Happy Tu Bishvat!
This weekend - today too, actually, but man, this weekend - had possibly the perfectest winter weather to ever perfect. Beautiful day, optimal temperature, sunlight, clear skies. Theoretically I'm upset that this is winter because we could certainly use the rain, from agriculture to wildlife to, you know, drinking and showers, those are important - but it's hard to be upset in the face of beautiful days like the ones we're experiencing. Someone pointed out that the way the winter climate here has changed is that where once, winter was characterized by consistent gray skies and rain showers during the winter months, December-February - these days, winter is better described as easy, relatively warm weather periodically interrupted by heavy storms. (Which somehow always time themselves to happen over weekends.) So you'll have two beautiful weeks, and then a crazy rainstorm that the draining system can barely handle, and then it'll clear up again. It's weird to get used to, and not actually a positive trend because again, we need the rain, and also I'm rather fond of it personally, but... there's no denying pleasant weather is pleasant.
(I have 2 friends coming from abroad in the next two weeks, so clearly I've just jinxed their visit dates to having horrible stormy weather, just like the weekend I spent with another US visitor two weeks ago. Sorry for that in advance.)
This past Saturday, we visited my family up north. My cousins are all parents now to 1-11 year olds and every age in between, and for the first time I felt comfortable interacting with the kids, who somehow, miraculously, were just so open and welcoming and draped themselves all over me. I do not hang out with kids at all, at all, and though I want to be good with them, always feel super awkward trying to engage, especially when their parents are there, and kids need so much coaxing opening up to strangers anyway, and with me meeting these family members 2-3 times a year at best.
But this weekend - the girls were set on showing me every single gymnastics trick that they knew, giving me dolls, singing Frozen songs (guess who's dressing up as Elsa for Purim this year? hint: EVERYONE), playing catch and soccer. I even hockey bonded with the oldest kid, who plays roller hockey in a local league. There's something very... gratifying about having little kids shower you with affection. It was fun.
Afterwards, my parents and I drove to a nearby field in Megiddo (aka Armageddon) to see some winter wildflowers, in full bloom exactly in this time of year. Usually kalaniot (anemonies) bloom red - fields and fields of them in the south, pools of them sprinkled in fields and forests everywhere else - but every once in a while they'll be in different colors, pinks and purples and whites. Megiddo has a whole field of those - protected flowers, forbidden to pick as all kalaniot are. I actually think fields of red are prettier in general, in bulk, but seeing a full field of the "rare" colors was certainly breathtaking.
**
and a bonus shot of a little egret (anafa) from said rainy weekend two weeks ago in Jaffa, because I have nowhere else to put it:
*
Totally not in honor of Tu Bishvat, I have signed up to an 8-week musicals workshop, where... I will maybe learn how to sing like in musicals? I am a little wary since what I know of the last course is that the songs covered were more more... boring, when it comes to my musical taste (ie Memories), but at the very least it'll be a chance to meet more people who love musicals, so. First session's tonight, we'll see how it goes!
comments on Dreamwidth.
(I have 2 friends coming from abroad in the next two weeks, so clearly I've just jinxed their visit dates to having horrible stormy weather, just like the weekend I spent with another US visitor two weeks ago. Sorry for that in advance.)
This past Saturday, we visited my family up north. My cousins are all parents now to 1-11 year olds and every age in between, and for the first time I felt comfortable interacting with the kids, who somehow, miraculously, were just so open and welcoming and draped themselves all over me. I do not hang out with kids at all, at all, and though I want to be good with them, always feel super awkward trying to engage, especially when their parents are there, and kids need so much coaxing opening up to strangers anyway, and with me meeting these family members 2-3 times a year at best.
But this weekend - the girls were set on showing me every single gymnastics trick that they knew, giving me dolls, singing Frozen songs (guess who's dressing up as Elsa for Purim this year? hint: EVERYONE), playing catch and soccer. I even hockey bonded with the oldest kid, who plays roller hockey in a local league. There's something very... gratifying about having little kids shower you with affection. It was fun.
Afterwards, my parents and I drove to a nearby field in Megiddo (aka Armageddon) to see some winter wildflowers, in full bloom exactly in this time of year. Usually kalaniot (anemonies) bloom red - fields and fields of them in the south, pools of them sprinkled in fields and forests everywhere else - but every once in a while they'll be in different colors, pinks and purples and whites. Megiddo has a whole field of those - protected flowers, forbidden to pick as all kalaniot are. I actually think fields of red are prettier in general, in bulk, but seeing a full field of the "rare" colors was certainly breathtaking.
**
and a bonus shot of a little egret (anafa) from said rainy weekend two weeks ago in Jaffa, because I have nowhere else to put it:
*
Totally not in honor of Tu Bishvat, I have signed up to an 8-week musicals workshop, where... I will maybe learn how to sing like in musicals? I am a little wary since what I know of the last course is that the songs covered were more more... boring, when it comes to my musical taste (ie Memories), but at the very least it'll be a chance to meet more people who love musicals, so. First session's tonight, we'll see how it goes!
comments on Dreamwidth.