Sea turtle egg-laying season at the Mediterranean coast

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Something told me, late last night,  to post my turtle pictures.
And today I wake up to discover that today is WORLD TURTLE DAY!!

It is now turtle egg laying season along Israel's Mediterranean coast, but sadly, this sea turtle didn't make it.

My town's touring group visited here in March and we saw three dead ones.

Each year about 300 sea turtles are washed up onto Israeli beaches after being harmed by marine waste, fishing nets, hooks, boat motors, etc. 

Now, during the spring and summer laying season many volunteers and park rangers come to the beaches to assist and protect the endangered sea turtles when they come ashore and later, when the hatchlings hatch from the eggs.

The Israel Sea Turtle Rescue Center does good work.
You can see their videos and photos on Facebook at  המרכז להצלת צבי הים .

When the coast was less built up, less urbanized, the females would swim ashore, lay their eggs in a sandy nest, and immediately return to the water by following the moon's reflected light on the sea.
But the beach we visited is close to the big Arab town of Jisr az-Zarqa.
The turtles now often get confused and turn instead toward the light of the town and lose their way.
That's why volunteers are needed.
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UPDATE May 23:
See also photos, video, and info about Israel's turtle rehab center:
https://www.israel21c.org/nursing-sea-turtles-back-to-health/

And more information from this good article:

Under cover of darkness in May and June, female sea turtles make their way from the waters of Israel’s Mediterranean beaches to the seashore, where they dig nests and lay dozens of eggs. In August, the hatchlings start cracking their way out of their shells, and begin a perilous trek to the relative safety of the water.

Israel is home to loggerhead, leatherback, green and softshell turtles – all endangered due to decades of hunting, pollution, manmade dangers and habitat disturbances caused by human activity. The newly laid eggs and the hatchlings are quite vulnerable to predators and the hot sun. Left on their own, only a few survive.
Since the mid-1980s, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority has been sending out rangers and volunteers in the summer months to move nests to protected beach reserves or incubation farms.

(Linking to Camera-Critters,  ABC Wednesday and Our World Tuesday.)
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1st century synagogue sand for sale

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Situation is too complicated for me to blog about, so today let's have a simple post instead.

For ABC Wednesday   S is for  tiny bottles of Sea of Galilee water and corked bottles of synagogue sand.
Only 8 shekels.
At the Magdala gift shop for pilgrims and tourists.
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ANZAC DAY today

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Today is ANZAC Day, which Wikipedia explains as

 a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served".

But the ANZAC troops are also remembered in other countries, and especially at the Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Israel and nearby Gaza.

Here in the Negev we have the beautiful Beersheba War Cemetery.
Some of the graves are of Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers.  
The administering Commonwealth War Graves Commission says that 

The cemetery was made immediately on the fall of the town [Oct. 1917], remaining in use until July 1918, by which time 139 burials had been made. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when burials were brought in from a number of scattered sites and small burial grounds. The cemetery now contains 1,241 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 67 of them unidentified.

 A Jewish officer's tombstone says
FAR FROM HOME, CLOSE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO LOVED HIM. 
The pebbles on top are left as a traditional sign of respect by visitors to his grave.

Written in Welsh.
And a little LEST WE FORGET cross.

The traditional red poppy on the cross and one stuck in the ground.
HIS DUTY DONE.

A trooper from New Zealand.
Someone added the Kiwi's photo.

An Australian from the famous Light Horse brigade.

A New Zealander from the Mounted Rifles.

The unidentified ones are the saddest.
AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER OF THE GREAT WAR
KNOWN UNTO GOD

"In memory of a Ballarat boy.  Trooper Thomas Bell was aged just 16 when he died of wounds received in the charge*.
All gave some, some gave all."

[* i.e. the mounted charge on the Turkish trenches, to liberate Beer Sheva.]

The tall white structure is the Cross of Sacrifice, standard for all Commonwealth War Cemeteries around the world.

The Visitors Book, with lots of information, in the wall near the always-open entrance gate.

In the background is Beer Sheva's new and wonderful ANZAC Memorial Centre.
More on that in a future blog post.

One of the dedicated and caring Arab gardening team planting more flowers. 
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Thank you, brave ANZAC soldiers, for turning the tide of World War I down here in the Negev desert that I now call home.   Your memory will live on! 
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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

-- fourth stanza from Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, 1914

(See more about this cemetery and about commemorations in Beer Sheva in 3 previous posts.  See also my posts about ANZAC Day in Jerusalem.)
More about this and other Australia places in Beer Sheva:  http://www.kkl-jnf.org/tourism-and-recreation/israeli-heritage-sites/anzac-trail/sites/anzac-sites-beersheba/
How the Australian army talks about ANZAC Day:  https://www.army.gov.au/our-history/traditions/anzac-day
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday, Our World Tuesday and to  ABC Wednesday -- p is for poppy.)
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A tale of a tail for sale

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I was surprised to see something new in our local supermarket's meat department.
I was then somehow shocked to read the label; it said (and I translate literally from the Hebrew)  "TAIL OF A CALF."
I was really curious by then because never have I seen a whole long tail for sale!
After sneaking a photo for the blog, I came home and started googling.

OK, so I did already know there is something called oxtail, but oxen are not used for that anymore; and if you do see it for sale, the tail bone is chopped into smaller pieces.

Apparently there is a new approach to eating meat based on a 2004 foodie classic, The Whole Beast, Nose to Tail Eating by chef Fergus Henderson.
As one kosher butcher explains it,
"Nose to tail eating is a philosophy in which one eats the entire animal thereby honoring the animal's sacrifice and reducing food waste." 

Here is how an Australian organic food blog talks about it.

I am not qualified to explain about the historic complications of kosher tail requirements.
There is something about having to remove the sciatic nerve and having this nikkur done by specially trained menakrim.
In fact many Jews believe/d -- mistakenly -- that eating beef hindquarters is forbidden.
But if you are interested please see "Cow butts are kosher" in the blog The Kosher Omnivore's Quest.

Your input is welcome, dear readers.
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P.S. Speaking of beef, here is a favorite photo of mine from Jerusalem's shuk (open market):
http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/a-heavy-yoke.html
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday. My K is for kosher.)
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Magdala, Duc In Altum

One humble church bell against a mighty sky, and just beyond the eucalyptus trees lies the Sea of Galilee.

Israel is full of old and ancient churches.
It is not often you see a brand new one.
Last week I got to see for the first time the beautiful Duc In Altum!

This special Catholic spiritual center is surrounded by antiquities, over 2,000 years old, including a synagogue where Jesus most likely taught.
Here the famous Magdala stone was discovered!

There is so much to show and tell, I will continue in the coming posts.

In the brochure you can see how the Boat Chapel looks at night, from the sea side, and how the Duc In Altum spiritual center looks on a sunny day.

Lots more is under construction for the lucky pilgrims who will come to Magdala in the coming years.
In the next posts you will see the archaeological park and the interior of the church and chapels and learn the amazing story of how all this began.

Meanwhile, today Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo is celebrating ten years of blogging.
I'm hoping for at least another decade of showing you the beauty of Israel!
Thanks for your visits, questions and comments.
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(Linking to inSPIRED Sunday and Our World Tuesday.  And for ABC Wednesday, G is for Galilee.)
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Olive oil by the barrel

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T is for tugging.

Dani, the in-charge of Kibbutz Gezer Olives had just driven two heavy barrels of our fresh oil back from the olive press.

And they had to be off-loaded to the entrance of the kibbutz bomb shelter where the oil would later be bottled.

American volunteer Ashlea took a whiff.

Dani made the taste test.

Ashlea got a capful of the precious fruit of our olive-harvesting labor.

Luke, a WWOOFer from New Zealand, tried it too.

Only I, as reflected in the pure oil, was busy with the camera and mercifully too busy to drink.
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UPDATE May 2018:  A brief video of the Kiwi volunteer Luke was just published! He talks about his good experience at Kibbutz Gezer.

(Linking to T-day at ABC Wednesday and OurWorld Tuesday.)
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Where'd everybody go?

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I've been negligent lately in my blogging and blog-visiting, but I have an excuse!
I've been preparing for, partly hosting, and then emotionally recovering from an all-too-short visit of my family from Australia.

Under welcome clouds and a welcoming committee of birds, my Naomi, Dean, Eyal, and Libby and I walked over to our local "desert." 

It was the day of the Sukkot holiday, so everyone else must have been dwelling in their sukkas or away on vacation or napping, because we were the only ones out and about. 
Imagine having the whole Meitar Forest to yourself for your picnic.

Then we headed home on the dusty Israel Trail.

Naomi had everyone hose off the dust from their shoes and feet, because the very next day they would  be starting the long journey back, flying from Tel Aviv east to Hong Kong and then another long flight south to Sydney. 

So for ABC Wednesday, N is for Naomi and her husband, (who had to continue on to some professional conferences in Europe) and their kids who were nice enough to come north to visit.
But for not nearly enough time. 
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(Linking also to Our World Tuesday.)

New meaning to "Spanish omelette"

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The stamped Large white Israeli eggs are what I normally buy.
See the L on the shell? 
But now during the Jewish High Holidays, the Days of Awe, there are so many festive meals to be cooked inside of just a few weeks that the country apparently ran out of eggs.
I was astounded to open a new carton and find brown eggs!
I examined the Hebrew label and discovered they were imported all the way from Spain!
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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Dean and Dina down by the sea

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Number One grandson Dean and I were talking about sloths and how they hang upside down. 

I decided to throw decorum to the winds and demonstrate, despite my grandmotherly age. 

This was about ten years ago, in Australia, but I still remember the fun of acting young at heart in a public park! 

Visit the gallery to see what other City Daily Photo bloggers dared to post for our August theme, "young at heart."

(Linking also to ABC Wednesday's D day.)

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When is a deck a boardwalk?

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Can this long wooden walkway qualify as a "boardwalk"?
Hope so, because I need a B word for today's ABC Wednesday.
This was my first time to see Jerusalem's cultural and entertainment venue, the First Station.
I was last there in 2013 when the old heritage site train station was being re-done, so my construction photos are now history.
Just look at all those carts!
I walked through at 2:30, returning from the nearby International Book Fair, and nothing much was open yet, except the restaurants.

The rough-hewn wood of the selling carts is meant to evoke the memory of old-time luggage carts for the train passengers back in the 19th century.
The journey up to Jerusalem with the coal-burning locomotives is one I would love to have made back then, when this was still part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Tmol Shilshom, Only Yesterday

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For the brand new version of the long-running meme ABC Wednesday that begins today, my A is for Agnon.
Shai Agnon, 1888-1970, was the only Israeli to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Alongside the walkway of the long Train Track Park in Jerusalem I was delighted to find this clever waist-high sign.
You can read (if you know Hebrew) either the cut out letters in the metal or the shadow of the words on the ground.
The quotation is from Agnon's famous masterpiece Tmol Shilshom, published in 1945.
Just a few years ago the book was translated into English as Only Yesterday.
You can sample some pages of the peculiar style here in Google Books.
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UPDATE:  More about where this is located:
https://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/park-hamesila-railway-park.html
and
http://worldlandscapearchitect.com/jerusalem-railway-park-tichnun-nof-landscape-architects/

(Linking to signs, signs and old-new ABC Wednesday.)
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High tension

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The Electric Corporation had to send us this special crane, and we waited several hours without electricity as it drove over from Ashdod, the port city of the Mediterranean coast. 

Then they had to adjust the feet of the truck, to make it level and solid. 

Remember this post about the burning palm tree from last March? 

And this post on how the black dead tree was cut down? 

So the fire was the culprit!  Three months later the apparently frayed cable tore and ended up on the sidewalk. 

I know the technicians turn off the electric current for blocks around, but still, I always worry that the brave man on top might get zapped, God forbid!

Here he tried to "splice" the two ends of the cable.

But his helper on the ground later had to lift the cable up to him on a stick.

Oi, look how high he is, working hard to take up the slack and make it taut.

Leaning so far out of that cherry picker bucket. 

We all watched in awe.  

You can enlarge these pictures and see how the man is smiling through it all, as if to calm me, the Worrying Jewish Mother.

Thanks electric company. You guys are always here when we need you.

Stay safe and may you never ever get zapped. 

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(Linking to ABC Wednesday Z-day.)

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