Shiloh is Quiet, But War Stress Still Strong

For over three months Israel has been fighting for its very survival against Hamas, such a cruel terrorist army/people that makes the Nazis look almost kind. 

We haven't heard any sirens. In Shiloh, we don't have to run into shelters; actually we don't have any. Newer homes were build with shelters, and some people who enlarged their older homes now have shelters, too. But in my neighborhood, there are few; certainly none that we can reach within a minute or so.

I stick to my routine of taking a nice morning walk, weather permitting, of course.

And I photograph what I see, afterwards making a collage on the phone's photo-editing app.

I try to keep myself sane. Staying home listening to the news isn't healthy. I'm trying to study even more Tanach/Bible than before. In addition I've been crocheting and going to a mosaics class.

Many neighbors of all ages are serving in the army and local security, family, too. Prayers for all. Just trying to stay sane and healthy. How are you coping?

Baile Rochel Wimps Out of a Swim, But Pumps Iron Instead

Our intrepid golden age athlete, yours truly Baile Rochel, can't handle the cold very well. Yes, heaven for me is sitting in the sauna or soaking in a jacuzzi. My only problem is that sometimes my gold necklace gets dangerously hot, but no sweat.

The past few weeks there have been problems at the pool I belong to. Not only hasn't the pool been hot enough, the jacuzzi barely reaches body temperature. Even before checking the posted temperatures on the wall it's easy to see the lack of thick cloud of steam hovering over it.

One of my friends who drives there is a lot more tolerant of chilly, icy water. I guess she still misses the icy lake water of the "old country." 

The other day when we arrived, I joined the parade of wishful, though cautious, swimmers and checked the temperature readings before even taking off my jacket. It was clear to me that not only was the jacuzzi too cold, but the post-swim shower would be freezing. 

Well, since I was already there in the health/fitness center, I looked for an alternative to sitting in the lobby playing with my cellphone. 

Even though decades have passed since I had stepped onto a treadmill, the high-tech gym called to me. It's also included in the price of my "pool membership" and has been on my "to do" list.

I opened the door and peeked in. Everyone seemed so busy and confidently "at home." I courageously walked around asking:

"Who's in charge?"

At my age, not only can a foolish move be dangerous, but some gyms demand proof of "fitness" before letting us "seniors" try out even the most gentle of machinery. When I finally found the instructor, a female who looked around the age of my oldest children, I mentioned that it "had been a long time" since I last worked out in a gym, but since the pool is cold...

I mentioned that I'd like to try the treadmill, so she showed me how to turn it on and off. For some peculiar reason, my body kept contorting, and I couldn't stand straight, but I soldiered on. I played around with the speed and incline, but I must admit that it felt a lot longer than ten minutes. 

After reporting to the instructor, I let her choose various machines for me. She instructed me in reps* & sets,* making sure to take out or reduce the weights/resistance according to her judgement as to how much my body could safely handle.

About a half hour after I had started, I decided that for a newbie* this was enough. I told her so and then asked how old she thought I am. She took a good look and answered:

"Fifty."

I gave her a big hug and thank you, revealing that I have a daughter of that age. That's the best encouragement any one could give me. I'm seventy-two and not embarrassed to admit it. 

Gd willing I'll be back there, instead of one of my swims each week. And in case you're wondering, that night and the next day I did feel my muscles kvetching, but not as much as I had expected.

*fitness slang

Shiloh Pool Season 5781, 2021 has Begun

This morning at 7:30am the Shiloh Pool opened for the season. Within a few minutes a handful of us were already in the water.

Adult pool

Children's wading pool

The water was clear, wonderful and reasonably warm for the opening day.  Lots of women showed up. This was our "women's hours," meaning that swimming was only for the 18+. Then the pool closed until early afternoon when girls, and adult women too, had their swimming time.

This "adult" swim time is one of the great advantages of the Shiloh Pool. We can swim, exercise and talk without young children splashing and screaming. No doubt most of the young mothers who had been in the pool when I was there, returned later with their daughters or infant sons.

Season at the pool is only three months, though we're trying to get it lengthened. Gd willing maybe next year. Our real dream is to have it winterized, covered and then the pool will be open most of the year. I was very encouraged by the amount of younger women who had shown up. Such an investment can't be covered just by the senior citizens. Many of us travel to Ariel to swim when our pool is closed, but the younger women don't have as much free time as we do. So if they enjoy the swimming enough... Gd willing we'll have an all year pool.

FINALLY! The Pool is Open

Totally heavenly.

That's how I felt after 50 minutes activity in the local swimming pool. Our usual summer pool season is three months, but this year we had a late start. That's  because all the government corona COVID-19 restrictions had our local council in a tizzy. They were too afraid of investing money to begin the process of opening the pool. What if the government wouldn't permit pool openings?

The biggest difference is that this year there isn't a kiddy pool, since even in regular, will we ever return to those days, years the kiddy pool is usually an infection problem.

Chlorine is a disinfectant, and the pool is full of it. That's why I'm not afraid to enter the pool. To be extra careful, I'm sticking to the early morning hours.

Our local Shiloh Swimming Pool only has "separate hours," meaning males and females swim at different times. The pool is also fenced in so people can't watch us.

As you can see, I wear a "modest" bathing suit, which doubles as a skin protector.

Actually, the pool opened yesterday, but women's hours were at night. I took a one hour fitness walk, instead of swimming. The water was perfect temperature this morning. I was surprised. It usually takes a few weeks to get so warm.

Thank Gd for the swimming pool. I don't need to go away for a "vacation." My "vacation" is right here in Shiloh.

Corona Lock-down Tips: Keeping Fit, Even if You Can't Get Out

Life in the Corona Lock-down, all the restrictions we're now living in, makes keeping fit much more difficult.

Yesterday I took two "walks" to keep up my general fitness. Since, like most everyone, I can't really estimate how many steps and distance I've walked at home*, I rely on two pedometer apps on my phone.  You can see their icons on the screenshot to your right.

The pedometers I use are free. One is more sensitive than the other. They each have a purpose, and I keep the phone on me all the time, except when it's charging.

There are two ways to find icons for your phone:
1- google play store and "search" free pedometer
2-go into "chrome" or whatever you use and just google "free pedometer"
Match up the icons with those on my home screen.

On the bottom there's the icon on the far left, showing two feet. It's very simple to use and sensitive enough to most walking around the house. And Gd willing when this lock-down is over, it shows a realistic amount of steps when shopping and in museums etc.

There's another pedometer app on the second row, far right with one foot. This pedometer, even at its most sensitive is less so. I like that it shows me how much "serious walking" I've done.

After installing a pedometer, you have to personalize it. Go to "settings," and add whatever info they ask. The most important is "pace distance." You can check the accuracy of that by counting your steps as you walk and check that the app has the same number. "Sensitivity" can also be adjusted. You may need to tweak here and there. I uninstalled one, since it was horrendously inaccurate. The app on the bottom of my screen is more sensitive. I generally try to turn it off when in a car or bus.

Please tell me how you're managing. Is this helpful?

*I turned on facebook live for company. You can join in. Here are the recordings.

Living in The Corona Virus Lock-down

This is something I wrote on facebook and think it really should be here, too:

Keep a grip on reality in the corona virus restriction/lock-down world: Unless you've been ordered by the medical authorities to keep strict quarantine, staying home and being sedentary is more dangerous for your health than going outside and taking a solitary walk.

You can even walk with one or two others, as long as you strictly keep your distance. Only in crowded places would a mask be advisable, and apparently, they aren't all that useful.

I'm lucky to live in a relatively rural community, where it's pretty easy to find an empty road for walking or running.

So walk with headphones to talk on the phone or listen to music, radio, lecture or an audio-book. Or, like me, turn on facebook live and talk to the world.

When I was out last night for a walk I saw young people running for fun and fitness and others walking in small groups. Physical exercise brings on "happy hormones," which prevent depression.

Gd willing we'll survive this, too.

Benji Lovitt keep the jokes going.

Thank Gd, Already Seeing Benefits to Pool Workouts

This year I joined the Ariel Sports Center for its swimming pool soon after our local Shiloh pool closed for the winter.

The Ariel pool is not far from Shiloh, and I can usually get rides to and from. The pool, locker room, everything are kept up, cleaned all the time, and I really enjoy the "spa." There are also a sauna and steam room. I haven't gone in the Jacuzzi, since I don't like hot chlorine water.

It's hard to judge how much the pool workout really helps. I don't do regular swimming, just my own version plus exercises. But this week I was surprised, rather shocked, when at the local clinic the nurse said that I measured a centimeter (just under half an inch) taller than last year. That's rather impossible, considering that I'm seventy years old. My guess is that my pool workouts are improving my posture, since I'm not growing taller. No, I'm not at my peak height from forty years ago, but relatively close. Of course, serious osteoporosis is genetic, and it's worse in thin women, which I'm not. I also walk a lot and carry a well-made backpack a couple of days a week. 

Thank Gd, bli eyin haraa, I'll just keep on doing my best. Losing weight is the most difficult, but...

IFL Football Season Began With A Win For The "Lions"

I still don't believe I did it. I walked to the Kraft Family Sports Campus. No, I didn't walk from Shiloh; I'm not insane. I walked from the Shmuel Hanavi Junction, which is where Eshkol Boulevard becomes Bar Ilan Street. I could have taken a bus part way, to the Har Chotzvim Industrial Zone, but that wouldn't have saved me much time. It's less than half the way. I checked with Google Maps.

I had gotten rides to previous games, and this time there didn't seem to be one. Besides that, I had the time. Most of the way was flat, and I even stopped off at one of the commercial buildings in Har Chotzvim Industrial Zone to try out the public toilets, which I'll have to write about in my Pishers' Guide series. When you go to the Kraft Family Sports Campus, which is near Ramot Junction, by car it seems far away. The road is off of a highway, and you have to be on the correct side of the road, or you have a long detour.

Even with all my walking, I got to the football field with time to spare. The players were still warming up. Soon the stands filled and the game began.

The Lions were ahead the entire game, though they mostly scored in the first half, if I'm not mistaken. There are many changes in players from last year, so it'll take time to really show their potential. The next game should be tougher, but it was a good season starter. The score was 31:15.

Yaala "Big Blue!" Let's have a fourth championship season, Gd willing!!

I Took The Plunge and Joined the Pool in Ariel

For two years I've been a member of the "Ariel Pool Whatsapp" group neighbors of mine have set up to offer and look for rides to the pool in the Ariel sports center.

And for two solid years I just couldn't get myself to sign up and become a member.

Every summer I take out a membership and go the the pool here in Shiloh, which is just across the street and down a path. The only complaint I have is that the season is much too short. Three months just aren't enough.

In recent years I've really noticed that my body deteriorates much too quickly and too much during the nine months the pool is closed. Each year, it's worse and never quite recovers as well as the previous year. Staying fit at my age is a full time job. Walking is great, but there are benefits from water exercise that can't be achieved any other way.

I must admit that I'm not a "swimmer." I don't swim laps. I've developed my own, unique water "movement" or "stroke" that I can do over and over, even in designated swimming lanes. I also exercise/dance in the water. I wear flexible "swimming gloves," which increase the efforts of my arms and shoulders.

The Ariel Sports Center is like a spa, with jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, fitness room full of "machines" and treadmills. In addition there are classes, pilates, feldenkrais and yoga. The entire building seems to be nice and clean.

Even after just three visits, I'm feeling better. The Shiloh Pool has been closed for three weeks. I needed the exercise. And while in Ariel, I can also take care of shopping errands. So, it's a win-win, Baruch Hashem.

One of The Bonuses of Walking

Like most walkers, I walk to keep fit, lose weight etc. And besides having to periodically buy comfortable walking shoes, which should be worn even if you don't walk much, it's free. Yes, unlike most other sports, fitness methods, classes, pool memberships etc, walking doesn't require an expense.

OK, maybe you'll need a sunhat and sunscreen, but many sedentary people have those for lying the sun and floating on rafts, cruising etc.

So, besides the frugality of walking, there's an added bonus, views, sunsets, sunrises etc. Last night I scheduled a walk with a friend, so I'd see the golden sunset. All it cost was a few calories, and I wanted to lose/spend those anyhow.

Love Our Pool, Though Season Over Half Over

Summer in Shiloh... It's great, because we have a swimming pool. And the pool is a short walk from our house.

When we chose the building plot, where we now live, nobody had a clue that it would be such a great location. It's a minute's walk from the shul and in the other direction, about three minutes from the pool, besides being in between two bus stops. I chose it for the sunrise. It faces directly east and doesn't get strong winter winds.

One of the great things about the pool is that not only do we have "separate hours" for males and females, but there are "adult"hours. That means that the opening and closing hours of the pool are for grownups. It's quiet and peaceful, less crowded. We can swim and exercise without distraction and bother. I only go to those adult hours unless my granddaughters are visiting.

I've been taking out membership for years. It encourages me to go, even when I don't have all that much time. When you pay for each time, you end up going much less. I try to go every day, whether hours are in the morning or evening. To be honest, I'm not a "swimmer." I do my own version of water aerobics. Years ago I went to the pool in Neve Yaakov and learned a lot from the teacher there. They had fantastic lessons free once a week. So now add what I learned there with my years studying dance and "movement" to get a lot out of my time in the pool.

Our pool season ends at the end of August unless enough people sign up for September. Gd willing, I'll find a way to get to a pool during the rest of the year. It is so good for my general fitness and wellbeing.

Must get moving, so I can go to the pool.

Trying To Analyze Pedometer Results

Just a few minutes ago, I sent a picture of yesterday's pedometer reading and complained to my walking group about how little I had walked. I hadn't even reached 12,000 steps.

But when I take a good look, I can see that I had three periods of real walking.

Granted, they weren't terribly long, but there's more serious walking in those periods than in some days which have more impressive numbers. The Pedometer record for yesterday calculated/sensed one hour, forty-seven minutes and forty seconds of activity, though most of it was just walking around inside. The three straight lines which I've circled are my actual walks outdoors.

Indoors, I walked up and down a few flights of stairs more than once. So if you add the stairs to the outdoor walking, I guess I had close to an hour of physical activity, which isn't all that awful. Now, if I could only find a way to "delete" the dessert I had last night at a neighbor's Sheva Brachot*.

*Sheva Brachot: Post wedding party, which can take place during the week after a wedding.

19,492 Plus Steps Yesterday, Fitness & Pedometer Tips

I post many of my "steps" on my instagram page,  shilohbatya

Actually, by the time I went to sleep around midnight, I had reached 19,542 steps. Yes, that may be a record number of steps for me. I use the simple "pedometer" app on my phone to keep track.

Except for when my phone is charging, I have the phone on me, so every step counts. My rationale for that is that since every sip, taste or bite of a food counts for adding calories, then we shouldn't be shy about counting those steps, whether to the laundry room, refrigerator or even the loo.

When you're setting up* your pedometer, make sure that it's sensitive enough to count all those very short "walks." Once after a few hours in a museum, I discovered that although I had done a lot of walking, my pedometer had ignored most of it, since they were short walks from picture to picture, exhibit to exhibit.

I know that the 10,000 steps a day benchmark has been pooh poohed as not very significant, but that's not really true. Once you start keeping track of your steps, you'll discover your own personal benchmarks, and for many people, davka, 10,000 steps is a good number to aim for and later top.

As you may know, I'm no youngster, and I'm overweight and not in perfect shape. So managing almost twenty thousand 20,000 steps in one day is quite impressive, as is my average, which recently has been twelve thousand 12,000 or more. Friends ask me how I do it, without damaging myself.

If you look at yesterday's record, you'll see that I was on my feet most of the day, didn't walk all that quickly and only had three "long" walks. And, thank Gd, it all added up.

Below is a more "average day," and you can see that I was quite sedentary for quite a long period of time. Two long walks of about 4,000 steps each, one at a really good pace, made up for two-thirds of the day's step total. That means that I got in over an hour of good physical activity that day.

The key to my approach is to exercise in small quantities, not to strain the body at all. If you're not in good shape, from injury, age, illness whatever, it's very important not to risk injury. But it's also extremely important to maximize activity. For many, that's a very fine line.

One of my big problems is that I hate exercising alone, whether walking, floor or more aerobic exercise. Ironically, I had once been an exercise teacher, and I know what we should be doing all too well. I just need the added socializing to do it. Listening to classes, music whatever does make walking a bit better, but I can always walk longer and more quickly with partners. To help, I opened a small whatsapp group. Our aim is to walk twice a day. Almost always I'm the nudge writing:

"Anybody able to walk tonight/tomorrow morning? Please, pretty please..."

I don't always find someone, but not only does it help me, my friends enjoy it, too. Instead of chatting over coffee and cake, or not seeing each other at all, we really enjoy our friendly walks. There are people who use the walking time to talk on the phone, but to get full benefit, swing your arms and get a "headset" if you're going to have a "long distance partner." One of my walking buddies uses walking sticks to be steadier and give more upper body workout.

What do you do to make fitness more fun and doable?

*You also must get your step length accurate. A good way of doing it is to actually count ten or twenty steps in your head while walking and then check if the pedometer agrees. If the pedometer says you've taken more steps, then increase length; decrease if it doesn't credit you with enough steps.

I Don't Swim, Just Exercise/Dance in The Pool

I'd burn more calories in the pool with this music.


In all honesty I was never a real swimmer, but that doesn't stop me from doing my own version of "swimming laps."

Too Bad The Pedometer Doesn't Count Water Exercise

As many of you know, I have my phone set up as a pedometer, and I happily show off my step count on Instagram and Facebook.

On a day like today, when it was a scorcher, real summer day, my walking partner and I walked two circuits early in the morning, and then I was home until evening when I went to the nearby pool. I exercised in the water for 45 minutes.

According to my pedometer I did a rather lazy under 9,000 steps. And no, my phone isn't waterproof.

Isn't it a bit crazy that I don't feel I've exercised if the pedometer doesn't confirm it?

Jerusalem Light Festival 2018, Rather Dull

The other night I went to the Jerusalem Light Festival 2018, even though I couldn't find anyone to go with. There were thousands of other people, and I even ran into a few friends. It is an event one can do on one's own without any problem.

I arrived before the opening at 8pm, because I had the time, and I didn't want to get back too late. But you really don't see the beauty until it's dark.

First of all, I must complain. I can't imagine why the organizers thought that they could was it save money on not having color-coded guide lights to indicate routes. In previous years we could just look up and follow our chosen route's color. This time we guessed, followed crowds, tried to understand the map wihch didn't have street names or asked the young sadranim, guides, who were stationed in some of the important locations. One tried to tell me to go back to where I had been, so I had to show him that the numbers needed to go up and not down.

I took the PINK route, which started at Jaffa Gate and ended at the New Gate. There were very long sections with nothing other than walking. Not enough for the route, and nothing spectacular compared to what I remember from previous years. No doubt I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been alone.

I got a lot of walking in, finishing the day at 20,000+ steps. Here are some pictures I took:

There was a section in a mostly Arab neighborhood that had lanterns hanging, which I presume was to guide the spectators.