SNOW AND FLOWERS ON MOUNT HERMON

While spring showed off with its impression everywhere around here and then said good by till next year, on Mount Hermon it just arrived. It is warm and pleasant at his feet, but reaching the top with the cable, the drop of the temperature can be felt. The peak is not overall bedecked with snow anymore, but in its crevices the white and icy frozen flakes remain, a heavy mass, two, three meters thick, slowly melting into big puddles.

It may seem improbable for flowers to appear. But they do, gracefully they brave the cold winds and open their buds to show their blithe and charm.

On this side the Hermon is about 2.200 m high. Last weekend it was sunny and clear up there, but quite chilly. The rays of the sun and the reflection of the snow can cause danger if the head and skin are not protected. My husband had to learn this the hard way as he experienced a serious sunstroke with shivers and fever in the evening after we returned home. He will be more prepared and clever next time. Since we had our dog with us, which can not be taken up with the cable, I did not join him and waited down in the warm sun with a book, mostly in my lap, I could not really concentrate on the story, because it is so lovely there, and closing my eyes and enjoying the silence was what I did after every two three sentences.

I hope you enjoyed my husbands hike. The flowers are, from up to down:
1. Duvdevan sarua, דובדבן שרוע, Creeping Cherry, cerasus prostrata
2. Carbolet makrina, כרבולת מקרינה, I did not find an English name for it, onobrychis corunta
3. Arir ha levanon, עריר הלבנון, Fortail Lily, eremurus libanoticus
4. Coridalit pegamit, קורידלית פיגמית, no English name either, corydalis erdelii
5. Geranion ha levnon, גרניון הלבנון, Lebanese Crane's Bill, geranium libani

Photographs by Uri Eshkar.