shabbat shalom 11.02.09

Hi everyone, At last it is spring here.  Today I could smell the difference in the the air.  There is always ONE day when my antennae tell me "okay, we turned the corner".  Today, out walking the dogs at dawn, I could sense it.  The air was softer and greener.   The earliest flowers are out.  It's here. Just in time too.  It was a very short winter, just January, but I was sick for most of it.  These last three days or so were the first since December when I didn't feel sick, and I can feel my energy coming back.  If nothing else, that experience taught me an appreciation for people who live with chronic illness and never feel normal.  My time for that will come someday too, I suppose; but not yet. So a gradual returning to normal life.  I'm going to a movie with a friend for the first time since.....last spring, I guess.  Out to an AA meeting tomorrow, and maybe visit the nursery by the botanical garden afterward to look for plants to put in the garden, and just soak up the vibes of green and blossoms.....It's like the green is penetrating me right through my skin and gradually reaching into my winter brain, nourishing those dry brown channels left by January.  Gradually I am relaxing and taking deep breaths to smell nature.  I have a pot of blooming hyacinths on the desk, and at home the blossoms on the almond tree smell like honey.  The lavender and hyssop are lush, and my lemon tree is sagging under all the ripe lemons (despite my neighbors picking one or two every time they pass).  Before next winter, I will have to install an air conditioner in the salon.  The winter is brief but chills to the bone at Har Gilo.  While we don't need to cool in summer, with a direct breeze off the Mediterranean , it seems that air conditioning is the most cost effective form of heating as well.  It's not so expensive to install; I will just have to find a sheltered spot for the outdoor part where the wild winds don't knock it away.  Winter storms in Har Gilo have blown sheds around, let alone a little air conditioner.  If our houses were of wood instead of stone, they would all lean to the east, thanks to that winter northwest wind.... Next week begins field work.  I'm going to the Dead Sea , around Mizpe Shalom, to test some field sampling methods with my director and my student.  I'm teaching the student vegetation, and my boss is going to teach us both how to do reptile survey (e.g. turn over stones and look for snakes).  Should be a lovely day.  The hamsin weather has arrived, with its winds from Saudi Arabia warming and drying the air, and by Monday it should be fully spring weather. On Wednesday, two of us are driving up to En Afeq, the wetlands between Haifa and Akko where I have done quite a lot of research, in order to lay the groundwork for another graduate student to come and do habitat mapping. Then the week after I am spending two days at Sede Boqer to get my student started on field work in Avdat Back to the desert where I lived for ten years as a desert ecologist.....sweet memories, some of them.  It will be good to see the Negev Highlands again, especially in a good rainfall year.  Dust off the old brain, teach the youngster how to do "Whittaker plots", remember the plants (I remember plant names better than people names but there is still a lot of dust to shake off), and do field ecology again.  It restores the soul. So, the seasons turn here and spring is very very welcome. shabbat shalom, Linda