Photography by Miriam

One of the nice things about being a single parent and packing the house is that I am forced to make time for the kids -- especially at lunch time. The kitchen is packed, so twice this week Miriam and I have gone out to eat at the local cafe --- Cafe-In.

I never leave home without my camera, and since it sometimes takes a while to get the bill, I've taken to offering Miriam the camera. She happily accepts, and has started photographing the flowers and bike. I think she is doing a great job. If nothing else, she is helping me up my Israel Photo count. It stands at 3488 right now. Just imagine the fun I will have one day making a multi-media presentation.

So long green crocs

Alan has been bugging me for weeks. I was going to write years, because it seems that long, but I checked, and it could be at most 3 or 4 weeks. Alan's persistent.

As soon as Alan heard I got a new pair of blue crocs, he decided that he needs and deserves my green crocs. God only knows why. Of course, from his perspective, God only knows why I would want two pair.

Alan moved to Jerusalem as of last Friday, but he was back in Ra'anana today to take his driving test to get an Israeli driver's license. When he called from the Country Club, I told him to come get the crocs. One less thing to pack!

As you can see from the picture, Alan must have planned this all along, as he wore his matching green shirt.

Look for him biking the Israel Ride next year in green crocs.

Last Day in Shul

This shabbas I am visiting Paula at Moshav Habonim, so today was my last chance to attend the Ra'anana Conservative Congregation. Luckily Ella and Yuval were still around to wake the girls and get them off to Kaytana. Up at 6:30AM, showered, shaved (yes, even shaved), and out of the house by 6:55AM. Just enough time to hop on my bike and get to Shul on time. This time I remembered my loose change for Tzedakah, my new tefillin, and my tallis -- I only forgot tissues. Either I'm alergic to the early morning Ra'anana air, or I am alergic to shul, because I can go through a full box of tissues in the time it takes to Daven Shachrit.

I had called Rabbi Resnick last night, and he said I could Leyn, as little or as much as I wanted. Parshat Balak. With everything going on, I decided to be realistic and just read the first aliyah -- all of 3 psukim. Not complicated trope, and just a couple Kamatz Katanim. I was able to master it in the half an hour between 12:00am and 12:30am while doing a load of laundry. I read the first Aliyah without problem, and went back to sit down. Then as I was day dreaming and trying to find my place in the siddur again, somebody calls Yehudah for the 3rd Aliyah. Everybody looks around, and then I realize they are staring at me. Ooops! I don't get that many aliyot, and I've long since forgotten how to recognize my name in Hebrew. Oops..

Ilana, announced the birth of her grandson, we sang Siman Tov uMazal Tov, the Thursday morning crowd wished me good luck and I walked back to Hefetz Haim with Ilana.

Onward to Galut

It's the fourth of July. I'm wearing my "America" T-shirt. Last night Ami and Hagit came by to celebrate by going to "Coffee & Friends" a local coffee shop where Aaron Lightner (father of Dani's friend Adam, and father of Ronit's friend Amitan) was playing acoustic guitar and singing the best of American folk music. We had a very nice evening, and I ran into much of the Tali School crowd. As we walked to the coffee shop Ami commented, "Wow, Ra'anana looks really nice. I never realized that Ahuza was this much of a downtown". At the cafe, Hagit met Robert Finkle (Max's dad, and a native of Swampscott) who explained that Ra'anana is just like Brookline, only there are more Jews. Not a bad description, and since Brookline was one of Ami & Hagits favorite places to live in the US, his comment really spoke to her. The only problem with Ra'anana is that it lacks easy access to the Tel Aviv-Haifa train line that Ami takes to work. A train line is planned for Ra'anana, but I don't think it will materialize for another 10+ years. Of course I am feeling very nostalgic for Ra'anana. I'm going to miss the convient downtown with shops I actually shop at. No $1000 blue jeans on sale on Ahuza. Crocs yes, arts and crafts stores yes, fruit markets yes, bakeries yes. Fancy fancy clothing stores no. (yes, that is a dig at Newton Centre).

The last three weeks in Israel without Dena have been going fine -- though certainly less organized than usual. I'm making breakfasts, lunches, dinners, getting the kids out the door, picking them up (without a car), doing the laundry, and pondering packing. Yes, pondering. Today I started going through Miriam's school work to decide what to keep. I can't believe what she has learned. Words cannot describe it. In one year of 1st grade Miriam has learned to read and write hebrew. She writes page upon page of stories. Her spelling is fabulous -- hardly a mistake. Her handwriting -- beautiful. It is painful to think that she will not have such wonderful hebrew instruction next year, and the reinforcement of all her friends.

Yesterday we (Ella and I) organized a going away party for Miriam. 10 little girls showed up to the most complicated spider web party you have ever seen. Since it is not regular practice to RSVP for parties, I had no idea how many kids to expect, and we prepared for the worst, i.e. 18 kids. That meant we tied up a TON of yarn in the livingroom, and when it turned out we only had 10 kids, we let the winners roll up a second color. Miriam of course finished first, and was delighted to roll a second color. He friend Osnat, complained the entire time, "this is so boring, I'm so bored". I sympathize. Rolling up a yarn spider web can get a little boring. Except for Osnat though, the other 9 girls all enjoyed the challenge, and when they finished offered to take over for Osnat. And what do you think happened? Osnat refused help. Nope. She was going to finish herself, even if she was bored to death :-)

After the spider fest, we had pizza and ice cream sundaes.

There are somethings I haven't yet figured out. Any help is appreciated.
- Dena used to laundry daily. I can't figure out why. I seem to get by with just one load every few day.
- Why do we have so many pots and pans? In the past two weeks I've used one fry pan (eggs), and one pot (rice). What are all the rest for?
- How does Dena manage without a written list from her wife of the schedule and activities for each kid? It's a good thing I have the 3 pages left for me with detailed instructions or I'd be lost. Why have I never had this before? It makes life so easy!

Crocs Take 2

Dena bought me a new pair.

Last night at dinner, Dena said, "So what are you guys going to do while we're gone (i.e back in the US)?" I said, "Party!!" Miriam said, "Abba, you can wear your green Crocs everyday!"

Crocs

Last week Dena and I went out in Tel Aviv. We actually took the train. I wanted to avoid the traffic, and I thought it would make for a good adventure. Dena had never ridden the train before. We left when the babysitter arrived and didn't have time to check the schedule. I was pretty convinced we would not have to wait long. After all it was rush hour. We arrived at the station, and since everyone was on their way home already, it was *very* easy to find a parking spot. Bought round trip tickets, through the turnstile, and started rushing to the platform. Dena says, "Why are we rushing? We don't know when the train is coming? What is an unwritten rule, you must rush to the platform?" Believe it or not, we walked up the steps and 10 seconds later the train arrived. Wow! We couldn't have planned it better.

After dinner, we visited Ami and Hagit. "What'd you do?" "We were going to go shoe shopping for Crocs, but in the end we ran out of time, and just had dinner". "You want Crocs? I've got a pair I'm never going to wear. They're in my closet, and they're all yours." Wow. How could I pass up a free pair of Crocs. They are so comfortable. I haven't taken them off since.

Last shabbas, we went to the Trifman's for dinner. I wore my Crocs. As we were about to walk in Dena and Dani noticed. They were agahst. You can't wear them on Friday night! You can't wear them to Yoyo's. But you know what? I did. And Yoyo's sister Lulu was wearing Crocs too.

Wednesday I biked to the bank in Crocs. The strap got caught on my pedal and broke. Oh no. I was about to get seriously depressed, but, luckily, I was able to click it back on. Phew.

Thursday morning I went to Shul. President Sam was davening. He was wearing, you guessed it, Crocs. I wasn't. Thursday night, I went to Tikun Layl Shavuot. I wore my crocs. Shabbas lunch we are on the way to the Mirchins. I'm wearing my Crocs. Dani takes one look at me and and refuses to go until I change my shoes. I don't get it? Why can't I wear my Crocs?

Biking for your life

Dena suggested we skip shul today (having been there on Thursday morning for Minyan, Thursday evening for Tikun Layl Shavuot, and Friday morning for Shavuot), I wasn't at all averse to the suggestion. Then she went so far as to suggest I go get some exercise before lunch at the Mirchin's. (I must be getting fat or something.) Hey, what a great idea. I hopped on my bike and set out for Hod Hasharon and Kfar Saba. Pretty much my standard route. As I approached Kfar Saba, I had to figure out what to do. I really didn't have enough time to go all the way to Kochav Yair, so I decided to try something new. I took a right in to Neve Yamin. My bike leader, Yaniv, from the Arava ride has a bike shop in Neve Yamin, and I thought I might go past it to see what it looks like. It was shabbas, so I didn't expect it to be open.

As I start into Neve Yamin, I think to myself, hmmm, nice roads, very quite, flat, I should take Alan or Dani on a ride here someday. Then, I think, well, Alan, he's afraid of dogs. I bet this place has dogs. So wouldn't you know, I turn the corner and there is a dog barking at me. He's fenced in, or so I think, so not to fear. As I pass his yard though, another dog starts running after me from the right. A pretty sizable dog. No big deal, I growl and scream at the top my lungs and he stops. I'm feeling pretty smug for a few seconds, until I hear, and then see, 3 smaller dogs barking, and running towards me from the left. Argh. Now I really feel under siege.

I yell at the three dogs, but they are in a pack, and do not seem to care. Well, I've got a bike and so I start pedaling. I know I can go pretty fast downhill, but even on the flat I can get up some good speed. I'm pedaling, and they're running. I look back, they're still running. And I'm pedaling, and they're running and barking. And I'm going all out, full speed ahead, and I look back, and there is still one dog, and he's gaining on me. And I am pedaling as fast as I can, and that dog is gaining on me.

I just finished reading the book Blink! by Malcolm Gladwell. In the book he talks about how people make quick decisions -- especially under pressure. He talks a lot about the Diallo case in New York (my friend Sam Schwartz has a post on the webpage for the book). Anyway, one of the things he talks about is training people for stressfull situations so that you don't actually have to think when a crisis arises. If you've already rehersed the situation, you'll know what to do. (Perhaps I'm taking a little license here).

So back to the story, I'm pedaling, and the dog is running, and gaining on me. In my mind I quickly review --- my heartbeat is through the roof -- I've tried screaming, it hasn't worked, what's next? Alan and I have discussed dogs and biking more than enough times for me to have reheresed everything. I reach for my water bottle -- luckily a large biking bottle with lots of water and a small opening. If you squeeze the bottle, it makes for a pretty damn good squirt gun. Ready, fire, aim. (Ooops, that's Cheney.) Ready, aim, fire. I couldn't really tell if I had a direct hit, but the dog stopped. Only at that point did I realize I was totally out of breath. My spedometer says my max speed was 27mph. I don't think I could have kept pedaling at that speed for much longer. Wow, that dog was fast!

I guess I won't take Alan or Dani to Neve Yamin -- and believe me, you'll not catch me there alone!

Mission Accomplished

I rode Ronit to gan (kindergarden) today -- this time quite literally.

Before leaving Dena watched as I struggled to get the braids right -- one on each side of the head, and a pony tail in back. Not exactly as Ronit wanted, but close enough. Mission Accomplished. Before we even get to the front door, Ronit announces that she is NOT biking to gan. No way no how. Well, I am as stubborn as she. I am NOT driving to gan. Certainly not on a beautiful day. I agree to not bike -- figuring we can walk. It doesn't take Ronit long to figure that out and refuse to walk. Hmmm. How about a bribe? A candy from the macolet (store)? Ronit cannot refuse that, but after getting the candy she starts march back towards the house, instead of continuing to gan. Hmmm. Okay, my final offer -- I'll ride out on my bike to gan. Offer accepted. We ride to gan which her sitting side saddle on the bike bar. Not my idea of comfortable, but at least I'm not driving. Mission Accomplished.

Once at gan, Jenny's mom Lori tells me, "Jason -- I forget to tell Dena, but yesterday at their playdate, you would not have believed it. They spoke almost entirely hebrew. Everytime that Jenny started off in English, Ronit would reply in Hebrew." B.H. Mission Accomplished.

Oh yeah, that's not a picture of me or Ronit above, but it is hard to say the words, "Mission Accomplished" without thinking back to that most ironic invocation of them on May 1st, 2003.

Lice Free Again!

I am happy to report that the Glasgow family is Lice free again! It feels great. Lice have been running wild in Ronit's Gan (kindergarten) again. Not suprisingly she ended up with a head full. Now though after some serious combing (mostly by Dena) we have conquered the pests.

Biking for the Arava Institute

I did it! 300+ miles in 5 days of riding (and one day off). It was a fabulous ride. The stats:

• 71 miles day 1, 85 miles day 2, 57 miles day 3, 60 miles day 4, and 60 miles day 5.
• 1 totally flat tire
• 1 slow leak
• total ascent: 2000+ meters (a friend had a GPS, but I forgot to record each day's stats).
  
• max speed: 46 MPH
• max temperature (depending on who you ask): 95, 98 or 108.
• money raised over $4300 (and still counting
• flat tires for the group: over 50.
• money raised by the 120 participants: over $480,000
• pictures snapped: 145 (http://jasonglasgow.phanfare.com/)
• My roomates blog (http://alansalzberg.blogspot.com/2006/05/israel-ride.html)
  

The ride was just fabulous for so many reasons. To start it was vacation and a relaxing time to meet other Israelis, Americans, Jordanians and an Australian who like biking, care about the enviornment, and support the Arava Institute. It felt great to have raised so much money for such a good cause.

Then there was the ride itself. We divided into two groups, the Pioneers (Halutzim) and the Scouts (Tsofim). The pioneers, my group, went significantly faster, farther, and higher each day. I was pretty much in the middle of the pack without working too hard. There's something really fun about waking up at 5 or 6am everyday, and then hopping on a bike for 6 - 8 hours. It is so mindless. a great escape from the real world. The fact is emphasized when you ride through barren desert landscapes. Although it is seriously muscle exercise, intellectually it is very relaxing. Along the way of course we saw lots of beautiful sights, and the guides gave us mini-lectures about the geography, landscape, etc. We got to meet a bunch of the students from the Institute, and it was fascinating to hear their stories. Many of the Arab students come from Jordan (unfortunately it has been hard to get Egyptian students lately). For the Jordanians, having visited Israel and gotten an Israeli stamp in their passports means that they'll never be able to visit other Arab countries. (... Maybe they could get a new clean passport, they claim not...) I think it takes a lot of courage on their part. As much as it infuriates me that an Israel stamp would prevent them from visiting Saudi Arabia, so do the stories of their troubles crossing the Jordan-Israel border. One poor student did not return home for his father's funeral, because he was afraid he would not be able to get back into Israel to complete his studies.

My friend Bob checked out the Israel Ride website (http://www.israelride.org/) and wrote,

How was the ride? I didn't see any pictures of you on the web site -- and everyone sure looked much younger. Hopefully, you were able to find older folks that you could out ride ;)

Younger? I was biking mostly with 40+ years olds, and the guy leading the pack was 60. Sad to say, I couldn't keep up with him. On the otherhand, I think that means that I've got 22 years to catch up. May I be in as good shape in 22 years. The ride was a mix of people. There were 5 teenagers, a fair amount of 20 year olds and 30 year olds (like me), and then even more 40 and 50 year olds. I think the younger ones make for prettier pictures -- an hence my conspicuous absence.

There were just over a dozen riders from Israel. I spent a fair amount of time riding with the other 4 guys from Ra'anana, Alan Salzberg, David Schwartz, Jon Sumroy and Natan Szajnberg (shown below).
Day zero (Ra'anana to Jerusalem)
Alan and I plan to take a cab at 9:00am to Jerusalem. I've got my bike, but we're pretty sure it will fit in the trunk. 8:30AM. The last few minutes. I'm just about finished packing, I'm still sending email, trying to finish up stuff for work. Alan calls. Let's go early. Argh. Have I ever met someone consistently wants to get going 20 minutes early???? I tell him to hold on. I've still got to pack. Yes, I fibbed, but it bought me my 20 minutes I expected. 9:00 I'm downstairs, cab has arrived with Alan. The bike fits. Phew. Alan says we are going to Jerusalem, "Har Zion (Mount Zion)". The cabbie seems like he doesn't know the place. Odd. I tell him near the old train station and the cinematec. This seems to register. Not too much traffic. We're zooming along route 6. Cabbie starts driving like we are in a rush -- which we aren't, and then starts complaining about the horrible Israeli drivers as he passes the cars travelling at sane speeds (which must seem awful slow to him). Hmm. He asks again, "Azeh Malon? (What hotel)" Alan, "Har Tsiyon (Mount Zion)". Now he understands, and explains.... you said something funny before, I didn't understand you. Zayin can either be the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, or a curse word. So because Alan had say "Har Zion" effectively mixing Hebrew and English he was confused -- he though we were swearing at him. Oops. Good that we now have it all sorted out. We arrive no problem at the Malon Har Tsiyon on Mount Zion and check-in. Alan gets his bike, we get out good bags (sunscreen, lip balm, and band-aids courtesy of Johnson & Johnson), water bottles, and biking shirts. A quick ride to verify the bikes work okay, and its time to have meetings. Meet each other, learn the rules of the road, hear the wake up time --- 4:45AM.

Day one (Jerusalem to Ashkelon)
details to follow.

Day two (Ashkelon to Nitazana)
Massages. No water! (details to follow.)

Day three (Askelon to Mitzpeh Ramon)
Kadesh Barmea (hills photo), Egyptian border. Meet Israel soldiers at Army Base.(details to follow.)

Shabbat
Tfilot, Leyning, Student presentations, Havdalah (details to follow.)

Day four (Mitzpeh Ramon to Kibbutz Keturah)
Shacharit with Yael (Photo). Big down hill into crater. Army practice (Namashim photo). 3 riders overcome by the heat. Recover okay at the Kibbutz pool. 2000 year old date tree. (details to follow.)

Day Five (Keturah to Eilat)
Detour to Hizkiyahoo (photo)
Descent into Eilat
Beach and Beer.(details to follow.)

Day Six
- flight back from Eilat to Sde Dov in Tel Aviv. A very quick flight, and just 15 minutes to Ra'anana. It sure beats driving and, I guess, biking.

Day Seven
- I wake up at 6:00AM and don't know what to do. Where's breakfast? Do I have to work? Can't I just go riding all day? I think I'm going through withdrawl.

Another day in Israel, another schnitzel

I am back front The Ride (more about that in the next post), and ready for lunch. Dena says that Margalit is coming home so we'd better have a meat meal -- she's the family carnivore. I don't disagree, having gotten accustomed to 3 good meals a day on The Ride. I volunteer to go to Oaforia (Oaf means chicken in hebrew) on my way back from dropping Ronit at Arielle and Aaron's house. Dani arrives home, but Margalit just rings from below to say that she is going to Maytal's house. Excellent. A nice suprise. I guess I overdid it on the schnitzel.

Dinner time. Margalit and Ronit are back. Casual conversation. "So what did you have for lunch at Maytal's?"

Margalit: "Schnitzel"

"And Ronit how was Arielle and Aaron's?"

Ronit: "We had schnitzel too. We always have schnitzel there"

I'm beginning to think that it wouldn't be Israel if we didn't all have schnitzel for lunch everyday.

Away biking

Tomorrow I start my bike ride for the Arava Institute. I can't wait. Went to the Gym today with Alan for 60 minutes of spinning. I think I'm ready. So actually, tomorrow I travel to Jerusalem for orientation, etc. On Wednesday morning, I start biking. I'll be out of touch for a week. Full report on my return.

Zavitan, Katzrin, Golan Hike

Visiting a field school has been on our list for along time, and it finally bubbled to the top. We had initially made plans to go away with the Mirchin’s and a large group of Ra’anana people for a Shabbat B’Teva somewhere south of the Kinneret. Those plans fell though more or less at the last minute, but we decided to take the opportunity of a free weekend to visit Katzrin. Ever since hiking Nahal Yahudiah with the Dani, Margalit, Miriam and Philippe, I had been hoping to find a time to hike Nahal Zavitan, which is part of the same Yahudiah nature reserve.

Friday afternoon we set off for the field school. Dena had reserved a room (sleeps 8), signed us up for Shabbas dinner, and breakfast. On the way we tried to stop at Breichat Hamishumin, but as we arrived at 4:30 and the gates close as 4:00, we didn’t make it. No big deal, it was just a 10 minute detour. In no time at all we were at the field school. Everything looked great – more or less as I remember field schools. Clean and simple. Nothing fancy. A few fights over who gets to sleep on the bunk beds. Miriam was itching to sleep up top, but Dena quickly reminded me that the front desk had said one must be at least 10 years old to sleep up top. Wink. Wink. Miriam couldn’t argue with that! With a little cajoling, we managed to get all the kids to agree to sleep down low. Either on the bottom bunks or on the pull out trundles. That’s good, because I didn’t think the railings were very high, and I didn’t want any broken noses.

Shabbat dinner was, well, field school food. It was exactly what I expected – instant chicken soup with noodles, gefilte fish, overcooked cinnomon apple chicken, rice, and animal shaped shnitzel for the kids. Ronit was happy with the soup and shnitzel, I managed to each everything, and the rest of the family, well, they said they prefer Mama’s shabbas dinner. We were not the only ones at dinner. There was also a group of 8 families, co-incidentally also from Ra’anana. As you can image, it came time to say Kiddush, and nobody had a kippa. So on go the napkins – for the 8 adults and at least as many boys. Very typical for Israeli’s. It reminded Dena and I of our friend’s Atai and Tali’s wedding where Atai wore a napkin while signing the Ketubah. The kids got a real kick out the sight – at first not understanding what they were doing with napkins on their heads.

Shabbas morning – another field school meal. Dani didn’t like the milk because it was warm already and it was like water. He’s used to 1% not skim. It was not the same as the hotel breakfasts that we’ve had lately on all our other trips, but it was sufficient.

By 9:30 we had finished, packed our day packs with 10 litres of water, lots of food, changed into bathing suits, checked a map, and were ready to hike! There was only one little problem – we couldn’t find the trail head. Luckily Dena had remembered seeing a black and white marker the day before, and so we set out following her. Now, we never did see that marker, but we did find the trail head. So kudos to Mama for having the right instincts.

We had a long hike across fields that were used for grazing cows, and we were relatively close to some of the cows. Hiked to Zavitan, eventually got to the Hexagon pools, and had a great time swimming. Dani wasted no time in climbing the cliff and jumping off into the water. Of course he wanted me to join him in jumping. I said yes, but the I got up there, and well, it seemed really high. Did I say it seemed very high? I no longer ride the rides at amusement parks. I figure I’m old enough to not need to pretend I’m a kid. I tried explaining that to Dani, who could only respond with “wimp!”. I tried explaining that I wasn’t scared, I was terrified. No luck. Dani still wanted me to jump.

Eventually, we left the pool and hiked on to see the 30meter waterfall. Stunning. We stopped in the shade of a tree and had lunch, decided it would be too much to hike to the bottom of the waterfall, and so, headed back to the first pool.



More swimming. More name calling. “Wimp”. Margalit jumped, and jumped again. Not that I care about being called wimp, but Dani seemed very upset that I wasn’t jumping. Feeling just a little bit manipulated, I closed my eyes and jumped. Argh! Well, at least I only had to do it once.
instant

After lots of swimming, we started our hike back. This hike I finally remembered to bring an extra trash bag to collect the garbage from all litter bugs. It was no problem filling the entire bag. Finally back to the field school by 5:30. Dena and I looked at each other in disbelief. The family is getting older if we can take all our kids on an 8 hour hike!. Wow! Ronit was quite a trooper.

Biking (more)

Went with Alan to Latrun today for a 42 mile ride. The roads were much busier with cars, and we only saw a handful of bikers. I guess Shabbat is the day to ride. Just the same it was a great ride. Good to get in the distance and the hills. We took a side road today past Kibbutz Tzora which I had visited when I was in Israel in 1986. Road up to Mitpeh Emek and got a great view of the valley. Then back to Beit Shemesh. Once we past Beit Shemesh on route 38 South, the traffic lightened up, and it was mostly just us, the bikes and the pavement. 42 miles, probably 600 meters of elevation, and 13.6 mph average. Its not particularly fast, but Alan has a hybrid bike, not a road bike, and that slows us down a little.

Meanwhile, I've collected two pictures from the newspaper -- one a picture of the separation fence that I wrote about previously. This photo is taken from around Jersualem, but the fence near Kalkiliya is similar. And then, a picture of what is going on the other side of the fence -- the side we did not visit.

Biking

[On a few of the more recent posts I've included pictures from Phanfare. Because that site is password protected (email me) the pictures will not load unless you have visited Phanfare and entered my password. I'm working on fixing this problem.]

Biking has been a theme of at least a few posts. Lately I've been doing a lot of biking. As my friend Alan would say, "You've got to get you A-- in shape." I said, "don't you mean my legs?" "No, Jason, you're going to be riding for many hours -- you need to get your A-- in shape". Maybe he means I should buy a new bike seat.

Here's the deal. In less than two weeks I am biking 300+ miles to help raise money for the Arava Institute. (Click here to donate). The ride is from Jerusalem to Eilat, and is spread out over 5 days of biking, and one day of rest -- Shabbat. Most days are just 60 miles, but they've included one killer day of 90 miles. (It's rumored to be the hilly day too.) Truth is there are two routes -- the Tsofim (scouts) and the Halutzim (Pioneers). The Tsofim get to do just 60 miles each day -- but I want to do the more challenging route. How could I not.

So I've been training a lot recently. The roads around Israel and not all that great, but I've finally found some pretty decent routes with out too many cars, and since I'm working from home, I can bike between 11:00 and 2:00, when things are somewhat more quiet than at rush hour in the morning or evening. My favorite route is about 12 miles through Ra'anana, Hod Hasharon and Kfar Saba. I've now done that ride many a time, but it isn't quite challenging enough as I try to build up for the Arava ride. It is also very flat. So I've lengthened the route by continuing north to Kochav Yair. It turns out to be a very quiet road with a wide (but dirty shoulder), and Kochav Yair is a climb of about 100m. Not too much, but the best I can find around here. The road takes me within about 1 mile (maybe less) of Kalkiliya. Now, I wouldn't want to ride through Kalkiliya, but not to worry -- the recent Israeli governments have been building a wall. Whatever your politics, I can say that I feel somewhat safer knowing that there is a wall between me, my bike, and the West Bank. It is slightly ironic, because the Arava Institute (the cause for which I'm riding) is devoted to education both Israelis and Arabs -- and building bridges (figuratively), not walls. And yet here I am training for the ride and quite honestly feeling glad that there is a wall.

The other day I rode with Alan. He's a curious type, but also somewhat cautious. He is even less willing than I am to ride on busy roads. Once when we were riding we passed two dogs (large dogs) who ran after us barking like crazy. I'll admit we were both pretty scared. We rode *very* fast. Now, Alan pretty much refuses to go past that house again, whereas I'm not so concerned.

Anyway, I decided to show Alan my route to Kochav Yair. God only knows why, but after we crossed route 6, Alan wanted to turn right towards Kalkiliya instead of left to Kochav Yair. So much for being more cautious. "Don't worry Jason, there's a fence." Yeah. Sure. Well, I follow, and we are on a pretty deserted road that basically traces a path along the back side of Kochav Yair and along the fence. The riding is good because the road is empty, clean, and uphill. After a couple miles, Alan is quite a bit ahead of me. Up ahead I see the road fork, and some guy crossing the road. My instinct? Lets get out of here. I don't like this. So boy was I relieved when Alan turned around and came speeding down the hill. I wasted no time in doing the same. Just a little adventure. Once again, I felt the irony of biking for an organization promoting peace, and yet in practice being scared of strangers.

The other day, I went to pick up Miriam from Gymnastics and I ran into David Schwartz who is also biking for the Arava Institute. We chatted a little bit about the ride. I mentioned the lack of hills, and he told me he just goes to the club, turns the exercise bike to 18 and bikes for 45 minutes. Yow! That sounds hard. I'm feeling like I'll never be able to keep up. He told me the best place to bike hills is outside Jerusalem. Yesterday he called and invited me to join him and a few friends for a ride. The only catch was that they were leaving Shabbat morning at 5:30AM. How could I say no? I couldn't. I didn't sleep a wink because I was nervous I would oversleep. Up at 5. It was still dark. Grabbed an apple, a lachmania (roll) and some cheese, and biked over to David's house. 45 minute drive to Tsomet Nachshon (near Latrun). We found the last two parking spots at the gas station. Clearly there were a few bikers. We set off. David had been sick the day before and so he was a little slow. His friends though... Well it was tough for them to keep with us. You see, one of them is a personal trainer. You might say he is in good shape. He had to go to the top of the hills, then bike back down to the bottom and come back up again with us. It must be tough to be in such good shape. We biked 25 miles including about 400m of ascent (two different 200m) hills. I did just fine, so I think that means I'll be in good enough shape for the ride.

When I bought my (used) bike (16 speed), I had the shop switch out the rear cassette (gears) to make it easier -- more of a touring bike than a racing bike. This was clearly a good choice. I was wondering if I was going to also need to change my front chain links (gears) -- maybe make the small one smaller, or even add a creeper gear. After today's ride, I'm thinking I will do okay as is. As long as I can manage about 7mph up hill the gears easiest gear is fine. In the hardest gear, I can go about 36mph -- which is plenty fast. My nifty little spedometer says I hit 42 on one of the down hills. They were steep hills. (My friend Paul says that if you go as fast as your age, it was a good ride. It was.).

After our 25 miles we returned to the cars to find that not only was the gas station parking lot full, but the fields surrounding it were full. Hundreds of cars. Literally. Latrun must be the biking capital of Israel. While on the ride resting I watched a pack of 50+ riders pass by. And that was not the only pack of bikers I saw. It was just incredible the number of bikers out on the roads.

Back home by 10:30 in time to get lunch warmed up for Anna, Akiv and family while Dena and the kids attend shul.

Trip to the North (Miriam Interview)

We took a trip up north with Yael, Philippe, Aaron and Tal. We stayed at our home away from home away from home -- Kibbutz Ginosaur.


Interview with Miriam
Abba: Hi Miriam. What did you do today?
Miriam: Go on a hike, have breakfast, wake up early, see cows. That’s it. Have lunch, go on a ladder into the water. That’s it. Okay, so, are you writing that?
Abba: Yep.
Miriam: What else? It was scary going down the ladder.
Abba: How’d you do it?
Miriam: I was first and he [Jason –ed] was holding me, around me.
Abba: Do you remember the name of the river?
Miriam: Yehudiah.
Abba: And what does that mean?
Miriam: Avadim? Slaves [Evidently some confusion with the upcoming holiday].
Abba: Yehudim, not avadim.. What’s Yehudim?
Miriam: What we are. Jews.
Abba: So what was the hike like?
Miriam:What do you mean?
Abba: Well, was it easy and flat, or hilly, or rocky, or snowy?
Miriam: Rocky and watery. Some places deep and some places not. And some places slippery on the rock.
Abba: Did you go in the water?
Miriam: Sometimes.
Abba: How come?
Miriam: Because you had to. Some places you didn’t have to, but I just wanted to.
Abba: I bet the water was warm.
Miriam: No it was cold. But I could still go in it.
Abba: Tell me about the ladder.
Miriam: It was high [just 30 feet], and before we went down it, I was crying because I was so scared. Before we went on the ladder Abba found [empty] bakbokim [bottles], and brought them with us for floaties, so we had them to use as floaties. Then we got to another metal steps in the rock, which were even scarier. Abba went first and then when we got to the bottom, I was holding on so I would not fall in. And Philippe threw the bottles to us, so we could get them.

Cows
[The following section was typed by Miriam with the help of the Mircosoft Word spell checker, and a few hints from Abba and Mama. –ed]
to nit I went to dinner in tibrius [Tiberias]. And then we went to the cows and saw the cows getting milked. And then we looked at the calves then I decided to go to see the cows getting milked again. And then Abba came. And the whole family came then the cows pooped on us. And then some of us went to the kibbutz. I stayed.

Abba: Now Miriam, you need to go to bed. Your brother and sisters are already asleep. It is almost 11:00. Good night.

Miriam: you forgot to say good night Miriam.
Abba: Good night Miriam

Spring arrived, Passover is coming

New Arrivals Anna Mendleson (Yale ’89) and Akiva Dickstein (Yale ’90) have just arrived in Ra’anana with their 4 kids – ages 12, 10, 7 and 5. Sounds pretty close to our kids, 11, 9, 7, and 5. Guess the name of their eldest? Dani. Among my college buddies from Yale Student Friends of Israel (YSFI), Sam Schwartz is now living in Ra’anana, Dena and I are here, Anna is in Ra’anana, Ami is in Tel Aviv. It seems amazing – but then I suppose Yale Student Friends of Israel is a self-selected group. I shouldn’t be so surprised that so many of us are here in Israel – temporarily or permanently.

Kimche De Piska.

Our Shul (The Ra’anana Conservative Congregation) participated with all the other shuls of Ra’ananan in Kimche DePiska. I must admit I’d never hear the words before, though I understood it meant providing food for the poor on Passover. Somehow I kept thinking that Piska was related to fish – like Pisces or something. Much later I finally saw the words written in Hebrew letters and I was able to decipher what is perhaps Aramaic. The rough translation to Hebrew must be Kemach Li Pesach, or in English, Flour for Passover. Anyway, in addition to soliciting cash donations, shul members were asked to help pack the food, or/and deliver it. I talked to Dani about the project, and he did not like the idea of delivering food, so we agreed on helping to pack it at the warehouse. I got the location --- corner of Ra’anana near the fields at the end of Katzin St. I checked the map. Seemed easy enough. Figuring that Anna and her 12 year old had just arrived, I thought it might be nice to invite her Dani to come too. He readily agreed, and we were off. I checked them map, saw Kazan St – though it seemed to be in a slightly different location that I had remember. Oh well. Dani and Dani seemed to get along okay. I parked the car on a side street and we walked to the end of Kazan. Nothing but fields. Hmm. We wandered about, but clearly we were in the wrong place. Thank God for cell phones (that’s the language here, but really I should say “thank engineers”). I called Dena, who was able to give me Collins number (from the Shul), who was able to correct Kazan to Katzin and direct me where we had to go. Not actually that far away. We got to the warehouse, and somebody had managed to bring a bus load of soldiers to help too. We were pushy and found a way to help. Dani and Dani stuffed the boxes with Kemach (flour), seasonings, Oil, Grape Juice. I busied myself with getting rid of the empty boxes, and making sure the supplies were ready on hand for the packers.

More Visitors

Yael and Philippe arrived on Thursday night with Aaron and Tal. We were all beyond excited to see baby Tal. The kids ran downstairs to great them, and came up with Aaron babbling away. Dena, of course, had stolen Tal and carried him up. Totally smitten. It’s a good thing I have a little bit of a backbone left.

Friday night was had dinner with the relatives (Ofra, Amnon, Oren, Dafna, Ilan, Hedva, and Mor). It was the first time I had made more Sushi than could be consumed in a single meal. It was a big hit. Since we had run out of the Wasabi tube, I had picked up some powered Wasabi that I mixed together. Boy was it strong. Do you think we should use it for Passover?

Egal Shul
Saturday was the big day in Shul. Dena and I had both agreed to read torah. We both had short readings, but I had ended up with a Shalshelet, a very rare troupe. I’d never had one before. The big deal was not that we were reading, but that it was going to be a Egalitarian service instead of, and not in addition to, the regular conservadox service. I raced to shul to get there on time (8:30am), catching up to Sam the president, and Rabbi Rosansky (not the shul rabbi, but a member who is a rabbi). Lightening hadn’t yet struck, and no earthquakes. Within a few minutes, we had a Minyan – counting women. Had we needed 10 men, it would have required a longer wait. Slowly the shul filled up – and it really filled. Many of the members who were against the change, including a couple who had walked out of the AGM (Annual General Meeting), attended. This was very encouraging, and the gossip, is that all who attended were very positive. They’ll be several conservadox services before the next egal Minyan in two weeks. For now though, it was great. The shul was alive. It was full, there were at least a dozen kids, Shula, the Rabbi’s wife (a trained cantor) led Sharit, Rabbi Rosansky led Psukei D’zimra. Margalit and Bayle led Adon Olam to the tune of Aviv Hegiah Pesach Ba (Spring arrive, Passover is coming), Men and Women had Aliyot and read torah. I suppose it doesn’t sound all that radical – but to be there felt radical.

Polly want a cracker

Ceramics has been Margalit's favorite extra-curricular activity this year. A picture is worth a thousand words, but the real deal is worth at least 10,000.

You've got mail.

I've always wondered why people like to send things with travelers instead of just mailing things to Israel. I always figured the mail worked fine. That is until my mother sent two packages to Dena on the same day. One had video tapes and arrived just fine in less than a week. The other, well, here's the story...

It didn't arrived, and my mother started bugging us about it. Did we get it yet? Nu? Finally on March 21st, I get a notice that I have 3 packages at the post office. Psyche. I drop Ronit at Gan, and head to the post office. One of the package slips is for the new nifty automatic package machine that is outside the post office and is available 24 hours a day. I can't get it to read the barcode on the slip. I try and try and try. No luck. So I go inside and get the other two packages -- Amazon books, and another package from my mother -- but not the right one. Back outside, this time the machine reads the barcode. But it says, "No such package. See the postman inside." Argh.

Into the post office and I explain my story. The guy at the desk sends me back to see Yossi in the backroom. Like I know who Yossi is? I look around and ask everybody I see if they are Yossi. Nope. Finally I head upstairs. On the way somebody tells me Yossi is outside at the package machine. I run out there, but he isn't there. I try my barcode again. Same message. Back inside. Some guys is getting out of the elevator. "Are you Yossi?" "Yes". Phew. I explain the story, but Yossi cannot find the package anywhere. He promises to look for the package and wants to write my phone number on the back of the package notification slip. I refuse to give up the slip, so he writes my number on a scrap piece of paper.

Two days pass. No phone call. i visit the post-office. No package. Two more days, I arrive at the post office at 12:45. Ooops, they close at 12:30. I'll never get the Israel schedule right. I return at 4:30 when they are open again, but Yossi is only there in the morning. This process continues.

Thursday night. It feels like it should be the day before the weekend and we should be relaxing, but we aren't. I'm working. Phone calls from EMC at 9pm, 10:30pm. Bugs at a customer site.

A busy morning. Last night was the clock change. Spring Forward. We lost an hour of sleep. On top of that this week Dani is a crossing guard, so he has to be out the door extra early.

Latest email from EMC is that the bug still isn't fixed. I'm going to have to work today. At least I've already bought the salmon for Shabbat lunch. Dena is out doing other shopping. Phone rings...

"Why don't you visit me anymore"

Who could this be. I decide on the direct approach, "I don't recognize your voice. Who is this?"

"Yossi, at the Post Office. I have your package. Its an international package."

"Okay, I'm coming."

I hop on my bike, for my second ride of the day. Pass Dena (on her bike) coming back from buying Challah. I'm sure by now the security guard at the post office recognizes me. I'm the guy with the bike helmet who comes every other day without bringing anything, and leaves without taking anything. He must wonder what I do in the post office. Yossi has some big long explanation about what happened to the package. I didn't follow, but I see that the package is ripped a little here and there. It was mailed on March 6th. I received my first notice on the 21st, and now on the 31st, I finally have the package. I'm amazed. Amazed that it got lost. Amazed that it got found. Amazed that Yossi still had my phone number to call me. Amazed that I bothered to lose sleep about the missing package. Now I've got my table cloth for Passover.

Election Photos

As I train for the Arava Institute bike ride in May (300+ miles) (http://arava.kintera.org/2006israelride/jasonglasgow) I've had a great chance to snap pictures of my favorite elections photos. I've posted them at Phanfare. My favorite ones are the spoofs. Elite chocolate has been running adds on the radio (which I have not heard), and put up hundreds of billboards (which I have seen) showing their cow logo and pretending as if there is a Cow party. With 31 different parties including one called "Green Leaf" whose platform is to legalize marijuana, one could easily believe that there could be a cow party that wants the government to subsidize chocolate. In this country anything could happen. Today after biking around Park Ra'anana on my new (used) road bike, I stopped at the Sushi restaurant to pick up take-out dinner. Guess what, they too have gotten into the act with an election style poster asking you to vote "SameSame". There has been lots of talk about how this has been one of the more boring elections. I'm not sure if I agree. The various polls have come up with wildly varying numbers, and Kadima has been slipping in the pools just about every week. It looks like there could be some surprises tomorrow. Certainly the original numbers from November 2005 of 42 seats for Kadima -- which would have given it a huge amount of power in forming a coalition do not look like they will materialize. If Kadima only gets 32 seats it will have to work very hard to form a coalition.

I've taken a few cabs lately, and I never miss the opportunity to ask the drivers about the election. Yesterday's driver says he's voting Lieberman -- the "Fat Russian" (his words, not mine). According to the driver, the Russians have fought the Muslims in Chechnya, and know that force is the only way. The day before the driver insisted he wasn't voting. What's the point, the politicians are all corrupt. I tried to convince him to vote, using the public service announcement argument -- "don't let anybody else decide for you", but I don't think I was very convincing. It's amazing -- with 31 parties -- including at least 1 campaigning for clean government (see election posters), there is no excuse not to vote.

8 or 11?

Rabbi Resnick went on a trip to Mexico for a Conservative Rabbi's conference, and in his place, he asked me to read torah at today's morning minyan.  After verifying that the kriah was only about 12 psukim, I happily accepted.  It turns out that recently some women have been coming to morning minyan and wearing Talitot and Tefiilin.  This does not sit so well with some the regulars, and so one of them, a regular Torah reader, has more or less stopped coming.

After a short 10 minute walk in the quiet early morning, appreciating the sun and the smell of fresh bread from the bakeries, I arrived early to minyan.  At that point there was one other member distributing the siddurim and tanachim.  Slowly the others filed in until there were 7 men and one woman.  There were a couple whispers as she put on Tifilin, and then an open discussion about the Rabanit.  Which really means Rabbi Ilana who regular attends the Shul.  Apparently the 'correct' word is Rabbi.  There is no such things as Rabanit.  In hebrew it might be Rav, or Raba, but not Rabanit.  Eventually the woman with her Tefilin walked over the men's side to explain that the word is "Rabbi" and yes it can apply to a woman!  There is no need to invent fictious words.

The numbers slowly increased until we had 9 men and three women.  Depending on how you count, we might have reached a minyan -- in this case the counting was 9.  Tfilot started, without Kaddish.  Finally, somebody ran downstairs to drag in a guy, who stood around without Tefilin or Talit obvioiusly not partipating, until Yossi arrived just in time for the Torah service.

I had to suppress my desire to run out of the room as Yossi arrived -- because honestly, I find it hard to count myself as part of a minyan that does not count women.  Clearly that is what some of the men have done -- to the detriment of all.  Being that I had agreed to read torah, it really wasn't an option.

If it were for the fact that others share my egalitarian views, I might feel like I was from Mars.

Miriam blogs

Jason: Miriam, its your turn to write for the blog.
Miriam: Why?
Jason: Because I want Grandma, Grandpa, Savta and all your friends and relatives to know what you're doing. What should we write about?
Miriam: I don't know.
Jason: Let's write about Purim. What did you do for Purim?
Miriam: Dress up and eat Mishloah Manot.
What did you dress up as?
Miriam: A princess.
Jason: Really, tell me about it.
Miriam: Pink, pretty, pouffy and it has a crown. Ronit got a dress, and I wanted one too, so I went to the store with Mama. Ronit got it in Purple and I got it in Pink.
Jason: When did you wear the dress?
Miriam: On Purim to shul, to school, for a play. On Purim we went to a shouk (Purim Carnival). We went on blow-up things, rock climbing, jumping, slides, ate pizza with Racheli. I also went to a birthday party for Arielle and Aaron (Ronit's friends).
Jason: What did you like about Purim this year?
Miriam: I don't know. You dress up. We got a lot of Mishloach Manot.
Jason: Tell me about English class.
Miriam: The teacher is Racheli's Grandmother, and we turn the corner of the street and we don't need to cross any streets to get to her house. She lives next to the Mirchin's house. I'm going to learn how to read there. She gave us a little book to read and a hoveret (workbook). I've already done one and a half lessions. They're already on chapter 4, and I skipped the first hoveret (workbook).
Jason: What are you looking forward to now that Purim is over?
Miriam: Aunt Yale to come. We can see Baby Tal and Aaron.
Miriam: When are we going to make Jello?

Not again :-(

Yes, Miriam has lice again.  I just pulled out 15 live ones.  Her response?  Smiles.  "That means I get a party when we get rid of them again!"  That sure is a good way to look at it.  I wish I could be so positive.

Adar Again

I've posted some more pictures from Adar and some movies too.  Check them out at http://jasonglasgow.phanfare.com/album/41216

Adar Movie -- Shouk Purim

Adar movie available at http://jasonglasgow.phanfare.com/album/41216. The last image is a movie.

Ra'anana Conservative Shul Tests the Egal Waters

Just back from a historic meeting of the Ra'anana conservative shul.  I'm not sure if I've written about our shul before, but it is the only conservative shul that I know that isn't egalitarian.  After hours (literally) of arguing, including the president threatening to walk out, the shul finally voted to allow the executive committee to continue to experiment with an egalitarian services, "but not to ever have less than 2 egalitarian and 2 conservadox shabbat morning services per month".  This is actually a HUGE change.  Since we came, the shul has been running an additional egalitarian services once a month after the conservadox minyan.  The new resolution now pretty much guarantees that the shul will move to alternating between conservadox and egalitarian minyans, instead of running two a week.

There are certainly a few members who didn't like the resolution, but in general, I think even most of the members who prefer a conservadox services were happy that they got a guaranatee that the shul will not totally change overnight. 
A few members, perhaps more who weren't present, are not happy at all with the change, but I think it is pretty hard to please everybody.  It was great to hear the members who have been at the shul for 20+ years, speak about how long they've waited for this decision.  Of course, this now ups the ante.  I feel like the 'egal' supporters really need to show up regularly and bring friends to show that the change was worthwhile.

Blogger Widget

I've just installed the Google Blogger widget for Mac OS X. Maybe this will make it easier to just sit down and write a few sentences here and there. In any event, it is a pretty neat little widget. Simplicity at its best. Type away then press "Publish Post" and magically it appears on the blog.

I've recently started uploading my pictures to phanfare (http://jasonglasgow.phanfare.com/) It seems like a pretty good website for publishing lots of photos and even little movies. Check it out.

I also grabbed a Sudoko widget so I can waste time. So many widgets, so little time.

Eilat

On the way to Eilat we stopped at many of the major and some of the minor stops. First we wanted to check out the Israeli Air Force museum on the outskirts of Beer Sheva. Lots of airplanes, and some that you can climb into. I think the kids had most fun at the playground there, though I found it interesting to look at the evoltion of the Israeli airforce from single engine propeller planes that were shipped in pieces to Israel and assembled here, to the latest jet fighters (from America).

After the airforce base we stopped at Sde Boker to see David Ben Gurion's bungalo, and stop by his grave site. There we practically ran into several families of ibex. They were so close it felt like you were at a petting zoo. From there to Maktesh Ramon, where we watched amatuers rapel off the cliff, and then a long drive through the dessert to Eilat.

Eilat in January is a little chilly - perhaps 65 degrees. Perfect weather for sightseeing, and just a little chilly for swimming. Despite my feelings, the children have been well trained by the waters of Maine and saw absolutely no reason not to swim. So swim we did in a pool with sand -- a beach simulation.



Our first day in Eilat we visited the aquarium/underwater observatory. It has great views of the fish and coral reef, and then we took a glass bottom boat ride to see even more. It would have been perfect except Dani got eaten by a shark. I wish we knew how dangerous it is in the Red Sea.







On Shabbat we visited Timna. Dena and Dani ran off for a tough 3-hour hike, while I drove around the site with Nusha and the girls, seeing the "Mushroom", the "Screw", the "Arch" and many other natural formations. We met up later to see Solomon's pillars.

Margalit Makes Challah

Margalit had an assignment to bake Challah. As you can see she really enjoyed getting her hands dirty, and the entire family enjoyed the result.

Biking the Golan (take two)

Woke up at 6:15am this morning for my second biking trip to the Golan. Danny Reiter picked me up at 6:30 and we were off on the 2 hours drive to Arik in the Southern Golan. Perched some 500meters above the Kinneret, the surround cliffs have great views of the farms along the eastern shore. It was from this area that the Syrians used to lob bombs on to the Israeli farmers below before 1967. Some of the guns were left for us to see. The understated description of the ride said there would be some ups and downs, including some scarey downhill sections.

We started off and after riding past the refet (cow shed) and the cow dung, we very quickly hit out first downhill. It was rather steep, and the it was rather muddy. Of course after enjoying a 150m of descent, payback time was just around the corner -- 150 of ascent. Well, this went on and off for most of the ride. Terrifying descents, followed by steep ascents. I kid you not when I say each up-down cycle was worse (better depending on your perspective) than the previous.

By the end there were several segments that were either too steep, or too muddy to be biked. (I suppose that's a matter of opinion, but I wasn't the only walker to say the least -- and even when I was walking, the bikers could barely keep up.) The mud was so think that at one point while walking the bike the my front wheel locked up from all the muddy clay stuck on brakes.

Some of the downhills were so steep and so long that my hands and arms hurt by the time I reached the bottom from squeezing the brakes for so long. Its always a delicate balance between going fast enough to be stable, avoiding the puddles and fellows riders, and enjoying the thrill of speed. Of course on one downhill two brilliant kids decided to race one another. Just as I was closely following somebody the two of them decide to pass us -- one on the left, and one on the right. The guy on the left ended up driving through some shrubbery and than almost knocked the guy in front of me off his bike. The two kids then regained control and sped off to the bottom off the hill. When I finally got to the bottom I overheard the one bragging to the other about how he drove right through the bushes. I think he'll soon be a candidate for a darwin award.

Vacation with the Grinspoons

The next day we had to be on the road again by 7:00 so that we could meet the Grinspoons by 9:00 at the Kinneret. We needed to catch up to Dani, and we wanted to spend the day touring with them. We followed them (and their tour guide) around the Golan stopping at the Golan Winery, Har Bental, Braichat Ram and the Banyas. It was unbelievable. At 200m below sea level on the shore of the Kinneret the weather was very comfortable. At our second stop on top of Har Bental, at 1000m, with a view of Mount Hermon and Syria, it was freezing cold -- and we were not dressed appropriately. There was even a little bit of snow left on Har Bental.

But back to the winery. The kids were not expecting much, and they somewhat groaned through the promotional movie -- as did I. The next stop of the tour was a huge room with hundreds of barrels where the wine ages. That was a little better. The next stop was the factory, where the bottles are washed, filled, corked, and packaged. This was fascinating. It was really fun to watch all the machines do their stuff. And there were even a few manual steps. (Kind of like the opening scene in Laverne and Shirley...). And then to top it all off, we had a wine tasting. Dani, Margalit, Sloan, Reid and Yaddin, were happy to try a few glasses of wine, and it put them in a good mood for the next few stops.