shabbat shalom 05.03.10

Hi everyone, It's a beautiful spring here after the last rains. I just got back yesterday night from the annual science conference (yom mada) of my organization, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.  It is a time to hear what everyone has been doing.  We have so many reports now that they are divided in three sessions: biology, education, and archeology.  Since I usually already heard the biology, I stick with the archeology session.  It was great to hear the report on the theater/odeon (they still debate which) that I helped to excavate in Apollonaris/Aphek.  That's a fascinating place, and very conveniently our organization's second headquarters near Tel Aviv, so there are conveniences like food and bathroom and computers and phones.  Aphek was the Egyptian governor's seat when the ancient Egyptians ruled this part of the world under Ramses II, and there is a palace belonging to the Egyptian governor, right next to the Roman cardo and theater, right next to the Crusader fort, and a huge Ottoman khan not far away.  It's a feast for an archeology buff, and full of surprises even now.  I busted my butt with a pickaxe clearing under the stage of that theater and so I was keenly interested in the report; what they figure out about the stage area will determine whether this was a theater or an odeon. Apart from that, I visited with two old friends that I don't see very often.  Uriel Safriel, who was my director for ten years in the Negev, gave a plenary lecture about biodiversity for the conference.  I met with him later and we agreed we have to get together.  I want to pick his brains on the diversity issues because he's been involved in various international projects on the subject, and I am just starting to take up the reins on the biodiversity part of our EBONE project.  That's the part nobody wants to touch with a barge pole, as too difficult.  So the buck stops here.  I have a student doing field work for me in the desert right now, and will have to get in deeper when his data are ready.  Uriel was always good as a sounding board, and he's fascinated by what we are doing, so it is time. The other old friend is really old at 83, but Professor Naveh is still alert and working on books and articles despite surviving a stroke three years ago.  After the conference, I went to his flat in a pensioner's apartment building with a magnificent view of Haifa bay and talked over tea and cake which his wife made for us.  Zev and Ziona are insperable; and Zev would probably not be alive today without his wife.  Still, they are happy, with grown grandchildren both here and America, and still travel to conferences to my amazement.  Zev brought me to Israel in 1981 after my husband died, to continue the work he had been doing with us on mediterranean plant biodiversity.  It amuses us both that I am still at it.  He asks me if I don't regret coming to Israel, and I have to honestly say I don't.  With all the ups and downs, it has been a fascinating 29 years here, and I never regretted it even once. I'll stay with Zev and Ziona while I supervise another Dutch student coming to work at En Afek (that's not to be confused with the Aphek near Tel Aviv), a small nature reserve between Haifa and Akko where I've done a good bit of research on wetlands.  I had four graduate students working there until 1999, before the second intifada, but war broke off the stream of grad students from Holland.  Now that the students are coming back, I want to resurvey and see what changes the improved management has made.  One student in Avdat and one student in Afeq....it feels a little odd to revisit my past this way.  It's good to reconnect with the people both in the Negev and the north.  A way of winding things up before I retire, maybe. As for me, health is returning.  I noticed on the train home from Haifa that I wasn't exhausted, and today energy levels are better than yesterday.  That was an awful two months but it seems to be passing.  Good thing too, because these coming weeks are going to be very busy.  I have another conference (on biodiversity) up on the Carmel, and a two day trip to the Negev to work with the student at Avdat, plus getting our new query interface for the biological data online, and a few other projects that have to be done. There were some other things going on.  We had the Purim party at my congregation.  I came early to make a soup, but wasn't feeling well and went home to bed at 7 pm.  It takes all my strength to deal with a crowd of people, and I can't do it when I'm not well.  I understand they liked the "brain soup" (tomato soup with cauliflowers, looked like blood and brains) which fit the theme of "Jungle" for this year's costume party.  I had a costume.  Maybe next year.  Slept ten hours, guess I was exhausted. Tomorrow I get a visit from English Quakers who are mainly here for the Palestinian Quakers in Ramallah.  They will stop one day with me too.  I arranged a visit to the School of Hope, a Christian school for handicapped Arab children which is just down the hill from me  It was started by Mennonites, so the director is already familiar with Quakers too.  They are looking forward to the visit.  Then I'll take them to Everest Hotel to see the view and have a good lunch. Meanwhile, the rains have stopped and I have about five loads of laundry to hang outside to dry!  Must get to work. shabbat shalom,, Linda