Living the beauty of simplicity

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 Today and tomorrow we City Daily Photo bloggers are blogging about the theme "The beauty of simplicity." 
Karl suggested this theme, as it is his philosophy that a photo should be kept simple for maximum effect. His blog, Bolzano Daily Photo, has stunning pictures of South Tyrol.

This hermitage in the Jerusalem Hills was built in the 1400s.
It was added on to a house and chapel built by the Crusaders in the 12th century.

From June to October 2006 this hermitage (more like a monastic cell), was my beloved dwelling place.
I had just returned to Israel after eleven years of volunteer work abroad, with my backpack and duffle bag and two boxes of stuff and that was about all.

The water faucet was just outside the door (near Lara the cat, z"l).
Steep steps led to a little building with a shower and toilet. 

The simple wooden table was both desk and dinner table.
Afternoon sunshine streamed in.
In the evening families of jackals called back and forth across the Soreq Valley just below.
(Hear videos of their howls here.)

Olive trees, pines, and many other trees right outside in the woods.
Silence mostly.

Full of history and holy energy, each ancient stone in the walls and floor became my fast friend.
How very good it was to sleep and dream and to wake to a new dawn in my own land.
The hermitage was beautiful in its simplicity, and so was my life.
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As the old Shaker song affirms,

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

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New life, green

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The greening of Israel.
With the first rains the dry summer brownness gives way to refreshing greenness.
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Missing the Hills of Jerusalem tonight

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Remembering cool evenings in the Jerusalem Hills, sunsets, jackals, old friends, and the terrace of St. Elisabeth's built by the 12th century Crusaders.
Sigh . . .
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Shabbat shalom from the hot desert.
And thanks to Kristine S. for taking the photo. 
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What I miss most

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Our City Daily Photo group's Theme Day asks the question:
If you had to leave forever the city from which you usually post, what or who would you miss most?

From 2008 I blogged from the Jerusalem Hills, covering Jerusalem and the hills of Judea round about her.
Actually I did have to leave my hill, and likely forever, just a year and a half ago. 
What I miss most is this 12th century house built by the Crusaders.
 
Please, go ahead and click two separate times on the photos to see and appreciate each beautiful stone.

The hill country is where John the Baptist grew up.
The Crusaders built a chapel over the rock hewn tomb in which John may have buried his mother, Elisabeth.

Later, sometime in the 15th century a hermit added this small hermitage.
The small room has a common wall with, and a passageway into, the chapel.
The hermitage was my home for several months; it was a time and place like no other. 
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A moon on the window pane

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In the previous post we watched how the big moon set, with the rising sun following on its heels.
As I stood outside the room where I stayed last night,  taking pictures of the celestial events, I glanced back and saw the moon reflected in my window.  
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The best light show

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Happy SUNday to you all.

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Is that a flame on her head??

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I sometimes  hear about weeping icons and myrrh-gushing icons and miracle-working icons, but . . .  well . . .

But what happens when on the feast of Pentecost  you are all alone in an old chapel built by the Crusaders,  looking at an icon,  and you actually see a "flame" above the woman's head??

Enlarge the photo, you will see it too!

The Book of Acts says that the Apostles [on the very first Pentecost] were gathered together in one place [the Upper Room] when suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting.

"Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them."
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as directed by the Spirit.
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You can see the flames as depicted in classical artwork at
http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2011/06/whats-that-on-your-head.html

My other posts about Pentecost in Jerusalem are here.
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 Here's how the icon appears normally.

And as grateful as I am for the "miracle" I was treated to,   I must add that this photo is for Weekend Reflections.    Yes, reflections.

Happy Pentecost to all the Catholics and Protestants who celebrate it today!
Shalom from Jerusalem, where it all started.
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)
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Flowers on stone stairs

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These might be the last of the flowers for a while.
Soon Israel will be in her  brown dry season. 

 February and March this year were the driest for the past 50 years.
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Volunteers under the vault

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Fun with "V" today for ABC Wednesday.
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Very old vaulted ceiling being made whiter.

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Volunteer friends from Arkansas spent half their vacation in Israel scraping, schpachteling, sanding, and painting.

The three of us did the work for neighbor friends last summer.
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Volunteers Mark, Kristine, and Dina make the V for Victory sign.

Victorious under the now-white vault!
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Fresh chameleon for lunch

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If you're not squeamish please enlarge some of these photos of the hunt.

The chameleon would have remained well-hidden if he had stayed still. His fatal error was to run when Lara and I started down the old stone stairs. Lara saw him move. .

 

You could almost hear his silent scream as Lara's claws pierced him.

 

Belly up.

 

The tail hung from the cat's mouth as she did what born-in-the-wild hunter carnivores do.

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As I heard the crunching sounds, a little wave of doubt or even shame passed over me.

Maybe I should have helped the chameleon escape before Lara's first pounce . . . .

instead of my first reaction being "Run for the camera, Dina! For the blog, for Camera-Critters!"

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KinderKot

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The KinderKot is so practical for travel.
Daughter Naomi bought it in Australia last week and here it is, in the Jerusalem Hills today!
And sleeping peacefully inside it, our little bundle of joy, Libby.
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The KinderKot is like a pop-up tent for little ones, complete with self-inflating mattress.
It folds down and slips into a carrying case about the size of a steering wheel. Very light.
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The windows can be either clear or curtained or with a bug screen.
The KinderKot website says this is one of Dutch designer Roy van Aalst's revolutionary designs.
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The Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday

. Last chance before Lent to enjoy a fondue. Last night my Christian friends cooked the cheese mixture in the Swiss Canton of Neuchatel style. . We all dipped and twirled our bread cubes in the hot cheese.

Being Jewish, I myself will not have to observe the long Lenten "fast," i.e. restriction on certain foods, that lasts until Easter.

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But I wish all who are entering Lent today, on this Ash Wednesday, a meaningful and blessed time of contemplation and repentance and spiritual preparation.

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Caper

A friend here is patient enough to pick and pickle capers.

 

Don't ask me how. I just remember seeing that it takes a lot of rinsing and changing of water and soaking for the first few days.

 

And finally the capers sit around getting pickled.

Caper, defined:

1. any of numerous plants of the genus Capparis 

2: pickled flower buds used as a pungent relish in various dishes and sauces

The bush grows wild, usually where you don't want it. In the woods, by the roadside, in your yard; usually in rocky places. Even in a stone wall.

Enlarge this photo to see a bud or two.

 

 The buds have to be picked at just the right stage of the game.

The flowers are beautiful but the thorns are sharp, stubborn, and painful when attached to skin.

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Click on an earlier post to see capers and caterpillars. 

 Because it grows in crevices and cliffs, the caper became a symbol of the Jewish people's will to survive. The (Babylonian) Talmud, in Beitza 25b, says,

"There are three who are especially daring [tenacious, stubborn]: Israel among the nations, a dog among the animals, and a caper among the trees." 

רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן לָקִישׁ שְׁלֹשָׁה עַזִּין הֵן יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּאוּמּוֹת כֶּלֶב בַּחַיּוֹת תַּרְנְגוֹל בָּעוֹפוֹת וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים אַף עֵז בִּבְהֵמָה דַּקָּה וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים אַף צָלָף בָּאִילָנוֹת:

Pomelo surprise

Erev Shabbat dinner at the friends' house.

  A perfectly normal-looking oval-shaped pomelo was sitting on a plate. Imagine our surprise when the hostess pulled the [secretly pre-cut] peel upward into a delightful spiral, revealing a cup full of ready-to-eat bite-sized fruit.

 

Some of the segments were left whole for us to work on.

Peeling the thick skin of a big pomelo, getting the segments out unbroken, separating them, removing the membrane around each, and getting a few seeds out is hard work. But oh so worth it! Great taste, unusual texture--a fun fruit.

Each section is made up of juice-filled "little bottles." Well, at least in Hebrew that's what they are called: bakbookon (the diminutive of bakbook, bottle).

They grow in Israel. A few neighbors have a pomelo tree in their yards right here in the village.

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Shabbat shalom!

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S for sadly dead animals

Squished frog. Camouflauge was too good.

  Serious serpent.

  Snake eggs.

  Skull of ...?

  So sorry, poor jackal. Probably struck by a car.

An icon for Trinity Sunday and every day

Tomorrow Christians in Israel and the world will celebrate Trinity Sunday.

This medieval Russian icon is actually called the "Hospitality of Abraham."
It depicts the appearance of the three angels to Abraham and Sarah at the Oak of Mamre (as told in Genesis 18).
But over the centuries Abraham and Sarah stopped appearing in the icon and  it  become known, and seen, as the icon of the "Holy Trinity."

In his book Behold the Beauty of the Lord, Praying with Icons,  Henri Nouwen contrasts the two different approaches: "St. Benedict, who has set the tone for the spirituality of the West, calls us first of all to listen; the Byzantine fathers focus on gazing."

Nouwen points out that "Andrei Rublev painted this icon around 1425 . . . to offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered in God while living in the midst of political unrest."

Unrest? Hmm, that sounds familiar, like here and now in Israel.
Perhaps we all need to take a few minutes a day to quietly gaze into this icon.
Whether you see Abraham's three angels (as I do) or the three persons of the Trinity, this icon surely has something to show us.
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday meme.)
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Camera-Critter Sunday

Summer is coming and so are the snakes. Mama cat and her daughter showed guarded interest in this venomous baby. Back on the ground again the snake got up into strike position, tongue flicking, threatening the young cat. To my disbelief, the snake leaped away, "flying" through the air. It managed to escape down the hill. Visit other bloggers' animal photos today from http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/.