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This Shabatt we drove to the plateau of the Golan to visit, once more, the daffodils. To the left of the entrance of a small village is a swamp area, called Achu Nov. This marshy piece of land is famous for being the home of the marvelous and very protected swamp iris (iris ha bizot - איריס הביצות), which will bloom in a little while, we saw many of the sword like leaves already peeking out. I will dedicate a post to them soon, when they are at the height of their bloom.
Right now the daffodils reign there, narcissus tazetta, (narcis mazui - נרקיס מצוי). These beautiful princesses broke the earth open about two weeks ago in the millions. Yes, that is right, in the millions. It is almost unbelievable how many there are. To call on them is such a fulfilling endeavor. Bending down, looking at their grace very closely, feeling the soft petals and smelling their intoxicating scent is so rewarding and even a bit magic, you know, like being in wonderland. And then rising up and standing still, and eying daffodils till the horizon - now that is quite an experience!
Most of the time the circle walk of about one and a half kilometer is muddy and has to be strolled carefully. Where the water sits in ditches basalt stones from the region are laid out as bridges to make the passing easier. This winter rain was scarce till now, and as you can see the path was dry and the hiking was not difficult.
At the entrance of the round-about there are only single groups of daffodils at the sides, till suddenly a meadow opens up and the abundance of the wild flowers blooming in profusion is absolutely stunning.
That white stretch at the horizon? Yes all daffodils!
Our Dafi got her nose into them and had to lick their scent and pollen off her snout!
That was a beautiful day - much to be thankful for!
Photographs by my husband, Uri Eshkar.
When I painted this humorous picture I had nothing special in my mind, I just painted it and enjoyed the process and the colors.
It was only after it, when during one of our outings, I saw THIS placed in an old deserted cemetery, that I started to think about the image I drew and colored.
Some research on the Internet led to a lot of interesting discoveries, matters I had never thought about before. It turns out that a rams head stands for many things. The similarity of the female reproduction system - the anatomy of the uterus and the fallopian tubes - to the outline of a rams head is quite obvious, but using this originally pagan symbol in occult satanism is a very negative way to belittle and ridicule women's sacred cycle.
In many ancient civilizations the sheep played an enormous and important role in the daily life of the people, delivering milk, meat and wool. Sheep gods have been worshiped in their cultures, and rams heads were often used in their rituals. Khnum, was the Egyptian god of rebirth, depicted with the head of a ram. In many societies from far back in time till today the rams head stands for power and energy, for leadership and fearlessness. Antlers and horns are associated with male power. The god Ammon, the Greek rendering of Amun, is often shown with horns of a ram.
My head is spinning with all this new information I learned, and there is so much more which is spiritual in a bad sense, mysterious, sinister and eerie, that I do not want to touch upon. I find my own painted rams head, so not physically correct at all, the nicest and friendliest, and I am not curious to know the meaning of that genuine rams head stuck on a pole in this old ruined and forgotten (or not forgotten?) cemetery. As a matter of fact I do not want to go there again, too creepy. :-)
"...friendship between a man and a woman is something much more
precious and rare than love: love is actually quite gross and even
clumsy compared to friendship. Friendship includes a measure of
sensitivity, attentiveness, generosity, and a finely-tuned sense of
moderation."
Amos Oz (A Tale of Love and Darkness - great read, very much recommended)
Is that true? Sounds good, doesn't it?
I am listening to the silence lately and smiling at colors and talking
to brushes. I am drawing graceful lines and shapes and I fill them with
paint.
I am tuned in to the songs and lures of paint bottles, and
dwelling in marvelous names of hues: sage green, spa blue, desert
turquoise, berry red, wild iris, wisteria, golden straw, slate grey,
kings gold, harvest orange, royal violet. Aspen green, and meadow green, and old ivy. Bahama blue and dusty mauve, bay berry and belle blush, petunia purple,
orange sherbet, petal pink and pebble brook. French blue, pool blue and parrot blue, laguna, Indian turquoise, Italian turquoise, baby blue, chestnut and toffee and English mustard, kiwi and
citrus and many more - how could I resist? Rolling those words like candy and pralines on my tongue - royal
violet, belle blush, wisteria - I pray to the white canvas and beg it to
let me kindly cover it with the rainbow, and with smashing white and black sweet
little highlights.
Brand names like Americana, Apple Barrel, Folk Art
sound like music and are very pleasing. I am swimming in a
pool of happiness given to me by simple and readily obtainable and
affordable ingredients, and the modest but lovely and humorous outcome of my efforts
gives me satisfaction and causes me to feel good.
How did I
never pay attention to these tools till now? To the pens and markers,
to the paints, the paper, the canvas, the brushes? How is it possible I
never tried before to unlock their secrets and their bliss? Why was I always so afraid
of them? Never mind that now, they are here now, I have discovered them,
they are mine now! Yes! :-)
Oops!
Standing in line
"An artist that can draw flies is probably an artist that stinks! LOL!" Skye Taylor
(I learned a lot from him, thank you Skye)
We talked about lavender sachets and mohair fur and Steiff Teddybaers, my friend Dawn and I.
And I told her I have one - an old original
Steiff Teddybaer - and I promised her to photograph it, and she told me in
return she would love to see it!
Little did I know, that it would be so much fun to take pictures of this cute fellow!
This Teddy was given as a present to one of my daughters more than 40 years ago by my (late) sister. He is small, about 20cm high.
I crocheted the orange/green overall and sewed the patchwork vest at that time. Can you see the button in the ear? That was and is the trade mark of the original Steiff animals.
