The train on the plain

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Usually if I have to travel to Tel Aviv I take the train; but this time I was on a bus, taking pictures of the speeding trains. 

A train on the bridge. 

A train on the plain, catching the rays just after sunrise. 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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A church watch-cat

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Guardian of the threshold?
A cat sits atop the gate next to a church in old Jaffa.

Immanuel Church was built in 1904 in Jaffa's American/German Colony. 
Its history is so interesting, and unique. 

The Protestant church holds services on Saturday in Hebrew and English.
On Sundays only in English. 

Linking this post to Camera-Critters and inSPIREd Sunday memes.
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UPDATE: Just learned that today is Cat Day (well, in America at least).  Happy Cat Day! 
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A painter and The Little Prince

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P is for painting.
And inside the painter's workshop--the Little Prince! 

Seen on Wednesday in Tel Aviv's old and picturesque Florentine neighborhood.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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A monster in the sky??

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One of the vintage 1985 houses on my street is getting a thorough redo. 
Yesterday afternoon a cement mixer truck and this red extra tall cement pump were working for hours. 
I guess it has to be that tall to reach safely over the electric wires. 
Meitar's neighborhoods that were built after Stage Alef and Stage Bet have all their wires and infrastructure underground. 
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Who's been writing on my roast?

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I've seen meat stamps on beef before, but this is a first to see "kosher" hand-written on my falsch fillet!
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Palms heavy with dates

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It is date season and Meitar's many date palms are getting heavy with fruit. 

See more of our town's tall and short date palm varieties here.
To understand how dates are harvested in big plantations, check out these big machines. 
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No more rummaging in the bins

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Seen at a Tel Aviv train station. 
Something new -- recycling bins for metal and plastic drink containers now have big fat padlocks. 
Same in the Beer Sheva central bus station. 
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(Linking to signs, signs.)
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The city on the move

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Coming . . . and going. 
The Ayalon freeway through Tel Aviv is always crowded (except on Yom Kippur when no one drives).

On any given weekday some 750,000 vehicles will be zipping along the Ayalon.
Well, except when they are crawling.

Yesterday I took the train to Tel Aviv, a much more relaxed way of getting to the big city.
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