the bicycle vs. the train track

The second night in Oakland Mark and I decided to go to see a movie at the Parkway Speakeasy. We decided to see You Don't Mess With The Zohan, it was a ridiculous movie but it was funny. I am sure the beer we had at the Parkway helped.
I borrowed a bike from one of Mark's roommates and we set out to ride to the Parkway. Maybe about 2 minutes after we set out I fell. There are tons of train tracks around LoBot and in case you have never had to ride across rail road tracks, well, it isn't the easiest thing to do and well that round the train tracks won. My tire got caught in the tracks and I fell over and got a little banged up. The cool night air on the rest of the bike ride made up for the bumps and bruises. These pictures don't do justice to what these boob boos looked like when they were new, but they really just look worse than they are.

Hanging In San Francisco

My second day in the Bay Area I spent the day in San Francisco just hanging out. I walked around tons and then spend the majority of my time sitting, relaxing, reading, and people watching in Dolores Park. The park was full of interesting people just enjoying the sun and the beautiful day. On my way back to the East Bay I stopped at Bi-Rite Creamery and had a cup of homemade ice cream, I had Orange Cardamom and Honey Lavender, such unique flavors!

my bro and my new cousin

where my brother lives


new cousin, 7 months

Walking In Berkley

The walk began...

a window display in a bike repair shop

Then I met up with my baby bro and we went to Berkley Bowl!

i loved living in the east bay
i miss living in the east bay

luggage

Luggage seems to be the theme of my life today. I have been trying to sell two pieces of luggage for my step dad on Craig's List. It has also been suggested to me recently that I should get a new very very large suitcase to use for my move to Israel. So today I bought myself a nice and used very large suitcase from a very nice lady who told me her life story i9n a series of phone calls and in person. I bought her suitcase for $5 although I was a little concerned with her Craig's List ad:

Giant suitcase with expansion zipper. Used to transport child to school and back. Outside pocket zipper is off track, but suitcase itself is solid.

She seemed nice so I don't think she actually put her child inside of the suitcase, but it is mine now, so either way her child will be safe!

I went and sold clothes today and along with these clothes I also sold this little girl's Strawberry Shortcake suitcase. I have had it for a long time and I just hope that it goes to a good home! I really love little suitcases I have a few other vintage ones that I am not sure if I will sell yet. Maybe I will put up pictures of them another time.

So this $5 suitcase I bought today has a small piece of crochet chain on it I am assuming as an identifier, which made me think that I should knit or crochet something to put on my suitcases. i have always loved luggage tags and thought about making my own before but as like many other craft projects, I just never got around to doing it. Then I started to think of what would be fun to put on my suitcase I thought maybe flowers but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I thought maybe an airplane, seemed to make sense putting an airplane on luggage. Then I thought RAIN CLOUD, that's it. I have always had a weird fascination for rain clouds, I am not really sure why, but that's it and then I found this pattern on a blog called Knits and Knots. So in a few minutes I think I will begin my little luggage rain clouds. I hope that these rain clouds will be the only rain clouds to join me on my travels!

Peoria

Before my birthday we went on a family trip to Arizona. We stayed in this little town called Peoria which is pretty close to Phoenix. And I have to say I think it was the best family trip we have ever had, not that we have had that many, but it was really fun with all of us. We started out the trip at the Grand Canyon.

The rest of the trip we didn't do much of anything which was great. I don't usually like vacations like that where we just sit by the pool, but this time I enjoyed it. It was really relaxing and great bonding time. K and I shared a room so we got some good bonding time. And M and I went on a couple little adventures, which I hope to share some of, but am just waiting waiting waiting for him to send me the proof that our adventures really happened.

At the end of the trip we went to the Desert Botanical Garden.

In one of the last sections we explored we came across this amazing instillation by Patrick Dougherty. It was so beautiful on the inside and on the outside. It was amazing to see the views that were created by the windows in the sculpture. It was so humbling to be inside of this enormous wooden womb and see the sun setting over the absolutely stunning scenery of the Arizona desert.

I am learning that I LOVE the desert, and luckily Israel has plenty of it. I don't know what it is but the desert is beautiful and extremely peaceful and humbling. It is amazing to see the vegetation and animals that live on basically no water and in very hot hot heat. We are so fragile, us humans, and could barely survive in a desert, but if one looks carefully one an survive on many of the magnificent creations that God created to survive in deserts. There are so many types of cacti and various other plants that live in these harsh conditions. B"H for all of these creations!

Family Trips

In May my mom, step dad and brother came to visit me in Israel. This was the first family trip we had taken in a long time. We started off in Jerusalem and then headed down south, all the way south, to Eilat.
We stayed in Eilat but took many day trips to various places in the Negev like Yotvata Chai Bar a nature reserve where they breed animals that were native to the area during Biblical times but have become near to extinct.
We also went to Mitzpe Ramon a huge crater caused by volcano and rain, Sde Boker the burial site of David Ben Gurion, and went snorkeling in a red coral reef where we saw up close amazing coral and fish.
This trip was truly fun and humbling. We saw magnificent creations that just show how small we are and how amazing the creater of the world is. As well as what harm we as humans have done to teh world and what potential harm we can still do. There is so much we can do to protect and help fix this amazing planet that we live on. We each can take little steps to undo the harm that we have done. Ok I will get off my soap box now. Go out and fix the mess we made!