New Trees

We received notification that there were trees for the taking, so I sent my husband to take a couple. The announcement said that there were evergreens and fruit trees. I didn't specify what to take. When I saw which he got, two evergreens, then I decided where they should go. And then he planted them, as you can see in the pictures. 

I just have to water them. It's a good thing that I bought a second long hose. So now one is set up at one tree and the other at the second one. The tree I planted a few days ago had died immediately, but our tree maivin, who also makes wine out of our grapes, said it wouldn't survive.

Gd willing, updates to follow.

Beer Tasting

The beer maivin invited me for another beer-tasting. More details to follow in a later post.

Saying Goodbye to...

... my favorite coat.

It's so rare to find a coat that not only is a good neutral color, but neither too heavy nor too light, plus having a perfect selection of pockets, mostly zippered. I bought the coat in New York, the Fall when I had gone there to take my father to live with us in Israel.

I had arrived in New York without a winter coat, since I had already gotten rid of my old one. And during that very hectic visit I managed to use some time I was given to literally run between a couple of stores on the "Miracle Mile," Northern Boulevard to find the best deal on a coat. I don't remember the exact price, but considering that I got about nine seasons of use from it... Yes, it was a great coat.

This year I noticed that the fabric was spontaneously ripping. Everytime I wore it, there were more unpleasant surprises. So, I decided that this would be its last season. Instead of laundering it so it would be clean to wear again, I'd throw it out. But the other day I finally admitted to myself that I looked really awful wearing a coat that was all ripped. There was no reason, and I do have another winter coat, which had been waiting patiently in my closet.

So, before I could have second thoughts I photographed it for this blog and then took it out and hung it on the garbage. Maybe somebody would want it, and I really didn't have the heart to just throw it in the bin. It had served me well.

Shiloh's Resident Chiropractor

Here in Shiloh we're pretty lucky to have a local chiropractor, Dr. Azriel Gordon, who has been working in the field for over thirty years. Many of my neighbors have been cared for by him. Dr. Gordon insists that he's not a medical doctor and calls what he does "tune ups." According to him, the body can heal itself, or function better, when properly cared for. He doesn't call the people he helps patients, either.

My brother-in-law, in New York, has been a chiropractor for about forty years, and from what I've seen, each chiropractor develops different methods. Dr. Gordon confirmed this.

Last night's gathering was to see the new clinic Dr. Gordon has opened, Optimal Wellness and Laws of Life Chiropractic Center of Shiloh. He explained his rationale of his practice and more. A few people told of how Dr. Gordon helped them. Click here and here for more information. Call 054-4849094 to make an appointment or ask more questions.

New Mosaic Series

This still needs the filler, but here you can see my first of this new series.

SHAVUA TOV

שבוע טוב

It is for the Havdala ceremony after Shabbat.

New Goat Yogurt, Report

Last week, after I paid a shiva call to the family of the amazing and irreplaceable Toby Willig, ZaTza"L, I walked by the Zamora Health Food store and decided to see if they had any plain goat yogurt.

The two brands I normally get aren't available right now, for a couple of months, since this is the season that the female goats are giving birth and feeding their babies. I had written about my using shamenet, sour cream as a substitute.

The Zamora Health Food store isn't one of my usual haunts, but I figured it would be a good idea to check it out. I'm glad I did. It's a small supermarket of every sort of organic food, even a section with frozen poultry. And, yes, I found some plain yogurt. I bought two liter bottles, two different brands. Gd willing, they should suffice for the next couple of weeks.

I must say that the גלילי Galili Goat Yogurt has a very different taste from the two brands I usually get. It's much sharper. The experts would probably say that it has more of a "goat" taste. Although I absolutely hated goat milk in my coffee, when I tried it, I like the tartness of the yogurt with sweet fruit.

I'm glad to have discovered Zamora, because there's a branch not far from Matan and my Jerusalem kids. When I finish the Galili yogurt, I'll open the other bottle/brand and let you know how that one is, Gd willing.

Guess Which I Drew

We did chalk or pastel drawing yesterday. I am not good at this sort of thing.

Some pictures were joint efforts and others individual.

Can you guess which are mine...

Why Doesn't The Sun Look Orange?

Yesterday morning, the sunrise was stupendous and the sun a very bright orange. I took a whole bunch of pictures at all sorts of "settings," and none of the photos show a bright orange sun!  I use my phone, the Samsung J7.

I hope you believe that the sun was orange and not white...

Substitute for Goat Yogurt

For the past few weeks, I've found it impossible to find the good quality goat yogurt I like for my breakfast. I eat it with fruit and fresh ginger. I checked all over and asked why there weren't any on the refrigerator shelves. Apparently it is the season for those "mama goats" to have babies, and the babies get the milk for the first couple of months. I can understand that, but what was I supposed to eat?

I wanted a reliable natural yogurt, just milk and "starter." I looked through the dairy section in our local store and surprised myself. The most natural sort-of yogurt was sour cream. I bought a lowered fat one of 15% fat and have been using just a bit each morning with my fruit and ginger. It's amazingly sweet and satisfying. So, until I find good goat yogurt, I'm OK.

The irony is that I had never in my life been a sour cream eater. But now, I can see how addictive it can be. It really is delicious and sweet. But I don't need those fat calories, sigh...

Salute to Israel Parade, NY, 1970

We've been pulling out old albums of late, and found these irreplaceable photos.

They are from the Salute to Israel Parade. Marching are members of the NCSY Dance Group which had performed in Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden that year. I was group leader. It was the first time the Israeli Folk Dance Festival had performed there.

Previously it had been in Carnegie Hall, which has, or had, an ambience all its own. But festival director, Fred Berk had been itching for a more genuine folk dance festival feeling. He hated the stage and curtains in the illustrious concert hall. When I took his Leadership and Choreography course in 1967-68, he always stressed that true folk dance required dancing onto the performance area and dancing off of it. NO CURTAINS raised and lowered.

At the 1970 festival we all sat around the performance area, getting up to dance on and off when it was our group's turn. Then at the very end of the show, all of the groups and dancers danced together in separate circles.

A couple of months later, at the parade, my dancers and I donned our costumes and danced up Fifth Avenue. We had sewn the skirts the year before for the 1969 festival, but then we added white trim on the bottom plus the "belts" in 1970. And we wore our own white blouses. For the festivals, we danced barefoot, but of course that wouldn't work on the NYC streets.

In 1970, NCSY was given a spot near the beginning of the parade, and Betar was towards the end. So, after dancing the entire way to the end, I quickly, literally ran back down Fifth Avenue to join Betar and march again. Being just a spectator was not for me.

Who else was at that parade?

Mosaics Rough Edges

My latest mosaics projects are still in need of finishing. Polishing and ridding rough edges are harder than any other stage for me.

I am happy to have discovered Judaica for my mosaics theme.

Muddy Night Walk

After a nice amount of rain even the mud seemed to sparkle.

40 Years Back in Shiloh

It's the Jewish Month of Shevat, the middle of the winter, when mud is deepest, and it's hard to thaw out toes and fingers. So, we really must give a lot of credit to those seven hardy pioneering families who came davka on TU B'Shvat to live in Shiloh. Most had babies and toddlers, so water, electricity and gas were necessities for daily life. Even when we came to Shiloh three years later, you couldn't take it for granted that you'd have both water and electricity when you needed to turn on the washing machine.

Shabbat lunch we had, what is now an annual event, an "oldtimers meal." Way back when, community events had high attendance levels. Now, it's rare to see our old friends from those early years, so we make a point of eating together once a year and exchanging news and memories. And every year I learn something new about those early years and days in Shiloh.

Here are a few of my old pictures from decades ago:

Caption This!

Please give this photo a title or story line. I just couldn't resist the shot.

What do you think?

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #27, CBS Revisited, Worth The Shekel

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See  #26  #25,  #24,  #23, #22, #21,#20, #19, #18, #17, #16,  #15a, #15,  #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1

The other week, I needed a loo in the area of Center 1 and the Central Bus Station. As much as I like getting stuff for free, I've had just too many bad experiences in the public toilets in Center 1. I decided to make my way to the Central Bus Station and splurge. Using the loo there would cost me a shekel, which is worth it for some toilet paper and maybe a clean seat.

I made my way up one flight to the floor where I had gotten a great deal on a salad a few months ago. I followed the signs and paid my shekel. That got me into a very acceptable, clean-smelling public toilet fully equipped with paper, soap, etc.

The management of the building, which is a mini-mall, seems to be taking their job seriously. Each time I'm more impressed. They are updating the way they should be.

I no longer use the building as a bus station, because our buses don't leave from inside. But there are plenty of stores and mostly fast-food or budget eateries worth patronizing. There are security guards outside, who mostly profile. Some people put their bags through the xrays.

There are a number of public toilets in the building. Look for signs or ask.

All Lines Lead to Jerusalem

Sometimes Gd is the Stylist 

This week I took lots of Leading Lines photos for the 52Frames challenge. It was pretty easy at two very Jerusalem sites, the Chords Bridge aka Bridge of Strings and the Train Park which follows the old, unused tracks which lead to Matan where I study each week.

With a healthy choice of Leading Lines photos to choose from, and the help of a small sub-group of framers, I chose this one of the String Bridge below.  After reading and digesting their praise for it straight from my simple Samsung J7 phone, I did absolutely no editing, not even the tiniest cropping. That's why it's so clear to me that I had Gd with me as the "stylist."

"All Lines Lead to Jerusalem"
The now iconic Chords Bridge aka Bridge of Strings designed by Santiago Calatrava always catches my eye. And for me it is always new. It was built 40 years after I moved to Israel.
It definitely features leading lines.

The "Rejects"

I had more good Leading Lines photos, and here are a few of them,* None have been either cropped or edited:

Do you agree with my choice?

*I had some technical problems and will add more Gd willing when I can.

Book Review: Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies by Jonathan Rosen

I must let you know in advance that Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies by Jonathan Rosen isn't a Jewish book, though the author certainly is. It was written for the general young English reading public. It is set during the Christmas season, but there is nothing religious in the story. It is culturally American, and the story would be much more difficult to tell without the American winter holiday customs. Remember that many of the classic English Literature is set during Christmas season.

Now, if you're still reading this review, I'm going to tell you that the book is totally fantastic. I really had fun reading it and would offer it to my grandchildren, who are totally Israeli, to read.

As I was reading Jonathan Rosen's debut fantasy for children, Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies, I kept envisioning it as an animated movie. Or maybe that's too 20th century; today they have movies that realistically combine animated and human actors.

Twelve-year-old Devin Dexter has problems. His sister, Abby, is annoying. His cousin, Tommy, sees conspiracies everywhere. And his new neighbor, Herb, might be a warlock. When strange things start happening, like the hot new Christmas toy, the Cuddle-Bunny, coming to life and turning evil, Devin and Tommy set out to stop them and prove Herb is a warlock. Will they have enough time before the town of Gravesend is overrun by the cutest little murderers ever?

Even though this is a totally, or I should hope so,  make believe adventure story, the characters were amazingly well-written and realistictic. Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies should be found enjoyable by both boys and girls. There were lots of surprises in the plot, even for me who reads lots of suspense and detective novels. I understand that Rosen has more books in the works. I hope that he'll send me all of them when they are published.

• Age Range: 8 - 12 years
• Grade Level: 2 - 7
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sky Pony Press (August 29, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1510715231
• ISBN-13: 978-1510715233
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Feed The Body Not The Flu

As you may know, I'm at war against a flu which managed to breach the barricades of the flu vaccine. Thank Gd I don't have the worst possible case, but for me, it's bad enough. Cough and chills and difficulties concentrating are bad enough. Even before I had realized I was sick, my walking speed was reduced. The flu rather slowly reached its peak making me think that I wasn't really sick. And then as things got more uncomfortable I'd think:

"That's it. Now I should start feeling better."

But instead of feeling better, I felt worse. I even went to the doctor. But by then, as she pointed out, I was finally on the road to recovery. I should just be patient, not force myself to do anything, including eating. Of course, she doesn't know me well enough to know that "resting" is something I have to force myself to do.  My most "restful" activity is playing cards on the computer. At this point reading is a bit stressful to the eyes, but once I recover a bit more... And those movies I love to watch are usually just background sounds and pictures when I'm cooking and cleaning.

Today I didn't even drink coffee. Really! I had my water with lemon and a bit of fresh ginger, but since I didn't enjoy yesterday's coffee and threw out most of it, I didn't make any this morning.

Another change I made was to have a vegan breakfast. I mixed sesame paste with fruit, rather than using goat yogurt or sour cream. First I had it with apple and ginger and then with a persimmon. Both were totally delicious.

For whatever reason, I still have a good appetite in the morning, especially for these fruit treats/meals. Next on the menu is a vegetable soup. The peas are already soaking in boiling water.  I hope that this helps me get all better quickly, Gd willing.

Potion Plus Flu Vaccine?

For the past few years, I've been taking the flu vaccine, and I even got the pneumonia one. So, why do I feel so sick? Yes, I've heard that it's not a magic potion to prevent all winter ills. Sigh...

I also prepared another sort of magic potion for myself, but it doesn't seem to be working either. This includes honey, onion and whisky. And I also drink my water with lemon slices.

Let's see what the doctor says today. Maybe she'll have a more effective trick Gd willing.