Monochrome Monday on Wednesday

You can see the other participants in Monochrome Monday at Monochrome Maniacs hosted by Aileni.

theteach

Ruby Tuesday

Happy Ruby Tuesday! Today I have a beautiful lithograph (with a little bit of RED) to show you. It belongs to my sister-in-law and it hangs in her living room opposite her sofa. It was painted by Itzchak Tarkay (tar kai')

Let me tell you a little about Tarkey: from the Knotty Treasures web site

The inspiration for Tarkay's work clearly lies with French Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism, particularly the color sophistication of Matisse and the drawing style of Toulouse-Lautrec, while summing up the characteristics of his model subject without relying on the precise copying of natural forms, or the patient assembling of exact detail.

As well as being a painter and watercolorist, Tarkay is a master graphic artist and his rich tapestry of form and color is achieved primarily through the use of the serigraph. In his serigraphs, many colors are laid over one another and used to create texture and transparency. After exhibiting both in Israel and abroad, he received recognition at the International Art Expo in New York in 1986 and 1987 for works in several forms of media, including oil, acrylic and watercolor.

In 1949 he and his family immigrated to Israel and were sent to a transit camp for new arrivals at Beer Ya'akov. Their next two years were spent in a Kibbutz. Today Tarkay is considered one of the most influential artists of the early 21st Century and his contemplative depiction of the female figure.

Biography:
Itzchak Tarkay was born in 1935 in Subotica on the Yugoslav Hungarian border. When he was only nine years old, the Nazis sent Tarkay to Mathausen concentration camp. After the war, he returned home and developed an interest in art. While still at school in Subotica, he won a prize for excellence in painting.

In 1951, Tarkay received a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem, where he studied for a year before having to leave due to difficult financial circumstances at home. In order to continue his scholarship, he was allowed to study under the artist Schwartzman until his mobilization to the Israeli army. After returning to the familiar environment of Tel Aviv, Tarkay enrolled in the Avni Institute of Art, which he graduated in 1956. His teachers there were Mokady, Janko, Schtreichman and Sematsky.

Tarkay has since exhibited extensively both in Israel and abroad, and his works can be found in many public and private collections.

I posted Ruby Tuesday at 4:00 PM.

Feel free to sign Mr. Linky and comment. Please visit all your fellow participants.

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theteach

A Ruby Tuesday Announcement - Something New!

Hi guys there's gonna be something new at RUBY TUESDAY, something I think you'll like.

First I think you'll notice our new badge: the RUBY slippers Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz. Aren't they beauties!

I hope you like the badge. I love it myself! Feel free to take it and use it for your RUBY TUESDAY post. Just right-click on the badge, click on "Save Image as," and save it to your desktop. Then upload it to your RT post.



Next I'd like to suggest a little addition to our meme. In two weeks (Tuesday, Jan. 6th) I'd like to do a Ruby Tuesday in which we take photos of RED SIGNS.

The SIGN can be ALL RED or have just a little RED in it. It can be a poster, a neon sign, any kind of sign at all. It can be serious or funny or have a mistake in it.

So whaddya think? Hope you try to participate if you can. But remember you can post anything you like if you can't find a sign.

Of course I look forward to this week's RUBY TUESDAY, Dec. 30. I have a little RED in a artist's painting to show you!

theteach

Manic Monday - tradition

Mo's word TRADITION has prompted me to get serious this week. My "pointed" point is made at the end of the article.

Via New York Times

At a Boys’ Catholic School, Tradition Fuels Demand

Uli Seit for The New York Times

Selective Orientation at Chaminade High School in Mineola. About 1,600 boys applied last year for 425 freshman spots.

By WINNIE HU

Published: September 26, 2008

MINEOLA

UNLIKE most Roman Catholic schools in the New York area, which embrace students regardless of their religion, Chaminade High School here requires a baptismal certificate to register.

“No exception,” said the Rev. James C. Williams, a cherub-faced priest who is the school’s president. “We advertise that pretty clearly because this is who we are. I don’t have room for all the Catholics who want to be here.”

Indeed, more than 1,600 boys from as far as Manhattan and Westchester County applied last year for 425 freshman seats at Chaminade, which many consider one of Long Island’s premier private schools and a relative bargain at $6,660 a year. Chaminade, founded in 1930 and now the Island’s only all-boys Catholic school, has thrived by staying unabashedly Catholic and traditional.

As the school year began this month, Chaminade students bowed their heads for a 10-minute morning prayer, repeated in an abbreviated version before every class. “Here I Am, Lord,” drifted through the hallways as the glee club practiced for a school Mass. Shortly before noon, the chapel filled with teenagers for a lunchtime prayer service.

No talk here of squaring Catholic teachings with secular realities. In 2005, out of concern over excessive materialism and alcohol consumption, Chaminade canceled its prom and later replaced it with a modest dinner cruise around Manhattan. There is a strict dress code that also prohibits facial hair.

Despite a recent haircut, Dominic DaRocha, a freshman, spent an hour during the first week of classes cleaning up the school library because his dark brown mop fell below ear level — a violation. “I thought I kind of deserved it,” Dominic, 13, said after a second haircut. “I know it’s a good school, and that’s all that really matters.”

Enrollment at Long Island’s 11 Catholic high schools is up about 7 percent since 2002, to nearly 13,000 (though down about 20 percent at elementary schools), according to officials with the Rockville Centre Diocese, which covers Long Island.

Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese, said, “What we’re seeing anecdotally is that people are saving their money and saying we can’t do both, so we’re going to put them in public elementary school and then put them in Catholic high school.”

But perhaps no place is more popular than Chaminade, which has top-notch academic and athletic programs and last summer expanded its campus with a $20 million sports and activities complex. Donations from a high-powered alumni network that includes former Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato, County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi and the television commentator Bill O’Reilly paid for the project.

Parents like Gina and James McGovern pay school taxes of more than $10,000 a year in Merrick but switched their 14-year-old son, Terence, to Chaminade this year so he could discuss issues like poverty, social justice and respect for life from a Catholic perspective.

“We’re not proselytizing or preaching, we’re simply looking for an opportunity to have a school system that supports the lessons we’re teaching in our home,” said Mrs. McGovern, a former PTA president. “I think the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that it makes religious expression difficult or uncomfortable in public school.”

Read more

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Parents who want to send their children to private schools, and pay dearly for that privilege, so that the school supports the lessons they teach at home, have every right to do so. But to expect that they should be able to express their religious beliefs in public school and feel comfortable about it are completely wrong. Public school is no place for expressions of private religious beliefs.

theteach

Shadow Shot Sunday #32

There were no shadows outside today or yesterday but these are inside shadows from windows. I added a little film grain for interest.

theteach

In Memoriam

The First Anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

In Remembrance.

theteach

Looking at the Sky on Friday

Looking at the Sky on Friday is Tish Black's meme at Crazy Working Mom.

Here's my sky post for the day after Christmas:



Autumn 2008

theteach

How to Make a Snow Globe

How to Make a Snow Globe

By eHow Hobbies, Games & Toys Editor

Those delightful balls of water and snow! Now you can make your own.

Things You’ll Need:

• Acrylic Paints
• Glitter
• Glitter
• Hot Glues
• Polymer Clays
• Snow Globes
• Acrylic Paints
• Baby Food Jars
• Eyebrow Tweezers
• Mineral Oils
• Canning Jars
• Clear Jars
• Glass Storage Jars
• Silicone Sealants
• Canning jars

Step1

Use a clean glass jar with a lid.

Step2

Choose a clean object to put inside the globe, or make your own. Plastic, aluminum or baked polymer clay are ideal for wet environments.

Step3

Hot-glue the object to the inside of the lid.

Step4

Boil two to three eggs and peel the shells off.

Step5

Use tweezers to remove the skin that sticks to the insides of the shells. That skin will float in your globe if you don't remove it.

Step6

Crush the shells to form snow and put it in the jar.

Step7

Fill the jar with mineral oil. Allow room for the object, which will displace some of the oil.

Step8

Squeeze a strip of silicone sealer around the threads of the lid.

Step9

Screw the lid on tight. You may want to paint it.

Here's a Holiday present from me to you. Click the link and ENJOY!

The Weepies Snowglobe

theteach

Monochrome Monday on Wednesday

The Snuff Mill
New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx, NY

The Lorrillard Snuff Mill is located on the Bronx River and can be rented for weddings. It is closed for renovations at this time but it should be opening soon. I took this shot from a bridge that crosses the Bronx River.

theteach

Ruby Tuesday

Robin of Around the Island has a wonderful and informative post from 2007 about Hanukkah which began last night. Go over and take a look!



Here are my photos for this Ruby Tuesday:

The gazebo in the town square.



Poinsettias I



Poinsettias II (using Curves filter of Adobe Photo Shop)




Please visit all the other participants of RUBY TUESDAY.

Please sign Mr. Linky and leave a comment.




TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN THE BLOGOSPHERE!

theteach

~PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR MANIC MONDAY~

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah (Hebrew: חנוכה‎, IPA: ['χanuka], alt. Chanukah), also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, and may occur from late November to late December on the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a special candelabrum, the Menorah or Hanukiah, one light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. An extra light called a shamash (Hebrew: "guard" or "servant") is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher or lower than the others. The purpose of the extra light is to adhere to the prohibition, specified in the Talmud (Tracate Shabbat 21b–23a), against using the Hanukkah lights for anything other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah story. (The shamash is used to light the other lights.) As such, if one were to read from the lights–something prohibited–then it's not clear whether the light one's reading from was from the Hanukkah lights or the shamash light. So the shamash acts as a safeguard from accidental transgression.

HAPPY HANUKKAH TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS WHO ARE CELEBRATING!

theteach

Manic Monday - tree

Mo has given us the word TREE for Manic Monday.

Although it was raining an icy rain, Vinny and I went out this morning to help Rose put the lights on her Christmas tree. Her tree had been delivered and placed in the stand a couple of days ago by the delivery man. It was ready to be decorated but first the lights had to be strung.

We spent a couple of hours stringing the lights and did a pretty good job, I think. We strung the lights from the top down which seems to be a no-no in all the instructions you find on the Internet. Ha!

Here's Rose's tree with the lights and an angel topper. Now she has to put on the ornaments.

Go visit all the other Manic Monday participants here.

theteach

A Christmas Story-Creative Photography

During the day, in my neighborhood, ever since inflatable Christmas figures gained popularity, you will see Santa, Rudolf, or snowmen lying flat on the grass just like the one below.

But when evening comes all the Christmas lights are turned on and Santa rises, rises up (by means of a little electric fan inside), fat and cheery, for everyone to meet and greet in the night!



Hey Santa, Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!



I added some noise (filter) to both my photographs for Creative Photography, Roger's well-known meme.

theteach

Snow!

Our first snow to speak of today. Mayor Bloomberg said to expect 6 inches and that he had the plows out already. Good for him! When I went out it was somewhat icy and my anti-lock brakes were working full time.

I think we got only about 3 inches at the end of the fall. It's supposed to rain tonight which would make me happy so I wouldn't have to shovel.

theteach

Beautiful Holiday Blog award

Well this is the last weekend before the Christmas Holiday for me to give out the Beautiful Holiday Blog award. It's been fun for me.

So I want to give it to 4 blogs this time:

Lois's Lowdown from Lois

Mo's It's A Blog Eat Blog World



Gattina's Keyhole Pictures



And Jamie's Duward Discussion



There weren't enough weeks before Christmas to award each one of these beautiful blogs separately so here they are together. Click on the links to go to the blogs and enjoy their Christmas spirit and wonderful posts.



I will send Lois, Mo, Gattina and Jamie (if they're willing to give me their home addresses in e-mail) each the set of 5 holiday bookmarks you see below.

Also I offer to the winners the "Beautiful Holiday Blog" award badge above to take and post on their sidebar.

So winners, MY E-MAIL ADDRESS IS ON MY SIDEBAR. Send me your address and I'll mail the bookmarks right away!



HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

theteach