It has been beautiful spring weather here in Israel, perfect for the "Week of Love for Nature" which we had. There were celebrations in many of the nature reserves of the organization where I work (Israel Nature and Parks Authority) so it wasn't hard to slip out of the office and enjoy some of them. In my case, I picked the opening of a new trail for handicapped people, at my favorite little oasis on the Dead Sea, En Fescha. It was a private ceremony for the people of the INPA, the army's Nahal service soldiers (soldier-pioneers; they helped buil the path) and the regional council, about 40 altogether, with food and a good band (imagine Orthoox Jews with fringes and skullcaps playing pretty good Celtic music; after all it was St. Paddy's Day). We ate food, head semi-serious speeches, cut the ribbon
That's our director in the jeans, cutting the ribbon. He's coming from the army also, a brigadier general, but has been around six years in the INPA and finally seems to have caught the "ranger look". Seems to enjoy his job, actually.
I was glad to get down to the Dead Sea. The air is delightful, full of salt and bromide, which has a calming effect. I tend to zip down to En Fescha when I'm stressed, and a few hours are enough to restore me. I've also been working on the place since 1994, with monitoring data, and am publishing a summary of it this year so I've become a bit possessive about the place. It is charming, as you can see, with freshwater springs and pools (and yes, you can swim in them although they are not deep). The areas north and south of the picnic grounds are closed to the public but that is where I work, with birds, wild donkeys, thickets of reeds, all kinds of stuff in there. It's my little Paradise, at least in winter.
It was good to get out and walk a bit also. My back is giving me some trouble; sciatica in fact. It's the second time; I had a bad round of it 12 years ago. My back is slightly twisted from walking off a cliff about 30 years ago. Crushed my foot then, and I have walked with a slight limp ever since, which distorts my back. One day I bent down and picked up a cat --- and couldn't straighten up. Chiropractor shoved my spine back in place but warned me the problem would recur since the limp is incurable. Looks like it is creeping up on me again, and not helped by my sedentary life as a data manager. I'm doing some "sciatica exercises" which help, but eventually will have to get my spine straightened again; time to look for a goo chiropractor. I'm sceptical of a lot of their work, but they do know backs.....
Otherwise a calm week. I put several major tasks in order and now they are cooking. I have to wait for others to act, so it is time to pick up a new project. In my case, there is some biodiversity work which is about due on this international project I'm doing, and I'm poking that with a stick right now and thinking about it.....Passover is coming and the whole country gets put on hold anyway. I'll take off two weeks of vacation and stay home this time, to rest, get my house in order, and just enjoy Israel and Jerusalem in the springtime. Haven't done that for ages.
Yesterday I met a visiting American professor of chemistry and his wife for coffee downtown. They live in Arizona now but originally hailed from Minnesota and got their bachelor degrees from my undergrad college, St. Olaf. Very much the St. Olaf type, also - amiable, polite, North European tall and fair, walking around Jerusalem with their mouths and their blue eyes wide open. Definitely not stupid, but Midwestern slow in speech and reaction, rather ponderous when one is used to zippy Levantines. I keep forgettting I came from that world and it is good to see a reminder of it now and then. Ya'allah, after 27 years in the Middle East, even I can run circles around the average Minnesotan, despite my Norwegian background. It's a reminder that You Can't Go Home Again........or rather that I'm Middle Eastern now, not Midwestern......weird thought.
Not much more to add. I took on the job of treasurer in my AA group and just downloaded about 18 kilo of small coins from our safe (from daily contributions). It looked like a pirate's chest when I opened the safe and all these coins poured out. Now I have to sort and bag them.....so much for shabbat. (One is not supposed to handle money on shabbat so it looks like I will be damned many times over, but no choice.....)
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