Shirley it's a thought I try to avoid but the reality is I must return on April 24. Visa regulations limit me to 3 months in Israel which means I will be overstaying by two weeks as it is. But we both wanted to celebrate Passover together, hence the unauthorized extension.  In a perfect world I would remain here here forever.

Shirley the flowers are called Gerbera.


Gerbera

Cheerful, warm colours or cooler pastels and a long succession of blooms are among the reasons to grow this member of the daisy family or Asteraceae. Often sold as cut flowers or grown as houseplants and summer bedding, there are now hardy species available which further increase their appeal.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbera

https://www.serenataflowers.com/pollennation/10-surprising-facts-about-gerbera-flowers/

Thank you, Bubble, for the name.... they look like some I planted a few years ago (without success) that are the Gerbera/daisy variety and the size of a zinnia (palm of my hand)...... I never saw any as large as yours but we do grow the giant Russian sunflowers that size.  Yours are beautiful (did good, Don  )...

Sorry we can't go & stay where we are happy, Don, I guess you can come to the US & join all the other illegals.  I will not get into that~  As long as I've been reading your posts you sound like you found "home" there.  My feeling of home was where my parents grew up, I never lived there but there is no reasoning when our heart feels at peace. 

Hal, did you ever have a round Warm Morning stove to dress by?  When my parents bought a place on the edge of town right after brothers got home from WWII, it had a Warm Morning in the kitchen that Mother would get roaring, put a teakettle full of water on for Dad to shave & then another to make coffee.... and we would do our finish up dressing nearly burning our skin off snuggling close to that stove.  Didn't take Dad long before he cut a vent just above it to let heat go up to the bedrooms, & soon we had all the services installed. 

Jackie, you are so ornery (that is a fun person always full of ideas)....  Jeanne Lee, don't encourage her, you two are going to get us into trouble yet!   I'm going to try to get laundry done today, y'all behave!

IMHO,  "Home is where you hang your heart"

May we all find a peaceful, loving place that we can call "Home"

Sandy

In my case, home is where my furniture is.  I will say that when I think of "home", it is the house where I grew up.  I lived there for 50 years and I've lived in my condo for 35 years.  When I want to know which direction is North, I figuratively stand on the front porch of the house where I grew up because the porch is on the north side of the house.  One of my more crazy ideas!

Mary Ann

Good morning from the Interior!

My home is Alaska and preferably Fairbanks and its environs. A place that is peaceful, tenacious, infinite, beautiful, and full of Alaskans, visitors from the lower forty-eight, and hosts multitudes of people from all over the globe.

And it is where I've always returned to. A sense of wonder exists here and it is the land and the people that shape it.

After all the years here I still think fondly of HOME in UK . I miss it specially when all lmy  family still alive. All my friends. I have managed to get back about 15 times so was able to still feel a part.  Been over 2 years now and so need to try soon.
After I retired I thought of spending 6 months here and 6 months there.  Got to be a lot more expensive in the UK.  Should have bought a cottage before I retired.

Took my camera down to the river this evening, not an outstanding time for light or number of trees cut down by the beaver.... Mama Callie follows me anywhere I go, just like a dog.  She loves to roll in the sand but moves so fast I had trouble keeping her in focus! 

Busy Beaver


Mama Callie

I have yet to find my perfect home, but I hope and pray it is there waiting for me...But here on earth, I guess Watford Hertfordshire will always be my home in my heart....it is the place of my family...and many sentimental memories of being taken by mother as a young child, then taking my own young daughter to Cassiobury Park...

SHIRLEY....
...dont you just want to rub the tummy of that white ball of fluff? she looks so contented....Ha ha, she sure is keeping an eye on you...

Shirley, Callie looks like she is ready for a belly rub.  Mimi does that but stays for as long as I rub. 

I have lived in my present home since 1960 and have no intentions of moving so long as health holds up.   My childhood home was the third floor over a bar.  Many fond memories but would not want to go back (unable to since now torn down)   

Guess I was half asleep when I posted those photos.... only 2 & mixed their titles.     Callie does love a belly rub but best of all, a rub over her shoulders, can feel her body vibrate as she purrs.  Poor baby, wonder if she ever belonged to anyone, she is a totally different personality than Lauren & we saw Lauren from almost birth when her mother brought the 3 babies to our back yard during the coldest winter.  I called every animal organization possible to see if any would take them if if we trapped.  Terrible to see cats dart out from under a building to grab a bite of dry bread we were feeding ducks.  We were told "you feed & we consider them yours", which meant getting rabies shots, spay neuter & other shots besides feeding. 

In the end we let Animal Control trap the mama & the other 2 babies, I cried my eyes out knowing they were being taken to their immediate death.  Horrible.... I think Cas was as bothered by that as I was & why when Callie gave him her babies years later, he was okay with having all 3 "fixed" & brought back here to live free.  Callie had already moved back across the street, was when the neighbor told us she had been feeding her for a couple years, why we don't know how old she is.  She never made "touchy" friends with those people but that house was "home" to her, but they did have her spayed.  We didn't see her for 2 years until they moved and Cas was already dead.  So that's how I became the cat lady instead of the bird lady. 

Thanks, Jackie & Jack.... she really is a sweetie & sticks with me like glue, right under my feet.  She was the reason I fell the day I was to pick up the RV a couple years ago, trying not to step on her & did a flip on the concrete porch, landed on my rear & head flew back to crack against the brick wall.  What a morning!  We have a new routine lately, she still sleeps in the garage in her heated bed but she comes in to eat breakfast with the other "kids" & within whistle distance all day, either in the garage with door open a few inches so she can come & go, or sleeping across the street to watch my driveway.  She comes inside in the evening until time for me to go to bed.  So far I haven't caught her marking her territory since that first time & they all are getting along fine.  LaurenKat still rules & will hiss at any that gets in her face, but now I need to either find someone that will feed her when I am gone or take her, do not need 4 cats to travel with!

Enough talk, back to photos!  Had a wake up moment during the night about cameras & batteries.... I have the older Lumix cameras & been a year since I've charged batteries.  The original FZ 1 (2 of them) batteries are gone but I can't remember if I left them in the camera last time or took them out.  When I bought the 2nd FZ1  the price was about half what I paid originally so I justified paying the extra to have a spare battery.  I eventually bought an "off brand" pair of batteries but in no time they only held about 10 min charge.  I need to see if any of the schools would use them if I donated for the tax rite-off.  I have boxes & receipts & all the manuals & CDs that came with them. 

I really liked this FZ1 because it would recover faster than the later ones that had such big files.  I tested the one driving 70 mph down the highway past a mile long display of metal sculptures that are a big attraction in KS.  Got 5 sharp as possible shots & 2 that were fuzzy in that mile.  My husband was driving that time, I used just a slight zoom to get away from the window frame.  The advantage of the larger files is the photos can be cropped & still sharp enough to paint from.  My cameras are all bought with profits from selling paintings so are "tools of the trade".  End of story~

Shirley.

Don't cats get awful Dirty rolling around like that in the muddy places.  How do you clean them up?  Dogs easy to wash but I don' t know about cats.

Jackie.

I remember staying in Hertfordshire. (Watford) a couple times when mother was down there for the winter. It is a nice area.
We always lived up in the North and some nice areas in Summer but awful winters.
I tried to go when she was in Kent  and Bournemouth.  Those are areas I would pick to retire. Specially Bournemouth. I stayed there for a couple months.  My GM on fathers side retired there.  I suppose it has changed now.  Use to be mostly retirees who could afford back then.  Now I hear the young have taken the towns over and lot of the big homes now B and Bs

JEANNE P...
....It is a small world, isn't it? of course it is still cheaper to purchase and live in the North and Midlands...Hertfordshire, because of its commuter belt links into London, has now become rather an expensive place to purchase property and to live...

t was a great day for walk,cool in the shade but warm in the sun, so we headed for the beach. As you can see there is a considerable drop to the beach area and we availed ourselves of the elevator in our descent to the sandy shores. This picture was taken from inside the lift on our way down.

We had the option of playing some volleyball or surfing, but opted to relax.

However, if you pull on my ear I will follow you anywhere.

Don and Bubble, my exercise would be limited to yours in the third photo.   Love those smiles.

I see, volleyball and surfing, but abseiling was out of bounds...

...good to see you both have gotten yourselves out and about at last..." good things come to those who wait..."

Good Morning Everyone,  from the getting warmer and Sunny,  rocky coast of Maine... 

All is well here.   

Ethy  ...  I am curious is your given first name
Ethel?    I ask because My Mothers name was Ethel ...
and I think that the nickname "Ethy"  is cute ...
I think that they called her "Et",  also.   

Have a good Saturday,  Everyone! 
Sandy

Bubble and Don, I dare anyone to look those pictures of you and not get a big grin.  Obvious how much each of you enjoy each other.      

Shirley - Mama Callie is a pretty cat, and you sure have busy beavers. Can you find the dam they're building?

Don and Bubble - Can't help but smile at the happiness in your pictures!

Sandy, I believe that is actually Bubble's given name. Bubble is her nickname.

Lovely, sunny photos! Don, you look like quite the hipsters in those glasses!

Love the photos, Don & Bubble, it really is a "couple" world, so much more fun to share (good times & bad).  I can't get over the difference between the mental image I have always had of that area and the photos y'all show.  Blows my mind!

JeanneP, the cats all love to roll in the sand & dirt.... a pat on their back will billow dust.  A few minutes later they are clean as can be again.  Tom, Tiger & LaurenKat don't have white to show how clean, but Mama Callie sparkles all the time. 

We've been in this house since 1988 & have seen the beaver only a few times, have looked all up & down our side & went across the river with zoom camera looking back as far as I could see, to our side & no sign of the den.  Tonight I see it cut trees down river along the edge, larger than usual ones. Guess it is preparing for spring flooding.

Don and Bubble !  Thanks for sharing those great pictures and it looks like you were having a really fun day.  That beach  area sure looks like there are a lot of things to do there.  Wonderful that there is an elevator to take you down.   Wondering what other way is it to get down to the beach?   Steps,  ramp, dirt or sandy path  I would think most people take the elevator. 

Joy

Don and Bubble. Looks like a great spot.  Lots of cars but not overcrowded.  Now here at U of I we have a Volleyball teem in Wheel chairs. Also Basketball.  All good teems. Looks like warm weather.  Now do you drive a car when there?

Hal, I think we've determined that Bubble and I are compatible.

Beverly that is indeed real happiness you see.

Shirley, families and couples was the order of the day. It was Saturday, Shabbat in the Jewish tradition, the typical day when families flock to the beaches.

Joy there is no direct path from the top of the embankment; it is almost a sheer vertical drop of about a 100 feet. There is paved access to the beach for vehicles and pedestrians.

JeanneP I don't drive in Israel. It is written in one of my travel guides that the worst drivers in the world are in Israel. It doesn't bother Bubble though; she's a real road warrior

Can you guess what is Don's favorite dessert?

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This is the elevator at the end of the "bridge", to access the beach.

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