What do you think Steven would rather have for his Big 60th birthday…in addition to public ridicule? 1) A poke in the eye from the big butt of a 10 ft tall woman on a swing? Or a…. 2) Big poke in the eye from her boob while she does a lap dance on him? Continue Reading »
In this week before Purim, we find ourselves perhaps, among the tights and pink tutus in San Francisco….? Maybe we are in Mexico with the Caballeros… …and with Dia de Los Muertos celebrants? No, we are in Tel Aviv on the promenade with all the other party go-ers like the astronauts and police officers with Continue Reading »
In the ‘Cradle of Civilization’ we expected to see well researched antiquities from the Canaanites, through Hellenistic and Roman Periods, through the Crusades to the Fall of the Ottoman Empire. What really surprised us though is the frequent NEW findings by amateur archeologists, even in the midst of our visit to Haifa. Local spelunkers just Continue Reading »
We switched iPhone blog app and…what a mess! This “redo” is what we intended the first time we published this blog…Sorry! Residents boast that because Haifa has such a diverse population (Ethiopians, Muslims, Druze, Ba’hai, Christians, Jews, and even Scientologists get along). Does such tolerance come from the example of the dominant religious site in Continue Reading »
Chased out of Jordan after three days by a wicked sandstorm, we arrived in Jerusalem to sleet and high winds, and left earlier than planned 6 days later to dodge a large snow storm. Housed three blocks from the Jaffa Gate and the Old City, we stayed warm climbing the Ramparts, and eating comfort food Continue Reading »
The Kingdom of Jordan has few resources to raise their citizens above the poverty level. They have no oil reserves like the Arabic countries around them, and the landscape is barren desert or arid mountains. Most agriculture is primitive, low yield farming eg. ‘plant seeds on steep hillsides, wait for rain, hope for the best.’ Continue Reading »
We realized upon our arrival that our pre-formed ideas about Israel were based primarily on the little we knew about Jerusalem: old and religious. Eilat was a culture shock; the mix of European scantily clad bikini bods, Chasidim in wool frock coats and black hats, Ethiopian and Russian immigrants, and young Arabic families strolling together Continue Reading »
Tonight at 5:21 PM, the sun will set here in Eilat on the Red Sea in Israel. We will light shabat candles with our portable, traveling candleholders (Todah Rabah, Ricky!) in our airbnb.com garden. We wish my son Jacob could be with us tonight, especially as it is 87 degrees F. here while he awakens Continue Reading »
En route to Israel and Jordan, we elected to stop for a family visit in Essex Fells, New Jersey. First, a day in Manhattan after a red eye flight…in 16 degree F. weather with a wind chill factor bringing it down to 4 degrees F. Brrrrr! As Californians after 4 years of drought we celebrated Continue Reading »
Mid-November, we expected 70 degree F. mild biking conditions. Not a chance during the 4th year of drought in Southern Arizona. It was 85 degrees HOT at the border with Mexico, and even hotter climbing long, slow hills. I had never been on a supported bike trip before with a “sag wagon” to carry our Continue Reading »