Our yearly Night Run (in the sun)

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Our yearly Meitar Night Run got underway just after 7 pm. 

Some parents ran together with their sons and daughters. 
Long shadows in the setting sun.  

The runners rounded this roundabout and ran back to the center of town, up hills and down hills. 

On the uphill, into the strong still-hot glaring sun, some of the less-inexperienced participants had slowed to a walk. 
The other, marathon-type, serious joggers would run for hours into the night on longer routes.  
I was happy just to stand still and take pictures and admire other people's endurance. 
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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Spontaneous combustion? -- A palm in flames

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WET is the City Daily Photo topic for today's Theme Day.
We have not much rain and no bodies of water here in my corner of Israel's Negev desert.
But the other day, a hot dry chamsin day, our town suddenly saw a lot of water--not from the sky but from fire hoses!
The crown of a palm tree suddenly burst into flames.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION?!  It is a known phenomenon especially in palms.

Soon the whole trunk and the hedge were burning.
Our Meitar Bitachon/Security team (bless them!) were on the scene quickly and rolled out their hoses.

The police and Fire Department arrived too.

Two firemen suited up and went to work.

At the end, our local hoses had themselves to be hosed down to clean the black soot off them.

The now leafless and blackened dead palm will hopefully be cut down soon.
That's a scary thing, trees suddenly bursting into flame for no good reason.
I hope never to see such a thing again.
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See Palm Trees as Fire Hazards, a useful page of advice, photos, and a video link by a California fire department.
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Come in and look -- Open Houses weekend sale

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This weekend was our town's Open Houses event.
About 18 Meitar residents opened their yards or houses to sell all kinds of crafts, art, and clothing.
The old balance scales were fascinating.
In back of the table, on the ground, you can see beautiful old Persian carpets, SO expensive.
(You might want to enlarge the photos to enjoy the details.)

Actually the lady at this house was selling the nice pottery that she makes, but she was happy to explain that the antique sewing machine still works fine.

In this other yard, what I thought looked like a fancy scarecrow led the way to other "vintage treasures."
But my favorite house was the woodworker's.  He creates wonderful toys, eating utensils, benches, and artistic things, and even a Pinocchio!
Wish I could be his apprentice.
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Kids make pita

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More scenes from our Scouts' big "happening."

Visitor kids got to mix a handful of flour with some water, and the Scouts put their dough on the fire to make fresh hot pita.

The new building, almost finished, is a big extension of the Scout troop's den.
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)
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That beady look

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Making jewelry with beads.
Hmm, why are the letters in English, not Hebrew? 

It was a popular activity at our recent Scouts Happening.

It was a magnet, drawing in the young girls.
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Scouts pulling together

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Something I had never seen (not having been part of any of the youth movements when I grew up in the US).

The Scouts lashed together a wooden A-shaped frame, stood a child up on it, had kids keep it balanced by pulling on supporting ropes, and slowly "walked" the frame forward as if on two legs. 
There must be a name for this in Hebrew and English.
Anybody know?
You can click a few times to get the big picture.
It was part of the big Happening our Meitar Scouts put on for the community. 
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Cotton candy aka grandma's hair

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For ABC Wednesday,  K is for kosher cotton candy. 

In Hebrew it is called "grandmother's hair."

Our Meitar Scout troop held a happening at the athletic field, with lots of activities and free stuff for the young visitors.
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UPDATE:  Robert Geiss, a photographer living in Greece, just informed me that also in Greek cotton candy is called grandmother hair!
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Moon over Meitar

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The moon gets so big so quickly, no?
This picture of the crescent moon with some planet under it is from just two weeks ago, and tonight our moon is full and harvest-y. 

You see people in Meitar's athletic field, a grassy soccer field surrounded by an oval running track. 
On the left is our new "Culture House" and next to it Meitarim School. 
You can click a few times to enlarge the photos. 
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Colorful prefab huts for school

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Last week these prefabs were trucked into Meitar through streets that were blocked off to traffic.
Slowly slowly a crane set them down in their designated places.
About seven in all. 

The school yard is a mess, meanwhile.
Let's hope the builders get everything in order before the first day of school, September1.

Meitarim is the town of Meitar's middle school.
I guess they need more space and the colorful huts are the (temporary?) solution.
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See more about this school in these three posts.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Friday farmers market in Meitar

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A farmers market, in Meitar!
It has happened every Friday morning for the last three weeks, and each time it gets bigger and better.

These cheeses came all the way from Hanoked, a farm in the north, near Akko.
The sign says "boutique cheeses."

In the center of town is the Mercaz, the commercial center.
A few stores and the Local Council (like a city hall or municipality, IF we were a city).
Now it is mid afternoon and everything is closed for the Sabbath; businesses and offices will open again on Sunday.
Shabbat shalom, Sabbath peace to you.
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Our skyline in the middle of nowhere

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City Daily Photo bloggers are presenting "My city's skyline" for today's Theme Day.

"City" is kind of a big word for my town.
Meitar has only ca. 8,500 residents.
Construction began in 1984 on the yishuv kehillati, our planned community; and it continues to expand, one neighborhood at a time.
The photo above is taken from the center, looking toward the Northern Neighborhood.
Just north of the planted forest, just across the Green Line, are the Southern Hebron Hills in the West Bank.
 Geographically Meitar is on the transition area where the Negev Desert meets the Hebron Hills.

A shot of the east edge of town, taken from the "desert" that surrounds us.
I like to hike out here in the lonely hills.
All these photos (which you can enlarge greatly) are from the half-year dry season; in the winter when rain comes, it all looks a lot greener. 

Just after twilight the perimeter lights go on.
They share poles with the Sabbath eruv wire.
We don't have a fence.
This photo is looking west, toward the Mediterranean Sea and the Gaza Strip.
Less than 60 kilometers to Gaza, not so far as the crow  as the rocket flies.
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Meitar from afar

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Here's the 6:00 pm summer-blue sky over my town in the Negev desert.

And this is the same angle but from a higher elevation, after we walked up a hill.
If you enlarge the photo, you can see our Northern Neighborhood on the right.
It was the first section of Meitar, begun in 1984.
To the left is the Southern Neighborhood, which followed.
Off in the distance is Hura, a Bedouin town about three times bigger than Meitar in population.
Meitar has over 8,000 souls.
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Shabbat shalom and happy Sky Watch Friday.
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Off and running! Meitar Night Race

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The yearly Meitar Night Race came down my street yesterday! 
At 6:12 pm it was not yet night but at least the setting sun was at their back. 

Running either the 5 K or 10 K can't be all that easy on Meitar's many hills.

The first wave was mainly kids.
They made a circle at the cellist roundabout and headed back.
The adults ran on around our town's ring road (map here).

Police kept wheeled traffic off the designated streets from 6:00 to 10:30 pm.
That also meant no buses on the regular bus route.
And residents were asked not to park on the street.
The race takes a lot of planning.
Glad I was only taking pictures.
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Meitar = tent cords for lengthening

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The yellow part of this sculpture symbolizes the cord of a tent.
This cord or rope is known in Hebrew as a meitar.
Meitar is the name that was chosen for my town when it was first planned in 1984.  

The prophet Isaiah told us to

 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations, spare not; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. 

 הַרְחִיבִי מְקוֹם אָהֳלֵךְ, וִירִיעוֹת מִשְׁכְּנוֹתַיִךְ יַטּוּ--אַל-תַּחְשֹׂכִי; הַאֲרִיכִי, מֵיתָרַיִךְ, וִיתֵדֹתַיִךְ, חַזֵּקִי.
  --  (Isaiah 54:2)

You can even see the tent and cord expressed in our logo.

The vision of Meitar's founders was to build a mixed community, a mix of  all kinds of Jews (Ashkenazim, Sepharadim, religious, and non-religious) and even some Muslim Bedouins, with all working and living together in a constructive and warm community spirit.
Openness and acceptance--it is our way of "enlarging the place of our tent" and make it welcoming, with true desert hospitality.
It is an enlarging of our own heart, too.

This is what makes me feel that Meitar, a little town in the Negev desert,  is the place where I belong.

And this is today's challenge for March 1 Theme Day in our City Daily Photo community; see where other bloggers around the world feel at home at City Daily Photo.

Play with Google Maps, especially Earth map, to see how Meitar is kind of in the middle of nowhere.  :-)
Shalom!
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Cactus enjoys our cool winter

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Crisp December skies,

a little rain now and then, and the cactus hill in Meitar gets interesting!

Blue skies for SkyWatch Friday.

The pictures are fun when enlarged.
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Our Scouts' Chanuka torch parade

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The Scouts in Meitar had their traditional first-night-of-Chanuka torch parade tonight!

It was freezing cold but the kids walked many blocks through the town.

Sufganiot, jelly donuts, were waiting at the end.

Happy Chanuka!

Painted on the Scounts den, the motto, "BE PREPARED."
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