MIRABEL

There is a castle, with substantial remains survived, very close to our home, about a 15 minutes drive away, which makes for a nice and easy Saturday afternoon outing. Located 3 km southeast of the town Rosh HaAyn it stands up high on a hill, visible from far away. It was built by crusaders over Byzantine ruins in the beginning of the 12th century C.E. and named by them "Mirabel", which is of Latin origin and means "beautiful sight", and that it is. 

Lovely details, isn't that olive tree branch gorgeous?

A Greek inscription can be seen over one of the doorways, which could be called recycling, because it dates from the 4-5 century and was probably taken from somewhere else and reused.

Most of the visible ruins there are Mameluke, which means Turks who preceded the Ottomans, but a lot of architectural elements typical to the crusaders way of building are noticeable. It is exciting to walk around the ruins, to explore them inside the walls, which are more than 2 meters thick, to step into room after room, admiring the architecture and enjoying the view through the arched windows on the surrounding hills, which are dressed right now in beautiful spring green, dotted with red anemones and other flowers.

In the vicinity of the castle lies a tomb where probably an Arab sheik is buried and which can be reached by a short walk. 

And there I spotted this stone - just an ordinary stone, even not very pretty, but somehow it called out to me and I took it. 

Oh, of course not just so, I had something in my mind!  Engulfing stones with crochet can be found now in many creative blogs on the Internet. There is a woman called Margaret Omen, who is "the leader of the pack" - she makes absolute wonderful stone art. After seeing her beautiful work I felt the urge to try it by myself and this modest stone was my first "victim". I did not have fine yarn at home and made it with what I had at hand.

In the meantime I went hunting for more stones, some I already had at home. I bought supply, very fine yarn in light colors, and a small size crochet needle, and I "dressed up" several more stones.  I got quite hooked - this is really a very addictive way to create small wonders.

Try it, it is not difficult at all, after you start, the stone will tell you what to do - believe me, this is exactly what happens!

CYCLAMEN AND ALMOND TREES

Wild cyclamen are blooming everywhere now, in some places millions of them! The range of their color goes from almost white to dark pink and the sun makes them appear to be translucent!

And the almond trees started to blossom. Ah, that scent, not sweet and lemony, like the citrus flowers, but sweet like honey!

 

Photos taken this weekend by my husband Uri Eshkar.

Zoom in to appreciate all this beauty even more! Can you spot the cyclamen under the almond trees?

HUGGING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO HAVE HEALTH BENEFITS

Thank you for reminding me Penelope!

SATURDAY MORNING

My husband's mother is in a nursing home already for more than a month now. We take turns to be with her everyday. Today I am here. I took her high up to the seventh floor where there is a roof garden. It is very nice here and suddenly I felt the urge to write about it. I have a pen, but no paper, so I write on the last empty pages in the book I am reading. The terrace is full of flower pots and vessels, most of them very large. Many different spring flowers are planted in the smaller ones and they bloom beautifully. I look around and I see pink and purple petunia, pansies with their sweet faces, red and white geranium, small lovely yellow flowers, whose name I do not know, there is blue lavender and light purple rosemary. In between and among the flowers there is a lot of greenery. In the biggest containers grow small olive trees, jasmine, hibiscus, one wall of the terrace is covered with a flaming bougainvillea. I spot roses now, red and yellow ones - and here, oh wonder, is a little orange tree and it is blossoming. I get up and pick one of its petite white flowers, oh that unique smell, like nothing else, this scent is for me the scent of the land of Israel, there is no better scent in the whole world than that of the blooming citrus fruit!

We are almost alone up here, my mother-in-law and I. There is only one old man sitting in the corner, enjoying the sun in his face, he came by himself, leaning heavily on his walker. The day is wonderful, a slight breeze blowing. The sun is not fierce, but warm and gentle, the sky a marvelous bluegreen, like my mother-in-laws eyes in her best days. She is sitting beside me in her wheelchair. She is dressed in a warm pretty lavender fleece jacket. I put the hood over her head and draped a brown big scarf around her neck, a woolen blanket is covering her fragile body. She is napping. Her head has dropped down, her face is flooded by the sun, the light smoothing her wrinkles. I am watching her and I am overcome with memories of my life with her the last thirty years. It is quiet and peaceful up here. It is not always easy to be around her in her illness, but just now it is, and I feel good near her. I close my eyes, listen to the silence and drift away...

I will keep this beautiful hour with her in a special place in my heart.

LUNA

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - just rest, be lazy, bath in the sun - enjoy life - like me!

YARON'S ZOO

I am still very occupied with family matters, so my mind is not really into blogging, and I also lack time for it. So today I only show you a wall hanging which I made a long time ago for our son Yaron, when he was nine years old (he will be 28 in some days). The pattern was taken from a book by Margarete Rolfe, a wonderful Australian quilter. The lovely background and back fabric was a gift from my sister, and that striped fabric behind the penguin, was taken from a cut up maternity dress I was wearing while pregnant with him. The quilt is well kept for my son now, rolled up and stored in a cupboard.

All cotton fabric, machine pieced, hand quilted - 161 cm x 127 cm