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.)

Another mural under the road

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One more for Monday Murals.

Doesn't he look a bit like our blog-friend Rob who blogged Barcelona and now photographs Amsterdam? 

The face is in the same run-off water tunnel under the road in Meitar where the grandkids and I found this rat.
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Life under the bridge

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Finally! -- a mural to contribute to Monday Murals!
And it turned out to be just a few minutes from where my kids were renting a house in Meitar. 

I was expecting the little tunnel under where the street crosses the wadi to be dirty (from the rare flow of heavy rain in the streambed).
Or maybe there would be bugs or scorpions or MICE . . . .

But no!
Instead we found that other people had been there before us, people with paint and brushes. 

A strange grandmother, you say, to take her visiting grandkids and venture  into an unknown, unused tunnel?
Well, as Vonnegut said, "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."

We made it fun by shouting and waiting for the echo to return.
Dean, Eyal, and Libby, artists themselves, enjoyed examining the artwork on the walls. 

And there was the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
We exited onto the stone-paved bed of the wadi and went on to explore the desert in her winter green.
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Too bad the family had to return to Australia a few weeks ago.
I wish them exciting adventures down under.
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(Linking also to Our World Tuesday.)

What are they thinking?

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OK, just one more grandkid picture and then I'll stop.
This photo, taken by my daughter, Naomi, is too touching not to share.

After leaving Israel late Tuesday night and flying for 12 hours, the family arrived in Korea for a welcome 24-hour stay in Seoul.
Looking out their hotel window, are the kids gazing westward and missing Meitar in the Negev?
Or are they facing southward, thinking of the second 12-hour flight that will take them back to their other home in Australia?
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(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)

Shalom, bon voyage

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I knew their seven months in Meitar would go too fast.
I knew the day would come when daughter Naomi, Guy, Dean, Eyal, and Libby would have to return to their home in Bondi, Australia.

So, through my goodbye tears I sat us down for a rare family photo.
I tried to smile; little Libby was more honest in showing her feelings.

And then the family waved and drove away to the airport. . . .
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Faithful readers, thank you for your patience during these months when there was little time for blogging and thanks for looking at dozens of kid photos.
I will now try to get back to finding and posting something (hopefully interesting) about Meitar, the Negev, and Israel  every day.
Shabbat shalom to you all.
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Grandma's pride and joy

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Wishing joy and blessing to my Christian friends out there on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

My joy this weekend was celebrating granddaughter Libby's 4th birthday together with the extended family,  here in Meitar.

Naomi and Guy, Dean, Eyal, and Libby return to Australia on Tuesday.
It will be a two-handkerchief day for me.
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Stop and smell

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My little Libby in the wadi, a flower among flowers.
For several generations now, Israeli children have been educated to let the wildflowers grow and never to pick them. 

But the photo did remind me of something our President Shimon Peres said in his Shabbat greetings on Facebook today.

Peres just returned from a very friendly official visit to China.
There, he writes,  he learned two wise sayings.

First:  The hand which offers a flower will be graced with  pleasing fragrance.

The second:  Be quick to open your eyes but slow to open your mouth.
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P.S. Click once, then once again, on the second photo.  What strange multi-colored flowers, no?!
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Straight to the point

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Since you all enjoyed the silk floss tree in yesterday's post, here's a bonus:

Grandson Eyal confronting the shpitsim, the pointy spikes, on the tree. 
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Time to move the big hand one hour ahead

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Time to move the clock forward tonight.
Israel, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority begin Daylight Saving Time at 02.00.
A Times of Israel article explains how it works and adds that "The period of extended daylight hours will last for 212 days, until October 27 – the longest time period daylight savings time has ever been in effect in Israel."

My little Libby received this nice clock from her kindergarten.
The writing says

Happy birthday
With love,
Gan Ein Mor
5774

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In a few weeks Libby will have her 4th birthday.
She has grown up so much in the short seven months the family has been here from Australia.
She quickly became bilingual and loves to speak Hebrew now.
Many thanks to teacher Orli and all the staff of Gan Ein Mor for their loving and patient teaching.
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A boy and a flower

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Eyal (6) and I were out walking among the post-rain wildly-blooming wildflowers . . .

when he spotted this still-closed flower with curly leaves.

 He gave it a little kvetch (pinch) just to help it along.

Today, ten days later, I passed and found that same flower fully opened in all its glory!
Enlarge the photo to find happy insects inside.
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This is my first winter living in the Negev desert and I am positively surprised by the abundance of beautiful wildflowers.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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What would you be for Purim?

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These days kids want to be superheroes for Purim instead of the traditional biblical heroes.
At least here in Meitar in the Negev. 
Dean (10) designed and executed his costume so he would look like Steve, a protagonist in the computer game Minecraft. 
Dean even had the sword.

Here is the computer Minecraft  Steve.
A good resemblance, no?
(Dean wore cardboard leg boxes too, but they sort of disintegrated in Friday's rain.)

See the short video or read about the interesting idea behind Minecraft at their website.
Wiki describes it as a sandbox (i.e. open world) indie game.  Huh?
Oi, I see it's going to take me a lot of research to understand what is behind my grandchildren's games and costumes.
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 (Scroll through previous posts to see how they do Purim in Jerusalem.)
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Let the fun begin

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A few days ago all the kids in Libby's kindergarten came out with a shiny red Purim hat.
Libby came straight over to my house and wanted to see how it looked in the mirror, so she climbed up on a shrafraf and was happy with the results.
I was happy to finally get a photo for James' Weekend Reflections meme.

Today (Friday) school kids went to school in their costumes, despite a brief rain.
Libby's group had a Come to Kindergarten in Your Pyjamas day.
Children have Sunday and Monday off so they can continue with Purim fun.
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Take a look also at my previous Purim posts, from Jerusalem. 

Purim sameach and Shabbat shalom!
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Rain and a rainbow!

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We were treated to welcome and needed rain today and even a RAINBOW!

Libby (in her pre-Purim hat)  and I happily chased the rainbow a few blocks but it disappeared when we reached the edge of Meitar.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֶלוֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם זוֹכֵר הַבְּרִית וְנֶאֱמָן בִּבְרִיתוֹ וְקַיָם בְּמַאֲמָרוֹ
Baruch ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu melech ha'olam zocher ha'brit v'ne'eman bivrito v'kayam b'ma'amaro.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant and is faithful to His covenant and keeps His promise.

This is the blessing we say when seeing a rainbow.
It is a reminder in the sky of the covenant God made with Noah and all of us that he would never again destroy the world by flood.
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The peeling earth

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 The little bit of rain that fell last Sunday was enough to let a jackal or maybe dog leave some footprints.
But today the "winter" temperature soared to 30 C  or 86 F here in the Beer Sheva region!
The ground is again dry and parched. 

Grandson Eyal had fun peeling off pieces of crusty earth.
 Cracked dried clay flinging could become the newest Olympic sport, as far as he is concerned.
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A day of love, Jewish style

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Libby's pre-kindergarten class chose February 14 to celebrate Family Day and to sing and dance and talk about love.
No one actually said "Valentine's Day" but there it was, a big red heart!

Their dedicated teacher was right down their with her kids, close to the heart.
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It being Friday, they also said the Kiddush over little cups of the fruit of the vine, recited the Hamotsi to bless the challah bread, and sang Shalom aleichem to the angels of peace.
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Shabbat shalom to all!
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My little flower

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Who SAYS there are no flowers in our desert?!

Libby found at least four different kinds.

My hat was big on her but she managed to see, somehow.

The wind was pretty cold but Libby and I still had our little picnic--on green grass!
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Happy Family Day

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On Friday Israel celebrated Family Day (which some years ago replaced Mother's Day).

The lower grades from grandson Eyal's school  danced and sang the good old songs.
Bless those kids and their teachers, they were all heart!
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Free chalk

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When chips fall from the chalky cliff  and become chalk for creative children . . .

(Grandson Eyal at the end of my street in Meitar.)

Happy C Day at ABC Wednesday.
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Safe home for butterflies

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In Hebrew a butterfly is a parpar.
The Negev Zoo has a lovely parparia, an enclosure in which free butterflies and people can freely interact.

Just outside the tent is the "nursery."
Inside all those white hanging bags the final stages of metamorphosis are happening.

Here's a cocoon (or is it called a chrysalis?)

 
Nice signboards all around teach about the life of a butterfly.

You are not allowed to catch the butterflies, but if one alights on you, that's fine.
Here Dean was trying to coax one to step onto his hand.
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The nice thing (that I read about on the zoo's website) in that much of the work caring for the butterflies and their plants and the grounds is done every day by members of the Ami organization.
Agudat Ami helps mentally handicapped young adults get established in the community.
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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Meitar Scouts' extravaganza

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My grandson Dean is up on that stage, singing and dancing in the skit about Superheroes.

Last night we got to watch the big show put on by the Scouts here in Meitar.

Even the mothers and fathers of the 12th grade Scouts  sang a rousing song.

Toward the end, despite the loud music and flashing stage lights, sweet 3-year-old Libby fell asleep on my lap.
I managed to free one arm and get this selfie of us just before we had to stand to sing the national anthem. 
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