The trip from hell

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Sorry to burden you, gentle reader, with three difficult posts in a row.
But I have to get it off my chest,  memories of my short jump back to Jerusalem Nov. 5-7.
Next post will be a happier one, inshallah.

Jerusalemites are on edge now, at the beginning of what some want to call the Car Intifada. 
 Do see the link!

Plus, I was trying to get home to the quiet Negev on a Friday afternoon--and you must keep in mind that public transportation stops for the Sabbath, from mid- or late Friday afternoon until Saturday night.

When my bus from the Jerusalem Hills reached Mt. Herzl light rail terminus, I saw we were in trouble.
Hundreds of passengers were waiting for the tram that normally comes every five minutes.
The sign was saying "Vehicle stopped, there will be a delay."
Of course everyone starts imagining the worst: maybe there was another car-ramming terrorist attack that stopped the tram on the east side of the city?

Finally, after half an hour, a security guard told us the tram had been stopped at Denmark Square station because of a "suspicious object,"  i.e. a bomb scare. 
That was a relief; we are used to that.
 But everyone was nervously looking at their watch, praying they would get home in time (especially the observant Jews, who do not use mechanized transportation on Shabbat).

When the tram finally came, everyone crammed inside like sardines.
At the next station, another crowd was waiting and our driver had to shut the doors before everyone could get on.
One soldier in a hurry was infuriated that the driver did not let him on, and apparently he "punished" the driver and all of us passengers by standing on the track in front of the train.

The driver got on the P.A. system and said to the insulted young man: "What you are doing is not very nice, move aside or I'll have to call the police."
Meanwhile the driver turned off the power!  It is that moment I dread when it suddenly goes all quiet and the ventilation stops, the moment when my claustrophobia kicks in, when the collective memory of Jews squished together in cattle cars arises.
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine green pastures.

When the way cleared, we finally made it to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station where I was now late for my bus to Beer Sheva.
I finally got to Beer Sheva but of course was late for the connection to Meitar that I had planned and had to sit in the BS Central Bus Station for an hour.

But you know what?   When I finally shlepped my heavy backpack into the last bus to Meitar and slumped into the plush seat, the mood inside the bus was totally different from the tense Jerusalem mood.
The bus driver was singing and whistling along to the good old Israeli pioneer songs on the radio.
I even hummed along.
A crazy old man in the back of the bus started shouting complaints about something to the driver.
The driver carried on driving and answering the man with humor and patience, looking at him in the rearview mirror.  And singing.
I secretly gave him a thumbs-up and he winked back to me.  God bless him.

After five hours on the way I came home, so happy to be home in the desert!
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Everyone shall sit under his vine and no one shall make them afraid

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 1 But in the end of days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it.
 א  וְהָיָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים, יִהְיֶה הַר בֵּית-יְהוָה נָכוֹן בְּרֹאשׁ הֶהָרִים, וְנִשָּׂא הוּא, מִגְּבָעוֹת; וְנָהֲרוּ עָלָיו, עַמִּים.

 2 And many nations shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths'; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
 ב  וְהָלְכוּ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים, וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶה אֶל-הַר-יְהוָה וְאֶל-בֵּית אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב, וְיוֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיו, וְנֵלְכָה בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו:  כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה, וּדְבַר-יְהוָה מִירוּשָׁלִָם.

 3 And He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide concerning mighty nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
 ג  וְשָׁפַט, בֵּין עַמִּים רַבִּים, וְהוֹכִיחַ לְגוֹיִם עֲצֻמִים, עַד-רָחוֹק; וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבֹתֵיהֶם לְאִתִּים, וַחֲנִיתֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת--לֹא-יִשְׂאוּ גּוֹי אֶל-גּוֹי חֶרֶב, וְלֹא-יִלְמְדוּן עוֹד מִלְחָמָה.

 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree;

and none shall make them afraid;   for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken.
 ד  וְיָשְׁבוּ, אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ--וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד:  כִּי-פִי יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, דִּבֵּר.

Micah 4:1-4

The new kitten, only survivor of the mom's litter, chose to be born and to live in the little space under my little house.
Mother and kitty are for Camera Critters.
Enlarge the second picture to see the baby's expression! 
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Heroes of the day

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Meet my Hero of the Day, and of the Sabbath day at that.

 It's a long way up.
The Israel Electric Company linemen are so brave.

The man on the ground and the man in the air worked quickly, carefully, and with a smile.
It was just half an hour before sunset and I and the neighboring house were mighty glad to get power back after 16 hours without any.

Enlarge this photo, it's fun!
It's like the worker and the wires are having a duel.
Or is he saying "Hocus pocus!" to the sleeping giant?
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Just after midnight last night I was shutting down the computer when I heard a loud PATZ!  outside and out went my lights.
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Today  the Electric Company worker explained to me that it was a combination of a little rain, a lot of wind, and the first contractions of the cables as we go from summer heat to winter cold that caused the explosion.

It's good, today they changed the burnt wires and put in stronger connecting thingies.
Better today, a mostly sunny day, than on a cold and rainy day later, when winter really sets in (IF it ever does). 
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One night and one day of no Internet and no light.
It was a tiny price for the neighbors and me to pay compared to the on-going suffering of the  poor victims of Hurricane Sandy.
And may the American linemen have strength to carry on in the endless repair work ahead.
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Thanks to all those who take care of us.
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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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The nation reflects

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Photos and some thoughts for Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday, and Camera-Critters.
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These ten days are an intense, emotional time for Israelis.
We go from somber Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day to Remembrance Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Enemy Actions and then immediately to Independence Day celebrations.
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That's a lot for one little country just 63 years old.
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Instead of birds atop flagpoles, we will soon see the national flag flying for the double holiday.
Flags are already starting to be displayed on homes, stores, and cars.
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Meanwhile, have a peaceful Sabbath day. Shabbat shalom!
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Tour of my backyard world

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Happy spring to all of us in the Northern Hemisphere!
Israel turns from brown to lush green before spring actually, when the winter rains first wet ground that has been dry for half a year.
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Would an end-of-winter walk in my yard count as a guided tour for That's My World Tuesday?
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The view from my window for now is almond blossoms on a young tree that planted itself just a few years ago.
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A 3-year-old can get lost in the tall wild grasses.
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Jackals have made this their crossing place from the upper terrace to the lower terrace.
They have worn a path through the yard.
Sometimes at night they stop and howl near my window.
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When I moved to this little house six years ago, the beautiful old terrace walls were covered with parasitic thorny vines.
I exposed the beauty of the stones by cutting the creeping plants and pulling them away.
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I was digging around and raking once and discovered a paved path hidden beneath several inches of soil.
Now I have an easy way to reach my new compost pile of plant cuttings and kitchen scraps.
This photo shows the early morning dew sparkling.
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Looking down from the street above, my yard is quite hidden from view.
The neighbors' big red-roofed house is down on a lower terrace, across another street.
The sky was hazy on the day of this photo but normally you can clearly see the western neighborhoods of Jerusalem across the valley.
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The bare pomegranate and fig tree branches will soon have leaves and flowers and then fruit.
They and the olive trees and my grapevines give nice free food.
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Our little village (moshav) on the hill is a quiet and pleasant place to dwell.
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Duvet days

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Finally! After sleeping with just a thin single sheet for a long, long, hot summer, the nights are becoming cool enough to graduate to a duvet cover instead.

A re-launder of it and a hanging out to dry in the noonday sun gave it a fresh smell, as well as yielding a picture for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Who knows when it will ever get cold enough to have to stuff the feather blanket itself inside the duvet cover. We still have almost every day in the low 30s C/ low 90s F.
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Looking from this low angle gave me a flash-back to growing up in the big city of Chicago. As kids we would drape a sheet over a table and play under it, pretending it was a tent or wigwam or teepee.

Good adventures, even if they were really only on the living room floor and not the forest floor.
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P.S.
I just learned this from Wikipedia:

The term "Duvet day" is used in some countries to describe an allowance of one or more days a year when employees can simply phone in and say that they are not coming in to work, even though they have no leave booked and are not ill.
The provision of this benefit became fashionable in the late 1990s with many larger companies in the UK.
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Home and away

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Look who's standing on my desk (with a little help from her mom), and she's only four months old!
I have been spending many of the past nine days with these two.

We celebrated the eve of Rosh Hashana with relatives on the roof of their Tel Aviv apartment building.

I took a chance and took a picture of Naomi and Libby with only the light from the window and a little candlelight from the table.

Last night was our difficult parting, and today my beloved daughter and granddaughter are winging their way back to Australia (24 long hours of flying).

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As a way of getting close to them again, today I experimented with photographing their photo on my computer screen, adding Grandma Dina's reflection looking at the kids with love and longing.

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Sigh . . .

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I hope it will be good for James' Weekend Reflections.
Happy new year 5771 to you all.

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Losing his grip

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Surprise surprise! I turned on the light and found this little guy trying in vain to climb out of my bathroom sink.

After taking a video of his brave and energetic but futile efforts, I gave him a boost up and out.
He ran behind the washing machine. Fine with me.
He is welcome to stay.
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The fly swatter made a pretty pattern for Shadow Shot Sunday and my little animal friend is good for Camera-Critters.
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To see a big green perfectly camouflaged outdoor-type chameleon, click here.
And one which lost half its tail is here. And another whatever-they-are-called on my ceiling.
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UPDATE! Wikipedia has a whole very interesting article about the Mediterranean house gecko or more commonly Turkish Gecko as it is represented in its Latin name Hemidactylus turcicus.
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UPDATE 2016:  National Geographic's explanation on the gecko's difficulty in the sink.
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Evening descends on our hill

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For SkyWatch Friday, the evening shadow has creeped halfway up our little mountain and is about to envelope our village.

Soon it will be night in the Jerusalem Hills.

Families of jackals will start calling to one another across the valleys. .

On the horizon, on the higher hill, are two other moshavim / villages.
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Just across that far ridge, down in the Emek Refa'im Valley, starts the West Bank.
On a quiet night when the wind is right you can just about hear the muezzin's call from the mosques of Batir village.
Bethlehem is also quite close.
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Shh, napping cats

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Shabbat. It's a good day for a catnap on a warm shed roof, between the fig tree and the grapevine.

" Oh no, that human with the camera again? Let me sleep."

B-i-g stretch . . .

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For Camera-Critters.

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Holiday flowers

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The seventh and last day of Passover is beginning this evening.
Happy Shevi'i shel Pesach to my family and to my Jewish readers and friends.

And happy Easter Sunday and Easter Monday to the Christian friends.
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For you all, some red wildflowers beneath the old grapevine just outside my window.
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Shalom and peace.
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Spring has sprung

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Israel's scorpions and snakes have woken up again, right on time for the official beginning of spring.
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I came home yesterday to find this young snake on my patio, next to my door step.
Yikes!
Where are the cats when you need them?!

Making do with what I had, I dropped a cement block and a balata on the snake.
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I am sorry if this saddens some of the Camera-Critter friends. But I live in a rural setting, in a little house almost right on the ground. And there is just not enough room for me and a venomous snake.
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Happy spring.
P.S. Check out my post about the hunter cat with a live snake in her mouth. It's more fun than this post.

Water over the dam

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When you take the bus from Jerusalem westward to my village, this is what you see from the window.
Click to enlarge this March 2008 photo and some blue will appear at the center.
That is water in the reservoir near Beit Zayit

The large reservoir is dry in the summer and dry in some winters too.

But the phenomenon which happened over the last few days is something the old-time residents here have not witnessed for many many years.
It rained so hard in the Jerusalem Hills from Thursday to Sunday that the water started flowing over the dam!
It flowed through the dry watercourse of Nahal Soreq like a mighty stream.

From up on the western side of our hilltop moshav I could actually hear the rush of the water and even see part of the river down in the valley. This was a first for me. An exciting first!
It even made the TV evening news.

For four straight days we had torrential rains, thunder and lightning, and even hailstorms.
The Jerusalem Hills got several times more than any other part of Israel, well over 200 mm (more than 8 inches).
This is equal to one third of the normal rainfall for an entire winter!

The reservoir collected rain as well as water from Motza Spring, Halilim Spring, Nahal Halilim, and other streams that fill up with winter rains.
The water captured in the reservoir will help to recharge the thirsty aquifer.
But the rains of last week came down too fast and furious with no time to percolate and mostly they became run-off.

The water over the dam made its way through Nahal Soreq clear across the country, discharging into the Mediterranean Sea at Palmahim.

On a personal note, for a few hours it rained so hard that for a short time part of my yard became a pool. My poor little house must have been sitting in it because water started to trickle in from between the ceramic tiles at the base of the kitchen wall.
The owner said that in all the house's 60 years standing, that had never happened.

I fought bravely to stem the tide on the kitchen floor, but I never want to do that again.
It is very unsettling.
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Thanks for listening. Here is a gift for you. The traditional mishloach manot, the food goodies that you give to friends on Purim.
Today Jerusalem celebrated the holiday of Shushan Purim.
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Happy Purim to all who come for this edition of That's My World Tuesday!
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Kitty tail holder

(Enlarge for de tail)

Ha! Just when I was despairing of finding an interesting animal for today's Camera-Critters
I glanced out the door and saw a neighborhood tomcat snoozing in the warm afternoon sun with his tail draped over the railing!
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With the shadows he looked like a weird hybrid of raccoon and tiger.
Hey! This can be good for Shadow Shot Sunday too, over at Hey Harriet.

He is a nice old cat, one of the few ferals that let me pet them.
I think he has had a hard life, bless his heart.
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An erstwhile bug-eating buddy

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Here is my erstwhile little buddy on the wall, near the ceiling.
He (or she) is quiet and eats mosquitoes.
In short, a good housemate.
The little one comes and goes; now you see it, now you don't.

But one day, I, barefoot, picked up something from the bathroom floor and was startled to see the creature there instead of safely on the ceiling. Eek! I reacted by scooping him up and setting him outside on the front stair.
Now I kind of regret my harsh action . . .
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For other animal tales and photos please visit the bloggers at Camera-Critters today.
UPDATE: My post on a visiting lizard who lost half a tail is here.
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The color of summer

Two village cats visited my yard.
What's with the tail? Does this belong to the courting ritual?
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See other animals this weekend at Camera-Critters Sunday.

My home on the hill

The sky goes on and on above the Jerusalem Hills (also called the Judean Hills). Here is my moshav (village) on top of one of those hills, as seen from Hadassah Hospital and Hebrew University Medical School, looking west. My house is on the right, two terraces down from the top. From my window I am blessed to see Jerusalem across the valley to the east!


Other skies in other hemispheres are on display starting tonight at SkyWatch Friday.