Lovely Day in Northern Israel

MHad to go to the consular services in Haifa again. Dropped off a sample from our lab to the Rambam Hospital, and then I took the train all the way north to Nahariya. The bus ride from there back to Tsfat is cheaper and less painful than the bus ride from Akko. Plus I got to go to the beach for a few minutes to take pictures!



Behind the Rambam Hospital is a beach called "Quiet Beach". It's in the middle of a heavily industrial port, but it is quiet otherwise.

It was already hot in Haifa, and I don't know the city well. So I got back on the train and went north to Nahariya.  A far more beautiful town....

My favorite cafe, used to be you could see the surf from there, but now the boardwalk is a bit built up. Still, a nice place for a breakfast on the beach.

Then a nice bus ride home. Views of the green hills, and Mount Meron where the Lag BaOmer celebrations will be next week. The town sprawling on the hillside is Tsfat viewed from Meron.

Meron:

Green Hills:

Spring Again in the Galilee

First the flowers! Yellow daisies and white daisies. The white ones are called Seviyon Avivi.

These are called "lashon hapara", Ox Tongue, after the prickly leaves. Shoots and pre-bloom flower clusters are edible (though heavily infested, so I've never cooked them up)

These are mallow blooms. Later they close up and have edible seed pods, called "pita aravit" by local kids happily chewing on them. The blossoms are good against coughs, so gather in the spring and dry them for winter use. Leaves are edible, young ones tender enough for use in salads. Roots are also very good against coughs.

It was windy when I was shooting these pics on the hillside, so I didn't get the focus I wanted. This is an olive tree branch with the newer green growth against the older (olive green) growth.

These are wild peas, once again not the focus I was looking for. Not edible, indeed poisonous.

If you look carefully, in the foreground is an oat grass stalk with full green oats on it. The wild oats are not yet sewing their seed.

Wild wheat grass is also growing all over the place.

 Here is what the hillside looks like at a glance of riotous color and greenery. Catch it now before it all dries!

Pre-Purim costume day

A small herd of brides in the pre-school..

Too cute!

There goes the teacher, lion to the students again!

Happy Purim!

Winter scenes in the Galilee hills

 Many days in the winter the clouds look like waves in the distance. The winter rains add a green to the hillsides. Love these views on my walk to work.

Auld Lang Syne -- going into 2010 in Safed

As we finish up the solar year of 2009 and go into 2010, Safed continues to look great. Winter clouds over the mountains, green on the hills from the rain. Have a great year!

Klezmer Festival 2009

The obligatory glow in the dark costume jewelry.














Hurray for fireworks!


















Sarayah, the top of the festival area.

Going back for more tonight.

Haifa German Colony and B'hai Temple

I had to be in Haifa last week for a lecture at the Technion Institute. Figured I'd take advantage of the trip (long and icky now that I am back to bus and train in the heat instead of air conditioned cab ride) to drop off my U.S. passport at the counsular services for renewal.

The counsulate service is on Ben Gurion Blvd 20. That's right in the midst of the old German colony buildings.

Lots of building still have German inscriptions on them.

The boulevard leads straight to the ascent to the B'hai Temple.

Sunsets, I never get tired of looking at them

And I never get tired of taking pictures of them.

This was taken in the Old City, just above Kikar Gilboa.

You can see the outline of Mount Meron under the clouds.

61 years of modern city incorporation

Took this picture from Egged, the Central Bus Station, on the way out of town at 5 am this month. Had a lecture to get to in Haifa by 7:30.

Klezmer festival is in August, and I suspect this decoration will still be up for that.

Summer Nights in the Old City Alleys

This shot is on the path down from the Rimonim Inn. There's a really nice bench to sit on at the bend in the path. I love Tsfat nights: the quiet, the cooler air, the stars.

Summer in the Old City of Safed

Unedited.

Walking through the Old City on the way home is such a pleasure (if it's not toooo hot!).

Belated Rememberance Day

Took this picture back on Rememberance day, I think. I kind of liked the juxtaposition of the coke bottle with the Holocaust monument.

The new door at the Ari Ashkenaz synagogue in the Old City of Safed

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. -- Helen Keller

This is the new door of the Ari Ashkenaz synagogue.

The different fruits I can fit easily into Tsfat themes, but the eye and ear? One of each? Any ideas?

View of the Galilee -- like waves

On a clear day, you can see forever, but on a hazy day, it looks like waves rolling into forever.

Galilee is based on the word for waves, gal.


I love this view, never get tired of it.

Almond Blossoms (shkedia) in Adar

These almond trees are above the cemetary. You can see Mt. Meron from here, the gravesite of the Ari, or north to Lebanon (yes, we're that close).

The almond tree blossoms are a favorite sign that spring is on the way.

Of course, I may yet get to post snow pictures for this year ;).

Tu B'Shvat Sameach! Tree day!

Trees, tree, trees!

Spring is springing in Safed

The kalaniot (anenomes) weren't up when I walked to work yesterday, but they were up when I left work. Caught this beauty in the rays of the setting sun.














This was the first almond tree I saw in blossom on the way home the day before that. Yesterday I already saw lots more beginning to bloom.















And just to keep us guessing, it rained on Sunday. We need more rain.

Once in 24 years, or so they tell me: The New Moon with Mars and Venus

I don't have a telephoto lens (don't have an SLR), and I kept getting a bit of jiggle in my camera when I took the pictures, even on a tripod, but you get the idea. It was really neat.

In Memory of Rabbi and Mrs. Holzberg z"l

May their precious souls be a light to all of us in this difficult, dark world.