Shabbat Shalom Y’All

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Beautiful People

I ran into this lovely lady in Rockville. 

Obviously, she has a disability, but I was so impressed with her. 

She had this cute dog sitting on her lap while in her wheelchair. 

And the wheelchair had this awesome colorful mosaic in the wheels. 

She seemed to be with family that loved her.

They stopped to stay hello and permitted me to take a photo. 

I was so inspired by them.

There are truly beautiful people in the world and they make the world a wonderful place for all of us. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Theater And A Bagel

We stopped in at the Flying V Awesome-A-Thon yesterday. 

How can anything “awesome” not be good? 

Flying V mixes it up with the arts and culture. 

They combine theater with wrestling!

Essentially, this group tries to add adventure and combat to the more staid dramatic performances. 

Anything that brings theater more alive is definitely a good thing. 

We got to sit in on the event organizers doing a live podcast and could definitely see their enthusiasm for “Shakespeare and training” and becoming a success story.  

Anyway, they did have some snacks at the event, and this colorful bagel was definitely the standout. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Rainbow Cake :)

Rainbow cake is happy. 

Price is not bad for $3.99.

Calories are horrific at 750!

What happened to the broken blue part of the cake at the bottom–maybe that’s where another 50 calories got lopped off. 

Anyway, it’s Friday and I want to wish everyone a happy Rainbow Cake weekend and a Shabbat Shalom!

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

@Garden Of Light — Brookside Gardens

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Light Up Your Life

We’ve seen colored light bulbs before…very hippie.

However, I like the Misfit Bolt, which is a multi-colored bulb, whose combinations are controlled by an app on your smartphone or -watch. 

It’s was introduced at the Consumer and Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas this week. 

And it has lighting that simulates landscapes such as a beach sunset, forest, island volcano, rainbow, and more. 

It can also be set as an alarm to wake you up to a simulated sunrise.

At $50, it’s more than a mood ring–how you feeling today, buddy?

But how nice to relax to, wake up with, and to create some pick me up feeling lighting around you. 😉

Colors Of Race

With the race riots in Ferguson again this week, the divide between black and white is once again evident in America.

 

Coming from big city life in America, like New York City and Washington D.C., I’ve grown up in divided neighborhoods and united organizations.

 

For example, just this morning, my daughter and I walking down Las Olas had to duck into an Illy’s coffee shop when an impoverished (black) man in dirty clothes and talking loudly to himself turned around on the street and was coming up steadily behind us in a threatening way. Similarly, the day before, there was a (white) lady at the bus stop talking out loud, hallucinating, and thrashing…also scary in this otherwise posh neighborhood.  In other words, these issues are race-agnostic!

 

Simultaneously, I go to synagogue where blacks and whites (as well as “black hatters” and the modern religious) sit and pray and socialize together, and go to work where many of my esteemed coworkers are African-Americans, and watch as one of my daughter’s best friend in school and who she blabs with on the phone is a nice young man who happens to be black

 

Also, I remember last year I think it was having to move a heavy piece of furniture and one of my black neighbors went out of his way to help me get it upstairs–he was incredibly generous and he and many others where I live are friendly, neighborly, and we live side-by-side together.

 

We need to move from racial inequality to racial harmony!

 

We don’t have to wait for an alien invasion to realize we are all human beings here on Earth and that we share more than not.

 

In Fort Lauderdale, by Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University, and Broward College, the actual intersections of the street are pained in multi-color. 

 

I love it..not black and white, but the colors of the rainbow…mixed, flowing, getting along, and happy.

 

Let it be–black and white, yellow, brown, and red–a melting pot, together throughout the world in peace and prosperity. 

 

No more rioting in Ferguson or elsewhere, but celebration of humanity–nothing more, nothing less. 😉

 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Skiing The Rainbow

After the rain stopped finally, we got to go jet skiing off the Ft. Lauderdale beach.

The waves were insane though…

The instructor tells us, “Oh be careful, because the waves can turn the jet ski over–especially when you’re coming in and out–and it weights 900 pounds!”

Trying to get on this thing with the sand shifting under my feet and the waves making this thing flip up like a bucking bronco–let’s just say that I had more than a few second thoughts.

But for my daughter’s sake, we went forward–BTW Rebecca, you were very brave and I thank you for making me do these things and come out of my comfort zone.

It was a scary, but amazing time, and a spectacular rainbow came out for the event (in fact, it was a double rainbow, which I had never even heard of).

Being a bunch of city kids, this was an awesome sight for us.

Thanks to my wife for taking the short video of our journey today, and thank you to G-d for bringing me to this moment.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Amazing 60’s VW Van

Driving toward Rockville, I saw this incredible 60’s VW van with all the flaming rainbow designs for peace, love, and rock & roll.

It was parked on top of this bright orange and blue garage–not sure how it got up there.

I asked my wife to quickly snap a photo as we went by, and she was successful.

While I wasn’t even born yet, when this van would’ve been all the rage, I can still feel reminiscent for the times–when things seemed so much simpler and in a way, purer.

In my mind, it was a time when people rallied around democracy, freedom, human rights, peace and diversity.

While they didn’t know from personal computers, smartphones, and the Internet, people were full of hopes and dreams–perhaps that what ushered in all the great technology that soon followed.

(Source photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)