I started this sketch of Esther pointing out Haman to Ahashverosh of Persia way back in December. It is based on an old painting – if you want, you can look it up. I liked the idea of the boldness of Esther. Is she someone to emulate? Can we find evil and point it out? Even if it means risking out lives?

The story of Esther is told at the Jewish holiday of Purim, which usually falls in the early spring. So you would think December would be enough time to finish a sketch? Mind you, this isn’t a full-scale oil painting, although I think portraiture (especially three people) is much easier in the medium. Well, December rolled in January and February, when I went with my daughter to Israel. Then I got offered some great website work when I returned … I am still working quite a few hours a week for a school at Rutgers University. Fast forward … daughter went to camp, husband took son to college orientation in Maryland. I’m home alone … what do I pull out, but this painting! Started it again. The first time Haman turned out like a blob of black. I intended to give him a three-cornered hat instead of the Dutch feathered cap in the painting I used as a model. Maybe next time.

I will now spend a bit of time poking around for inspiration for a new watercolor sketch. Suggestions welcome.

Last week on May 12 Israel celebrated its 68th birthday. And since I was working, I missed our local celebration (here’s a local Edison parade from a few years ago). Well, now I have a little time; I can share with you a few more photos from our January/February trip to Israel.

We went to visit my niece who teaches high school English in an international school north of Tel Aviv. The high school is in a youth village called HaKfar HaYarok – literally, the Green Village. Above is a picnic table with a pot of flowers. Wouldn’t you like to study math or social studies in February while sitting at a sunny picnic table?

Old City of Jerusalem, inside Jaffa Gate entrance

Here’s my daughter inside the Old City of Jerusalem, right near the Jaffa Gate.

And here’s a similar photo inside the Old City of Jerusalem – how is this different from the one above?

Hula Valley, Galil, Israel Views

Ah, birds in flight – probably cranes – at the Hula Valley nature reserve (previous post on this blog).

Even more birds in flight – how they fill the Hula Valley skies.

In many spots in the Hula Valley you can see the Golan Heights off to the east. Here’s a dramatic photo of the Heights rising over the farms below. Before 1967 when Israel captured the Golan Heights in a defensive war, Syrian soldiers used to fire shots from the mountains down on the farmers below.

Back to Jerusalem

These two photos (above and below) are both Jerusalem shots. The carnation in a pot is located in the quaint neighborhood of Yemin Moshe, a “suburb” of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built in the late 19th century. I understand buying a home there now would cost you quite a pretty penny (can you afford a yacht?).

Finally, this is a cute bird diving into a little fountain with Jerusalem lions. It was near our hotel (the Inbal), north of the old train station that was renovated (and we did not get a chance to see – lots to do for our next visit).

Because there is some nature in this post (can you spot some?), I am including this post in Nature Notes:

One of the cool things about visiting Israel at the end of January was in all different sorts of places I found flowers! I am not used to flowers in January; I grew in the Boston area where what one found on the ground was usually snow. I photographed a variety of Israeli flowers in January. The yellow daisy above was somewhere near Tel Aviv.

Here is a similar yellow flower – also north of Tel Aviv, in a different spot. We had visited my niece who is teaching English in an international high school. I am wondering if keen-eyed nature bloggers can suggest difference between these two daisy-like flowers.

These lovely dark pink flowers were growing in a garden in Jerusalem right behind Yemin Moshe.

This shot of the dark pink flowers focuses on the Old City of Jerusalem behind the garden. It was a lovely view.

This pink flower with thick leaves was in a location north of Tel Aviv. In Israel one can often find flowers and plants with thick leaves; the thick leaves store water, and almost no water falls in the summer, so the plants have to store it up to stay alive.

This is some kind of thick leaf vegetation by the Mediterranean sea north of Tel Aviv.

I photographed this thistle in the Hula Valley. Contrast this green look of the thistle in a winter with abundant rain with the thistle I photographed back in 2008 in a drought.

A tiny wildflower peaked out at me when I visited the backyard of a friend who lives in Har Adar, Israel, a beautiful village on top of a tall hill, the tallest hill in the west Jerusalem hills. Maybe it’s some kind of geranium? (See cranesbill that grows in front of my house, as a contrast). There was also abundant rosemary growing in the area. When I grow rosemary in New Jersey, it almost always dies in the winter. In the Jerusalem area, even the winters are cold, they are not as cold as in New Jersey, so the rosemary spreads and makes itself known. How nice to have rosemary naturally in your backyard!

Enjoy some yellow wildflowers I found by Tel Azeka (a few minutes by car west of Beit Shemesh).

It’s been a while since I last posted. In the Nature Notes blogging world, something awful happened last month. I was hoping to get a comment on my last post from one of my favorite bloggers, EG Wow (real name: Tina Forrester). I learned to my horror that Tina and her husband had died in a terrible car accident. If you have never visited her blog, oh, sigh, you are in for a treat. But you will never really learn how warm and friendly her comments were when she commented on other blogs. May her family and friends know no more sorrow.

For more Nature Notes:

Among the birds I saw at the Hula Valley in Israel: gallinule (moorhen), lapwing, egret, crane, pelican. My daughter saw a small blue bird fly by quickly twice – this may have been a kingfisher.

A bit of history about this magical (to me, at least) place in northern Israel:
Back in the 1950’s the malaria-ridden swamps of the Hula Valley were drained. However, this caused ecological damage. From the leaflet of the Hula Agamon Lake: “Over the years the peat earth that is typical of the Hula(organic earth the the remains of plants and animals) dried up, broke up, sunk, and even started to burn underground. The worst thing was that the phosphates and nitrates in the earth were washed into the Kinneret and polluted its waters.” In the 1990’s earth was restored; the project included digging canals that allowed the control of water in the area.

One of the major benefits of the 1990’s work was this ornithological spot, unique in the world. Over this area twice a year no less than 500 million birds migrate.

Learn more here: http://www.agamon-hula.co.il/?lang=en_US

This bird is a spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover.

Here is a gallinule – note that orange beak.

Here my daughter is standing by a white nesting box. We didn’t see any birds near the box, but the box reminded me of the boxes we saw at Cape May. According to the literature we were handed when we entered, these are for white owls. It seems the white owls eat voles, and voles do damage agriculturally, so eliminating the voles is a good thing.

I got some good photos of the handsome egret.

I believe this is an egret in flight.

The most abundant bird species in the area are the cranes.

Those spoonbills sure have funny beaks. (see https://twitter.com/hulakkl/status/498657479324991488)

This furry-looking guy is a muskrat.

Ah, after rain on and off, it’s nice to be rewarded with a rainbow!

Even better, here is the rainbow with birds flying by.

Notes on visiting Hula Agamon Lake: don’t do what we did and try to walk the whole thing. We should have rented the golf cart. It’s a big area! There are also bikes available to rent. It would be great to visit during a migratory period, but I feel fortunate that I got there at all.

For more nature notes, visit:

I have always wanted to see the spring flowers in bloom in Israel, and on my recent trip, I had that opportunity. Too bad my daughter thought the day too cold for an outdoor trip, but to me it felt like April in Boston.

There is a song in Hebrew for these beautiful red flowers that show up all over the landscape in February in Israel: kalaniyot. The English name for these flowers is anemones.

The ones I saw were not yet open. I asked my son who is spending the year in Gush Etzion if he saw any red flowers, and he said, oh yeah, he did see a lot of red flowers. Probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t said anything.

This is rakefet – cyclamen in English. Turns out there is a song for rakefet as well!

This is an almond blossom. That one, too, comes with a song: Hashkedia porahat. In about one month parts of Israel will be full with these blossoms.

I saw this chicory flower as well. I think the Hebrew is olesh.

There is history in the park as well. Supposedly, somewhere in the plains David battled the Philistines.

I’m not sure what city that is in the background, but when you reach the top of Tel Azeka on a clear day, you can see far in many directions. I think the general area is called Emek HaEla – Valley of Ela.

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