A new year with snow

2012 passed so quickly. There was so much to do, so many new things to learn and new people to meet some of which were amazing but not all unfortunately. There were a lot of dead-lines to meet till it seemed sometimes I just moved from one project to the other. There was a lot of good food this year that was mostly home cooked.  The current economics kept us mostly dining home and less in fancy restaurants, even though here and there we treated ourselves to some old favorite places. It was a year filled with happy moments with family, friends and work. I had many challenges to face this year but I think I handled them quite well. I circled the world this year and was in many places abroad not in all of them for recreation and fun. These are experiences that I didn't have time to process yet even though they were emotionally very taxing. 

A new year brings with it contemplation followed by resolutions.  I want to write more and take more pictures this coming year. And I do hope it will be a good year for us all on our lovely blue planet.

The Israel Trail in The Meron Region 

The Israeli symbol- Sabre (cactus) covered with snow

Since the first week of the New Year has begun with a spectacular storm I thought it is a good omen. Not only my hopes for rain were fulfilled but as a bonus it snowed on the top of the mountains here in Israel. As snow is extremely rare in these parts we skipped work and school took the kids and went for our won snow day in the North of Israel. It was an amazing experience, and the first snow my 4.5 old boy ever saw.  
Happy new year.

Rainbow over The Golan Heights

The Golan Heights in the storm

I'll follow the sun

A lovely sunset on the Jerusalem mountains

These days I spend most of my time in the lab trying to make my humble contribution to science. Unfortunately I'm missing out my favorite season: the blooming of the almond trees. This year the weather has been kind to us and it rained quite a lot the past month. The unusual amount of water brought with it a blossom that we rarely see in these areas. Anemones by the thousands cover the hills behind my hometown creating lovely red carpets. Last year I had a lot of free time to wonder around the hills like Julie Andrews in the "Sound of Music" but now I take what I can get. At present I don't have a lot of spare time except for  weekends that provide me and my family the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and catch up on some photography. The last two weekends were gloriously sunny so we went on some very short hikes in the area not far from where I live. We were delighted to find every place we visited lush, green and adorned with flowers. I want to share with you some of the splendor of this winter. Too bad  it is so short lived. 

Almond tree blooming

A few of the thousand of anemones currently blooming near my house

A little bit of sunshine

One of the Zodiac alleys of Old Jaffa, a slit of sea and sun

Have no mistakes, I'm not complaining. I am very happy it rained almost every day the past couple of weeks. It is nice to experience a touch of real winter. The temperature has plummeted so in the ungodly hour I go out to work it's in single digits; a rare phenomenon where we live. The sky is gray with low purplish clouds, my favorite weather. I enjoy the rain even when I need to walk almost 10 minutes to my car while my eyeglasses get covered with steam and droplets. The road leading to the lab is very pretty, twisting among mountains laden with woods mist covered like a scene from "Lord of the Rings".

winter sky

As much as I enjoy the winter gloom there are times that a little sunshine is welcomed, like in our last excursion to the old city of Jaffa. We love once in a while getting lost in the narrow alleys and feel the sea spray. It was a cold day but the little bits of sun that came out here and there illuminated all in a nearly magical way. I had a wonderful time taking photos while inhaling salty cold air.

Sun bath for the seagulls 

Like a picture painted by Turner

There will be a serious post one day on Jaffa, it's an amazing city that is as ancient as human civilization, but for now just let us relish a bit of sunshine. 

Comfort food for hungry farmers

The orange season is here

For the past year I wasn't a very dedicated farmer and I've let my little organic garden wither. I don't even have a proper excuse but I've neglected my planters that once were thriving with tomatoes and eggplants. With the change of seasons I had a change of hearts, I decided I need to rehabilitate my garden and plant new herbs and vegetables that suit the coming winter. I've recruited the whole family for a joint effort. Our main task was to uproot the withered old plants and clean the terrace where the planters stand. My kids were not surprisingly very excited about playing with mud. My youngest son used his little red shovel to dig fiercely whether it was necessary or not. We've planted both flowers and vegetables. I look forward to see how the spinach, broccoli and radishes will turn out. The pansies are blooming beautifully.   

my pretty pansies

After spending most of the morning outdoors making an attempt to be good agriculturalists, come lunch time we were all ravenous. The best food to warm us cold hungry workers was our favorite orange soup of course. It's not made of oranges but from a variety of orange vegetables usually carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. Each time we get a different soup depending on the ratios between the different vegetables. The secret to a wonderfully tasting soup is roasting the orange ingredients in the oven prior to cooking them. This process is caramelizing the sugar in the vegetables, than we add them to some sautéed onion, add water or stock and let the whole thing simmer for about half an hour. The final stage is mashing with a hand blender the whole mixture till we get creamy, velvety bisque. We love to upgrade the taste with a bit of whole cream and to sprinkle peeled sunflower seeds, the gluten-free option to croutons.

Now I look after my planters on daily basis, I even saw some small shoots already popping from the ground. We had a wonderful weather this week, it rained for days. So the rain started early this year; let's hope it will keep raining. 

Autumn Blues

Views of Caesarea in the autumn light

It has been a month and half since we got back from our great Canadian adventure. I'm still a bit overwhelmed. We went back straight to the rat race of modern living. School year started with new schools for my eldest child and my youngest, my DH got back to his highly stressful job, the house missed us when we were away and many things around here needed taking care of.

I also got back to job hunting; I hope my days as a stay at home mom are numbered. Although only now I became aware of the fact that looking for a position is a full time job. So much of my time now is spent on polishing my CV, going through e-mails and websites, preparing to interviews. It is an absolute change of pace. With it came a change of mood; celebrating the beginning of a new year (in Jewish tradition) renders me contemplative and prone to soul searching. The weather changes as well, when the scorching Israeli summer is less cruel. The days are still very hot but at night a cool breeze blows that makes one snuggle in the blankets. We don't sleep with the air-con on anymore. Some days a light drizzle washes the dust away.

A couple of weeks ago we've experienced a bit of Israeli autumn, while visiting the ancient city of Caesarea in the rain. The day was beautiful, it rained a little and then the sun came out and played hide and seek behind the clouds,causing the light to tint the sea in deep shades of blue. The ruins and mosaics were washed and their vivid colors sparkled, making it easy to imagine how grand this city must have been thousands of years ago.

Part of the Byzantine bathhouse marble floor 

 On the way back home, we saw along the highway the maritime squill blooming; as every child in Israel knows it is a sure sign that autumn is here if only for a short while.

 I hope it will rain. 

Maritime squill blooms alongside highway no. 2 

If you are Hebrew readers or just like my photography, check out my blog in Hebrew at traveling ibex .

A very short Israeli Spring

Anemones, cyclamens, Iris, and asphodels in the Judea Hills, Israel

At this point in time horrible disasters are happening to people, both far away in Japan and very close to us here in Itamar, Israel. We are flooded with terrifying images of what nature and what human (or non-human) nature can cause. I am taking a break of that for a while and try to find consolation in the beauty nature brings to us sometimes. I don't write about politics in this blog so I'll just share with you my hopes that the dark days will be over soon for all the suffering people.

Israeli Spring is like a magician performing the disappearing act: now you see it, now you don't.  There are a few (so very few) days that are warm but not too hot, when the sun is pleasant but not scorching and the light is gentle as opposed to blinding. It is a time of beauty when one feels that this is indeed The Promised Land. At this time of year many types of trees, bush and herbs bloom. Their blossom is beautiful and intense; as if the plants know that soon they'll wither and they must take advantage of this short period of grace when there is just enough water and not too much sun.  I am always thrilled to go hiking this time of year because I know I'll almost always find something wonderful like rare orchids, wild tulips or even meet a nice lazy turtle.

wild orchid

wild tulip

At this time of year even the unimposing low hills not far from my town are magical places of color and lush green. I don't even need to drive in order to see lovely green pastures dotted with the red of a thousand anemones, just take a nice few minutes' walk from my doorstep.  All this loveliness will disappear soon enough when April's Eastern winds will desiccate the land and by June all will be yellow and dusty again for a long while. So for the few weeks left I'll enjoy those pretty colors, hope you will too. 

The Turtle

Stormy weather

I've often expressed my yearning for real winter in this hot country. Oh, how I love wearing those chunky sweaters, wool coats, knee-high boots and listening to Nick Drake. Well, you know the cliché "be careful with what you wish for?" The past 3 days a storm was raging through the country. The winds reached 100kph. Yes, winter has arrived with a vengeance.

Last night we went to sleep under our down comforters feeling warm and happy listening to wind and rain falling outside the house. I was quite surprised to wake-up at 2 in the morning and find the rain inside our house. The house was FLOODED. The drain pipe in one of the porches was clogged and the heavy rain caused the water level to rise and enter through the door. There was lot of water entering! I was shocked for a second and then immediately woke the Husband and we both got into action. Usually it takes my brain ages to jump start after waking-up but I guess the sense of emergency rendered me very focused and efficient. The water flooded the top floor and a gentle waterfall was created down the stairs flooding the hall and kitchen. We sprang to action: my husband went outside to the storm to try and open the block while I tried to fight the flood with a mop. The water covered our feet and just kept coming. I felt like a character in one of those movies where the poor family sleeps in a shack and the rain is entering through every crack in the house. My brave husband finally managed to partially fix the drain and we switched roles: he took the mop and I went to calm down our youngest son and put him back to sleep after he realized his bed is actually an island. The damage was very minor, a few wet shoes, a wet carpet and some books that were left on the floor.  After an hour of vigorous mopping and sweeping the water the house was dry.

The pump!

First thing we did this morning was calling the guy with the pump (you can see the magical device in the picture).  I must confess that my image of a winter night was much more romantic than waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of water dripping inside my house.

But I am still very happy it rains, and here is a Nick Drake song for a wintry week. 

Basic training

The pretty girl peeping behind the tree is my eldest daughter. And the tree is a palm. It's a burnt palm tree that we stumbled upon while wondering around the area of Ein-Mata. There we found the curious sight not typical at all to this area: a palm plantation. Actually the palm trees were only slightly scorched because the fire didn't harm them just singed their bark. So a curious pattern emerged of orange bark with black scorching marks, an opportunity for some "artistic" photos.  

Ein Mata is a small fountain in the Judean Hills not far from Beit-Shemesh. It is an area of the country that we consider our back yard and go hiking there quite a bit (check out http://yaelruder.blogspot.com/2010/01/weekend-of-food-and-comfort.html), so in one of those hot and sunny November Saturdays we went hiking to that little fountain. I liked the spot because it enabled us to take my youngest son, not yet 3 years old for a training hike. Finally he got down from the baby carrier. We are attempting to turn him into a trekker with his own tiny back pack and walking boots. Since hiking is one of our favorite activities I'd want my boy to like it as much as I do.

This specific track suited us perfectly, because it's just a short walk down a slope and then up again. A huge eucalyptus tree bent over the fountain was a great playground and there were even water running that made my son very happy because he could throw stones at them.

Usually the area in this time of year should be lush and green but because there was hardly any rain and the weather keeps being dry, a lot of the trees were consumed by fires. But here and there we could encounter flowers, overwhelmed by the strange weather but still holding on. The little hike ended with a lavish picnic in a nearby forest with a panoramic view of the Judean Hills.

I wish next Saturday we won't be able to step out of the house because there would be a raging rain storm.  

Biofilms on the Kinneret shores.

The research poster

In my short scientific career I've only presented my research in small conferences most of them here in Israel. I've recently presented my research just last week, when I participated in a small scientific conference in Genosar, on the shores of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The main subject of the meeting was biofilms. Biofilms are a complex aggregation of micro-organisms growing on a solid substrate for instance water pipes.

I researched biofilm that accumulates on pipes transferring freshwater. To make a long story short my aim was to determine the bacterial communities that compose the biofilm. The research was partly funded by the Israeli Ministry of Trade. It is a part of a larger scientific effort to find ways to prevent development of biofilm interfering with pipe and water transfer maintenance.

My research was performed on environmental biofilm that was sampled from the pumping site in Genosar.  There are many biofilm types though and some were presented in the conference. Including the biofilm that resides on our teeth and causes cavities.

The conference was very short (only one overnight) and very intense (many lectures and very short breaks) but I rather enjoyed it.  I even got to discuss and present my poster to some people. I went to sleep early and slept a whole night through which for me was a real treat, (my youngest son still wakes up at least once a night).  But still sitting more than 2 straight hours listen is very tasking so I went for a walk to soak my feet in the water of the Kinneret.

My main impression from the whole conference was actually the poor state of the lake that is the main water source of Israel. Years of draught pushed the coast line more than 200 meters. I was very saddened by the site and it only left me more hoping for rain.

Legs in the water

Where the shore used to be.....

I told you I'll be back after the holidays

Hello, I'm back. Trying to find my way back to the ever growing blogosphere with my tiny blog about my tiny life. I hope my 3 readers are happy to read me.
As you can see I changed the site quite a bit. It took a while to come up with a new title but "Microscopes and diapers" is not so relevant any more. My youngest son will soon be potty trained although it will cost me a mini nervous breakdown with him marking his territory all over the house. I'm also taking a break from microscopes and going to rethink my career paths and opportunities. But I always hope and wish for rain living in this arid corner of the world. The last  summer was one of the hottest ever measured in the country and I felt like a wilting pot. I am a wintry person who likes clouds, wind, rain and snow. I adore scenery of mountains and forests. I hate the sea and detest bathing suits. So it is obvious I was born in the wrong place (Alaska would suit me so much more) but I'm trying to do the best with I have. Usually it means sleeping with the air-con on.
So, we're in the beginning of October the temp is supposed to drop and I had quit a job that made me very unhappy. The future stretches before me to fill it with words. 
Word telling stories from life, about books that I read, about blogs that I visit, about music and nature and whatever comes to my mind. Yes, lots of blah, blah and maybe an occasional gluten free recipe. The weather report talks about chances of local rain on Friday. I really hope it will rain.

Sunset in Akziv beach at the last week of August

Anemones of winter.

Winter is short and violent in this area. Most of the time the weather is dry and warm but then suddenly in a matter of hours a storm erupts and showers that should have went down in a month go down in just a few hours. In the Negev (the south part of Israel) it creates floods. An area that is arid and dry most of the year suddenly is swept in tidal waves of water. It's an amazing phenomenon. This week was one of these times. The news was filled with floods rescue stories (one of them ended tragically). My husband and I saw the pictures and cursed ourselves for not dropping everything and going flood watching too. There are safe view points for that purpose in the Negev and if you stay out of the waters' path you're pretty safe. This Saturday the weather was again warm and sunny and we went south to see the desert blooms with our friends The Artzies.

We went to the Besor area, in the north –west part of the Negev, an area that up till a year ago was known as Kassam Land. I'm not relating to politics here at all (I'll do that in following post and very briefly) but the area was bombarded constantly for more than 8 years. Now it is serene and peaceful and even though it is geographically defined as desert, it is now green and filled with the spectacular red blossom of anemones.

We stopped in our way to the Besor watercourse in a pretty park near Kibutz Reim. The park is around a tributary of the Besor named Wadi Grar. The whole country thought it’s a good idea to travel due south today and the place was pretty packed, though here I managed to take a picture of the Wadi without all the cars and with a lovely anemone in the corner.

Wadi Grar is mentioned in the Bible as a place where Abraham and Yitzhak his son dug wells for their herds. The area has many archeological remains some 4000 years old. We decided that what was good for Abraham is good for us and we ate breakfast while the kids were enjoying the outdoors and winter sun.

After we finished eating and after my little one patted the casual huge dog on the grounds, we went further south to the Besor trail. The trail is a dirt road that stretches for about 15km in a park where there are several view points and sites of interest. Check out this link for more info http://www.israelinphotos.com/tour-Eshkol-National-Park.htm
Of course the trail was ridden with all sorts of vehicles including buggy racing cars and crammed with people.
Here is a picture of us trying to cross the rope bridge on the Besor, but give up when we see the queue….

At some point we got tired of just riding in the car so we got off the trail and went to hike in the hills where we found many fascinating things like animal's bones, and snails. We saw more flowers springing straight from the sand; we saw lovely birds called spur-winged plover (siksak in Hebrew) and even two large rabbits that we scared and run from us in supersonic velocity.

 

We ended the day in a picnic at Eshkol national park, where the kids got a chance to soak themselves completely in the fountain waters that run through the park. My husband even brought his portable burner and a pan to cook chicken steaks for all. It was a treat, especially eaten by the water side.

On the way home my husband had only himself to talk to. The 3 kids and I were snoring up until he parked in front of our garage door.