The train on the plain

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Usually if I have to travel to Tel Aviv I take the train; but this time I was on a bus, taking pictures of the speeding trains. 

A train on the bridge. 

A train on the plain, catching the rays just after sunrise. 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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A church watch-cat

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Guardian of the threshold?
A cat sits atop the gate next to a church in old Jaffa.

Immanuel Church was built in 1904 in Jaffa's American/German Colony. 
Its history is so interesting, and unique. 

The Protestant church holds services on Saturday in Hebrew and English.
On Sundays only in English. 

Linking this post to Camera-Critters and inSPIREd Sunday memes.
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UPDATE: Just learned that today is Cat Day (well, in America at least).  Happy Cat Day! 
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A painter and The Little Prince

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P is for painting.
And inside the painter's workshop--the Little Prince! 

Seen on Wednesday in Tel Aviv's old and picturesque Florentine neighborhood.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday.)
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A monster in the sky??

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One of the vintage 1985 houses on my street is getting a thorough redo. 
Yesterday afternoon a cement mixer truck and this red extra tall cement pump were working for hours. 
I guess it has to be that tall to reach safely over the electric wires. 
Meitar's neighborhoods that were built after Stage Alef and Stage Bet have all their wires and infrastructure underground. 
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Who's been writing on my roast?

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I've seen meat stamps on beef before, but this is a first to see "kosher" hand-written on my falsch fillet!
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Palms heavy with dates

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It is date season and Meitar's many date palms are getting heavy with fruit. 

See more of our town's tall and short date palm varieties here.
To understand how dates are harvested in big plantations, check out these big machines. 
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No more rummaging in the bins

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Seen at a Tel Aviv train station. 
Something new -- recycling bins for metal and plastic drink containers now have big fat padlocks. 
Same in the Beer Sheva central bus station. 
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(Linking to signs, signs.)
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The city on the move

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Coming . . . and going. 
The Ayalon freeway through Tel Aviv is always crowded (except on Yom Kippur when no one drives).

On any given weekday some 750,000 vehicles will be zipping along the Ayalon.
Well, except when they are crawling.

Yesterday I took the train to Tel Aviv, a much more relaxed way of getting to the big city.
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Shimon Peres on Mt. Herzl, then and now

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City Daily Photo bloggers group is posting today on the theme ABANDONED.

Today on Mount Herzl we buried Shimon Peres and I, and I daresay most of the people of Israel are feeling sad, almost abandoned.
The former President was 93 and, well, he was always here, here with us and for us.
As Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Wednesday morning, when Peres died, "This is the country's first day ever without Shimon Peres."
It feels like our father has died.
He is, indeed, the last of our State's founding fathers, the larger-than-life "giants" who brought our State into being in 1948.

Above is a photo I took of  President Peres in 2009 at Mt. Herzl.
(Please enlarge it and enjoy the wonderful faces.)
He spoke moving words at a new annual ceremony called The National Ceremony for Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel.
To read about the kesim (Ethiopian religious leaders) in the picture and their liturgical or ceremonial umbrellas, please see my posts here and here.

Shalom dear Shimon Peres.  Thank you for your example and inspiration.
We here below will carry on and try to make you proud of us.
Rest in peace.
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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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Back

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Just before school opened on Sept. 1, this man was putting up a new "window-dressing" on the glass front of a local shop.

Appropriately, the yellow school bus door is positioned on the store's door.  
Anything to lure the kids in to buy little toys and snack food.
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Dear readers, sorry I have been away from blog writing and blog visiting for several weeks.  My old laptop stopped responding, then got fixed, and then soon died.  I had to buy a new one and I am slowing learning how to set up everything.  The new and dreaded Windows 10 also needs getting used to.   So thanks for your patience.  Shalom to all!
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An apartment block 1/4 km long

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Old apartment buildings like this in Beer Sheva are known as "batei rakevet," literally, "railway houses," because they seem to go on forever and ever.
I think this is the one known in the guidebooks as "the 1/4 kilometer long apartment building," an exceptionally long one and thus an architectural curiosity. 

After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 mass waves of new immigrants swamped the country.
Beer Sheva in the south was still small then, so housing had to be put up quickly and cheaply.

At least the apartment owners have some green trees out back to soften the view.
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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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Water from the rock

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Happy International Cat Day.
This is a favorite memory of a cat drinking from a rock.
It was a rainy day in March at the tomb of the Rambam (Maimonides) in Tiberias.
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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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Dressing up old photographs

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With sequins and threads, artist Ayelet Rosenberg has found a novel way to embellish old photos! 

Her "Mybroidery" exhibit can be found in the Senate Building gallery at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva.

You can enlarge the photos to see the details.
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