Her Ladyship (who isn’t my cat, by the way) gazes regally—at what, I don’t know, but she does, of course:
Dappled Missy shelters between a tree and the garden wall:
Finally, Mister Neighborcat prowls around the garden:
(Check out the Friday Ark at The Modulator. On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats will be up at Music and Cats.)
This past week, my good friends Dani and Libby Barkai took me to Givat ha-Tormosim (Hebrew for “Lupine Hill”). It was wonderful.
Dani Barkai is a fantastic tour guide, and he graciously allowed me to pick his brains all through the trip.
So here are some of the highlights, interspersed with as much as I can remember of the things Dani taught me. (Click on any picture to see a larger version.)
This is Givat ha-Tormosim as seen from the parking area. (“Whaddaya mean, we’re gonna climb that?!”)
Givat ha-Tormosim is on the route of an ancient Roman road. The steps in the photo below are part of that road. (And where are the Romans now? Hah! Romani ite domum!*—oh, sorry, I just had to do that.)
Just below the Roman steps is a remnant of a Byzantine-era mosaic:
A view from the hill. (The satellite dishes are part of Channel One’s transmitting station.)
The long, thin seasonal body of water below is nicknamed “Goliath’s Footprint.” This is because Givat ha-Tormosim is located in Emek ha-Elah (the Valley of the Terebinth), the area of Israel where David fought Goliath.
The flower below is called akhnai Yehuda in Hebrew. (Its English name is Judean bugloss.) Dani told me that the flowers change color when they are pollinated in order to cue the bees as to which blossoms already had a visit and which ones are still waiting.
A tormos (lupine): the flower for which the hill is named.
Wildflowers in profusion: the reason so many of us love this time of year in Israel as much as we do.
A tzaharon blossom. (My nickname for it is “baby iris”).
This tree is actually growing through a hole in the rock. See the trunk below?
A flowerscape—I don’t know what else to call it.
This was a lucky shot: a bumblebee flying toward a lupine blossom. Actually, I don’t know exactly what kind of bee it is. I only know it’s not the kind I usually see around Jerusalem. (Please, David of Treppenwitz, would you give this one a buzz?)
This is giant fennel. Not only is it inedible—it’s poisonous. Don’t confuse it with the edible fennel—get a good look at the leaves and smell them first. (Actually, it’s never a good idea to eat anything in the wild unless you know exactly what you’re doing—but then, you knew that, right?)
More seasonal wildflowers:
A meadowful of wild barley:
We like sheep! (When I waved a greeting to the shepherd, he wished me a happy holiday. Wasn’t that sweet of him?)
On the way back to civilization, we saw the Jerusalem train heading toward Bet Shemesh and then toward Tel Aviv. Dani quickly rolled the back window down so that I could take this picture.
Closer to home: a bee in the blossoms of the tree known in Hebrew as kelil ha-horesh (the Judas tree). Doesn’t she look nice and snug in there?
Dani and Libby, thank you for a wonderful outing! Oh, and those who would like a really fantastic tour guide, one who is knowledgeable and patient, who loves the flora and fauna of Israel with his heart and soul and who doesn’t mind having his brains picked, check out Dani’s site.
(*Romani ite domum:=Latin: “Romans, go home!” Film reference: the Latin lesson scene from Monty Python’s film The Life of Brian)
Who’s that lovely furry lady soaking up the sun by the garden wall?
It’s Her Ladyship, of course!
(Check out today’s Friday Ark at the Modulator. This week’s Carnival of the Cats will be up at Justin’s Random Thoughts.)
Looks like someone with a can of spray-paint and a stencil is trying to bring back the language wars:
The text reads: “Welcome, Americans—but speak Hebrew.”
Oh, come off it. That’s so 1880s.
Been there, done that, got the posters. (Quite a few of them can be seen at the Hebrew University.)
(And why single out Americans?)
The tree outside my window is getting greener by the day:
Here are some stork’s-bill blossoms. Click to enlarge. (The flowers are very small; these photograph were taken from very close up and then enlarged.)
Stork’s-bill buds:
Finally, a young stalk of wild barley.
After about a week of gorgeous spring weather, winter has come back for a visit.
Still, this is my favorite time of year.
Here are some soaps from my recent batches:
The pink color was supposed to be lavender, and the soaps are scented accordingly, with essential oil of lavender. (They also include lavender blossoms.) The light blue bars are scented with a rosemary and tea tree blend and the light green ones, in which chamomile flowers are embedded, are scented with spearmint.
A lovely tabby at the feeding station this morning:
Her Ladyship gets comfortable underneath my skirt:
Here she is sunbathing:
Finally, some RFOACs (reasonable facsimiles of a cat): soaps in the shape of a napping kitty:
(Check out this week’s Friday Ark at The Modulator. On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats will be up at Laurence Simon’s blog at the Houston Chronicle, Catcall. Laurence hopes that this Carnival will be a special one with at least one hundred posts; let’s help him reach his goal!)
The color was supposed to be lavender, but it came out looking more like bubble gum. (Solution: buy that neat-looking pre-mixed food coloring in the new baking-supplies store at the Mahane Yehuda market.)
I mixed a darker green to go on the bottom, and also to fill in the raised cat profile. (Not pictured are two soaps in the shape of a cat napping.)
This hot-process batch was made with olive, coconut, canola and palm oils and includes lavender flowers and essential oil. (Yes, hot process. So call me impatient, but I just don’t want to have to wait a month until my soaps are ready.)
(Click on the photo to enlarge.)
Next up: Castile batches scented with essential oils of spearmint and rosemary (separately, not together).
Wooden log molds are on their way.
So ... would anybody like some homemade soaps?
Today I finally got a photo of a woodpecker. They’re not easy to capture on camera; they are skittish, and the minute they realize you’re looking at them, they will move to the other side of the tree or fly away. I had to take this picture from quite a distance.
Rose blossoms are easier to photograph. They don’t try to run away.
One of the signs of spring in Israel: hamantaschen—Purim pastries!
Purim is in about two weeks, but people are gearing up for the celebration now. Chocolate hamantaschen—maybe I’ll try a few this year.
(That reminds me: I need to start practicing the chapters of the Megillah that I’ll be reading.)
Here’s the tree out in the front yard. Looks pretty bare, doesn’t it?
Well, not exactly. Look closely ...
More buds, as it gets ready for spring ...
(Yes, it looks lovely, but I don’t get too sentimental about it. In a few weeks, seed pods from this tree and all its siblings are going to start blowing into my window, and I’ll be spending weeks sweeping them out of my apartment.)
Now, down by the bus stop, beneath a soft drizzle ...
This is the top of a barley sheaf that’s just starting to come up. Barley doesn’t ripen until about June here, so this is the very first stirring of this year’s crop. I had to put my hand beneath the fine green projections because my camera wouldn’t focus on them otherwise.
This is my favorite time of year in Jerusalem. So many wonderful wild plants come up, and so many of them are edible, too!
