the wars that Israel has fought. They are buried in Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.

The graves of Yitzhak Rabin and his wife Leah. His grave is the black marker. They too are buried on Mt. Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem.

This is a photo of the grave of Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi, India.

The grave of someone unknown to me, buried in a cemetery at the Milk Grotto Church in Bethlehem, West Bank.

May they all rest in peace.

For many more G posts, please go to ABC Wednesday...you won't be disappointed!

ABC Wednesday - F

F is for Fabulous, Fantastic FOOD So what's special about this food? After all it just looks like a plate of tomatoes, fruit and cheese, right? But no! This platter of fabulous food I devoured at the Austrian Hospice in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was a warm spring day teetering on hot. It was midday and the patio was open for lunch. It's on the second floor of the hospice. All I had to do was to go to the edge of the patio to look over into the streets of the Muslim Quarter. The Palestinian Taybeh (pronounced tie-bay) beer quenched our thirst as we listened to the sound of the muezzin in the background. What you don't see here is the delicious apple strudel that they are known for. The best in the Holy Land!



For more fun F entries visit ABC Wednesday, click here!

Quickie Picture Meme

Cynthia at Reverend Mom tagged me on this one.

1. Grab the nearest book - no matter what it is. Textbook, novel, popup book, building code study guide, whatever.

2. Turn to page 25.

3. Read the 10th word on that page, or the following page if that one is blank.

4. Type the word into Google Image Search.

5. Post the third image.

6. Tag 4 people and tell them.

7. Link back to this post - which I do right here.

The book was The Little Critter Guides: Cats. The editor is Paul McGreevy. My word was Rex as in the cat breed Cornish Res.

Now I'm tagging Dina, Nan,. Ok, so I don't really know so many bloggers!

ABC Wednesday - E

E is for Empty Headed This empty head was sitting on the shelf next to plaster head at the Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut. Neither one had much to contribute really.

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ABC Wednesday - D

D is for Dragon FruitThe first time that I ever saw a Dragon Fruit was at Makane Yehuda souk in Jerusalem. What a beautiful color, magenta as magenta could be. Although I didn't see any some of the dragon fruit have white or red centers. The dragon fruit is native to Central and South America but now is grown in Asian countries as well. In Spanish it is called pitaya and is part of the cactaceae family. Legend has it, by the Asian marketers, that the fruit was created thousands of years ago by a fire breathing dragon and when he breathed the fire the last to come out of his mouth was this fruit. Nice story, I knew there was a reason that I didn't like dragons. Although the fruit is beautiful to behold, in my opinion it is a rather dull tasting fruit, just sweet.

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ABC Wednesday - C

C celebrates my Canine friends! This is Milo! He's my canine and was born in Bethlehem, Connecticut in 2002. He's the BEST DOG that ever walked the face of this earth. A blab, that is beagle lab mix, he loves to hang out and be lovable but at a moment's notice he'll jump up and howl at a passing dear.

Here's Eva, the Rottweiler and Topsy a mini-Schnauzer. They're sisters and love to sing together to Grateful Dead tunes. Milo thinks they are pretty cool dogs to run with tearing up the backyard.

Here's Eva again protecting me.

Another friend is Licorice. Licky is some sort of mix, I think lab - German shepherd or something like that. Licks is OLD and is sick with Diabetes and Arthritis. I'm afraid she's not long on this earth but she seems happy. She is really happy when Milo comes for a visit, she perks up and puts on her best.

Meet Trotsky a mini poodle. I met Trotsky in Jerusalem but he actually lives in Brooklyn, New York. Trotsky lived next door with a friend. Each Friday night, Shabbat, Trotsky would be my Shabbat date (I'd dogsit) since I don't normally observe Shabbat. T was a yipper and when my friend would come to pick him up he would be so excited that he would repeatedly jump in the air, all fours off of the ground. If Milo ever found out that Carole took Trot to live in Jerusalem and I didn't take him, well.We end with Milo once again, this is his Bedouin pose. He has quite an affinity for them.

Quite handsome a handsome guy.

For more C posts visit my friends at ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday - B

Brownstones in Brooklyn, New York

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Hardy Mum

A trip into the greenhouse at the Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut was quite lovely on this cold and grey winter's day.

ABC Wednesday - A

Well, yes I have been a slacker to ABC Wednesday. I've got plenty of excuses from which I will spare you. When I clicked on today, for the first time since December 10, 2008, I was happy to see that this week's letter is A. There's nothing like redemption and the chance to begin a new.

The photo that I've chosen for my post is taken from a B & B on Moshav Amirim in the Galilee, Israel. The Inn is called Zivon, noted for the stunning views of the Galilee, wonderful rooms, and hot tubs! Really, there is nothing like sitting in a hot tub at night overlooking the Galilee region. Amirim is close to Safed.

This view is leading down to the hot tub area - daylight of course.

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