Eucalyptus emergency

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Blackened earth and the acrid smell of ash!
What happened to our eucalyptus grove down in the wadi??
Our beloved nature place where the grandkids and I used to have adventures! 

I found this brush fire putter-outer lying on the ground and stood it up next to a eucalyptus that had lost its bark to the fire.
This is a common emergency tool in Israel, just a wooden stick and a piece of rubber, primitive but effective.
What's it called in English, anyway?

Only the tree and bush skeletons were left in part of the grove.
I wonder how the fire started.
Maybe from a falling rocket, but the local authorities didn't want to tell us?
"Keep calm" is the watchword these days, after all. 

OK, keep calm, Dina, and forget that this wadi is just two blocks from my house.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday E Day)
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Get a grip

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Today I bought myself a present:  my very own pliers.
But I was surprised the hardware store only had ones with plastic coating on the handles.
I remembered my volunteer years (1996-2002) when I worked and lived at Heifer Ranch in Arkansas.
My work in livestock  often demanded fixing or opening or closing something out in the field or in barns or pens, and the one and only tool that went everywhere with me was a simple pair of pliers.
Its bare metal handles could double as a lever or a hammer or a poker or whatever.

I was proud to wear the pliers in a holster on my belt, sort of like a status symbol for us  two or three volunteers privileged to work with the animals.

 

Anyway, the pliers reminded me of something strange  I recently discovered in the sculpture garden of the Israel Museum.

(Like always you can enlarge the photos.)

I couldn't find the identifying tag for the metal creation.

The gate was half-hidden in the flowering rosemary bushes.

Couldn't find pliers on the sculpture.
But the deformed handle of a pickaxe gave a kvetch to my sometimes-archaeology-worker's heart.
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UPDATE: Don't miss the Spooky Men's Chorale singing "Don't Stand Between a Man and His Tool"! 
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Root balls on Jaffa Road

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For a long, long time Jerusalem's main street, old Jaffa Road, has been torn up [as in my post from November 2008].
Vehicle traffic was reduced to one congested lane and pedestrians had to walk just about single file along what remained of the sidewalk. Stores suffered.

Yesterday, in front of the Generali Building I was glad to see the street flat again, with the tracks for the future light rail already laid, and lots of room to walk.
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Look! We are even going to get trees!
I hope someone makes places to plant them before their root balls dry up.
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There were no workers in sight. Oi, hope no one grabs that axe!
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W in Sergei Courtyard

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel has their Jerusalem office in the lovely 1890 Sergei Building. Their courtyard has treasures like these below to show how WORK was done in olden days.

Watering trough cut into a Crusader ashlar.
Winnowing fork and threshing board.
Windlass to draw water from the well.
Well borders with grooves cut by ropes used in drawing water.

ABC Wednesday at Augusta Victoria

To read the fine print please click on this photo:

Trowel and hammer used in 1907 to lay the cornerstone of the German Lutheran Church of the Ascension, aka Augusta Victoria, on the Mount of Olives.

Tall tower of the church.

To the tower or Turm in German.

Terrible news!

Too many stairs to the top of the bell tower. But the view was tops!

"T" is the letter of the week at ABC Wednesday, so see lots of other blogs with your tea at Mrs. Nesbitt's Place. 
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