Peaceful winter sky

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Strips of clouds all in a pile, at 4:52 this afternoon, after sunset.
Hard to believe that just five days ago the country was under the worst storm anyone could remember, and now it is so clear and peaceful.
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Shalom to all at SkyWatch Friday.
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Cookie cutter food

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Blogger friends Rob and Mandy over at the always-entertaining Barcelona Daily Photo are inviting us all to contribute to their new meme. "Food for Thoughts" will be about food, eating-places, and anything food-related.
Yalla!
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Making Christmas cookies--yes, right here in Jerusalem!
I sighted the girls decorating them in the little restaurant of Christ Church guesthouse.
(It is just to the right of the Jaffa Gate as you enter the Old City. )
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Christmas cookies are pretty symbolic Food for Thought, no?

Which is taller, the cut tree or the potted plant?
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A little more about Christ Church, the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East, here.
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Lady in white, welcome!

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Photo by Israel Antiquities Authority

This is SO cool!

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The battering waves, wind, and rain in our weekend storm caused part of the ancient maritime cliff in Ashkelon to collapse.

Then yesterday a person walking along the sandy seashore sighted a marble statue being lapped by the now calmer waves!

Authorities were notified. The Israel Antiquities Authority immediately sent the Ashkelon district archaeologist. The municipal council sent a crane.

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I watched wide-eyed as the TV news showed the 200 kg, 1.2 meter statue being slowly raised to the top of the cliff.

Next, her pedestal was brought up.

What a way to do archaeology!! No digging necessary!

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She is a beauty, the ca. 1700 or 1800 year old lady from the late Roman period.

Very delicate feet and sandals and a lovely toga.

Her head and arms have probably been missing since antiquity.

She once stood in a Roman bath house.

Miraculously she was not damaged in her fall to the beach.

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Do see the slideshow at Haaretz, especially photo 3/13 of the statue suspended in midair.

Or photo 1/4 at the Jerusalem Post article.

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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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Wild weather in the Middle East

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"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
. . . "
The events in Israel over the past twelve days sometimes made me think of Robert Frost's poem. A few days after our forest fire inferno, winter suddenly struck the country with snow, rain, gale force winds, and a sandstorm.
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The photo, albeit from December 2008, shows how weird and dark the sun gets over Jerusalem during a duststorm.
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From Friday until today I shut myself into the house, but still the fine particles entered.
They entered my eyes and nose and throat. Oi .
Jerusalem suffered with ten times the "legal" amount of air pollution until this morning when some rain washed our air.
Ahh, so nice to breathe again.
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The 9-meter waves battered the Mediterranean coast and did great damage.
A Turkish ship sank 8 miles from Ashdod Port, with all crew members rescued.
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Everything that could blow over did so. Huge damage to agriculture. And the hothouse flowers meant for Europe's Christmas markets.
Thousands of trees down. On people inside their cars, and on electric wires. Thousands of residents are still without electricity.
Trees on the railroad tracks stopped the trains. No visibility closed airports for a while. The waves were too dangerous for ships to dock. Winds gusting to 110 km/h were too much for cars on the highways.
Flooding of streets and houses.
Schools were closed in the northern Golan Heights due to snow.
Mt. Hermon already has 120 cm of snow.
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Land mines from previous wars in the Golan Heights have washed down or shifted positions.
Future hikers are warned to stay on marked trails.
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The homeless (2000 known to the welfare authorities and ~ 1000 not known) are being offered shelter and hot meals and showers to save them from the freezing cold.
Jerusalem, the coldest city, is down to 7-8 degrees C (about 45 F).
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But our neighbors are also suffering. We are all in this together!
The low pressure zone and SW winds blew sand from Egypt and wild weather into Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In Egypt 18 are dead from the storm.
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May we all make it through this latest trial, and soon.
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Such is our world in the Middle East, these last few days, for That's My World Tuesday.
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Bridging the two towers

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Hadassah Medical Center is an ever-expanding university hospital on a hill in the forested Jerusalem Hills.
Like a small city almost.

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They must have known I needed a bridge for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges, because they started building this new bridge.

It begins in the new Tower parking facility, which has room for 1000 cars and is only one of many parking buildings and lots. Shuttle buses circle the campus, ferrying people from their cars to the buildings.

The bridge goes over to the still under construction 19-storey Hospital Tower which is being built to house 500 beds, 60 intenseive care beds, and 20 operating rooms.
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The one little single-lane road that goes through the campus is hardly wide enough for buses, ambulances, construction vehicles, cars, pedestrians, baby strollers, and wheelchairs.

You take your life into your hands when you have to walk along that road.

So the new bridge is a welcome way to cross over.

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Room to swing a cat

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OK, I confess, even to the Camera-Critters animal lovers--it's me swinging the cat.
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But Lara LIKES it.
Back and forth, then from side to side, while I say "hoy-dash, hoy-dash" (just like Saba Yisrael taught us to say when my children were small enough to swing).
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As a finale, I stand Lara on her hind feet and we do "mechi mechi capa-im," hand-clapping with her front paws.
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Lara is not mine, not a pet. She is an outdoor cat, fed by my neighbor-friends. Born in the wild.
Lara and I are best friends.
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Dressed for winter

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Dean in the Shadows is a photo from 4 years ago, when he came to visit from Australia.
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But my grandson's layers of warm clothes show how it starts to feel again here near Jerusalem.
My radiator on wheels is now ON!
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Today is our first real winter day, with strong winds, cold, and a little rain (only 1 mm in Jerusalem in 24 hours).
Strangely enough, it also looks like a dust storm. The day is yellow and Jerusalem over on the horizon is not visible. The dust is painful to the eyes and throat.
Like we've forgotten how to do winter.
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(The shadows of my shutters are for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.)
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Reflections of Chanuka Past

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I know, I know, Chanuka ended last night. But I just HAD to share these memories for James' Weekend Reflections.

The proper way is to display your chanukia (Chanuka menorah) in a window or at the door or even outside in order to "publicize the miracle" that a cruse of ritually pure olive oil lasted for 8 whole days when the Temple of old was rededicated.

I wonder . . . would showing the Chanuka lights on Skype webcam would qualify as "publicizing the miracle"?

Reflections even on my old table.

And my mouse pretended it was part of the celebration by bearing light and changing to the colors of the candles.

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Tonight we return to the two Sabbath candles.

Gam zu le-tova. Shabbat shalom.

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Welcome to you, clouds!

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Clouds are returning to us after an extra-long dry spell (like 8 months!).
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The weatherlady promises a weekend of rain, thunderstorms, wind, and cold.
Woohoo, bring it on!
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Happy SkyWatch Friday.
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Ner shmini

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Tonight we lit the 8th candle.
And ate latkes and soofganiot.
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Happy last day of Chanuka!
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Underground Prisoners Museum

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The Underground Prisoners Museum, in Jerusalem's Russian Compound, is introduced for ABC Wednesday's letter U.

Hundreds of both Jewish and Arab prisoners were held here by the British police from 1920 to 1948, during the British Mandate.

Many of the young fighters in the pre-state Jewish underground movements were jailed and some were executed.

Everything from cells to workshops to synagogue is set up as it originally was.

Anyone who wants to understand and feel our history should really take a guided tour in this place.

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Rain helps end the fire

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In the week since last That's My World Tuesday Israel has been through trying times.
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We are mourning the loss of 42 men and women in the service of their country; all burned because a bus was engulfed just after the forest fire started on Thursday.
Some 250 housing units burned either totally or partially.
50,000 dunams (12,500 acres) of the Mt. Carmel forest, 5 million trees, were on fire.

Photo: Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson

The good part is that many nations came to Israel's aid.
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In the photo, in orange and blue, are just some of the fire fighting aircraft crews that came from ten countries.
Israeli pilots accompanied them in every sortie over the flames.
In 82 hours the fire was stopped.
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Yesterday and today 4 Israel Air Force bases held ceremonies for the departure of the international teams. IAF medals were presented to 192 foreign crewmen, and all the delegations received a certificate of gratitude from the commander of the IAF.
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But before leaving, they were taken around the country to visit the holy places.
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The water-dropping planes that Turkey graciously sent us flew up to Lebanon to battle the fires that are burning the majestic cedars.

The other good news is that for the first time in 8 months RAIN started falling all over Israel last night! Just in time to cool down the smouldering ground in the Carmel range.

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Above you see the welcome clouds over Jerusalem at 4:18 pm today, as seen from my village.

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The Boston Globe has incredible images of our fire online today, including the airplanes.

WARNING: On Photo 6 they give you a choice whether to open it; please PLEASE skip that difficult one.

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Thank God it is over.

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Showers of blessing

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RAIN! It's raining in Israel, at last, after eight hot dry months!
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Just in time to cool the simmering ground near Haifa at the end of our four-day Mt. Carmel fire.
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Temperatures in Jerusalem have suddenly fallen from the recent 70s and 80s F down to the 50s and 60s (= 11-16 C).
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Now, with the forest fire behind us and the winter rain ahead of us, hopefully we will be able to enter the mood of Chanuka and celebrate a bit.

Thank you, dear readers, for your expressions of support during the difficult days of fire.
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Saved by Google

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NASA's satellite photo shows the smoke from the Carmel fires drifting out over the blue Mediterranean.
Thankfully, today, for the first time since Thursday we have more smoke than flame.
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A year ago I took this photo of flame retardant being released over our neighborhood monastery when their forest caught fire.
It shows you what kind of firefighting equipment the great state of Israel has--small agricultural cropdusters doing double duty!
What's more, in normal times these Chem-Nir planes do not stand at the ready; it takes at least 2 1/2 hours to get them airborne.
If not for the generous sending of help from neighbor countries and from Europe and America, we would be in big trouble right now. See the impressive list of aircraft that has arrived in the last few days here.
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This morning the world's largest firefighting aircraft landed at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The Evergreen Boeing Supertanker--see it being welcomed here!
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I watched the live coverage of its first sortie at 11 o'clock and it was very scary.
A huge aircraft flying over hills and around high tension wires and dropping its load of 80 tons of water plus chemicals just 300 feet above the ground!
All the other 34 aircraft in action were kept clear of the path of the huge Boeing.
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People in buildings in the area were told to shut the windows and turn on the airconditioners (IF they are not outward-facing) because this anti-fire material is dangerous to one's health.
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And how did we come to know about the existence of the Evergreen Supertanker?
Someone in our aircraft industry remembered hearing about it once.
They Googled Evergreen, found the company in Arizona, called, got PM Netanyahu's OK to pay the gigantic rental fees, and the deal was sealed in 15 minutes.
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I ask you, is this the way to run a country??
Does our safety depend on Google and the good will of foreign countries?
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Memory of trees

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This row of trees (with Shadow Shot Sunday shadows) is on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives.
They are strong and alive with green.
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But on Mt. Carmel, near Haifa, 5.5 million of their brother and sister trees are now black and dead and more continue to burn ever since the huge forest fire started on Thursday.
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Precious drops

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The national water company's pipe was leaking at their little station in my village.
The suspended water drop contains a strange reflection. Is it me??
Whatever it is, it is for James' Weekend Reflections.
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Water, hoses, and firefighting are on every Israeli's mind.
The forest fires on Mt. Carmel near Haifa began yesterday and continue.
Today we started to bury some of the 42 casualties.
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We are so touched and grateful to all the countries that are sending aircraft, firemen, and flame retardant.
Thank you, bless you, friends and neighbors!
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A national tragedy happening

A terrible fire, the worst natural disaster in Israel's history, is raging on Mount Carmel, near Haifa, since around noon.

Perhaps 40 Prison Service personnel were burned to death in one bus. They were on the way to a prison to evacuate 500 prisoners.

Kibbutz Beit Oren burned.
Over 6,000 dumans (1500 acres) of woodland, including the beautiful forest area called Little Switzerland have already been destroyed.
Thousands of citizens in danger are being evacuated.

We have had no rain since last spring. The weather is hot and dry. The wind keeps changing direction today.

Helicopters and planes cannot fly to drop water or fire retardant during the night, in the dark.
We have asked Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, and Cyprus to send firefighting aircraft and lots of the red chemical to help us.
Please add your prayers too.

You can watch the nonstop live coverage via Israel Broadcasting Authority TV at http://iba.org.il/media/ . Click on the blinking red title on the right to get Channel One.
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Views from Mt. Scopus

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The natural place to get closest to the sky in Jerusalem in on Mount Scopus/Mount of Olives, with its elevation of 2710 feet or 826 meters.

So, for SkyWatch Friday here is the sky and the land in all directions as seen from this highest point.

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East--the Judean Desert

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Southwest--the Temple Mount (enlarge to find the golden Dome of the Rock) inside the Old City
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Northwest--the tall mast of the Calatrava bridge, at the western entrance to Jerusalem, is on the skyline at the right.
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South--A-Tor and the tall Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension.
Herodion is visible on the horizon.
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Stone eagles on Mt. of Olives

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We have been talking much about the Augusta Victoria complex on Mt. of Olives this week.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension has a 60 meter tall bell tower.
When the church was built in the early 20th century, the four heavy bells came by ship from Hamburg to Jaffa.
BibleWalks.com says that bringing them from the coast "required rebuilding the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem."
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Two stone eagles stand in the garden.

The Adler with folded wings is a German imperial sign representing unity and power.

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What Kaiser Wilhelm II built in 1907-10 as a pilgrim hostel adjoining the church is today a hospital serving the Arab population of the Jerusalem area. (Photos will come soon.)
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The sign shows some of the other nice things that call Augusta Victoria home.

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