My Blue Thumb

Oops! I goofed watering the plants this week. 

I got a new spray bottle from Home Depot and I put the Fantastic cleaner it in. 

Thinking about the new bottle, I accidentally picked it up to water the plants. 

I sprayed the cactus and immediately realized what I had done!

Oh sh*t! I just poisoned my cactus. So quickly, I poured water in to try to dilute it. 

I thought to myself how the plant would react and I imagined how a person would react if they drank Fantastic. 

Sure enough within a couple of days the cactus was reeling. 

But I think a person could probably recover if it wasn’t too much, so I’m hoping the cactus will too. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

@Lake Needwood, Memorial Day 2020

(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)

Israel 2020: Day 8

So awesome going to the Bahai Gardens today in Haifa, Israel. 

Took the train to Haifa and then a taxi ride up this big hill. 

Got out at the top and not sure what to expect. 

We go through security…

And then we see this completely BREATHTAKING view of the Bahai Gardens along with an amazing view of Haifa, the port, and up and down the Mediterranean Sea. 

The view Extended all the way up to the Crusader Castle in Akko. 

The terraced Bahai Gardens were spectacular.  

I’ve never seen anything like this. 

We walked down the terraces some 700 stairs. 

And along the way were fountains, gardens, and more beautiful landscapes and views. 

This is definitely something to see (thank you Hashem for this opportunity). 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Smell The Flowers

Beautiful flowers. 

G-d made them for us. 

Soft petals. 

Magnificent colors.

Fresh sweet smells. 

The sound of rustling in the wind. 

Absorbing the rays of sunshine.

Drinking the rain water. 

Planted in the soil of the earth. 

Magical flowers of life, love, and peace. 

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Kosher Cheeseburger, Finally

So I’ve never had a cheeseburger. 

I keep kosher. 

And we don’t mix milk and meat together.

Tough watching all the fast food commercials from McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, and more. 

So lo’ and behold, my surprise when they introduced the kosher cheeseburger.

It uses the Impossible Burger made from plants–and it’s advertised as having more protein, less fat, no cholesterol, and fewer calories than meat. 

So we got two bags of food from Goldberg’s bagels. 

One bag had breakfast with bagels and egg salad. 

The other bag had the kosher cheeseburgers for lunch (after the morning’s activity)

We ate the egg salad bagels and they were good. 

But we were really looking forward to the cheeseburgers. 

Finally, after all these years of waiting…

But what happens, Dossy threw out the garbage from breakfast and…

She accidentally threw out the Impossible Burgers with it. 

So when we got back to the car, salivating for the cheeseburgers…

We look in the front, in the back, in the compartments–and nothing!

It’s gone!  It’s all gone!

No freakin cheeseburger for me. 

Not then, not now, and I’m afraid not ever.  😦

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Bugsy says Shabbat Shalom!

Bugsy the bug says Shabbat Shalom.

A weekend of rest and peace to everyone. 

And Happy Labor Day weekend!

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Helmet Head

So happy Friday funday. 

We work hard during the week, right.

Today in the office, we replaced some old metal clunker garbage cans with some new clean plastic ones. 

The old ones, every time you threw a bottle or anything hard out, it made a crazy loud banging noise disrupting everyone. 

I started to joke with my colleagues that the dirty, heavy old cans were more useful as a helmet in case of emergency evacuation of something. 

So today the old metal junk cans got a happy face helmet head and a prestigious place next to the office plants.

Everyone had a good hearty laugh!

Honestly, it’s wonderful to be incredibly productive and accomplish a lot for the people, the mission, and all the stakeholders, and at the same time know how to have some fun and make people happy. 

Good for morale and good for teamwork!  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Noticing The Smallest Beauty

My daughter, Rebecca sent me this photo she took.

A little lady bug on the plants outside. 

She told me how important it is to pay attention to the beauty in even the smallest ways out there. 

I was very proud of her!

It’s not the biggest, the loudest, or the baddest that necessarily makes the most impact in the world. 

I hope she (and us) keep on noticing what is really amazing in this world. 

(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)