Some Thoughts on Pictures

Life offers a lot of subjects to write about in our blogs. I like to accompany my writing with pictures which, as everyone knows, "are worth a thousand words." However, that's not always possible, and as I don't like to borrow from the internet, I let the subjects wait...

Sometimes, I browse through my picture archive, and come up with the conclusion that it's very true what they say about dogs and kids 'stealing the show'. I always take an additional look at this kind of pictures as they give me much fun and pleasure.

dog watching his owner eat; expecting to be treated with leftovers

kid and pigeons - heartwarming sight!

boy and girl curiously contemplating the chickens in the enclosure 

happy baby in Grandma's arms

I often ask myself what makes a more powerful photo: an individual or a group? The answer is: both. 
The indvidual kiosk owner, surrounded by colorful fruit and veggies, squeezing them to get juice for his thirsty customers; the solo arab woman making the pita bread to be sold with 'labane' - make very attractive, powerful photos.

kiosk owner squeezing fruit to get juice (pic.taken in the evening)

arab woman preparing the dough for the pita bread

So do groups. See below, the group of japanese ice-cream 'lickers' (Moscow Red Square) , and the group of musicians performing in the city square of Prague. Both groups got an 'audience':)

japanese tourists licking ice cream in Moscow

musical band performing in the main city square

I'm not surprised when beautiful setting gets overshadowed by people. It's always people that draw the most attention. Who cares about the lovely tree on the Mound with stairs leading to it, when nearby there's a chat going on between what seems like father and daughter dialogue.

The red painted military lookout on the strategical top of Mt Hermon at the border with Lebanon, makes no impression whatsoever without the young , lively soldiers that stay on it day and night.

father &daughter chatting outside the Habima theater building, TA

soldiers at the border Israel- Lebanon, up on the mountain

Anyway,  I like to have people of all ages in the pictures I shoot. Human presence adds interest and value to whatever else appears in those pictures: buildings,  landscape, food, critters.

Photography, even the simplest one like mine, from a 'point and shoot' little camera, can definitely enrich both the blog and my knowledge of things.

Breakthrough -yes, Cure - no

The endless talk about Climate brings me to another 'C'-word: Cure.
Medical Cure can be as frustrating as Climate Change.

Medicine has greatly advanced over the years, no doubt about that. People live longer, and the quality of their life is better. Still, many diseases are not curable. Sometimes they disappear, only to reappear later. In most cases, however, it's possible to manage and control disease (money, time, and patience required), but no Cure is promised.

There are quite a lot of health issues which aren't  life- threatening, yet can certainly turn one's life into absolute misery even with all treatment options available. The chronic skin disorder, Psoriasis, for example.

I  had a coworker -  a fine , handsome young person; he got psoriasis  after his devastating divorce from his wife, a career woman.
Following his doctor's advice, he used to go ,at least twice a year for three weeks each time,  to the Dead Sea , to get temporary relief from the beneficial combination of sun, mineral water, sulphur pools, and dry desert air. Not cheap (there were only expensive hotels there), and sometimes grossly interfering with work schedule.
(Come to think of it, he should have moved closer to the Dead Sea area, but like other people, he put his trust and hope mainly in Science and its offerings, less in Nature ).

at the Dead Sea

He was very much a family type of person, so he remarried after a while. He and his spouse came from very different backgrounds. Perhaps he wanted  the very opposite of his first wife (or as the bottom line of rather toxic gossip  pointed out: 'who else will have him with all those scales, patches, and itching'). Anyway, his psoriatic condition got worse  during  chapter B, and it practically destroyed him.

After their two kids grew up , he divorced his spouse and disappeared.
The last I heard of him was that he had left the country for Austria where his mother and sister lived.
I have the strange feeling that, regardless of his location, he's ok if retired from work and  not remarried. For some people work and marriage are great stress generators , stress being the big killer of our era.  And who knows, maybe he's somewhere in the Dead Sea region after all...

Following intense scientific research, there are lots of medical 'breakthroughs' regarding a great variety of diseases, breakthroughs which  could, and do make a difference;  and yet, contrary to expectations, they lead to no final cure.  People continue to be slaves to doctors and treatments, and no cure in sight to free them.
In a way, medical Cure is like Climate change in that it belongs to the domain of a Power far beyond us.