HANUKA LIGHTS

SEASON OF LIGHTS

Happy Holidays to everyone! 
May you celebrate in peace and with joy!

THE TRUE SPIRIT OF GIVING

Christmas is approaching and there is talk about gift giving and the searching for presents everywhere. I was reminded of the true spirit of giving - which is giving from the heart and out of love - by the wonderful story "The gift of the Magi" by O.Henry. I would like to present the whole narration here, but I don't know if I may do this due to copy rights, and it also would be too long for a blog post anyway. But I will retell it in a short version, I think this I may do.

It is about Della and James, a young couple, living in poverty but happily. Della had saved some little money, penny after penny which had been very hard to do. The day before Christmas she counted one dollar and eighty seven cents. Crying and sniffling she realized that amount would not buy a nice present for her Jim as she had planned, something worthy, something special. 

Della and James Dillingham Young had two things in their possession which were of great value for them. It was a gold watch Jim inherited from his father, and the other one was Della's beautiful long wavy hair, which fell down over her waist to her knees. Now, looking out the window and seeing her reflection in it, she knew in a wink what to do. 

Madame Sofronie from "Hair Goods of all Kinds" gave her twenty dollars for the cut off brown cascade. Oh and Della was clear on what to buy for her Jim, she was so sure of it: A chain for The Watch she wanted - to replace the old leather strap from which it hung.

At seven o'clock sharp, like every evening, she heard him coming up the stairs. Jim stepped inside and closed the door. He froze in his tracks - "You have cut off your hair?" His look was puzzled - shocked...

"Oh it will grow back quick - I sold it - it is Christmas Eve, I wanted to give you a Christmas present - I'm still me without my hair!"

Out of his pocket he brought a package and threw it on the table. With uttermost excitement she opened it - a scream of joy - and then... before her she saw the beautiful tortoise shell combs she had admired for so long at the store window - and what they meant to embellish was gone now! "My hair will grow back fast Jim" - and then she held out her present to him, the pretty chain worthy The Watch. "Isn't it swell Jim? I searched all over town to find it - give me your watch - let's see how it looks!"

"Oh Dell", he said, "I sold the watch to buy you the combs!" He smiled... 

(A smile of love, I am sure!)  - - - -

This is the "art of giving Christmas presents" invented by the magi, the "wise men, wonderfully wise men"...

(The book: "41 Stories by O. Henry" would be a wonderful present in itself.)

TO MY PRECIOUS TWIN GRANDDAUGHTERS

Today is my birthday - I lived for 65 years now. Since you were old enough to read and write I got birthday letters and birthday notes from you, every year! They always had a lot of colorful sweet embellishments with hearts and flowers drawn on them, and contained loving wishes and greetings. I cherish them - I have them all - I save them in a special box.

Today I decided to write YOU a letter. Don't worry it won't be long and I will not preach to you. I just wish to tell you how much I love and enjoy you, how grateful I am to have you, how proud I am of you, how pleasant it was to see you grow up and blossom into the wonderful teenagers you are today. And I wish to give you some thoughts on your way and tiny bits of advice.

You started your life a little bit too early, sixteen years ago, on the same day. I remember seeing you for the first time in the hospitals baby ward, tiny little butterflies tucked into incubators with quite a few tubes sticking out from you. With your own strength and the endless caring love of your parents you got over the difficulties of the first weeks. Once at home you started to thrive and never stopped! 

You brought us only joy - and on this day I happily remember it all, every detail of your growing, each sweet moment. The most wonderful thing is to know, that your baskets are not empty, and love and dearness and hugs will come out of it continuously, gifted to whom ever will be open  for it, to family - foremost your parents, your brother and your little sister - and to friends - and surely I too will profit from it forever!

So I wish to tell you to please take very good and conscious care of yourself - always. Love your pretty bodies and care for them and their health. Cherish your soul and keep it true and free of clutter. Continue your education and seek out a proper profession, so you will be able to provide for your own needs. That is so important!

It is wise not to let things just happen in your life, plan them,  know what you want and in which direction you like to go.

Recognize the presents life has in store, how it provides wonders from nature and treasures from kind people. That will lift you up! Being thankful for each day can give your spirit joy. There are always ups and downs in life - in each life - but I know you can manage - I know! May your good days predominate, with hugs, with smiles and laughter. Yes, remember - a little humor goes a long way! Keep your heads up, strive for the sun!

And remember - my love for you will never cease... :-)

HOUSE CATS

Painted on a house wall in the pedestrian zone of a little town on the Carmel Mountain (Sichron Yaakov)

OLD MARKET JERUSALEM

Photo by my husband Uri Eshkar

IRIS - CROCUS - DAFFODIL

It started to get green here. It is that time of the year. Mysterious things are going on underneath the surface. There is some stirring in the ground. And then the earth breaks up and beauty emerges and colors spill upward. Sun is always present here. But now the clouds added rain - and then the magic happens again...

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Photographs by Uri Eshkar.

FABRIC BOXES

Have you seen my handmade fabric boxes in my Holiday Shop? Who would not be happy to receive such a lovely gift? Created from scratch with cardboard and mostly self died fabric, with pretty butterfly and fish appliques on the lid. They are truly beautiful and unique! (11.12.2011 The shop is closed now - till next year!)

 Open the above shop link for details and prices.

NICE PRESENTS

I put some more of those lovely lavender angels and lavender hearts in my holiday shop. Open the above link and have a look! (11.12.2011 The shop is closed now - till next year!)

Sehava

Hedwig

 Julie

 Olga

 Pippa

 Frizzy Lizzy

HOLIDAY SHOP

I decided to open a little shop for the holidays with small sweet items, all under fifty dollars and under forty Euro. Have a look at the above link, maybe you find some presents for yourself or your loved ones. (11.12.2011 The shop is closed now - till next year!)

Ich habe mich entschlossen einen kleinen Laden fuer die Feiertage aufzumachen, mit netten Geschenken, alle unter vierzig Euro. Durch Anklicken des obigen Links wird der Laden geoeffnet.

This is Frilly Lily, the naughty sweet petite angel - and she has some lovely sisters! They have poly fill and a generous handful of lavender in their belly - each time you hug and squeeze them you surely will go Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh and breathe deeply! :-)

FIRST CYCLAMEN

My husband brought home today the first photos of cyclamen - shot during a rainy day at the Golan Heights. They are wearing their prettiest dresses!

LAVENDER HEART

I participated in a short fabric printing workshop two weeks ago, and I took home the cleaning up tissues - wow, never throw them away, little wonders can be created with them!

The beautiful lamp work glass bead at the bottom is from here: www.etsy.com/shop/stringythingy 
Have a lovely Sunday!

THE MONKEYS ON GIBRALTAR

Actually I did not like them. They were filthy and very naughty. They would even jump on people.

But these two pinched my heart!! How lovely!

Photos by Uri Eshkar.

SMART GOLDIE

You remember Golda, the kitty from the Negev desert?

She turned into a big healthy marvelous cat. She is strong and headstrong, full of energy, always hungry, in addition to her cat food she will eat almost anything! She still plays with me very roughly, but she will never deliberately hurt me. AND she is very smart. There is always the danger of a cat's head get stuck in a container of yoghurt or cottage (never give it to them unsupervised!).  They all love to lick it clean. Goldie loves that too, but she has her own ways. If the container is small, she will never stick her head in, but nevertheless she gets the last good morsel out of it! 

Have a look!

We had such good laughs yesterday morning sitting in the garden and watching her, about half an hour she was busy licking her paws - she is awesome! 
Look she is here too:
http://youtu.be/RMcuokKP1JY

Have a funny Sunday everyone!

QUINCE MARMALADE - ריבת חבושים

My friend Hilde, the garden fairy from Norway has inspired me to make marmalade. Please browse through her wonderful blog. 

 http://granheim2.blogspot.com

It is about many issues, but all of them are related to nature. She will take you to spiritual places and let you hear the whisper of ancient times. She will teach you about fruit and vegetables, herb plants and trees and flowers and berries, and she explains to you the healing power of stones. She works her big and beautiful garden mostly by herself and shares photos from it throughout the year. She dyes wool into soft and lovely colors with natural material, like leaves, vegetable and fruit, and then knits and crochets it into wonderful mittens, shawls and blankets. She is just amazing! I already learned so much from her. All the produce from her garden she turns into something, be it a salad, or a stew, or a cake, or cookies. She makes marmalade, juice, chutneys, cider, dried fruit, dried herbs, creams, ointment and healthy alternative medicine like liquid extracts from plants with curing attributes. I visit her blog almost every day and enjoy her stories, her teachings and photos.

So, when some days ago I saw quinces at the market, two things jumped into my head, a childhood memory of how I loved quince marmalade and the spirit of Hilde. I bought six of the pretty big sunny yellow fruit and six nice glass jars. At home I searched via the Internet for the easiest recipe. It said one to one rate fruit and sugar, and lemon juice, that was all. I washed the quince thoroughly, I did not peel it, quartered it, took out the core, cut it up into small cubes, mixed it with the sugar, added a bit of water and cooked it for about an hour and a half on low flame with no lid on the pot, then I strained it, mashed the fruit, put it back into the liquid, stirred and let it boil for another two minutes - and spooned it into the jars. 
Here are the three stages, from golden to orange to almost brown - each time a pretty color.

During the process the whole house smelled wonderfully! The marmalade turned out very tasty - Shabatt breakfast will be great!

Have a nice weekend - if you are around our home tomorrow morning, please step inside to join us for coffee and quince marmalade breakfast!

IT IS RAINING - IT IS RAINING

Wow - we have heavy rain and a big thunderstorm right now! Many of you may not understand this happiness - BUT this is the first rain since the beginning of May! 

FERTILE SAND - MARVELOUS PRESENT

Last Shabatt was a wonderful day, pleasant warm weather, blue sky, lovely sun, light breeze. We drove to the Negev desert to visit the ancient Nabatean city Mamshit - I still want to write about it. But today I  show you what we found on our way, just along the road, in the dry brown sand...

The beauty of those flowers is just so MAGNIFICENT! 
Thank you Mother Nature!

Those grow in the Judean desert, the Dead Sea valley, and in the Northern Negev desert. They are called in Hebrew Havazelet haNegev, חבצלת הנגב and their botanical name is pancratium sickenbergeri. I could not find how they are called in English, but there is another similar variety, growing at the Mediterranean coast, called Sea daffodil, pancratium maritimum - Havazelet haHof, חבצלת החוף in Hebrew.

Nevermind their exact English name, (maybe they should be called Desert daffodils) - they are just wonderful! White and soft, like many princess brides parading on one stem towards the sun...
And I think my husband captured their beauty splendidly!

Photographs by Uri Eshkar.