Hanuka and other things

Here's a mini-reportage of the last 3 days:

Thursday we went to see the lighting of the 7th Hanuka candle at the Western Wall. It was b-l-i-s-s!!! A rainy, windy day - but my heart kept me warm because I was with the one I want to be with the most. It was a lengthy and tiring traveling day but the moments at the Western Wall were 'memory made' material. Some photos... Of the Wall, the women dancing, the Rav Amar who lit the 7th candle and some of Jerusalem 'on the way'.

"The Wall" is magic by night. It had me impressed and in awe.

Today I set out around noon on my route to the Nemaal. I didn't like it. Many cars, many people. Nothing of the things I like so much when walking to the Nemaal early in the mornings. But --- the sea was wild. Totally wild. And... brown. Well here are the photos. Seagulls included :)

Se'araat Regashot....

Vin, pain et du Boursin

That't what I'm consuming at this moment. Except for the pain (due to dietary reasons - I have gained 10 kilo in less than 5 months, grrrrr). I found a great tasting semi-dry red wine (which isn't easy to find in Israel I have come to the conclusion) and I am eating the Boursin 'au fine herbes' I bought y'day. So, life is good you would say. Well, I don't want to complain too much anymore. So: yes, life is good. However it's not due to the Boursin et la Vin. It's because of those truly MAGNIFICENT skies and the unbelievably majestic sea - that I am in trance right now. I'm high. Yes, I really am.

Today was a 'windy' day. I realized how windy exactly when I reached the coast. When, in Dutch, they say "lekker doorwaaien" - that's what happened with me today. The wind was that strong that it literally blew right through me. And, with the roaring, wild sea and the totally impressive skies above me, I felt like I had been absorbed by nature. Became one with it. Which is a truly wonderful feeling....

I took too many photos of course. I will place some here with captions. I did want to mention one thing that isn't in line with the character of this blog though because it sounds political. I am totally embarrassed to look at those settlers in Judea and Samaria. It's why I prefer to watch movies these days instead of watching the news on t.v. I cannot be of help or have influence on anybody but, if I could I would like those who set fire on a mosque in a village not far from Tapuach (Jewish settlement) "if you complain about barbarism from the side of the arabs here in this country - why is it that you behave exactly in the same manner you are blaming them for?" I'll 'let go' now - but yes, I am angry. Bet that if they'd find out I am a gioret not keeping all mitzvot they'll revert to me by saying "you're not really jewish". Sad hey?

Flowers that seem to be rotting. Or, what is this? They're so beautiful but have this juicy, very dark substance at the heart of them:

I then saw a 'christmas tree' in one of the gardens of Abba Hillel st. (I will be posting photos of my Chanukah candles later this week because I already feel guilty mentioning the Christmas tree just because I saw it already - what a life of being accused of all evil all the time can lead to *sad* )

And this is its 'fruit'

Now I saw a white breasted Kingfisher. He came flying out of nowhere and landed on the railing of a laundry line. What a "laundry' to find!!! The first photo is him zoomed in and the other showing how it looks like from afar. Such a delight to have this little creature land on your 'lines':

Rose gardens are always associated to promises when I see those rose gardens (there aren't too many around) - I dreamed about my ex last night. Once I thought I'd get a Rose Garden but it's true: he never promised me one of those..... The bloody thing is that I didn't expect to be thrown in the gutters as well while all the while smooth-talking me. The shit was coming but I didn't (or refused to) see it :( What I'd like to ask is "am I not worth a rose-garden?"

Now. First there will be a series of photos of sights I saw today that had me feeling so humble, so small and feeling so truly lucky to be able to witness those. It is in absolute awe I stand and watch these phenomenal performances in Nature.

The sea was wild. The wind did that to him, I think. There were far less people around on the boardwalk than usual on Shabbats. I like that :-) I went as far up as to the new tayelet near Reading. They had closed the hole we could creep through last week. A man standing there and we both complaining about that asked if I was a professional photographer. I felt I started to shine but had to answer him truthfully "I wish!!". Here are some photos of the sea, both from near Reading and from near My Mezah....

I know this blog must be pretty boring to whoever reads it :-) It's repeating itself over and over again. It's just that I am so wanting to connect and share these wonderful feelings I have and hope others who read this have when seeing those wondrous sights. To me it's like I disappear... I feel absorbed in something much larger and more important than me (even to myself). I wish to share this. But am not sure people can actually share the same feelings...

The following are photos of seagulls and other birds - Lately I have developed a true admiration for birds. I love their freedom and their instinct to survive while flying as if they're floating on the currents of the winds... Like I would like to do:

Well, that gives a bit of insight into 'my world'. There are two more photos I forgot to mention. One of my one and only Ms. Cat (who's getting fatter and fatter all the time and after me feeding her once a week -I wish I could do this every day- with a can of liver didn't want to leave me today... I felt so sad to have to tell her to return to her own spot when she walked with me until almost the end of the wavebreaker :( ) and another photo of a kitten that started to 'talk' to me when I was taking photos of the Rose Garden in Pinkas - as if to say 'don't you see me??'

Time to prepare for the coming week. Work, work, work.... 5 days of stress - until I can relax again and divulge in what is really what I think is important. The little things that usually get looking past through when on route to fulfilling the necessities to keep one alive: money :-(

Don't feel like writing. Too tired. Exhausted to be honest. There are people who can work that many hours as I do but me, it's tiring me out. So here are only photos with captions of this day's walk to the sea. I was out for 6 hours. Which is a lot. But, I needed it. Now I would like to sleep for a whole week to get this tiredness out of my body.

The sea and impressive skies as seen from the Reading's Pier (mezah) today:

Walking up that pier was magnificent. Birds flying nearby and the sea roaring from both sides of the rather rough pier:

This is a Shag:

The view again towards the nemaal:

This is the remains of a tree (the larger part has been sawn off and lays beside it)

I noticed something strange lying on the rocks near the boardwalk, if anyone reading this have any idea as to what it might be, please let me know:

The White Silk Floss tree's flowers suddenly aren't white anymore. Here you can see they're yellow and red:

Here is one of the few of those beautiful trees in its full glory:

Two times a seagull:

My mezah was totally covered with the raging waves of today's sea:

You can't really see it but these are very tiny little buds growing at my Fairytaletree. Underneath you will find the tree as he looks like now. Still going strong notwithstanding the hardships he is experiencing with lack of water and other things this climate is placing upon him:

The new Tayelet near Reading. Perhaps now it won't be necessary anymore to walk around the whole schpiel for 3 hours (like I did last year, see blog entry of that time) in order to get to the Tel-Baruch beach on the other side of Reading:

A bud of a bush I saw (at the entrance of the Gesher HaHalacha) which has yellow seeds on it or so it seems:

That's it. It was wonderful walking around today (shows because else I wouldn't keep doing it for 6 whole hours) - and it was awesome climbing Reading's Pier again and this time without the 6 scary looking watch dogs that were there last year.

Let's hope this is going to be a nice week...