For Dog Day, our growing dog training promenade

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In honor of National Dog Day (in America, at least) and for Camera Critters meme, here are some fresh photos of our town's dog training promenade.

It is a work in progress, made by volunteers, friends of our local veterinarian Dr. Doron Avishai,  who died before his time.

The builders left their names and messages in the concrete next to the water bowl.
To see how much has been added lately and to check out the various wooden training things, see my post from 2015.
And here you can enjoy pictures of the happy Dog Day that was held there in cooperation with the vet's widow.

The main rule listed here is to keep your dog on a leash.
This is in contrast to the official bare-bones Dog Park built by the Meitar Local Council right across the path; see the difference here.

Another welcome new addition is a patch of bare land where the sign invites you to scatter seeds of wildflowers from our own Negev desert region.
There's also a caveat: Please do not spray here.

Happy Dog Day!
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)

Red flowers for you

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Happy Valentine's Day, beloved blog readers.
Red flowers for you from the Negev, where stones outnumber flowers.

For the famous Israeli song "Kalaniot" (meaning anemones) and its best singer, the late Shoshana Damari,  please see my earlier post. 
Today is the 10th Yahrzeit of her death.

Have a bright and happy Sunday!
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Still flowery

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The winter/spring flowers are blooming everywhere, even among the cacti.
Soon they will wilt.
Tomorrow it will be 34 degrees C.
Maybe I will wilt too. 

Under a big sky, my little town, Meitar.
As seen from the cactus hill. 
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Linking to SkyWatch Friday.
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Flower in the desert

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Little flower of the desert, good luck to you. 

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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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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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A strange desert flower

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Some "rainy season" this is!  It hasn't rained in a month and a half.
But still, I went wandering in the desert today in search of the first winter wild flowers.
This plant was a total surprise; I've never seen anything like it!
Have you?
Please, enlarge the photo with a click and then another click  and see if you might recognize it and know the name.
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UPDATE!  Wait! My nature expert nephew has just come through with the answer and also a great resource: the Hebrew University's Flora of Israel Online ! (The Hebrew page of the flower is here.)
It is a  Leontice leontopetalum L. Berberidaceae.   Its common name in German is Loewenblatt or Loewentrapp
or in Hebrew,  Artanit hasadot     עַרְטָנִית הַשָּׂדוֹת