No Idle hands here

We Jews are not allowed to mourn our dead or celebrate the heroic rescue of our hostages. By Oct. 8 it was all about the poor Palis, not a word about the brutality done to peace loving Israelis. They were the ones who went out of their way for peace. Within minutes of announcing the rescue – the news media decided to go with ‘release’ as if it was voluntary. Then they started piling on with how unfair it is to kill Palis for just 4 miserable Jews. these day, I don’t give a shit – they all are Hamas – let them die.

I understand, you can’t have love without hate. Since most hate has been outlawed, the only one permitted in antisemitism – boy oh boy are we seeing it writ large!

We lost a heroic solider in this operation. May Arnons’ memory be a blessing.

Now, the world is moaning about the death of a ‘journalist’ and his father the ‘doctor’ – no mention that they held the three men hostage in their home – that makes them terrorists.

I am still celebrating and praying that we get the rest of the hostages home – of course now Biden has decided to go it alone and negotiate with Hamas directly for the Americans. What will he do when those people immediately go home to Israel? I hate the Cabal that is running America right now, but probably not as much as they hate me.

Aytan graduated from 8th grade. Here he is with his wonderful teacher Miss Dion. she wears a mask for health reasons, not political ones.

She is truly special, even if Aytan was blasé about eh whole thing

The ceremony was very short, as all graduations should be. then there was cake!

Einav graduated from nursery school.

Songs were sung, too many to my mind, but maybe I’ve just had enough of these.

The whole family

Just the graduate!

Anyone remember this little Bedouin girl? The one person seriously wounded in the Iranian Barrage of rockets almost two months ago. She woke up from her coma – this is what should be celebrated.

Yesterday was one of those days when the useful idiots were told to put up an image that said: all eyes on Gaza. It helped me know which people to remove from my IG feed. Of course the Jews and our supporters responded, but we are tiny – so the useful idiots probably won’t notice. Oh well, we soldier on.

Just like the initial hospital bombing turned out to be a miscalculation by Hamas, the 45 dead in Rafah are completely their doing. One of the ways of protecting the two evil terrorist masterminds was to have a huge munitions site right near by. Once again, get world sympathy by killing more Gazans. It worked, although the truth is now out there – truth is meaningless if you have to destroy the Jews.

Our friends Brooke and Tom invited us to their Church, Bel Air Presbyterian. Brooke headed a committee that created a pro Jewish, pro Israel event. In conjunction with Patricia Heatons’ new group O7C and Maman a Jewish organization, they had 10 days to put this event together.

My first time in this church. Sorry for the blue light, irl it is very nice, but that is all the camera captures.

Patricia came with her co-founder Elizabeth from Nashville to speak about how disappointed they were in the Christian community for being silent after Oct 7. So they started a grass roots organization. Their hope soon is to be on college campuses and support Hillel and the Jews on campus.

My pictures are pretty bad, but here they are. The girl on the left is a 14 year old survivor from Nir Oz, one of the kibbutzim. She, her mother and brother survived and she told her story. Her father did not, one of her cousins was kidnapped to Gaza – thankfully he was among the group returned in November.

The girl on the right survived the Nova festival and had a harrowing story to tell about running 7 km to safety. When she arrived home she found out that her brother, a soldier was killed trying to save the Kibbutz that the first girl was on.

An Israeli musician, living in Nashville. He left his wife and young baby there to go to fight in Israel for 4 months.

Amazing stories. For all the massive hate out there, it is the small points of light that will make the difference.

One thing I and other Jews are noticing is that for most useful idiots – its not about peace or fighting for anyones rights. Its all about antisemitism. for 70 years it wasn’t really allowed, but lets be honest – the world thrives on antisemitism. So once the cork blew -it is raging everywhere. our new normal.

The Canada geese are having babies and the Dads are vicious! So I give them a wide berth.

These ones are a few weeks older, so yeah, the parents are still with them, but not quite as protective.

Antisemitism is at an all time high, so seeing this in my neighborhood is reassuring. I happen to know the woman who has this mini flag is Jewish, these days it makes her a brave woman.

We had part two Of Celine and Greg’s wedding. Part of the Jewish ceremony hadn’t been done in Cabo, and at the same time, the official state marriage license had to be submitted. So we got together for a small service. Yishai honored Celine again with the bow-tie

This time kids were invited.

no need for a dress code.

My two granddaughters.

Having a little fun.

Girl cousins, this time Celines’ two nieces were flower girls.

And baby Jack the ring bearer. Poor Lola broke a finger – for just a finger they put on a whole cast. and no, Jack was only given the rings at the very last minute – no one wanted them lost. Celine has a beautiful diamond band – so for this ceremony – what the Rabbi asked for a simple gold band. And unlike Joel, this was a real Rabbi. In a Jewish wedding one doesn’t need a Rabbi, but it is very nice – also, he is the state official who signed the state documents.

I LOVE Lynettes dress!

The nieces and nephew at work. while the girls scattered the rose petals, Jack tried to pick them all up.

The bride, this time in a dress she can wear again. Roberta thought the Rabbi might think it too short – I told her, it is fine, her shoulders are covered, a little knee is not a problem. She was also concerned that the heels are too high. Celine, I told you 15 years ago – don’t stop wearing heels until you absolutely can’t! The Rabbi doesn’t care about heels.

Here we are, ceremony no. 2. I’m just thrilled that Celine found a wonderful Jewish man to marry.

Love the picture, I hate the color of my hair. I don’t want to be a blond, so I will be finding a new hairdresser, why is it hard to do brown????

At least Shira and I love each other.

I have words, the Biden Cabal are evil and there is nothing Democratic about them. They want Hamas in place, the idea of Israel winning any war is too much for them. Heck, they don’t like Americans winning wars. Looks what they did in Afghanistan.

Cam celebrated his 8th birthday, and finally, he has front teeth again.

Mandy organized Mothers’ Day this year, it was lovely. We went to Paradise Cove Cafe, had a great brunch and a walk on the beach. Being May Gray – we never saw the sun.

Aytan is almost as tall as his dad. They forgot that beach on a May morning can be quite cold. so Aytan is wearing Joel’s jacket and Erez is wearing Joel’s car sweatshirt. Bought over 20 years ago when Erez was an oversea Student at the university of Bologna.

The kids had their own table – yay!

Lovely walk on the beach.

Granddaughters.

Grandsons, I know, Aytan isn’t in the pictures. On top of being a teenager, he is going through a very difficult stage right now.

Once again, thank you Mandy for organizing this.

We found driftwood and wonderful rocks

The brave ones, who walked into the water.

All in all, an absolutely wonderful morning.

Its’ actually been a few weeks, so back to regular programing.

The Jews aren’t being silent and being led away to gas chambers this time. Right after 10/7 hundreds of thousands of posters of the kidnapped were put up all over the world. That became the battle of the posters, tear down – put up. So now UCLA (thank you UC regents for siding with Hamas) has a massive tent city. My son and family went to the counter protest – flags, songs, support for Jews. Someone else got a better idea – force the idiots sitting there with their nail polish and bad slogan to watch what really happened on 10/7. Who knows, maybe someone walking by who thinks none of this has anything to do with them – will stand and watch – and realize how much evil there is in the world, and how it must be fought. Meanwhile, Columbia has been taken over, literally, buildings occupied.

A few months ago I bought extra genraniums to fill the pots. I used to have the stupid idea that is I water enough, the one plant would grow to fill the pot. Turned out that isn’t how it works, so this spring, my backdoor geraniums look lovely.

the wisteria at the park looks and smells lovely.

One of the local front yards has it’s CA poppies blooming. These are hybrids, cuz otherwise how does one get the yellow? Pretty with way.

Me getting my hair done by the best hairdressing crew around.

Had a wonderful Seder and Passover, with very few pictures. We had an empty chair for the hostages. There is another round of negotiations going on – don’t know if once again Hamas will say no. It is very painful. It is also very painful for the families of fallen soldiers to think that the war won’t be complete – That Hamas will survive in Rafah – that Joe Biden Cabal will once again for Israel to lose.

Westley participated in a project called lemonade stand – where he learned the basics of business. He is the only one out of 23 kids, who donated a share of his winnings to a charity called Mychals Learning Place, almost $200!

They were so impressed with his effort, they donated cookies to give out along with the lemonade. I love that my grandkids are learning very good life lessons.

A friend helping out.

This is what a useful idiot looks and sounds like. Coachella in the desert didn’t do to well, but Coachella at Columbia is doing just fine. Will these kids grow up and become adults – or are they just waiting for Biden to have tax-payers pay off their student loans? I’d say the latter. The world has become and interesting place – but not a better one.

Flagler College, once the Ponce De Leon hotel, built by Flagler. It is fair to say that he is the father of modern Florida, building the railroad all they way down to Key west with hotels and development along the way. Thanks to him Miami became the huge metropolis it is today.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take the tour of the dining hall in the college. It has the most Tiffany stained glass windows anywhere. Oh well, can’t do everything.

Anyone can go into the lobby. Here parents and prospective students are getting a tour. Also, look at that ceiling! I have to say, I didn’t see any pro Hamas paraphernalia anywhere around any of the college buildings. Going south for college is a much better bet than any of the Ivies these days.

Incredible mosaic floor.

These are only a few of the details one can see in this lobby.

People would come and stay here for the whole winter, escaping that northern cold.

Look at that woodwork!

Meet Henry Flagler, I love that someone gave him a hibiscus flower to hold.

Love the brickwork!

Found the synagogue, it was a Thursday – so no one was around.

Lovely looking building, in the old town, not far from the oldest house. Someone was getting married at the oldest house, didn’t get a picture, but it was nice to see.

Love the mosaic decorations over the main entrance.

Some more mosaic and stained glass, all seen from the exterior.

And that is it, the next day, we drove through Daytona Beach (meh, very meh) on to Orlando to fly home.

Welcome to St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the US. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, there have been people living here ever since. No I’m not getting into ‘but the natives were always here’. When I get the respect for Jews being native to Israel and returning after 2000 years in exile – then maybe I’ll pay attention to the claims of other natives – until then – go pond sand. This building is now Flagler college, but started life as a hotel. More on that later.

On the right, a fountain in St. Augustine, on the left – Savannah, I’d say the same foundry made both of them.

Old gates to the city. although there is plenty of history, it sort of felt more like Disneyland. We had a great guide, Angie, who really knew her stuff- which was very informative. But unlike Savannah where the history is celebrated, here it felt like a backdrop for tourist.

Castillo de San Marcos. Built in the late 17th c. to protect from both pirates and the British. It is built from Coquina – a local ‘stone’ limestone made mostly from shells. Didn’t go into to it. We had our fort in Sort Pulaski. I’ll be honest, one more day here and this would have been on my list.

This isn’t one of the oldest buildings, it’s just that Florida weather will do this to wood.

One of the many churches, I think Flagler built this one in honor of his daughter who died young. By this time on the vacation, there were too many things to remember.

The cathedral tower.

Tallest building in all of St. Augustine, today it is called the treasury and is an event location. In 1927 it was the Art Deco bank building. Like so many other cities – banks built big and Art Deco was the style. Early on. the city fathers realized that they didn’t want a city of sky scrappers. So the limited the hight of buildings to 4 stories – to this day- this holds true even in the modern city – although now of course, these rules are being bent and broken

An eagle at one of the fountains.

A frog at another.

The bridge of lions, sorry, forgot to take a picture of them, there are two sets on both sides of the bridge. Meanwhile, the drawbridge can open every half hour for tall boats. Which is why we didn’t go over the bridge to visit the lighthouse.

someone had breakfast in their car. I guess they didn’t like it all that much. Also, I don’t want to think about the smell when they get back.

Famous St. George street, yes a lot of kitschy shopping here.

We are definitely in Florida.

A useful chart of terms. Btw, at Columbia, when the police finally arrived to dismantle the pro-Hamas murdering camp. Someone was yelling that they would repeat Oct 7 10,000 times. I bet if you asked that evil person beforehand – they would deny anything happened on 10/7 and that the Jews started it all. Another question – who bought all those lovely new green tents for the encampment? I say Soros inc. which means any of the many lefty non profits that hate Israel and America.

It was pouring cats and dogs the whole way down to St. Augustine. So we stopped at Buc-ees. A huge gas station with a huge market – at least as big as the Costco across the street. Their emblem is the beaver – here he is.

A small section of what they sell.

Joel bought a shirt.

We also got brisket sandwiches. Sorry no pictures. There is no where to eat in the megamart – so we ran out in the rain to our car and ate there. Not elegant but boy was it delicious.

The rain was still coming down in buckets, what does one do in the rain? Go to a classic car museum of course.

there were plenty of other people with the same idea. This place owns classics, stores classics for other people and also sell some of them

That Bakelite Indian head! not to mention the color of the car. And no, I don’t know the year or make, I’m just admiring the craftsmanship.

I did notice the Sinclair oil sign, yes, I still get gas from Sinclair, and sometimes, the Dino is sitting outside.

I was surprised to see Gilmore Gasoline. I thought it was only a waistcoast chain. Maybe it made it’s way east, or maybe they just found these old pumps and put them in the museum.

they brought this ambulance from Yreka CA, so why not the gas pumps?

How about a classic pickup truck?

I took this picture for Eyal, he informed me that he doesn’t like Spiderman, he likes the HULK! Oh well, I tried.

Met anther woman from Palos Verde, she was visiting her daughter in S Carolina. They were on spring break with the kids.

By the time we left the museum, the rain had stopped, and it was off to the hotel and then to explore St. Augustine.

I’ve been saying this for years, one of the many reasons they hate us is because we don’t let them forget. You’d think, six months isn’t a long time. But our haters have been saying for six months, that there is no evidence for what happened. When Truth doesn’t matter, nothing matters.

I had heard of Jekyll island, to me, it was just a name. I was told I had to go if only to see driftwood beach. It actually helped that it was raining, the whole atmosphere made the beach all the eerier.

One has to pay $10 just to get onto the Island, its’ called a parking fee. Smart move if I may say so. These trees aren’t driftwood, they have grown here and fallen onto the beach.

Its’ clearly raining!

I love this atmospheric feeling on this beach.

Got to love all this greenery, that is what you get for the rain.

Driving through a tunnel of live oaks, with Spanish moss in the rain.

Since the late 19th century, this has been a retreat for the rich, Rockafeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer built cottages and a large club house. Don’t you love this kind of cottage?

This is Moss Cottage, in the rain.

Goodyear cottage, btw, I didn’t get out in the rain. So these pictures were taking from the car. Goodyear is Frank Henry Goodyear – a lumber baron.

This one is called Indian Mound. Clearly if Had planned well, it would have been fun to go into one of these. But I didn’t.

The Clubhouse, which today is still a hotel. Didn’t stop at the museum or the other sights – it was time to drive in the rain down to Florida.

Canadians! Please vote for this guy! The left worldwide has been destroying Western civilization. That can’t continue. Meanwhile, Saturday was surreal, watching live the footage from Israel as the iron dome downed 99% of the rockets from Iran. My family were in shelters. And now Biden is demanding that Israel not retaliate – while he has removed all sanctions on Iran. American Jews, please wake up – the Dems hate us now. But you’ll continue to vote for Biden – because orange man bad. The clown world is getting to be unbearable.

Since it was a big birthday this year, I wanted something special during the trip. So I booked us into the 5 start Cloister resort on Sea Island GA. Yes, I got to see how the 1% live. Very nicely btw.

Sure, these experiences aren’t cheap, but look what they did for me – a special birthday cake, delivered to the room. At dinner there was champaign and Tiramisu.

One of the halls of fame, with photos of the history of the resort as well as the many important people who visited.

What a library! A little crowded with all this seating, but oh my!

A delightful beach house. Beaches are different on the east coast, lovely in their own way.

Local seabird.

Quite a few lovely pools. Btw, the 1% are having kids! most families had 2 or three kids. It was Spring break, and the place was full of young families. Sure, we enjoyed sitting by the adult pool, but I love seeing all these kids.

Very relaxing, just what we needed.

LOVE this mirror. Not for my home, for a resort. I did go into the shops, just because. Sorry, can’t buy a bathing suit for $370, or a little hairclip for $20. I did see a lot of the women wearing the beach coverups they bought here, bless them all.

The Spa waiting area. of course we both had massages.

what is not to love?

I’m like Reagan, I love Calvin Coolidge. Nice that he planted this wonderful oak.