Servez - vous

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The new NGO Women Wage Peace had a meeting in Meitar a few nights ago.
After the lectures each of us was given a flower for International Women's Day.

It reminded me of  when I volunteered at Grandchamp, next to les grand champ.
For a few months every year one farmer would plant a huge field of flowers. 
The Swiss had a Help Yourself option, based on the honor system.
Pick as many as you want, just put 3 Euros in the brown metal box for each bouquet.

Here's a nun selecting flowers for the chapel and the refectory. 

Good memories . . .

(Linking to signs, signs and to ABC Wednesday, I being for international.)
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Red flower in the clouds

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It has been raining here north of Sydney for two days.
So today I took an umbrella and went walking in the rain.
This ridiculously tall flowering plant was my most exciting discovery.

Apparently it is called the Gymea Lily, the name derived from a local Eora aboriginal dialect.

Doryanthes excelsa is a flowering plant indigenous to the coastal areas of New South Wales near Sydney, Wikipedia says.
The plant has sword-like leaves more than a meter long.
 It flowers in spring and summer, sending up a flower spike up to 6 m high, which at its apex bears a large cluster of bright red flowers, each 10 cm across.

  (All photos are enlargeable with two separate clicks. )

Doryanthes excelsa:

Doryanthes – a composite of two Greek words, doratos, meaning spear, and anthos meaning flower;

excelsa – derived from the Latin, excelsus, meaning high or lofty.

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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.  And Gymea Lily is for ABC Wednesday.)

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Bird of paradise

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A bird of paradise.

The plant itself is really big, here in the inner yard of Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva.
The pictures are from over a month ago; I suppose these Strelitzia flowers are no more.   Spring is way too short in the desert.
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Blood-red flowers for memorial day

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Tuesday evening Israel will enter into the saddest day of our calendar, Yom Hazikaron, the memorial day for Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.
The soldiers number 23,320.

This year's poster says, Nizkor et kulam, we will remember them all.
The roundish red flowers have become a symbol for our day of remembering (perhaps influenced by the tradition of the red poppy in other countries).

Wikipedia says, "The red everlasting is a flowering plant of the genus Helichrysum in the daisy family (Asteraceae).  It is a protected plant in some jurisdictions (in particular, Israel and the Palestinian Authority).
It is known there as 'Blood of the Maccabees' (Hebrew: Dam Hamakabim).
Its name is derived from a legend saying that in every spot one grows, a drop of blood has been spilled on the earth."

Indeed . . .
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An article at Israel21C  talks about the flower and how its portrayal on Israeli stamps has evolved over the decades. 
And here is more about the plant. 
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)
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A boy and a flower

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Eyal (6) and I were out walking among the post-rain wildly-blooming wildflowers . . .

when he spotted this still-closed flower with curly leaves.

 He gave it a little kvetch (pinch) just to help it along.

Today, ten days later, I passed and found that same flower fully opened in all its glory!
Enlarge the photo to find happy insects inside.
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This is my first winter living in the Negev desert and I am positively surprised by the abundance of beautiful wildflowers.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Strange flowers

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Is this the flowering of an agave?
Whatever they are, they sure are tall.
In a backyard here in Meitar.
I'm having to get used to a whole new world of plants down here in the Negev desert.
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UPDATE:  Turns out it is an aloe.  Thanks to the readers who knew and helped here.
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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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Knock knock

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This pretty house in the old Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem is always prettiest in the spring.

As was usual on doors in the old days, the Hebrew letters inside the star of David say ZION.
I always wanted to try one of those fist/hand doorknockers.
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Sun is going down now.  Time for the quiet of the Sabbath.  Shabbat shalom!
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(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Saying happy Easter with flowers

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Our local Franciscan monastery chapel "lovesh chag,"  is all dressed up for the holiday.

Happy Easter to all my reader-friends who celebrate this day! 
Wishing you joy and blessings from Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Hills.
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בְּרֹב שַׂרְעַפַּי בְּקִרְבִּי תַּנְחוּמֶיךָ יְשַׁעַשְׁעוּ נַפְשִׁי:

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Join us in  illustrating the Book of Psalms, on Sundays.
Robert is hosting at his new blog, Robert Geiss, A PHOTOGRAPHER'S MIND.
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PSALM 94
 1 O LORD, thou God of vengeance, thou God of vengeance, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; render to the proud their deserts! 3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? 4 They pour out their arrogant words, they boast, all the evildoers. 5 They crush thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; 7 and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive." 8 Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? 9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? 10 He who chastens the nations, does he not chastise? He who teaches men knowledge, 11 the LORD, knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.  

12 Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O LORD, and whom thou dost teach out of thy law 13 to give him respite from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; 15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.  

 16 Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17 If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence. 18 When I thought, "My foot slips," thy steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

 19 When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul. בְּרֹב שַׂרְעַפַּי בְּקִרְבִּי תַּנְחוּמֶיךָ יְשַׁעַשְׁעוּ נַפְשִׁי  20 Can wicked rulers be allied with thee, who frame mischief by statute? 21 They band together against the life of the righteous, and condemn the innocent to death. 22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23 He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out. .Translation: RSV (Revised Standard Version), 1952, 1971For a different translation and for commentary, see Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
Photos (all can be enlarged with a click or two): 1. Remains of an ancient shomera (~ watchman's hut).2. A different shomera,  also in the Jerusalem Hills. 3. Rakafot (cyclamens) grow in the ancient terrace walls..

Green grasses in Noguchi's garden

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While at the Israel Museum for yesterday's Purim celebrations, I took some time to get away from it all, walking down to the quiet lower slopes of the art garden.
For the first time I took a close look at Negev, a row of limestone discs, each 2.8 meters in diameter.
Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz created this installation in 1987.

 But soon I found myself immersed more in Mother Nature's winter artwork.
An almond tree was shedding its white gentle petals at the foot of the giant round stones.

The natural boulders and flowers were just like on the ancient terraces of the Jerusalem Hills.

Under the olive and pine trees, cyclamens were all over the place.
Even the rosemary bushes were blooming.

Back home I see that my WizeGuide book explains the "sculpted garden" thus:

For the five-acre (16-dunam) "sculpture" that he created for the Israel Museum, Isamu Noguchi used dramatic contrasts, which are known as harmonic combinations in Japanese culture . . .
He used concrete, which is artificial stone, and natural Jerusalem stone; simple local vegetation and paths made of delicate gravel imported from Japan. 

All I know is that, alone in the garden, I felt peaceful solitude, happy to be in nature yet in holy Jerusalem at the same time. 
And grateful for this winter's generous rains that enable us to see green for a few months of the year, before the spring and summer sun bake it into a dry brown.
Hmm . . . perhaps it was those harmonic combinations that both excited and calmed me.
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(The post "Green grasses in Noguchi's garden" is for ABC Wednesday  G-Day.)
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Milking a hollyhock

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Oh crop! -- I forgot to crop out my shielding hand.
Oh well, at least it shows you this hollyhock is taller than me.
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I was shooting into the setting sun, trying to catch the shadows of the stem and buds coming through the back-lit petals.
That would be for Shadow Shot Sunday, of course.
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Now if you enlarge the photo and find at least two ants, it can count for Camera-Critters too.
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The hardy hollyhock appeared out of nowhere last month, sprouting up between ancient floor stones.
This month it is tall and blooming, with not a drop of water.
Hollyhocks give it their best for a short time during the hot dry Israeli summer and then they are gone.
That should qualify it for inclusion in Robin's meme, Summer Stock Sunday.
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Nu, have I milked this flower for all it's worth?
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Birds of Paradise

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A rare bird of paradise flower in Jerusalem.
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A bird-of-paradise bird, literally!
The sculpture's Hebrew name is Tsipor Gan Eden, meaning "bird of the Garden of Eden."
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Sculptor Judith Shacher quotes Genesis 1:
And God said, ". . . Let the birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens."
So God created . . . every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply . . . and let birds multiply on the earth."
And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
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Take a deep breath

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Please ENLARGE !
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After the holiday high, it will be nice getting back to the normal delicacies of day-to-day life, like this big beauty, half blown away.
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Meanwhile, happy last day of Passover or happy Easter Monday to you.
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What's bloomin'?

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Strange flowers, no?

Trees and flowers are in full bloom.

Spring has sprung, and soon the holidays will be here too.

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An olive-wood scratching post

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Sink your claws into spring while ye may!

Carpe diem!

Soon the bright flowers will be but dry brown fire hazards.

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Lara thinks old olive trees are excellent scratching posts.

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She sends greetings to you and all the Camera-Critters folks.

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The hills are alive . . .

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It's only April 6 and Israel has already received more than the whole average amount of rainfall for April.
The wildflowers on the sides of our hill are obliterating the narrow paths.
The honey bees are having a field day too.
In fact, just after I snapped this picture of a friend walking down to her house, I heard a buzzing over my head.
Oh no! I turned back and ran through the thick flowers as fast as I could, which was not very fast but fast enough to get rid of the bee.
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There's nothing quite like spring.
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Showers bring flowers

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(Enlarge and see dewdrops sitting on top of the grass!)

UPDATE: I meant to tell you that the rafeket or cyclamen is now Israel's national flower.
It is one of the first wildflowers to bloom when the winter rains start.
This year these flowers first appeared in mid-January.
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See also rakafot growing in a high stone wall--click here.
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A legend about the shy and graceful cyclamen, also called nezer Shlomo, meaning "the crown of Solomon," says that when Solomon became king he chose the cyclamen as a model for his crown.

Centuries later, when Jerusalem was conquered, the royal crown was stolen from the king's treasury.
The cyclamen bowed its head in sorrow, saying, "Only when a son of David again ascends the throne and the crown is returned to Jerusalem shall I once again stand erect."
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Till today, the cyclamen droops its head.
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Flowers above, flowers below

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This unusual "flowerpot" and its shadow greet you just outside the entrance to Jerusalem's military cemetery on Mount Herzl.

(More about this beautiful and moving place under my label "Mt. Herzl.")

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For Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.

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Dutch tulips in Jerusalem?

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The two signs on the side of this van was what I was after at the time, in 2008.
Had I known that James would start his Weekend Reflections meme in the future, I would have focused more on the car windows.
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This is what the Hebrew means in English.
Reflected is Christ Church and their guest house, located in the Old City near Jaffa Gate.
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It is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East, built in 1849.

Inside the glass showcase you can read some of their history.
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For ideological reasons, Christ Church is not my favorite place, but they DO have an unusual little bench inside the guest house.

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