The Mount of Olives

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Enlarge the photo and see how many churches you can find.

The Mount of Olives as seen from near St. Stephen's Gate into the Old City.

To the left of the arched Basilica of the Agony are the ancient olive trees of the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Skywatching through the palms

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Shalom, I'm back!
Have been up north on a 4-day guided tour, gathering photos and new knowledge for you and me.

Every evening when the bus pulled into our base, Kibbutz Degania Bet, there were a few blessed moments to unwind in a hammock before dinner and a lecture.

In the evening silence I skywatched as clouds drifted by and the sky turned pink above the date palm trees of the Jordan Valley.

Stay tuned for more pictures soon.
Shabbat shalom!
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P.S./Update: The first photo was taken by blogger Reader Wil.
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Dust storms, flash floods, rain, and snow

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Hello--I'm back!
We have been four days at over 400 meters below sea level.
My Naomi flew in from Australia and I got to take care of her little one while Naomi lectured and attended an engineering conference, all at a big hotel at Ein Bokek on the Dead Sea shore.

Strong winds blew up dust storms on three of our four days.
Yesterday we started the drive home, passing this little airstrip (enlarge to see the planes).
Across the sea (which you could hardly see), the sky was black and the Kingdom of Jordan was being treated to a rare snowfall.

Soon we passed Masada on the other side of the highway.

The road is between the Dead Sea on the east and tall cliffs on the west.
Eighteen normally dry riverbeds emerge from between these mountains.
When hard rain falls in Jerusalem or the Hebron Hills, the water collects in one or two or three of these wadis (you never know which it will be) and can suddenly come gushing out from the canyons under the little bridges built over the Dead Sea road.
But more often the flash floods rush over, not just under, the bridges.

Yesterday bulldozers were parked at the places most likely to flood.

Wow! We arrived just as the rolling brown water (enlarge the picture!) was starting to inundate the road and make its way to the Dead Sea!
The cars in front of us made it across just in time.

Naomi looked at the pole with potential depth markings of 0.5 meter, 1.0, and 1.5 meters, looked at our little toddler in the baby seat, and quickly (and wisely) turned the car in the opposite direction.

We drove south again, back in the direction of the hotels we had just left.
Luckily we did not encounter another flash flood; otherwise we would have been trapped in between two of them.

The only alternative was to climb up the Arad-Beersheba road.
The evaporating ponds where they mine potash and minerals from the Dead Sea water became visible way below, under a dramatic sky.

The road curved around and around as we ascended from minus 400 meters below sea level to about 500 meters above sea level.

What an adventure! It was our first time to see this powerful natural phenomenon with our own eyes.

Today, Friday, it snowed in Jerusalem. And even in my village for a few minutes.
March is acting like real winter.
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A post for SkyWatch Friday, of course!
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Jerusalem's first snow since 2008 coming?

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The helicopter landing at Hadassah hospital helipad had clear visibility just last Monday.
But that was the last we saw of blue skies this week.
The good news is that Jerusalem might have SNOW on Saturday!

The weather forecasters say snow may fall on peaks higher than 700 meters.
Too bad the hill of my village is a bit lower than that.

Jerusalem Municipality has fifty salt spreaders and bulldozers at the ready.
Buses do not work on Shabbat and religious Jews do not drive their cars; not much traffic.
So Saturday snow sounds perfect!
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Happy SkyWatch Friday wherever you are.

Segway in the sky

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Segway in the sky -- for SkyWatch Friday.

Segway tours start at the City of David.

I like to think that Naomi Street is named for my daughter.
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Flag of Spain and flag of Europe

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Winter clouds for SkyWatch Friday.
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The Consulate General of Spain is in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem.

It looks less ominous from the other side, in full sunlight.
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Spain and the State of Israel have had diplomatic relations only since 1986.
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The Spanish embassy is in Tel Aviv, like all the embassies, because of the problem nations have in recognizing Jerusalem as our capital.
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Baby pine trees!

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Continuing the previous post, here is what I found when exploring the burned down and chopped down forest next to my village in the Jerusalem Hills.

A sweet little pine shining in the day's last rays of sunlight.

Hundreds of baby pine trees have sprouted around each parent stump!
Enlarge the photo to better see the cuties.

But surely the Keren Kayemet foresters will have to thin them out, no?
That will be a Sisyphean task.
I hope they start before the little ones get too big.

So many pine cones gave so many seeds.
Fire is actually nature's way of releasing the seeds and propagating many more pines.

As I hiked out of the wadi, the moon was rising over the bare hills and of course it got snapped for SkyWatch Friday.

Someday, after a few decades of new growth of trees and vegetation, this may be a historic photo.
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Meanwhile, Catholics in Israel celebrated Epiphany today while the Armenians marked the feast day of St. James the Minor.
And tonight the Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian Christians celebrate Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, while we Jews welcome the Sabbath Eve.

Something for everyone!
Blessings to all.
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A mix of clouds

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Strange clouds behind our neighbor mountain caught the last rays of the setting sun.
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A sky for SkyWatch Friday.
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Sources of wisdom

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I'm so lucky to live close to nature, in the Jerusalem Hills.
All I have to do is walk across the street and go a bit down into the woods on the western slope of our hill in order to grab a sunset for SkyWatch Friday.

Lately I noticed that some tree trunks there which burned in a small fire some eight years ago are starting to disintegrate.

At that time, 2002-3, I was working as a residential volunteer in a contemplative monastery of Protestant nuns in Switzerland; and in the library was a wonderful book.
It is Touch the Earth: A Self Portrait of Indian Existence by T.C. McLuhan.

These trees reminded me of what Tatanga Mani, a Stoney Indian, said on page 106:

". . . You know, if you take all your books, lay them out under the sun, and let the snow and rain and insects work on them for a while, there will be nothing left. But the Great Spirit has provided you and me with an opportunity for study in nature's university, the forests, the rivers, the mountains, and the animals which include us."

Let go of your rain, clouds!

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The Jerusalem Hills (aka the Hills of Judea) had heavy skies all day but just now, at 5 pm, the clouds are giving their rain.

That's my village on the hill.

"Hilltop" and "Judea" might make you think of "West Bank settlement," but no--my moshav (founded in 1949) is inside the Green Line, in Israel proper.

The wadi leading to the spring at the foot of my moshav (village) is now bare, charred, and stoney.
After last year's forest fire the Keren Kayemet/ JNF forestry guys took down all the dead burned trees.

Let's see what new natural growth comes up with the winter rains now starting.
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This post is for SkyWatch Friday.
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Earliest Shabbat of the year tomorrow

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The view from our moshav as the sun sets behind the Jerusalem Hills and soon sinks into the Mediterranean over on the west side of Israel.
(The sea is less than an hour's drive from here.)

Sabbath candles are lit every Friday evening, 18 minutes (I think) before sunset.
That means tomorrow candles must be lit at 3:55 pm.
So early! The earliest time of the whole year.

The soft colors of sunset are for SkyWatch Friday.

And tonight is not too early to start wishing you Shabbat shalom.
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A golden moment

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A moment of grace this afternoon!
For five minutes a little patch of rare sunlight was centered exclusively in my yard.

The golden light made it look as if we had glorious foliage colors, just like other hemispheres have.
Actually Israel does not have many deciduous trees.
Only the fig tree drops all its fig leaves and gets totally naked.

The silvery olive and the wild sumac, and of course the evergreens, they stay green all winter.
The pomegranates can't seem to decide whether to shed leaves or not.
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The heavy sky is joining SkyWatch Friday.
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Thanksgiving blessings to all who celebrate today.
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No cleaning required!

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Hadassah, the hospital on the hill.

The Jerusalem Hills finally had clouds and even a few minutes of rain last Friday and Saturday, something to show for SkyWatch Friday.

The new hospital tower, in its final stages of construction, had guided tours on Friday.
I gladly put on a hard hat and went up to learn.

But of all the high tech and eco-friendly innovations in the building, the windows impressed me the most.
They are double-glazed with vacuum insulation between the two panes of glass.

The blinds are encapsulated within the double glazed unit!
These integrated or "integral blinds" offer protection from the heat and the glare of the sun.
And once sealed in this dust-free environment, the blinds require no cleaning.

Anyone who has cleaned trissim or even worse, Venetian blinds at home understands what a revolutionary new system this is.

Despite the cloudy sky, the big windows in the patient rooms let in a lot of light.
Hadassah wants to save and to use as little artificial light as possible.
A little knob allows the patient to adjust the blinds.

Instead of the present 4-5 patients per room in the old hospital, the new tower's rooms will be for only 1 or 2 people.

Nathan Margolin, the engineer who guided us, said the planners wanted to make all the windows un-openable.
But there was opposition. (I, for one, would hate to sleep in a sealed room.)
So they compromised: each room will have one or two very small windows that can be opened.
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The nursing stations and doctors' offices are toward the inside of the building, while all the patient rooms face the outside.
I think looking out over the green valley and the terraced and forested hills is healing in itself.
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The silver before sunset

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Long silvery clouds above the long silvery tram.

The end of the line, on Mount Herzl.

For SkyWatch Friday.
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Rocket, robot, satellite

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OK, so as I started to tell you in Monday's post, thousands of people lined up to get through the tight security check and into our President's annual Sukkot open house and open sukkah.

Here is a 3-ton Shavit rocket (22 tons when loaded) pointing toward the sky.
The exhibits this years were on Israeli advances in science, agriculture, and the environment.
The Israel Aerospace Industries rocket was mounted on a simulated launcher.

The clouds made the day a perfect temperature and nice for SkyWatch Friday.

A pretty satellite with blue panels unfolded, compliments of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.

The performing robot was a big hit.
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Come back again soon to see the art works and archaeology inside the President's Residence and the amazing hanging flowers, fruit and vegetable displays in the sukkah.
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Moonrise over Hadassah

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The moon rises over Hadassah Medical Center.
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From our moshav across the valley we see the campus expanding year by year.
It is becoming like a little city on its own hill.
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The tall hospital tower is not yet finished but it already dwarfs the once-high helipad on the left.
You too can watch it being built on Hadassah's live webcam.
But no work going on today.
Today is a holiday. Happy Sukkot!
I wonder if the webcam will pick up the big moon this evening . . . .
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This post is for SkyWatch Friday.

At end of day

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Daylight Saving Time ended last Sunday in Israel.
Now, by 5:17 pm the sun is down and the sky turns all kinds of colors for a short time.
Then the long night of autumn sets in.

For SkyWatch Friday.

The Naked Sea Installation: overexposure?

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Would you rather see just this lone person at the Dead Sea shore or a thousand?
If American artist Spencer Tunick has his way 1,000 Israelis will converge at some as yet secret meeting place at this lowest place on earth, undress, and pose naked for his photographs and videos.
On Saturday, Shabbat, the Sabbath.
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Supposedly it is meant to call attention to the fragile nature of the shrinking Dead Sea and to make you vote for the lake as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature -- oh, yeah, and to improve Israel's image in the world.
Tunick also wants to prove that the Jewish State is the only country in the Middle East with religious freedom. (We'll see about that . . . )
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If your kids aren't looking over your shoulder, you might click here to see a clip of Tunick's style in other countries.
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Three thousand Israelis volunteered for the project.
Only one thousand were selected.
I wonder how these chosen people were chosen.
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Red tape might block this mass photo shoot.
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OK friends, I can hardly wait to read your comments!
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Hopefully the little sliver of hazy January sky above the mountains of Jordan, just after sunset, qualifies this photo for Sky Watch Friday.
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UPDATE: I can hardly believe it! They really did it. See the first photo and first news article about the photo shoot at Haaretz.
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Red sculpture in a blue sky in a tram window

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Here's a post for both SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections.

I got off Jerusalem's new tram at its terminus, Mt. Herzl, and transferred to my bus home.

I have learned the hard way that each of the two carriages can, and usually does, carry 250 passengers!
Most of us are standing, or trying to.

BUT, the tram, inside and out, is very good for reflections, as witnessed in the top photo.
See the famous "Calder red" color?

Across the street from the tram station stands, once again, Calder's huge "Homage to Jerusalem--Stabile."
It had to be moved while they were digging the underground park-and-ride garage, which has still not been finished.

The blue sky is typical for Israel's long and dry summer; it is normal to have no rain for 5 or 6 months.

To learn more about the sculpture and see some funny photos of its patchwork paint job, see previous posts.
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Shalom Klaus

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Oi, I can’t believe Klaus is gone from this world.

Any blogger who has ever contributed to SkyWatch Friday or That's MyWorld knows that Klaus Peter was a moving force behind those memes and an encourager of fellow bloggers.

His memory will be a blessing and his legacy of Florida bird and nature photographs (see http://virtua-gallery.com/) will live forever.
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SkyWatch takes on a new meaning.
Now on Fridays I will look upward and imagine Klaus in a different world filled with heavenly birds.
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