Since ancient times, Jews have celebrated the New Year of Trees on the 15th of the month of Shvat (February 10 at sundown in 2017). In Israel, the cold, rainy winter is coming to an end and flowering almond trees announce the arrival of spring.
Today, in Israel and the diaspora, TuBishvat has become the Jewish Earth Day and I’m pleased that Jewish educators are planning to include What On Earth Can We Do? in their Tu BiShvat and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) programming.
In honor of Tu BiShvat, I’ve compiled a selection of my photographs and drawings of trees.
Croton-on-Hudson, NY, 1975Providence, RI, 1976Lake Tahoe, NV, 1993Zurich, 2002Red Rock State Park, AZ, 2003Asticou Azalea Garden, Northeast Harbor, MEIstanbul, Turkey, 2005Newton, MA, 2016Newton, MA, 2016
There have been days when I’ve come close to throwing my computer out the window. Like the day the mouse no longer moved the cursor. With a new lightweight laptop for travel and back-up, I wasn’t overly concerned. But when I turned on my back-up computer, its cursor didn’t move, either. Having been my own IT department for 26 years, I had a slew of solutions for earlier problems. None worked. So I brought both computers to the local repair shop. Of course, once there, they worked fine. Home again in my office, neither worked. It’s a good thing my blood pressure makes my doctor envious. After an hour wasted on the phone with tech support, I had a brilliant idea: I walked one computer to another room. Voilà! The cursor moved! The mouse had been trying to connect to both computers. Where were the days when mice didn’t have blue teeth? Give me back my Rapidograph, t-square, and triangle!
But, wait, isn’t that drop shadow cool? I change colors with a click and play with fonts. My design playground is huge. When I draw with a pencil on paper, I miss the “Undo” command. I can erase, but not bring back what I erased or save multiple versions. And, my digital photos aren’t dusty or scratched. Magic.
And the Internet. So much information waiting to be found. Online tutorials, forums for troubleshooting, and search engines make the impossible possible. At first, the Adobe Premiere Pro workspace made as much sense as the control board of a rocket ship. But, with tutorials, I found my way and created my first YouTube video for What On Earth Can We Do? Miraculous! And, before I forget everything, it’s time to make a video trailer for Follow the Yarn.
Today, in Israel and the diaspora, TuBishvat has become the Jewish Earth Day and I’m pleased that Jewish educators are planning to include What On Earth Can We Do? in their Tu BiShvat and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) programming.
