... Sholom Dovber Gerber OBM ...

25 October 2008 - 21 December 2010

I still can't believe it...
How can you be gone?

Rest in peace, my sweet little nephew.
Your soul should be an advocate for us in heaven.

Bonus post - pics from 12/14/2009

Here is another bonus post from last year.

The first week of December 2009 I went on vacation to Hawaii. I stayed in Poipu on the south coast of Kauai. It was my first visit to Hawaii and I had a really great time. I think I put close to 300 miles on my rental car - and Kauai is a pretty small island!

There are 12 pics in this post - hope you enjoy them.

Views from home.

These are some more views from different windows in my house.

The first two are night shots: a tree in winter by lamplight; a flash of lightning through heavy rain. The rest are morning shots... girls going back to school after Chanukah vacation; a lone pomegranate on my neighbour's tree.

Well, I thought it was winter...

...but today was 85 F. By Wednesday though, it's supposed to be down to 65 F again, so winter should be back on track.

When it's so warm and sunny here, it's hard to imagine that in other parts of the country, they are having blizzards! Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois had 2 feet of snow yesterday.

I don't know where the year is going - Chanuka is over and December is half gone. This week's photos are a combination of impressions - leaves changing color, foggy mornings, bright lights at night, artwork where you least expect it. And a few twinkling menorah lights to start it off. I hope you enjoy them!

Clouds and Chanukah

"Gathering storm clouds" usually means bad news, but we in Israel wore faces of joy to see the

first serious rain of the season after the threat of drought...keep praying for rain!

Bubby handing out Chanukah gelt and treat packages at the family get together

Many people in Israel light Chanukah lights in a special box that they place outside their front door - this is one from our neighborhood."A small pinpoint of light dispells the darkness"...the view of our Chanukiah (menorah) from the sidewalk outside.

Our Chanukiah from inside - suspended with chains from the roof so it can be seen from the outside - "pirsumei nisa" - spreading the light of the miracle of Chanukah.

Chanuka

This week is Chanuka. It's a low-key fun kind of holiday.

A few of this week's photos are from a Chanuka party at my synagogue on Saturday night. The menorah is in the window of my dining room. And the rest of the photos are some impressions from around town.

I hope you enjoy this set of photos.
And happy holidays :)

Thanksgiving week

Thanksgiving is always great, but it always goes by too fast.

Thanksgiving day I hang out with the boys - turkey, pies & movies. The Friday after T-day I volunteer at Operation Gratitude - they send care packages to soldiers overseas. There are hundreds of people at the Armory in Van Nuys - manning the packing assembly line, taping, labeling, and filling out custom forms (my traditional job).

The roses are from my front yard ("Mr. Lincoln" and "Alec's Red"). And the other photos are from the commute. Quite a variety of pics this week, don't you think?