Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life, with Vespas.

I won't go into more of this than I need, but I cam across a video clip of the Craig Ferguson Late Night Show that has really stayed with me, since viewing it last night. Last nights show was already pre-recorded, but Craig decided that he needed to address the recent event and he did so in a very touching and masterful way. The story is on Jezebel.com and you can view the link by clicking here, Craig Ferguson Forgoes His Monologue for a Soulful Rumination.

Upon reflecting on my last post, which was published about 24 hours (or so) before this tragic business, I believe that something inside of me felt that those word were needed. Not exactly those words, but that the intentions they were seeking that needed to be pushed out into the world and, I hope, gain some traction in what needs to happen without our world. We need compassion for another and to honor the fact that we are human and that there is value in that single fact. If we forget this, what becomes of us? As Craig Ferguson put it best, "We're all diminished by this".

If you want to read more about the updated status of those who were hurt during this terrible act, please click this link. I will not address certain other aspects of this event, as I believe the focus should be on the people who were hurt or lost their lives. We should honor them instead of give all the attention to whatever is beyond them.

UPDATE: I wanted to also include this story, that I just read and is important, here that is also taken from Jezebel: The Shining Knights of the Aurora Movie Theater.

I, being the fiery redhead I believe myself to be, would personally like to honor the life of Jessica Ghawi (click link to read more about her life). She is also a Texan Redhead, but I don't think I even begin to measure up to the greatness that she brought to the title, "fiesty redhead". Her story is absolutely one of complete fate and random happenstance, as she somehow narrowly cheated death about a week before in Toronto. She reflected upon this tragedy in her own blog:

"I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday," Jessica, who went by the last name Redfield professionally, wrote. "I saw the terror on bystanders' faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath." -Taken from NPR article.

She will be greatly missed, not only now by her close friends and family, by all a nation whose lives she touched by her charm and love of life.

Rest in peace, Jessica.

Thank you, for reminding us to embrace life and to honor it with all of ourselves.

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Charming West Texas, you give me faith in humanity. Updated.

A short tale of a small, West Texas town and the happenings of a woman on a scooter:

There are some moments that you are able to be a part of that restore your faith in humanity, at least for a little bit, now and then. I admit that most of the time, I find myself in a bit of a hurry and adopting those “city slicker” moods when I come back to this area fondly referred to as “West Texas”. It is a charming area, where people still find time to stop and chat to one another before they go on their way. Of course, everyone here is more and more “busy” being modern and in a rush to get anywhere else, but they still have moments when that old-time charm creeps into their bones and takes over for a moment. These are the memories of Home I’ll always cherish and never cease to amaze me when I am able to bear witness to them happening in today’s world. Read more

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Shooting Vespa Backdrops:

flowers do the job just fine.

This backdrop setting was one that I happened to pass everyday out on rides back in Israel between Rehovot and day trips throughout the countryside. I decided one day that this little fuchsia dream must be used as a framework for some photos with the vespa, and I am happy I decided it must be so as the photos all turned out great! I miss these rides and long for them every time I see a rider out on the roads.

"If I were a flower.. I would be a sunflower. To always follow the sun, turn my back to darkness, stand proud, tall and straight even with my head full of seeds." -Pam Stewart.

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers because they emit such bold feelings of happiness and joy. When you see them, you cannot help but smile and cheer up! They are also calming for me, while at the same time elicit great joy and energy from their admirers and myself. They are also such enigmas in certain contexts and can even seem a bit foreboding sometimes. My favorite context, or visual and use of these flowers in the movie, was how they were presented in Everything is illuminated. I adore this movie and, even more so, the book.

Although I had to kind of manures the 'pa to get this shot and the others I took that day, it was work the sweat and slight discomfort in the dirt field. I enjoyed this little, unexpected stop very much on my ride that day. (Note: Always drink plenty of water in this type of weather and fierce sunshine: I had to rest in the shade after this little photo shoot, as the heat was too much for little 'ol me. Sunscreen, a must. Sun hat, a good idea.)

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do." -Helen Keller.

And a fun photo, with little set up or talent involved from this weekend,

This is just a fun, little photo I took this weekend while I was at my mother's house in West Texas. The little, well "LONG-body", black dog is my Bella Bird. She is a mess, but so much fun and has my whole heart! I missed her very much while over in Israel and couldn't wait to see her upon my return. Someday I plan to bring her back with me- when I can make sure she will be safe and sound on the flight home.

I am currently getting together all of my older camping gear for some upcoming camping plans around the Grand Canyon and California area in September. This is when my Israeli partner comes to visit the states for the very first time and I want to show him the best of the best! (We can only see parts of the West Coast this trip, as we only have about a month on this trek.) I am very excited about this trip and have been very busy planning our details out today. I want to show him "the best" of my country and as much of it as we can see in the short month that we have to travel around. I hope I pick the right places.

** * If you are in the L.A., Vegas, Grand Canyon, or New Orleans area and would like to try to meet up, please let me know! I'd love to meet some of you great people!! Or if you have any recommendations for these areas, that would be rather lovely also. (We are visiting the following states: New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, California -mostly the area around the Pacific Coast Highway, maybe Colorado, Louisiana, Tennessee -Memphis mostly, Elvis fans!, and Northern Texas areas.) Any trip tips/ideas or friends that wanted to meet up, we would be delightful to plan something on this adventure throughout the country! Also: I know that my partner will miss speaking Hebrew, so if anyone wants to chat over some coffee in Hebrew with us, that would also be great!

Just let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions, as we have time before these travels begin in the start of September. You can leave a comment below or shoot me over an email, Izevel1923@gmail.com* **

Otherwise, I hope all of you wonderful folks are having a great summer and enjoying the good life-

wherever you are!

Cheers and happy riding.

P.S. If you still haven't "liked" RoxyVespa over on the facebook, please do so: RoxyVespa FB Page

. Thanks y’all.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Mothers, it's your day! Where would we be without you?

Thank you for all you have done and for being an all-out fabulous women.

"Mom" by 7-year-old Soren. (io9.com)

Also, head over Msbehaved.com

for “a very MsBehaved Mother’s Day”! There will be plenty of nice, and tons of naughty, post concerning dear ‘ol mom throughout the day.

Cheers!

Beyond The Scoot: A Big Toda From Roxy Vespa!

This image was created in the vain of Gawker’s ’Zooey Wowie’ posts.

First and foremost, Thank You, to all who have subscribed to the blog or have read the posts here! I really enjoy what you have each brought to this blog. You all help give me the incentive to strive towards creating and crafting better articles because of your fabulousness. If you have any subjects of photos you would like to request, please let me know. Also any and comments are always appreciated.

But of course: Woo hoo, for kitsch vespa photos. Read more

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Israel is such an interesting place to live and just when you think you've moved beyond the culture shock and finally understand the local customs, you realize just how much you've left to learn. Read further down for further "Israeliness". Plus, check out a personal little blurb from me down at the bottom. Soak it all in and then have a lovely weekend indeed, y'all.

I wanted to share this with you, as a part of "Beyond the Scoot", because I found this while searching through the Israel posts here on Wordpress and was really impressed by this video. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mHglfyQOd2s] The music is so beautiful and the footage of the musicians playing only adds to its beauty. It is from kutiman, over on youtube, who has some other great videos uploaded.

Also, if you are interested in blogs about "being Israeli", you really should check out one of the best blogs I have ever come across: HowtobeIsraeli.blogspot.com. I cannot recommend this blog enough to those expats here who need a little help with the culture (and a good laugh too). I have be able to cope with some of the more harsh moments of my transition between cultures much easier with the often hilarious words from Maya.

There was also a good post about "Israeliness", found here, that list 64 things the blogger loves about Israel (-as this past Independence Day was the 64th 'birthday' for the country). It is a great and humorous insight into the life of someone who has made Aliyah and how he has adjusted to the changes in culture throughout his past five years here in Israel. Here are a few of my favorite from his list,

"I love that the Asian sushi chef gave me the rega hand gesture. How do you say “kibbutz galuyot” in Japanese?
"I love the “mmm-bye” farewell greeting used by certain Israelis when hanging up the phone. It’s a cross between 'l’hitraot' and a Hanson song."
"I love that instead of worrying about kids developing peanut allergies, parents feed their babies Bamba before the doctor has even finished cutting the umbilical cord."
"I love that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are finally making their long-awaited appearance here. I hope they open with 'Californicatzia.'"

If anyone has a blog to suggest or an article (or just really anything) that centers around being an expat, or those who made Aliyah, who is adjusting to the culture and dealing with culture shock here in Israel, please share it in the comments below. I really love reading how other's interprete all of these little cultural happenings and love reading about the confusion created therein. Oh, and the humor from this type of writing makes it worth reading too.

What are Sabras? Sabras is the Hebrew word for the prickly pear fruit. But more interesting to note, sabras is slang for native Israeli Jews. What do native Israelis and prickly pear fruit have in common? Both are tough and thorny on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside. A few Haaretz articles about certain aspects of "Israeliness" and then other blogs that you might like to click out,

Oh, the locals. Always a pleasure. Or at least, an experience.

Always, with peace and with love.

A Personal Note from RoxyVespa: Now that I wrote another rather Israel centric piece (again) and I wanted to write this little blurb to explain myself a bit: I wasn’t aware when I started this blog that I would be posting about the Sirens of the Israel Holocaust Day or that I would want to repost another’s story about their take on Israel Independence Day- which was amazing. I really hope that my few Israel-centric posts every now and then doesn’t push away those who have followed this little ‘ol blog. Oy, I don’t really even know how to address this other than say that my location affects me and apparently this blog. I hope that you won’t mind a few posts that do focus more on Israel and the politics of this place, but I intend to keep those post mostly few and far between. (Other than the posts over the weekend under “Beyond the Scoot”, which is just random stuff that interests me and I want to make note of here.) I’ve noticed that I have lost a few subscribers the last few days and that was a bit hard to take, but I guess all I can say is that politics bleed over into everything here. Even Vespa blogs that were created with the intention to stay away from said topics. I shall resume my vespa talk on Sunday and try to make next week a very vespa-centric place full of vespa-type things. Thanks for those who have stuck around and don’t mind my rambles. I promise to always keep a steady supply of pretty photos, so that is a good plus. Ha. Thanks again youshes (you guys).

And that is it for this edition of, ‘Beyond the Scoot’. Hope your weekend is lovely. Cheers everyone!

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Vespa Adventures: Ya’ar HaMeginim Poppy Fields Part 1

Sometimes you come across something by accident and realize how lucky you were to witness the beauty,

Because the next day, you might not be able to appreciate it in the same way:

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Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut: The Siren יום העצמאות 2012

Two-minute nationwide siren sounds at 11 A.M. to commemorate the 22,993 IDF soldiers who died during their service. Todays’s services came a day after a ceremony for Israel’s fallen soldiers was held on Tuesday evening on the eve of Memorial Day in cities across Israel.

I follow a blog that I have really enjoyed reading and wanted to share their post today about ‘The Siren’.

From Vov, over at Importantlytrivial.com:

“As the double days of Israel’s Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) have arrived, I once again find myself reflecting on the meaning of this juxtaposition of official holidays, one representing the ultimate sadness of a people; the second, the ultimate national joy. Read more