.Continuing the previous post, here is what I found when exploring the burned down and chopped down forest next to my village in the Jerusalem Hills. A sweet little pine shining in the day’s last rays of sunlight. Hundreds of baby pine trees have sprouted around each parent stump!Enlarge the photo to better see the cuties. Read More »

. I walked down to the valley this afternoon to see how winter is changing the charred landscape.In July 2010 a fire burned the forest on the hills west of my village (shown here and here ).In June 2011 the Keren Kayemet foresters started sawing down the dead trees and putting in firebreaks. Read More »

. Y is for Yoni this ABC Wednesday .Yonatan, also known as Jonathan, is a dear relative who became a bar mitsvah on December 24.Here he is trying on his beautiful new tallit (prayer shawl). Read More »

. A friend and I were wandering around the Abu Tor neighborhood yesterday, looking for the beginning of the Sherover Promenade.But first we just HAD to check out a huge pit!Well, the door was open and there was no guard there to chase us away..The signboard announced the construction of the Sherover Culture Center. Read More »

.For the weekly PsalmChallenge that Robert Geiss in Athens challenges us with, here is my illustrated Psalm 41 . 1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Read More »

. “A Jew, a blogger, and a nun go to pray together at Jerusalem’s holy Western Wall . . . .”No, it’s not the opening of a joke. : ).This is just one of my favorite photos, now shared with City Daily Photo’s end-of-year Theme Day.Click here to view thumbnails for all participants .Have a happy “Sylvester. Read More »

. The sweet donkey joins me in wishing all the Camera-Critters friends and all my readers a blessed and peaceful new year.. Read More »

. Bringing light to a sometimes dark world. A sparkler reflected in a nun friend’s glasses,for Weekend Reflections . . HAPPY NEW YEAR!.Some 400 years ago the mystics of Safed (Tsfat) created a Tu BiShvat seder, modeled on the Passover seder, that celebrated the Tree of Life (the Kabbalistic map of the Sefirot ). Read More »

. Look at all these Woodcraft model kits for sale at the Shuk Machane Yehuda market! It could be fun to try to put one together. They start out as a light flat pack, easy to mail.I’d love to send some to my grandsons, but Australia is very particular about what kind of wood and organic materials come into its borders. Read More »

. This is how chanukiot looked last night, after all 8 + 1 candles were kindled. And early this morning, this is what I saw in a street in Jerusalem!A sure sign that today is Zot Chanuka , the 8th (last) day of the holiday.The man was pouring boiling water from his electric kettle to melt the wax. Read More »

. And while we are on the subject of soofganiot/jelly donuts, take a look at the (approximate) statistics on how many of them soldiers ate this week of Chanuka!And that is only at their bases, not at home.And while you are at the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s blog , you can cast your vote for their Photo of the Year.. Read More »

.As far as I can figure, [x] in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the sound of a voiceless velar fricative.Good enough for X-Day at ABC Wednesday , no?.So happy [x]anuka! heheToday is the 8th and last day of Chanuka. Read More »

.For PsalmChallenge — Psalm 40: 1. For the leader. A psalm. Of David. 2. I most surely hoped in the LORD; He bent down toward me, and heeded my cry. 3. He lifted me out of the miry pit , the slimy bog, and set my feet on a rock, steadying my steps. 4. He put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God. Read More »

.Hello again.I hope you had a merry Christmas or are having a happy Chanuka.I am just returning from four days in what seemed like another country.Tel Aviv is SO different from Jerusalem! For one thing, they have the Mediterranean.Water, sand, marinas!Enlarge the photo and you’ll find surfers, even on December 24. Read More »

. A tiny manger scene, made in Peru..Nothing says Nativity and Bethlehem better than a donkey.Merry Christmas to all you Christians out there!.And Christmas blessings to James and all the reflection folks at Weekend Reflections . . Read More »

. Strange clouds behind our neighbor mountain caught the last rays of the setting sun..A sky for SkyWatch Friday .. Read More »

. Hello? Did you order a cold drink?.Tuesday was an unusually warm 21 degrees C in the walled Old City of Jerusalem.Omar ibn al-Khatib Square, just inside Jaffa Gate, is always full of tourists.. Read More »

.White Christmas (for W Day at ABC Wednesday ) ?No way.In Jerusalem today it was hot enough for some tourists to change into their shorts.Winter warmth is nice so I took advantage of the 20 C temps and went to walk in the Old City, in search of signs of Christmas. A quite real-looking Santa with a hot sax at the entrance to a restaurant. Read More »

. The sign for the Greek Colony in Hebrew, Arabic, and transliterated Hebrew.But not in Greek. In the previous post we started talking about Jerusalem’s Greek Colony.And once I showed you one of the neighborhood’s finest buildings .But today’s pictures show a more typical house. The writing above the lintel says 1937. Read More »

. Wouldn’t you say the poor tree is too near the street? It is a tall old eucalyptus from the early days of Jerusalem’s Greek Colony . The neighborhood was planned about a century ago.The land was purchased by wealthy lay members of the Greek Orthodox community.By 1928 the community center and the 45 planned houses were completed. . Read More »