A walk through the fruit trees

This past weekend was great. After spending a few days working on the stone from Hazor, we all went up to Kibbutz Yiftah in the far north and spent a few nights with M's cousin Tsvika's family. They are wonderful, the weather was fabulous and L had a great time with her second-cousins. The first day we were there we went for a long walk in the kibbutz fields to admire and pick the endless nectarines, apples, pears, etc. I like the above pic because you not only see most of the members of our party - Yael, Maayan, Rina, L, Frida, Shuka (the dog) and me - but you can also see the photographer's shadow.

We had to pause frequently so L could dump the dirt out of her fake crocs.

It is now clear that L likes small dogs, and she would not stop bothering poor Shuka then entire time we were there.

Tsvika and Maayan. Tsvika is one of M's two cousins and he looks more like him than anyone else in the fam I think.

A pear.

Eilat, Herzliya, Degania

Eilat is not yet over. A few more pics to go ... one proving that Lilah warmed up to the dogs by the end, and one very cute picture of Sue and Maya.

After Eilat we drove to Tel Aviv to drop Frida at the Central Bus Station and M and L were just totally overcome. The place is like this huge 8-story maze or something that is a bus station and a market with all kinds of cheap shoe stores, food, and randomness. We loitered for far longer than I want to admit. After, we continued to Herzliya and spent 2 nights with Shlomit and Ilan in their fabulous apartment. The topiary in front was very cool.

Lilah demonstrated her Cinderella tendencies again by washing the walls and floor of their balcony.
Then we left, but not before meeting Dod Omry at the Ramat Aviv mall. More malls ... but this is among the swankiest in Israel. I used to stop by here on the way to Tel Aviv U when I did ulpan there and used the library while we lived in Herzliya 2000-2002. It's even fancier now than it was then; here we are having coffee.
We then stopped at Ikea on the drive home to the kibbutz. Yesterday was a really good kibbutz day. We went for a long walk in the evening when the weather is more tolerable, and visited horses, nearby Kibbutz Kinneret, and other places. We took tons of shots of flora, but they will have to wait ... except for this one of L picking olives. There is this little grove of olive trees next to the parking lot and a couple of the trees have olives that are nearly ripe (it's early). Brian - I don't want to ruin a surprise, but you're getting some chunks of wood from one of these trees as a couple of large branches split off while we've been here.

Here are sun-dappled Abba and daughter in the beautiful bamboo-filled entrance to the area with the horses here on the kibbutz next to the Jordan River.


And lastly, in keeping with my recent artistic shots of smashed cups on sidewalks, here's a good one from outside Yardenit (the baptism/tourist trap here next to the kibbutz - right next to the horses). Mollie - I may enter this in a future show.


Now I'm off to Hazor for a few days - the rocks beckon.

what I've learned this summer

Israel's Ikea serves hummus in its cafeteria (and no meatballs).

More Eilat and that's it

We departed Eilat yesterday morning at 6:30 and are now in Herzliya visiting Shlomit and Ilan! Here are a couple more Eilat pics (kind of random). This was taken at an abandoned army base on a mountain above Eilat that we visited one evening. It was really beautiful from up there, and Lilah is all into climbing hills and mountains these days.

This was taken by M at the Dan Hotel. There were several of these posters promoting Yoni's services (which apparently consist of making Israelis blonde) in the hotel.

And sandwiches and coffee at Cafe Hillel in the Queen of Sheba mall on the boardwalk. You can't even imagine what this paltry meal cost; we were probably blinded by the sun as we foolishly walked near the beach on our last day in Eilat in the crazy heat.

Mizpeh

Our hair blew in the breeze atop the observatory in Eilat this week. In addition to the view, the numerous aquariums with exotic fish and the underwater observatory (which Lilah visited when she was 3 months old and loved), one can play under the burning sun on the fish-themed playground.

Eilat - the beach

At some point during this past week we went to the beach one morning. We haven't gone more because it's just truly too hot (43 degrees celsius, which is around 109) most of the time. Why are we here in the summer again? Anyway, we went to the beach near Herod's and the Dan Hotel where Yoram works. The beach is pretty nice, with sand and even little fish swimming around in the COLD water. The people watching is amazing here.

Still life