Spring Weather

Spring is here for sure, meaning it's sure not summer. One week it's mild and sunny, the next is cold. It's kind of cozy lying in a warm bed at night and listening to the wind, rain, hail, and thunder. The thunder sounds close overhead, like the earth is close to the sky. In Indiana the sky is closer to the earth. In Texas, the sky is far away but it's bigger.

These weird statues are in a park nearby. They look like a man and a woman with bird tails. Two tails each. Whatever...

Spring is bustin' out all over.

It's supposed to be "June" and not "Spring," but spring comes in February here. You just can't say "February is bustin' out all over."

Almond trees are in bloom.

These purple daisies/asters grow behind our apartment where noone can see them.

Small yellow roses by the hundreds!

Spring Flowers

This anchusa, like a lot of weeds, was a nice-looking, though thistly plant until it put up a flower stalk. Now it's rather ugly, but the flowers themselves are pretty.


This cyclamen is, I believe, the national flower. It likes to grow amid bushes and rocks and comes in several colors.

Sometime I'd like to get a collection of pictures of lantana in all its different colors.

Mustard is blooming everywhere. This one was swaying very slightly in the breeze and it took eight shots to get one that wasn't blurred.

This odd little flower (actually only a fraction this size) is a fumaria capreolata. It also comes in pink, but I like this color best. I wish I could remember where I saw it, so I could see how it's doing.

I don't think I've ever seen a redder rose than this one.

Little Red Bee

This doesn't look like a bee, but it goes from flower to flower collecting nectar, just like a bee.
On the way to Ulpan today, I saw a young man with a t-shirt on that said, "Kill your radio," and carrying a sprig of rosemary. (He didn't look at all like a hippie.) Next to him was an older woman who was also carrying a sprig of rosemary. So I opened the bus window and called out, "What's with the rosemary?" No, I didn't actually, but I sure wanted to.

Those nameless blue flowers. They can be pruned into a tree with a ball-shaped top, but I like them best just sprawling over a wall.

New pine cones.

Bougainvillea, far as I can guess at this distance.

Our version of the crow is two-tone. Like most crows, they're smart. One of them learned to imitate the neighbor's car alarm. But when the alarm didn't respond, he eventually gave up.

If you get tired of your ragged old palm tree, do as someone did here, and get out your paint brush!

These steps connect our street with the next one parallel to it. There is a ramp along the left side. There is another street about the same height and distance down as this one is up.

These cats were playing around in a tree. Or maybe looking for a bird's nest.

Real Music

This is a real musician. A real violinist playing real music. I don't mean he's super-talented like Perlman or Oistrakh (sp?), but he is good. He was playing Tzigane by Monti. I noticed there was not a speck of varnish on his violin, but it had a good, deep, clear sound. He used only the first three fingers of his left hand, which was enough. Other musicians often play on Ben Yehuda. Guitar, keyboard, viola, and accordion. There are often beggars, some who have a pretty good act, and some who are real. I like to give to a musician, though, since he spent all those hours and hours practicing.

And on the way home we saw this dog,

and this mural/mosaic.

Shops on Ben Yehuda

Scarves, hats, kippas, ornate boxes, dolls, chess sets, hangings, rugs. Crazy quilts, some with hundreds of tiny beads sewn on.

Ulpan

So-o-o-o-o tired. I have to keep on my toes to keep up with the class. And so does the rest of the class. If your phone rings during class you have to bring in cake or chocolates for the whole class. I hope somebody's phone rings tomorrow. But not mine.
We have learned all 22 letters of the alphabet, and 5 final letters. We can say hello, goodbye, good morning, please, thank you, excuse me. We can ask and answer questions like Who are you? What is your name? Where are you from? Where do you live? How are you? Where are you going? What is this? etc. And also want, love, come, go, eat (pizza, bread, cake, lemon, avocado, banana, orange, sugar, salt, salad, ice cream), drink (wine, coca-cola, milk, water, juice, coffee), do, make, live, sing, read, write, speak (French, Italian, Polish, English, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew). And also hotel, bank, class, supermarket, home, library, restaurant, museum, theater, movies, university, city, country, sea, mountain. And book, letter, computer, radio, flag. And student, teacher, father, mother, man, woman, boy, girl. And ten pronouns and some prepositions. And many more.
I'm in that rut that many people experience--too tired to go to sleep.

From Ramat Rahel at Night

This is a great place if you like history or archaeology.






The headstones of three pillars.

























This looks like a cool retreat on a hot summer day. Oops, maybe not--it's a grave.










A secret tunnel.















Would you like your water from this well?













Or this one?

The weird column at left marks one of the corners of (Herod's palace).

Downtown sights

Someone had fun placing all the stones in this wall.

This is next to an Armenian shop. I didn't go in."Window-shopping" is bad enough. (Here we go a coveting...) I've seen dozens of nice skirts. And hats. I just go right by them. I don't look at the prices. If I did, and I found a real bargain, I would have to buy it, wouldn't I? The women in Jerusalem are usually fully clothed, unlike some cities, many of them with fairly long skirts. Of course, the cool weather may contribute to that, but I bet even in the summer they are generally quite modest.

I learned a new word in Ulpan. Well, more than one, actually, but this one I really learned because I heard it about 20 times on the way home: "Rega! Rega!" (Wait! or Just a minute!) The bus driver seemed to be in an unusual hurry, and if anyone was 1/13th of a second late, he was already shutting the door. So they would bang on the door and call out, "Rega, rega!"