Aliyah anniversary and weed whacker adventures

Today (28 December 2009), we celebrate the 4th anniversary of our aliyah (immigration to The Land). On one hand, it's hard to believe that that much time has passed, but, on the other hand, that day 4 years ago when we arrived here seems far away, in the distant past. So much has happened on our adventure, and some many more things seem ready to happen in the future. We love it here, and we are continually amazed by the people, the beauty, and just the general feeling of really, truly living in the Promised Land.

A couple of weeks ago, we had gone down to the hardware store in Khatzor and had bought a Hyundai (same Korean company as the one that built our car, too) weed whacker (well, actually the box says "grass cutter", in English). We had not yet gotten around to putting it together and using it yet, however, partly because the weather has mostly been much too wet and partly because we have been too busy. But, today the weather was dry (and has been long enough for the weeds in the yard not to be too wet), and I'm on vacation, so we had no more excuses.

I put it together without too much difficulty, but I discovered something peculiar. The handle was clearly turned 180˚ from its correct position (and this was NOT something that I had done!). After feeling rather discouraged, we pulled ourselves together and drove back down to Khatzor to see what they could do for us, especially since I had carelessly thrown away the receipt.

As we as we arrived, we saw the helpful (and cute!) young man who had sold it to us. Without any questions he proceeded personally to work on it until he was able to figure out how to get it turned around to the right position. Score one for both good customer service and the Israeli can-do attitude.

When we got home, I got back into my boots and old jeans, and started whacking the weeds in the yard by our front door. After only a very few minutes, however, the thing broke. Actually, it was a piece of plastic that broke. It's a circular piece that can be tightened and loosened in order to change to length of the pole. But when it broke, it could no longer be tightened, and this allowed the pole to break separate into 2 separate pieces, making the machine useless.

After another bout of discouragement, we hopped back into the car and drove back down to Khatzor once again. This time, Eliran (the cute salesman) was not there at first, but another guy (older, but also easy on the eyes!) helped us. We had to wait a while, and Eliran also returned during that time. Finally, the other guy taped the piece up as a temporary measure and told us that he would order a replacement piece, which should arrive in a few days (I'll take that to mean 2 weeks, since most Israeli time estimates need to be doubled!).

Of course, as expected, the tape didn't really hold it together all that well, but I still did manage to get maybe a third of that one yard trimmed in some fashion. By then, my back was about to go out, so I knew I'd better stop anyway, before I got seriously into trouble.

So, there you have it -- another excellent adventure in Israel. Although we often complain about customer service here, there are also times like this when it's just about unbeatable. And, did I mention the good scenery? ;-)

Hosting prospective עולות חדשות olot chadashot

This week, some friends of friends contacted us. They are a couple from Long Beach, and they are planning to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) in the near future. They were already in the country on a pilot trip, so I immediately invited them to come up and visit us here in Tsfat.

So, shortly after noon on Friday they arrived here from Tel Aviv in a rented car. The fog was so heavy that they could barely see the road once they started up the hill above Rosh Pinna, so I had to guide them by phone through the final turns. But they made it, and all of us were delighted!

We took them to prayers in Nahariya with us Friday night. Everyone was very welcoming, and we all had a wonderful time. Today, they took us to breakfast in Rosh Pinna, and then we took them on a grand tour of the extreme North. They are now seriously thinking of settling in Nahariya, which I think will be perfect for them. We are looking forward to them being here in Israel for good, because they have already become great friends!

Roof lakes

The rainy season is here in earnest, and Israel has been getting quite a bit of much-needed precipitation. But this also means the season of leaks.

About a week ago, we came home and discovered that there was a wet spot on the bed. I looked up, and there was the source: drops of water on the ceiling preparing to fall. It didn't take long to find the source of the problem. When we went up and looked at the upper balcony (which is the roof of the bedroom), we could see that it was flooded. David volunteered to go out and unplug the drain. Luckily, it wasn't too difficult, and soon the lake was running down the drain pipe.

This made me wonder if the leaks in the upstairs ceiling might have a similar explanation. Sure enough, on Wednesday I was able to stand on a chair on the upper balcony and thereby get high enough to see the roof. There it was: a 4-5-inch-deep lake! And, more rain was predicted to start within hours, with menacing clouds emphasizing the threat.

Fortunately, we had enough time before my next class to zip down to Khatzor, to the large hardware store, and buy a ladder and galoshes. When we got back, David wanted to be the one to get up on the roof and fix the problem, but it proved to be too difficult for him to get off the ladder and onto the roof, so I made him come back down, I put on the galoshes, and then I got up there and waded around. I was sure that I knew where the drain was, but I could not see it, even though the water was crystal-clear. Finally, I kicked around in the area where it was supposed to be, muddying the water considerably, but clearing the drain. I knew immediately because I could hear the water begin running down it. Within hours, this lake, too, was drained. And we got it all down before that rain started!

So, we finally beginning to be able to take care of some things in the house ourselves, and we have a nice ladder to get up onto the roof, too!

Cat "fixing" project finally completed

As I mentioned many months ago, our outdoor cat, Beatrix, had a litter of 6 kittens at about the end of March. In fact, if you look at some of my older posts, you can see pictures of them and read more about them.

With 6 additional mouths to feed out there, we knew that we had better get at least the females "fixed" (spayed) before we had dozens and dozens of cats out there! Beatrix was first, and we got her just in time: the vet said that she was in heat! Not long after, we got Pascal, the black-and-white male that we adopted and brought into the house, neutered. We knew that we did NOT want to have an unfixed male in the house.

In the last few weeks, we had begun to notice pre-mating behavior among the outdoor cats. In particular, Ts'hovi, the presumed father of most if not all of the litter, was beginning to mount the female kittens (and even the male one that was still out there!). So we knew that we had better not wait any longer to get them fixed. Our neighbors, who also feed and enjoy the kittens, graciously agreed to pay half the cost.

So, within the last week or 2, we have had the 3 female outdoor kittens (Priscilla, Goldie, and Gray-san) spayed, the 1 male outdoor kitten (Mr. B) neutered, and the female that we adopted and brought into the house (Peachy) spayed. Peachy just had her operation today, and she will be isolated in one room for the next day or 2 to recover so that her wound won't get accidentally re-opened by rough-housing with her brother, Pascal.

Of course, NONE of the kittens were enthusiastic about getting stuck in the cat box and getting carted off to the vet, but, in the long run, this will improve the lives of all of them.

An example of the efficiency of the Hebrew language

We very frequently drive through the Rama Junction. It's only a short distance this side of Karmiel, so we drive through it whenever we go there. We also drive through it every time we travel to Naharia, which we do at least once a week. It's quite a dangerous junction because of the volume of traffic on both of the roads that cross there. So, recently they have been doing construction there, and it was immediately quite obvious to me that they would be widening the main road and, I assumed, putting in a traffic light. The last several times through there, I have been able to read part of the sign that actually tells what they are doing. The interesting word I learned from it is ורימזור v'rimzur. Now, although I haven't checked, I doubt that this word, or even the verb from which it comes, is in any of my dictionaries. Yet it's easy to figure out what it means.

We start with the word רמזור ramzor, which means "traffic signal" (see, Hebrew is already more efficient!). By the way, this was actually constructed from 2 separate Hebrew words, רמז remez, meaning "hint", and אור or, meaning "light" (which gives us a hint about the Israeli attitude towards this device!). From all of this, I was able to easily figure our that the word on the sign, ורימזור means "and traffic light installation". How's that for efficiency?

"Stars and Stripes and Pipes" now available!!!

Well, it's been a long wait, but my new album, "Stars and Stripes and Pipes", is now finally available for sale!!!! Here's the link to check it out (and please do!):

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/arlanwareham8

A Drasha on Va-Yishlakh applied to modern Israel

I want to share with you the drasha that our rabbi, Israel Horovitz, delivered last night. I do not have the Hebrew original, and the English translation I have is rather rough, so I will instead be paraphrasing what he said somewhat. Anyway, here it is:

"וישלח יעקב מלאכים לפניו אל-עשו אחיו"
"And Yaakov sent angels (or messengers--the Hebrew word is the same) before him to Esav, his brother"

Yaakov sends a delegation of conciliation to his brother Esav, with the idea of ending the problems that exist between them.

The commentators say that the delegation really did consist of actual angels, not merely messengers (as one might be more inclined to read it). This is to teach us that if we really want peace we cannot be satisfied with common envoys, who have personal interests and cannot come to good terms. To obtain peace, angels, without envies, hates, and jealousies are needed.

Yaakov's peace envoys return and tell him that his brother, Esav, is coming to the meeting with 400 men. It is quite clear that Esav does not have any intention of carrying out a festive celebration to receive Yaakov. With such an army, he comes to show who he is.

Yaakov is afraid, and the situation hurts him.

Yaakov is in a state of fear and anxiety, and he prays that God will save him from his brother, Esav.

Yaakov has a more complex situation before him than fear of his brother. He is afraid of being killed and is distressed for having to kill; his quandary is moral.

What are the consequences of a war? Either you are killed or you kill.

This is especially anguishing when on the other side is a brother.

Yaakov prays: "Save me from the hands of my brother, from Esav, since I don't know if I'm going to meet Esav, an enemy who wants my life, or my brother." And if I kill him or he kills me, either way our parents are going to lose a son!

Is not this dilemma of Yaakov the big quandary of the State of Israel?

Here we come to the situation where the question always is: to kill or to be killed.

Either we kill the Arabs, Semites as are we, or they kill us.

In this land we have lived for many years with this terrible problem.

Yaakov summarizes all this in his prayer: "I am very poor in ideas to be able to apply Goodness and Truth together."

Truth says: "If someone comes to kill you, go ahead of him, and kill him first."

It is impossible to act with silk gloves with Esav when he comes to your meeting with an army of 400 men.

But Goodness says to us: "Do not kill, do not spill blood, do not make war."

Yaakov says that he is very poor in ideas to be able to apply Goodness and Truth, since he is not capable of deciding which one precedes the other.

Both together cannot be applied.

שבת שלום Shabbat Shalom!

G-Force

Today, we went down again to Rosh Pinna for the children's movie at 11:00. The movie this week was "G-Force", a Disney movie dubbed into Hebrew for the kids. It's very much an action movie, and the dialog was much too fast for me most of the time. Still, I could follow the story, and I did catch a little of the dialog. We're planning to go back down this evening for the movie "The Rebound", which will be in English with Hebrew subtitles.

University of the People

About a week and a half ago, I started a new job (in addition to my current job). I'm now teaching College Algebra (actually, more like Precalculus) for a new online university, a non-profit institution called "University of the People". This is only their second term, and it's the first time they have offered this class. I feel like I'm getting in on the ground floor of a new concept, one that is almost certain to represent a significant part of the future of education. So far, it's going pretty well.

Another hospitalization for David

With the pain in his chest that David was having on Tuesday, we were very worried about possible heart problems. But when they checked him out at the emergency room, they thought it might be swine flu, and slapped masks on both of us! They also sent him rather more quickly than usual up to the hospital ward, his usual, פנימית א (internal medicine aleph).

A day later, though, after the tests had apparently come back, they concluded that it was not swine flu but pneumonia. In any case, the antibiotics that they had already started him on did their work in short order, and he is feeling much better now. They have already said that he'll be released tomorrow (Sunday, 15 November).

Shabbat in Rosh Pinna

Today (Shabbat), we went down to Rosh Pinna and watched not one but TWO movies at the סינמטק Cinemateque. Two COMPLETELY different movies!

The first movie, at 11:00 a.m., was במבי שתיים Bambi 2, dubbed (very well!) into Hebrew. It was very enjoyable, and both David and I picked up a fair amount of the dialog. We MUST continue to go to children's movies like this; it will certainly help us improve our Hebrew!

After this movie, we drove down further down, to Rene, our favorite restaurant in Rosh Pinna, and had lunch. We both decided to try the סלט מקסיקני Mexican salad. It was delicious despite not being very Mexican (do they actually even HAVE "bulgarit", Bulgarian cheese, in Mexico?!?). The actual salad was quite healthy, but the crispy fried tortilla strips served on top of it definitely were NOT. Still, I was more than happy to eat both mine and David's!

The second movie, at 3:30 p.m., was "In Search of Beethoven", which was in English with Hebrew subtitles. Well, at least MOST of it was. There were several places where experts talked in German. There WERE English subtitles, but they were obscured by the HEBREW subtitles, alas! In some cases, I was able to read most of the Hebrew, but the person speaking German, a little of which I also picked up, was NOT helpful in this endeavor. In any case, the movie was EXCELLENT, and I highly recommend it. I gained some appreciation for the greatness of Beethoven and enjoyed the music of his that was included, even though he still is not my favorite composer (that would be either J. S. Bach or W. A. Mozart).

Scenes from a Burial

Our first funeral in Israel. Mud. A shallow grave. The body, on a stretcher, wrapped in a shroud, no coffin, brought to the cemetery in an ambulance. The family, all חילוני (secular). The mother, screaming: "Jason, don't leave me!" The daughter, crying, fainted and fell to the ground, twice. The rabbi, disconnected, saying all the correct prayers (presumably) but unable to remember the name of the deceased, Jason ben Leonard (unspoken: "What kind of a Jewish name is that?"). המקום ינחם ... "The Place will comfort you ...". Just tromp through the mud that way, and turn right to return to the parking lot.

אל מלא רחמים שוכן במרומים,
המצא מנוחה נכונה על כנפי השכינה,
במעלות קדושים וטהורים, כזהר הרקיע מזהירים,
לנשמת ג'ייסון בן לנארד שהלך לעולמו,
בגן עדן תהא מנוחתו.
לכן בעל הרחמים יסתירהו בסתר כנפיו לעולמים
ויצרר בצרור החיים את נשמתו,
יי הוא נחלתו,
וינוח בשלום על משכבו,
ונאמר אמן.

G-d, full of compassion, dweller in the heights,
May he find true rest under the wings of the divine Presence,
In the holy and pure heights, in the bright shining firmament,
For the soul of Jason, son of Leonard, who has gone to his eternal rest.
In the Garden of Eden may his rest be.
And so, may the Master of the heights hide him in the hiding place of His wings forever
And bind his soul in the bonds of life,
And may he rest in peace on his bed,
And let us say, "Amen."

"Up", in Hebrew!

This morning, we drove down to Rosh Pinna to see "Up" "למעלה", a Disney/Pixar animated movie, at Cinemateque. We bought a subscription for an entire year so that we'll be able to go down there and see movies anytime that we want to and have time.

Since "Up" is, of course, an American movie, I had assumed that it would be in the original English, probably with Hebrew subtitles, which is the usual procedure here. This one, however, was dubbed instead, with no subtitles, probably because it is considered a "kids' movie". But the dubbing was excellent, and I was even able to get some of the Hebrew.

Nevertheless, we were able to follow the story quite well. As mentioned, I picked up some of the Hebrew, but the visuals told the story well enough that I would have gotten most of it even if it had been in Chinese (of which I know not a single word).

If you haven't seen this movie, I would highly recommend it. It's the story of an old man, Mr. Frederickson, going for his dream and of the little Boy Scout, Russell, who becomes his sidekick in spite of the old man's resistance. Together, they have quite an adventure!

Update on "Stars and Stripes and Pipes"

I've finally got the kinks worked out with CD Baby and am ready to publish my latest album, "Stars and Stripes and Pipes". Today, I burned the actual CDs, printed the album cover and the track list (for the back side of the jewel case), and put them all together. Tomorrow, I'll try to get 5 copies in the mail to CD Baby. They'll receive them in about 2 weeks, and then it will take them another week or 2 to get them into their system. After that, they'll be available for sale on CD Baby, where you'll be able to order the physical CD, to download the entire album, or to download only the tracks you want. I'll let you know when that actually happens.

Katom is back to himself

I'm happy to report that Katom (our beloved cat that we brought here with us from the States!) is feeling much better and is back to himself!

When we took him in to the vet Sunday evening, he still wasn't feeling very well. They tried to get blood from both of his front paws and managed to get some. However, they asked us to bring him in again Monday morning for Roi, the senior vet, to get fresh blood from the jugular vein. On Monday morning, Katom seemed to be feeling better, but we still took him in, of course. Amazingly, he didn't even flinch when the vet literally went for his jugular! They got a good sample and sent it off to the lab for analysis.

Already by Monday evening, it was evident that Katom was feeling better. We noticed that he used the litter box, and he even ate a little. Even before we got the lab results (on Wednesday, I think), we knew that he was going to be OK. Indeed, the lab results showed nothing very far from normal. It's possible that he had kidney stones and that they passed through in the end. In any case, we are so VERY thankful for his recovery! Throughout the rest of the week, his strength has only been improving.

The snake era is over

Today marked the end of an era for us.

In 2000, shortly before we bought our house in San Bernardino, we got our first snake, Alef. A few months later we acquired another snake, and then another, and then... Well, you get the picture. Before long, we got quite deeply into breeding corn snakes and enjoyed this hobby a lot.

When we moved to Israel (at the end of 2005), we got all the necessary permits and brought more than 30 snakes with us, including about 13 or 14 siblings from a breeding project that we had started a couple of years before that when we bred a male Emory rat snake (another subspecies of corn snakes) to a female lavender corn snake. The project came to fruition in the summer of 2007, when we produced our first "fire opal" snakes. These are both lavender and amelanistic (with Emory amelanism, NOT corn snake amelanism, which is a different gene). They are pinkish white with only faint saddles. We produced 3 or 4 that year, but only 1 (a beautiful female!) survived eventually. In 2008, we produced some more, but again only 1 (this time a male) survived. We also produced a number of amelanistic and lavender babies, of course. This year, we only had two clutches of eggs, and not a single egg was good.

One of our main problems here is that it's really too cold. Despite the fact that each cage has a heating pad on the bottom of it at one end, we really have not been keeping it warm enough for the snakes. As a result, they tend to quit eating too early in the Fall, and we can't bring them up from their brumation early enough in the Spring. Although they are SUPPOSED to go without food for two or three months, ours have sometimes essentially not eaten for 4, 5, and even 6 months a year, resulting in a number of deaths. Until this past Spring, we had a rack system with drawers and heating strips at the back. Because they were more enclosed in it, they could keep warm enough there even in the winter. But there was only enough space for the babies. The heating system failed in the rack this year, and we could not afford to have it checked and replaced (the rack was built by a guy in the San Diego area, from whom we had bought it years ago).

So, we had already been cutting down the number of snakes in our collection, selling most of them. Finally, we realized that we simply could not afford to continue this hobby at all anymore. So I called our friend, Golan, who keeps and breeds snakes (and a number of other animals) at his facility on Kibbutz Matzuba, nearly Shlomi and not far from Nahariya. I told Golan that we would give him the 12 remaining snakes that we had, and we arranged to take them over there today. I also gave him the rest of the frozen mice that we had.

Our final inventory was: 2 males and 2 females from the project (hybrids, all heterzygous for both Emory amelanism and corn snake lavender), 1 normal male corn snake (het for snow, i.e. both amelanism and anerythrism, and a good proven breeder but impossible to sell because he has lots of bumps on him!), 1 female "fire opal", 2 male amelanistic hybrids (one of which is so skinny that he probably won't make it), a female amelansitic hybrid, a pair of lavender hybrids, and a male "fire opal".

Although snake breeding has been a fun hobby for us, it's now time for us to move on. The reduced expense (by not having to buy mice and not heating the snakes) will help our budget a bit. I'll miss seeing them every week when I feed them and clean their cages, but I'll also have one less thing to do each week. And, of course, when we really want to see some snakes, we can always visit Golan's! :-)

Katom is sick

For several days, we had noticed that Katom (the cat we bought in 2001, when he was only 2 months old, and brought here to Israel with us) was not eating, and he had been throwing up every day. He had also begun to look like he really didn't feel well, so we took him to the vet Thursday evening.

When we arrived there, we found that Roi, the English-speaking vet, was not there. Instead, the other vet, Amar, treated him. Although I didn't understand everything that he said (he spoke only Hebrew), I picked up most of it and was able to talk to him in Hebrew, as well. I tried to translate the most important things for David so that he wouldn't be left out, and he picked up some of the Hebrew himself.

Amar gave Katom some antibiotics and also injected some normal saline under his skin since he was slightly dehydrated. He gave us the rest of the course of antibiotics to give to him for the next week (we have NOT succeeded in this, unfortunately, due to extreme resistance on the part of the cat!). He told us to bring Katom back on Sunday if he's still not feeling well.

As of today (Saturday afternoon), Katom is still definitely NOT ok. He's still very lethargic, is not eating or drinking much at all, has thrown up several times (just liquid, since he's not eating), and I don't think he has pee'd at all, either. This means that there is probably a problem with his kidneys, as Amar had feared. So, we'll be taking him in tomorrow evening, and they'll take some blood for tests. Sadly, the prospects are NOT good, since there is really nothing they can do if his kidneys are shot. We're bracing for th worst. :-(

A Review of the movie עניים פקוחות "Eyes Wide Open"

What happens when two men in the haredi community of Jerusalem fall in love? This topic is explored in all its disturbing depth in the film עניים פקוחות "Eyes Wide Open". Ezri, a young man of about 20 comes into the butcher shop of Aaron, a married father of four children. From the way that Ezri looks at Aaron, we can see immediately that he is attracted to him, but all he says is that he's looking for work and asks if Aaron needs a worker. Aaron hires him and begins to teach him the trade (which he obviously knows NOTHING about initially!). Eventually, Ezri manages to seduce Aaron, and their passion, though tastefully shown, is intense. Although they are very discrete, making love only in the upstairs room over the butcher shop, Aaron's wife and his broader community begin to withdraw from him and then threaten him and Ezri. I won't give away the ending except to say that it does not end well.

Cold rain and a dark atmosphere pervade the movie. There are many moody shots with no speaking at all. When people do speak, it is generally very fast, making it difficult for me to understand the Hebrew (and there were no subtitles!). As a result, I'm sure that I missed some of the finer points of the plot and subplots, but the overall impact was clear. Both the love between the two principal characters and the life of their community were sensitively and accurately portrayed. Despite the sad ending, I can highly recommend this movie.

Our neighbors, Shimon and Hava Har-Even, had invited us to see this film with them at the סינמטק "Cinemateque" just down the hill in Rosh Pinna. They had been to this theater once before, but this was our first time. It's part of a chain of art-house theaters here in Israel showing a wide variety of movies from around the world. We will definitely go back and will probably buy a year's subscription, which is priced very reasonably (with a special couple rate).

A busy week

This past week was a very busy one for me. So I though I'd give you a little flavor of it. Here are some statistics:

Monday: 12 units (9 hours) in 8 different lessons (group or individual)
Tuesday: 10 units (7.5 hours) in 7 lessons
Wednesday: 12 units (9 hours) in 6 lessons
Thursday: 9 units (6.75 hours) in 6 lessons
Friday: 6 units (4.25 hours) in 4 lessons

Students' countries (just this week!): Spain (but originally from Mexico), China, Germany, Spain (2 classes that meet every day, each with 7 students who are air traffic controllers for the Spanish air force), Norway, and France

Some other facts:

Earliest start time: 9:00 a.m. (every day but Wednesday, when I started at 9:30 a.m.)
Latest finish time: 9:45 p.m. (only on Wednesday)
Other errands done: paid the arnona (city tax) and water bill, went to the supermarket, picked up prescriptions at the pharmacy, went to the shuk (on Wednesday), ran several errands in town (on Thursday morning), and picked up a package from abroad at the post office.

Picture of Peachy

Here's a picture of Peachy, our newest adoptee. She's sitting on a large curved plate (or shallow bowl) on the wicker lower shelf of the coffee table (whose top is glass). Isn't she cute!

Rosh HaShana 5770

As most of you know, yesterday and today (Sunday, 20 September) have been Rosh HaShana, the first days of the Jewish year 5770. We attended services at our Reform congregation in Nahariya, Emet V'Shalom, only Friday night and this morning (skipping Shabbat morning). Both services were very enjoyable. This morning, David and I got the honors of lifting one of the Torah scrolls and wrapping it up, respectively, after it was read from.

After the service today, our dear friend, Cynthia, invited us over to her apartment for coffee. We spent quite a bit of time there on her balcony (3rd floor) enjoying the conversation, the lovely view of the blue-green Mediterranean Sea just a short block away, and a very pleasant breeze on a lovely warm (but not hot) day.

After returning home, we had an absolutely delicious meal that our neighbors, Patricia and Shimon, had prepared. Following the meal, Shimon and I played a great game of Scrabble!

Adopting Peachy

Yesterday (Shabbat and the 1st day of Rosh HaShana, the beginning of the new Jewish year), we made the decision to adopt another of the kittens, Peachy. She has been being so affectionate for several weeks, and she's also a very pretty cat, a calico, with slightly longer hair than any of the others. Her hair is also very soft, and she has more spots of orange on her than the other girls (the boys, have NO orange.) Besides all this, she has an incredibly sweet personality. So, we've adopted a 3rd cat -- we brought her in yesterday, just before the first rain of the season, which fell during the night.

Of course, our first cat, Katom, wasn't very pleased, but all he did was a little of his low growling, and she kept a good distance away from him. More surprising was the behavior of Pascal, our 2nd cat who is also, of course, her brother and litter-mate. He kept smelling her rear and chasing her all over the place (and they're only five and a half months old!). He also attacks her and tries to climb on her. Eventually, she fights back, and she's much tougher about it than Katom, even though she weighs only about half as much as Pascal! Katom has been observing this, and I think he's been deriving a bit of satisfaction from seeing Pascal get his come-uppance. Katom generally defends himself from Pascal only with rather feeble attacks and hissing and growling. He may learn from little Peachy, though, so Pascal had better watch out!

I haven't taken any photos of Peachy, but I'll try to do so later and post them.

Mostly Mozart in Tsfat

Last Thursday evening, we attended an utterly delightful concert at the Yigal Alon auditorium, right here in downtown Tsfat. The concert was part of a short festival entitled "Mostly Mozart", organized by Ada Peleg, a native of Haifa, who also conducted the orchestra. According to the blurb that she wrote (in Hebrew) in the program, this is intended to be the beginning of a year-round classical music program here whose highlight will be festivals like this that will draw top classical musicians from around the world.

I had bought us tickets in advance, and we had prime seats, in the 2nd row just left of the center.

The program consisted of three works. The small string orchestra (without any other instruments) started it off with Benjamin Britten's "Simple Symphony", a work I had not previously been familiar with. It's a delightful and varied piece for string orchestra, including one movement that is entirely pizzicato (meaning that the players pluck the strings rather than bowing them).

The rest of the concert was music by Mozart. For this, they added a few woodwinds and a couple of horns. The 2nd piece was a concerto for harp and flute, another work that I had not known of before. The solo harpist, יוליה סברדלוב, is Israeli, having immigrated here in 1991. She is the principal harpist of the Israeli Philharmonia. The flautist was גואוליאנג האן, principal flautist of the Symphony Orchestra of China, professor of music at the Academy for Music in Beijing, and a leading flautist in the world today. They were both superb, and of course Mozart's music was absolutely unbeatable, as well!

An intermission separated the two works by Mozart. The evening concluded with Mozart's well-known and incredibly fabulous 40th symphony, whose themes continued to bounce around in my mind all night and most of the next day. This is a work that I am very familiar with and have always loved, and the performance was dazzling! Ms. Peleg is an expert conductor, conveying her passion for the music to the orchestra and bringing the best out of them without excessive theatrics.

This concert served to remind me why I love Mozart's music so much. Mozart lived right in the middle of the era known in music history as the Classical period (the late 18th century). This was the Age of Enlightenment, and composers all strove for balance in their music. Many composers did this quite well, but most did it primarily through simplicity and symmetry, rather like designing a building whose left and right sides are mirror images of each other. No one can deny that it's balanced, but it's not terribly creative. Mozart "balance", on the other hand, is more like an acrobat ... doing a handstand .... on a unicycle ..... on a high wire ....... stretched between two skyscrapers! In other words, it's nothing short of amazing!

Keeping the weeds cleared

The weeds had begun to get going in our yard again, and we knew that we had to do something about it. So, on the last Sunday of August, we got into the car and drove over to the area of the K'naan absorption center. Every weekday, there are olim (immigrants) from Ethiopia there, waiting to do work as day laborers. Sure enough, when we pulled up, several of them came running over to our car. Their Hebrew is not any better than mine (in fact, it's probably not as good in many cases!). Nevertheless, we managed to negotiate an hourly rate (5 shekels higher than I had initially proposed. Two guys tried to get in the car, even though I had said that we only needed one man. Luckily, the automatic door-lock failed to unlock on one side, so only the guy on the other side was able to get in, and he got the job.

It turns out that his name is Moshe, and he did a great job for us, completing it in well under the 2 hours that I had estimated. Of course, I had agreed to pay for a minimum of 2 hours of work, and I was happy to do that. In fact, I gave him 70 shekels (yet another 5 above the agreed-upon rate) and made sure that I got his number so that I can call him for work in the future.

From time to time, we will no doubt call him again, as the weeds begin to grow. We have vowed NEVER to let it get as bad as it did this past Spring, when we paid a gardener a whopping 1800 shekels! We clearly should have shop around more that time because, although it had gotten MUCH worse, it only took a couple of guy 4 hours to clear it all out! They did need power tools for that, though.

David playing with Pascal with a peacock feather

Here's a video that I shot just this morning (Friday) of David playing with kitten Pascal, with a peacock feather. We got the feathers from our friend, Golan, who raises many different kinds of animals, including both snakes and peacocks.

Horse update

I happened to see Roi Davidson, the vet, the other day, and he told me that the horse we rescued is now in Tel Aviv and is doing well. I was very glad to hear that!

Saving a starving horse

For the last several days, we had noticed a horse tethered in the wild area near our house. At first, he had been further up the trail, but then they moved him to the area right across the street from the house. Three or four boys (early teens, I think) seemed to be the ones responsible for him, but they obviously didn't know how to care properly for a horse. Several days ago, they had asked us for water for him, and I had told them that they would need to pay for it. They agreed to pay 5 shekels for each time that they filled their big tub, but they kept making excuses about the money and, worse yet, began to simply fill it with water without asking me. Finally, I just went out, turned the water off, and told them that from henceforth they would have to pay the money BEFORE they took the water. We then detached the hose and brought it in the house, and, a little later, we also removed the faucet handle and brought it into the house, as well.

This morning, we called the city vet about the horse because he was getting very thin and emaciated. The very dry weeds out there are NOT adequate food for him! The vet said that they had been looking for this horse but had not been able to find him. Our neighbor, Shimon, called the cops, and they did come out. But they really didn't do anything but call to the boys, who simply ran away up the trail with another horse! In the end, it took almost all day before the vet's assistants actually made it out here and led the poor beast away. I hope that he will get a better home and plenty of food, soon! At least we did our good deed for the day.

Pascal playing with a feather

Other than telling you that I filmed this on Friday (2 days ago), I think it needs no further commentary! :-)

A terrible tragedy and a drasha about it

I'm sure all of you have heard by now of the shooting last Saturday night (nearly a week ago now) at the gay youth center in Tel Aviv. Two young people were killed, and a number of others were injured, some seriously. The masked gunman escaped and has not been caught yet, as far as I know at this writing. So, we don't know anything yet about his precise motives, but there can still be little doubt that this was a hate crime.

Last night at synagogue, our Rabbi Yisrael's sermon was on this very topic. He condemned this terrible act in very strong terms, saying that the Western Wall (the holiest place in Judaism) was truly weeping blood. He called this שינת חינם (sinat khinam), baseless hatred. As he reminded us, this was the reason that the temple was destroyed, according to the talmudic rabbis. He said that Judaism is an open religion and that G-d has given all of us the right to live our lives as we see fit. At first this bothered me a little, until I realized that he was saying that even if the gay life is a choice (which I KNOW that it is NOT), we must honor everyone anyway. In a way, this is even stronger: we do not even have to make the argument that this is the way we are born (although there's plenty of evidence that it is); everyone is to be respected and honored. He also reminded us that all of us have a spark of the divine according to Jewish tradition.

Usually at our synagogue, sermons are given only in Hebrew, and printed English and Spanish translations are handed out just before. This week, though, there was a problem with the rabbi's computer, so he delivered his drasha in small segments (a sentence or 2), first in Hebrew. Then Sue, an American member who also knows Hebrew well, translated to English. Finally, the rabbi gave his own translation into Spanish (which, I think, is his native language, perhaps along with Yiddish). In this way, he made sure that everyone in the congregation would understand exactly what he was saying.

Adopting Pascal

We decided a week or 2 ago to adopt Pascal, the black kitten with the white nose and a little bit of other white on him. So, several days ago, we began letting him into the house for short periods of time so that he could explore a little and become familiar with it. Yesterday, we took the plunge and brought him in for good, so last night was his first night in here.

Things went surprisingly well with him, and he already seems quite content in here, as you can see from this photo of him lying on my desk this morning:

Our other cat, Katom, however, is apoplectic! Any time that Pascal gets anywhere near him, he begins to emit a low growl. Sometimes, he's even very mad at US and won't even let us touch him. This morning, he growled, hissed, and swatted at me, showing his teeth. It's going to take him quite a while to adapt, I think. We try to pay attention to him and let him know that we still love him, but his attitude is limiting how much of that we can do. He'll get used to it eventually, I'm sure, but probably not too soon. Luckily, Pascal doesn't seem to take any of the growling personally. He avoids getting too close to Katom, but mostly he just seems a little mystified, at most.

Obstacles to Peace

There's been a lot of talk recently (and not so recently, too!) about "Peace in the Middle East". The term is already slightly misleading, since what people generally mean is peace between Israel and the Arabs. There are plenty of other conflicts in this area: Sunni vs. Shia in several countries, Iran vs. Iraq, Christians vs. Muslims in Sudan and in Lebanon, etc. Somehow, though, all these others seem to pale in comparison to the world's obsession with the Israeli-Arab conflict.

This is no accident. Arab leaders have pushed this conflict to the front constantly. They point out the suffering of the Palestinians, those living in the so-called "West Bank" (really the part of Palestine WEST of the Jordan River that was seized in 1948 by the Kingdom of Jordan, which had been established by the British only EAST of the Jordan River) and, especially, the "refugees". I put this in quotes, because ordinarily (in fact, in EVERY other case since World War II!) the term "refugee" is used only to people who actually flee their homes during a conflict, not to their descendants, as well. Also, in most cases, the goal is to resettle the people in new homes as quickly as possible.

A very good example of this is the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced out of Muslim countries where their families had lived for centuries (in most cases, since before there WERE even any Muslims anywhere!) in the late 40's and early 50's. The majority of these Jews ended up in Israel (not many other countries were willing to accept many of them), which was a newly-established and embattled country at that time. Absorbing so many people in such a short time was NOT easy, and of course there were many problems. Nevertheless, it WAS done, and the descendants of these Jews (generally known as "Sephardim") make up a significant percentage of the current population of this country.

Immediately after Israel was established (by a decision of the United Nations) in 1948, it was attacked by ALL of the neighboring countries and at least one other (Iraq). These countries made absolutely no secret of their intention not only to destroy Israel but to kill all the Jews that were here, as well. When Israel actually was able to defend itself and "win" this war, it's hardly surprising that a great many Arabs fled in fear and panic -- they naturally assumed that the Jews would do to them exactly what their Arab brethren had very publicly and prominently promised to do to the Jews if they won! Besides this, there were actually calls from the attacking Arab countries for the Arabs to flee so that they would not be in the way of these countries' stated genocidal intentions. All of this is well-established fact. There is some dispute about possible Israeli massacres and forced expulsions. These may very well have happened, especially under such dire circumstances. But these were definitely NOT the source of MOST of the refugees, nor did they represent the clear policies of the leaders of Israel at that time.

Remember, all of this happened more than 60 years ago. Although some of the Arabs who fled are still living, most of the so-called "refugees" now are actually descendants of the real refugees. By now, they should be settled in their new homes: in Lebanon, in Syria, in Jordan, in Egypt, and even in the "West Bank" and Gaza. With the exception of Jordan, this has NOT been the case. Why? After all, they are fellow Arabs, speaking the same language and having the same religion. The reason is quite simple: they are pawns in the hands of the Arab leaders who are STILL determined to destroy the world's only Jewish state and to either expel or kill all the Jews here. If they were settled in their new homes (as the Sephardim HAVE been here in Israel), they conflict might be lessened, Israel would be legitimized, there might even be peace.

This brings me more directly to my stated topic: what are the obstacles to peace? There really is only one significant one: the complete refusal of ALL Arab leaders to recognize that Israel has any right whatsoever to exist here as a JEWISH state. Within on the last 2 or 3 weeks, leaders of the MODERATE Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority and is the de-facto government of most of the population centers of the "West Bank", have stated very explicitly that they do not recognize and have never recognized Israel as a JEWISH state!

Their idea of the two-state solution is this: one state, Palestine, which is an "Arab Muslim State" (whether or not a Jewish minority would actually be tolerated is not clear, but it seems rather unlikely); and another state, Israel, whose Jewish majority they fully intend to subvert by their demand that all those so-called "refugees" be allowed to return to their (well, not really "their" but their ancestors') homes IN Israel! This is precisely what they mean when they say that they do not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

This is why President Obama's current approach worries me and why it will NOT work. He simply doesn't understand where the problem lies. Jewish settlements in the "West Bank" should pose no more problem than Arab cities and towns in Israel, whose inhabitants, though not Jewish, are full citizens of Israel and have been since 1948! Of course the Arabs in the "West Bank" and, even more so, in Gaza have been suffering and deserve a much better situation. But the problem does not lie with Israel, it lies with the Arab leadership and their consistent refusal to accept the reality of Israel.

The Tortoise and the Kittens

We have been having so much fun watching the kittens! All 6 of them very faithfully show up for breakfast every day now, and afterwards they often romp around the yard playing and just generally exploring everything. Most of them are still afraid of me if I try to pet them, even when they're eating, but at least they don't run away when they see me.

This morning, I was watching, and I noticed that Peachy seemed to be stalking something. I looked in the direction of her gaze, and I saw a small tortoise moving slowly along the base of the far wall. So I went out and picked it up and brought it inside. While David held it, I went upstairs and got my camera.

It might be the same tortoise that Beatrix (the mother cat) brought to us last year. It's a little bigger, and it seems more colorful than the last year's tortoise. Still, who knows? It's only about 2 or 3 inches long. Here's the best pictures I got of it before putting it out in the middle of one of our geranium plants:

While I was out with my camera, I couldn't resist snapping some shots of the cats. Here's a nice portrait of the kitten we call "Mr Gray":

One of the kittens, Pascal, has become almost completely unafraid of me. He likes for me to pet him and even pick him up. He also likes to play with my hand and generally keeps his claws in, something really amazing for a kitten. Here's a picture I got of him:

Here's a nice picture of Tz'hovi, who is almost certainly the father of all the kittens:

Beatrix, the mother, of course has a LOT more work to do than anyone else. No wonder she's sacked out on top of the table!

Here are 2 more of the kittens, lying on the wall under one of the bushes in our yard. The one in the foreground is Goldie, identified by that orange-gold spot above her nose. I'm not sure which one the other one is. I think it's either Priscilla or Mr Gray.

Going up the Chair Lift at Har Khermon

On Shabbat, we decided to go up to Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon). This time, the chair lift was operating, so we paid our 40 shekels each and took it up the mountain. Since I'm not a skier, I had never been on a chair lift before. That was an interesting experience in itself!

Here's a picture that I took about half way up:

This is a view from the top, looking down to the lower station:

We hiked a little distance from the upper station, and this is the view looking back towards it. The large building on the left is where we got off the lift.
I had hoped that we would be able to get some good views deep into Syria, but there are peaks a short distance to the east and southeast (with military bases on them!) that block the view. I suspect that from at least one of those bases, though, it would be possible to see Damascus!

Even though Spring is long gone now in most of northern Israel, we saw a few flowers way up high on the mountain (about 7000 ft above sea level). This thistle was only a short distance from where I took that last picture.

Here's another beautiful flower that we saw up there:

And here are some more. These are actually quite small:

Here's the view from the chair lift coming down, not long before we got to the lower station:

And, finally, here are some pretty hollyhocks that were blooming near the lower station:

קרקרים

David went to the dietitian yesterday and, after talking with her (in English), received a suggested menu from her, in Hebrew. So I was looking at it to see what it said. There were a few words that I didn't know so, naturally, I pulled out my handy electronic dictionary. One of the words, קרקרים, wasn't in there. Of course, it's pretty obviously plural, but I couldn't find any singular word that it might be the plural of. I noticed that it was suggested that he eat them with tehina or a little hummus, so I asked him about that. That was when I figured it out -- it's krakerim, i.e. crackers! It's always those darn ENGLISH words that cause me the most trouble!

Juxtapositions

Yesterday, we visited Natzeret (Nazareth) for the 2nd time. The purpose of the visit was the same as last time: to take some papers to the Ministry of Health office there, where they will decide if David can receive a rehabilitation package and, if so, what will be included.

After delivering the documents, we went to a large mall not far away and found a place to eat. I couldn't help notice the interesting juxtapositions. The mall is located between the Arab part of Natzeret and the Jewish Natzeret Elite ("Upper Nazareth"). So, here in the town where the founder of Christianity grew up, in a mall between the mostly Muslim but partly Christian part and the Jewish part, we were sitting in a very modern mall eating guacamole and labneh (a white, liquid cheese that tastes somewhat like sour cream) in a tortilla wrap! Just another typical experience here in this modern but ancient land!

A trip to Banias Falls

Today, it was cooler than some of the days this past week, so we decided to take a trip to Banias Falls in the Banias National Park. We left right after breakfast so that we would be out there before the hottest time of the day.

As we were going out the front door, some of the kittens were hanging around, in including Mr. B, who is one of the most curious. He sat down in a very cat-like fashion and watched me intently. By using my camera's maximum digital zoom, I was able to get several great pictures of this photogenic kitten. Here's one of the best:

Here's a view from near the entrance to this part of the park. In the foreground, you can see the viewpoint on the opposite side of the river. The canyon that the river runs in is between us and the viewpoint, but about all you can see of it is the green tops of the trees that grow down there. In the distance, just to the right of the viewpoint, is Nimrod's Fortress, a castle built to defend against the Crusaders. To the left of that, we see the end of the range of mountains leading up to Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon), the highest mountain in Israel.

Here's a zoomed view of the viewpoint area, where you can see some people looking down at the Banias Falls itself:

After hiking down into the canyon, crossing the Banias River (on 3 bridges!), and hiking back up the other side, I got this view of the Banias Falls, looking down from the viewpoint:

Here's a view of a small cascade in the Banias River a little ways downstream from the Falls:

In most places around northern Israel, these thistles have long since finished blooming, but I saw several on the hike today:

I also saw of few of these unusual and beautiful flowers:

This is probably the most surprising thing that we saw today. As we were hiking back up the side of the canyon to return to the car, I happened to look high up on the cliff above us. And this is what I saw: a beehive! Thank goodness again for the zoom capabilities of my camera!

Some vistas on a clear day

Last Shabbat was a beautifully clear day here in northern Israel, so we took a drive. Along the way, I snapped a number of pictures of scenery, taking advantages of the clear conditions. This first picture is a view of almost the entire Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee") as seen from a viewpoint on the road between Tsfat and Rosh Pinna.

We drove down to the Kinneret and around on the east side. The next view is from a point just above the eastern shore of the Kinneret. Here, we are looking northwest towards Har Meron (Mt. Meron, the purplish range on the left) and Tsfat (which is on the hill to the right of Har Meron. Har Meron is actually higher, but it's a little further away, so it doesn't seem higher in this photo.

Here's a 2nd view from the same point, looking west towards the city of T'verya (Tiberias) and the cliffs of Arbel:

From that viewpoint, we continued southwards. When we came to the road that runs east-west at the southern end of the Kinneret, we turned left (eastward). This road begins to climb along the northern side of the Yarmoch River valley. The border between Israel and Jordan follows this river in this area. A short distance before the end of this road, there is a road that climbs very steeply up to the southern end of the Golan and has many very sharp switchback corners. About halfway up this road, we stopped at a viewpoint (which is also an old military post dug into the ground). The rest of the pictures are all taken from there.

This first picture is a view to the west. In it, you can see the southern end of the Kinneret and the fertile Jordan River Valley just south of it.

Here's a view to the southeast. In it, you can see Hamat HaGader, the green area just below the center of the picture; some of the switchbacks that I mentioned earlier (in the lower part of the view); and a Jordanian town above and beyond Hamat HaGader. The border between Israel and Jordan runs right next to Hamat HaGader, which is a hotspring area. Although we haven't yet visited there, we have been told they they also have a small zoo there, including crocodiles!

Here's the view towards the southwest, showing the end of the Yarmoch River Valley, where it joins the Jordan River Valley. You can seen the green strip that marks the course of the Yarmoch River in the lower part of the picture. Note the cliffs on the Israeli side, with the road we had traveled running right along the edge. You can also see a Jordanian road running along the other side.

Here's a photo taken with maximum zoom on my camera showing that Jordanian road, on which you can see a vehicle driving.

StarTrek in Haifa

Because June 1 was a holiday in most of Europe (Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost), all of my lessons for that day were canceled. David needed to go to Rambam, so we took advantage of the free day to do that.

June 1 was also the 13th anniversary of our wedding at Beth Chayim Chadashim, so we wanted to celebrate that, too. We decided to check out the movies at Cinemall (formerly called Kanyon Lev HaMifratz), in Haifa. We managed to figure out that they were showing the new StarTrek movie, so that's what we saw, and we did enjoy it. In fact, this is the very first movie that we have seen in a theater since we arrived here in Israel nearly 3 and a half years ago! The experience was so similar to an American theater that, despite the Hebrew subtitles, I was almost startled when the usher said להתראות l'hitraot ("Bye" in Hebrew) to us as we were leaving!

Kitten update

We made a rather startling discovery the other day: there are actually SIX kittens, not five! We were very sure that there were only 5 of them, but I counted in the morning when they were eating, and there were SIX. I'm sure that we had NEVER seen all 6 at once before. The "extra" one is another gray tabby, which helps explain what happened. The 2 gray tabbies (who look like their mother) look very similar to each other, so we probably just never happened to see both at one time before. We had named "the" gray tabby Mr. B, but now we'll have to try to figure out how to tell the 2 apart and them figure out 2 separate names for them.

Pictures of the kittens!

Well, I finally got some pictures of the kittens. They're still so afraid that they run away any time they even see me, so I had to use a bit of subterfuge. I cleaned the big window by the front door and I cleaned the window of the safe room, leaving the heavy rolling metal blinds open.

So, here are some of the results. In this first pictures, you can see the black one with the white nose and paws, whom we have dubbed "Pascal". He's actually pawing right at the window of the safe room. In the background, you can also see one of the calico kittens. Right after I took this picture, Pascal ran away because he was afraid of me, even through the window!
I took this picture right after the previous one. As you can see, I had put some food out for them. This is the calico with the least orange on her. We have named her "Goldie":

Here's a picture of the other 2 calicos, also taken through the safe-room window:

The next morning, all 5 kittens joined the big cats on the porch by the front door for breakfast. Here's a great shot of all of them, taken through the living room window, together with Tz'hovi, who is probably their father (at least the father of the calico ones). Going clockwise from him, we have Pascal, Goldie, Priscilla, Mr. B, and Peachy:

For a while, their mother, Beatrix, was eating with them also, but she had left by the time I took the previous picture. When I first put the food out, the 3 adult cats, Tz'hovi, Beatrix, and MiniMe (Beatrix's son and sole survivor from her litter last year), all were eating. But when the kittens came, MiniMe ran away the other direction. The following picture, taken when he returned, may explain what, or, more precisely, whom he was afraid of: Mr. B (Back off! I'm a FIERCE cat!)! Little brother wins again!

I did a little boning up on cat genetics (well, I actually I knew nearly NOTHING about it before!), and that's why I'm pretty sure of the genders of the kittens, as well as their paternity. The one thing that I HAD heard before was that calicos are all female. I learned that tortoise-shell cats are also all female. I also found out that the gene that creates red-orange-yellow cats (like Katom and Tz'hovi) is on the X chromosome and is therefore gender-linked. A male, of course, has one X and one Y chromosome, whereas females has 2 X's. Since the male's single X must come from his mother (the Y, from his father, is what makes him male), if that X happens to have the gene for red, he will be red or orange or yellow (other genes control the shade). Females, on the other hand, are only red-orange-yellow if BOTH their X's have the gene. However, if only ONE of the female's X's has the gene, she will be tortoise-shell or calico (again, controlled by other genes). Since Beatrix is NOT calico or tortoise-shell, the father of the calicos MUST be a red-orange-yellow cat, therefore almost certainly Tz'hovi. He is probably also the father of the other 2 kittens (Pascal and Mr. B), and, if this is the the case, they will be male, since they are NOT calico or tortoise-shell. Of course, they MIGHT have a different father, in which case they could also be female.

Kittens!

Just before the end of March, our outdoor female cat, Beatrix, who had been VERY pregnant, disappeared for a couple of days and then re-appeared, no longer pregnant and VERY hungry! Of course, we knew that she had had her kittens, but we didn't know where they were. We figured that they were well hidden somewhere and that she would probably bring them out in about 4 weeks.

When more than 5 weeks had passed, and we still had seen no kittens, we assumed the worst: that they must have died. In fact, Beatrix, who had been coming by to eat nearly every day, seemed a little sad and weary.

But about a week ago, I was out hanging some laundry to dry on our east patio, and, to my great surprise, I saw two kittens! They were over on our neighbors' porch next to their front door. When I went towards the kittens, they, of course, ran away. I followed a bit, and then I knew where Beatrix was hiding her litter -- behind our neighbors' shed. They were well hidden, too, under some long wood slats. Of course, I didn't want to disturb them, so I didn't move anything (besides, it's our NEIGHBORS' yard!).

At first, we assumed that she must have had only 2 kittens, since we saw these same 2 a couple more times. But then one day, I looked out and saw 2 kittens that were definitely DIFFERENT than these two! It now appears that she has at least FIVE kittens, since David saw that many all at one time. Mostly, though, we only see 2 or 3 at a time, and they are ALL terrified of us, so they scamper away whenever we happen upon them.

Today, I had opened the heavy rolling metal blinds of the security room to let some light in while I was feeding the snakes there. When I went in there later, I saw 2 of the kittens (the 1st 2 that we had seen, I think) exploring by the window. Although they did spot me, they didn't run away right away because the floor of the room is 7 steps (maybe about 3 feet or more) lower than the patio outside, where they were, so I didn't seem so big this time. Also, they probably couldn't see me as clearly through the glass as I could see them.

I left the blinds open, and later this afternoon, we saw 2 of the others playing and just having a grand time out there. By this time, the sun was shining directly on the window, so they probably couldn't see us watching them at all due to the glare.

Of course, I don't have any pictures to share at all (that window is WAY too dirty!), but eventually they'll get accustomed to us, and I'll get some nice photos of them.

The Wind Farm in the Golan

Today, we took a drive over to the Golan again, to the power-generating windmills there. The last time that we went there (a week or 2 ago) the batteries in my camera were no good (and I hadn't brought any spares with me), so I didn't get any pictures. This time, of course, I had spares, and, of course, the ones in the camera worked fine!

Here are some of the pictures I took. First a full-length view of one of the windmills. Our car is parked right beside it to give you some idea of the scale:

Here's a zoomed-in view of the turbine that, I'm sure, actually generates the power:

Here's a view of the row of turbines, including all but about 2 or 3 of them. By the way, the peak right behind the 3rd one from the left is Har Bental, one of our favorite view spots. This view is in approximately the northwest direction.

Here's a view from near the same area as the previous picture, but this one is zoomed somewhat and is looking roughly northeast, down into Syria. You can see that the Syrians have constructed a pretty large reservoir:

What's wrong with this picture?

The other day, I was walking along the sidewalk not far from our us when a military vehicle with 2 young soldiers in it pulled up beside me. The reason? They need directions to the base - the MILITARY base! Uh, isn't this THEIR base? Hmmmmmm.....

A trip to Tel Dan

Today we decided to take a trip to Tel Dan. Here are some pictures that I took.

First, a pretty lavender flower, which, I think, is different from any that we've seen before. There were many of them today at Tel Dan, however:

The hollyhocks are blooming all over the place now. This one had gotten bent over so that the stalk was horizontal rather than vertical as usual, but that didn't keep it from making a gorgeous flower:

I saw lots of these beautiful pink flowers. This one caught the light just right to make a great photograph:

The Dan River is amazing! It rises from hundreds of small springs, all in the Tel Dan area. Later, it becomes one of the main sources of water for the Jordan River. Already at this point, though, the amount of water flowing in it is impressive, especially for such a generally dry country as this:

I also took some short movie clips of the Dan River, so that you could actually see the water flowing. I used the iMovie program to put 3 of them together into this short movie:

A hike to Rosh Pinna with Carol

On Shabbat, our next-door neighbors, Shimon and Patricia, invited us to lunch at their house. Patricia's sister, Carol, was visiting from England. We had met her 6 months ago when she had visited them before, and we had taken an immediate liking to her. So we were glad to hear that she would be visiting again.

During lunch, Patricia and Carol told us that they had taken a short walk a little way down the nakhal near us. I told them that it was possible to walk all the way down to Rosh Pinna that way and that I had done it once. As we were sitting around and talking a bit after lunch, Carol mentioned that she would really like to take that hike, and I immediately agreed to walk with her. Nobody else really was interested in the hike, so just the 2 of us headed out.

First, we walked along the trail that is the extension of our road (after the pavement ends by our house). We passed through a V-shaped gate that keeps the cows from coming through, continued a little further, and then turned right on the jeep trail that heads down the nakhal.

Here are some of the things we saw along the way. First, a purple thistle, which is probably the most plentiful type of flower currently seen all over northern Israel:

Here's a beautiful black and white butterfly, obviously the same type that I had seen the day before at Park Adamit:

Here are some delicate, tiny white flowers:

Part way down the valley, we encountered several cows, including some that were in a sort of shallow cave on the left. Here, you can see a calf nursing. Of course, I used the zoom on my camera!

Most (if not all) of the cows had tags in their ears with numbers, but this one sported a PAIR of earrings! Aren't they fetching? :-)

We also saw a number of these interesting ball-shaped green thistles:

Here are some purple flowers that I saw which were just too lovely to pass up:

As we got near Rosh Pinna, we began to encounter trees, especially olive trees, that must have been planted by people at some point, although they seem to be pretty much growing wild now. This clump of small figs was one of hundreds that were on a very large fig tree (or maybe more than one -- it was hard to tell):

Here are some lovely lavender flowers that also may not actually be native to the area:

When we got to Rosh Pinna, we found a small restaurant right along the main road that comes down from Tsfat, just after it make its final sharp curve. We weren't hungry, but we WERE a bit thirsty, so we ordered "mint lemonades". Here's a nice picture of Carol with our mint lemonades in the foreground (they tasted as good as they look!):

For those of you who are curious, David drove down with the car, so that we did NOT have to walk all the way back UP the hill! That would have been WAY too much for either of us! :-)