On-Boarding the Satellite Dishes: Day One

This week the guys who put up the sign on the front of the building started switching the satellite dishes on the roof from NDS to Cisco (photoset on Flickr). The first day they worked on the biggest dish.

Lovely view from the roof of pier D, on the big satellite dish platform.

I climbed up and down this ladder (from 8th floor synagogue to the roof of Pier D) many times that day, shlepping a heavy camera, iPad and phone. My arms started to get sore.

Left to right: Oded S. (maintenance), Alberto (head sign-changing guy), Avi B. (hardware), who was responsible for moving the dish.

This photo was taken from the roof of Pier E. I walked over and climbed up the other ladder. You can see how big the dish is.

Back on Pier D, below the big dish.

Because of the angle of the dish I don’t have any photos of their actual work. The entire time the dish was almost horizontal. They sprayed the old letters with acetone to dissolve the adhesive but apparently it took much longer than they expected. Then they glued the Cisco logo onto the dish.

They finished the job after five hours in the sun.

The after picture. Because of the angle of the dish, the only place to photograph it from the roof was by climbing onto a couple air-conditioning ducts (I had permission) in the south-east corner of the building, so this was taken quite a distance from the dish.

Taken from the minibus on the way home. I was sitting on the left side of the aisle and took this shot through the window on the opposite side.

Herod’s Tomb at the Israel Museum

The exhibit, “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Resting Place,” at the Israel Museum is splendid. It finishes on January 4, so you  still have time to see it. The reconstructed sarcophagus (above), of reddish stone and delicately carved with rosettes, is believed to have been the coffin of Herod the Great (grandfather of Herod Agrippa, the Herod mentioned in the New Testament.)  The zealots who took over the Herodion fortress during the rebellion against the Romans (AD 66-73) had done such a thorough job of destroying the site that reconstruction was like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer spent 35 years searching for the tomb and announced its discovery in 2007. Netzer died after a fall at the site in 2010, a couple years after he approached the Israel Museum about the exhibit. The museum went ahead with the exhibit and removed dozens of half-ton stone pillars and fragments with a crane (they will be returned to the site when the exhibit is finished). For more information about this amazing site, see the articles in Smithsonian and National Geographic.

Bathtub and mosaic floor. The bathtub has no drainage system, so it would have been filled and emptied by hand.

Very colourful fresco fragments:

Elaborate stone carvings on lintels and capitals:

The photo angles are a bit wonky because I was shooting from the hip.

Large basin with winged women and handles with men’s heads, in the hellenic style:

Several video presentations superimposed 3D computer-generated graphics over aerial video footage of the site. Very impressive!

Model of the Herodion. The tomb was halfway down the hill, on the other. If you look at the video in the photo, imagine that you’re viewing the hill from the other side. The small round structure is the tomb, while the big hill in the background is the Herodion.

Reconstructed tomb. The red coffin is inside and you can walk around it.

Reconstructed banquet room with frescoes and plaster decorations:

Dance of the Planets

Tonight, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury formed a tight triangle over the horizon. If you have a clear view of the western horizon, you will be able to see this phenomenon until May 29. The last time this occurred was May 9, 2011. If you miss it this year, the next time will be Oct. 17, 2015, but you still have a couple nights!

It was surprisingly cold and windy on my balcony. I bundled up with a hat that covered my ears and kept my hair out of the way and a windbreaker. My camera was set up my sturdy tripod on the balcony, and I kept one hand on it at all times. The photo has not been cropped or altered.

Utrecht Canals

Oudegracht canal with the ubiquitous Domtor (cathedral tower) in the background.

Small restaurant on the wharf. Many of these warehouses seem to have been converted into artists’ studios.

Water basin:

Sepia view on a rainy morning.

Utrecht Windows

Two bicycles, facing each other, in front of a red building with a vine

Commercial building in the city center:

I was struck by the beautiful lace curtains and sometimes rather elaborate still-life arrangements in ordinary windows. Unfortunately, I couldn’t photograph one window with porcelain jars because a man was sitting at the table, drinking coffee, behind the window both times I checked (morning and evening). I guess he really liked the view.

Detail of a library window.

Love the red shutters…

Triangular window in my hotel room, with a view of the Dom tower.

Residential buildings in the historic city center

Message in the door of a house. I’m not sure how the letters were fastened to the glass. The passageway was quite dark.

Swearing-in Ceremony

My son finished basic training last week, so we went down to the swearing-in ceremony. The newly minted soldiers swear allegiance to the State of Israel and the IDF and receive a rifle and a Bible (Tanakh).

It would have been great if the ceremony had been held at the Kotel (Western Wall) or some other place central. But noooo — it was held in Ovda, about 20 miles north of Eilat. Because of work, we couldn’t arrange to take an extra day off midweek. We left the house at 5:30, traveled seven hours in each direction, on three buses, shlepping a picnic lunch and food and water for the journey, for a half-hour ceremony. The things parents do!

The scenery was spectacular. The photos aren’t the greatest because they were taken from inside a moving bus (and sometimes not even by a window).

This photo isn’t great but the people give you an idea of the scale (two soldiers from a field camp that we passed).

Entrance of Ovda air force base.

Most permanent bases have their own synagogue, but this synagogue was for the basic training camp. It originally belonged to another base, which was dismantled.

Waiting to march into the square. It was about 40 degrees that day. I was standing at the very back of the crowd, on top of a little hill. All shots were taken with an 18-135 mm lens.

Saluting his officer

Receiving a rifle (he won’t be carrying a rifle when he does his real army service because he’s in air force intelligence)

and a Bible (Tanakh)

Photos taken from the bus on the way home

This is probably coming up to Makhtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater), created by erosion, not a meteor.

Utrecht

I was in Utrecht for business last week, from Monday evening until Thursday. Although I put in plenty of 12-hour work days, I did manage to take a few photos. The hotel that I chose was in the center of town, near the old section of Utrecht, with canals. The canal in the first photo was only a few blocks from the hotel.

Below is a a church roof, underexposed to show the silhouette.

Tile peacock decoration on a building on Neugerachte.

The Dom tower is visible from almost every place in the center of Utrecht, so I have a lot of photos of it. There was good light on the second evening.

Love the colours of the boots and bicycle. If I hadn’t been so rushed I would have taken this shot at a lower angle. When you’re wearing business clothes it’s a lot harder to get down on the ground to take some shots.

The first morning it rained. I photographed this tulip near the large canal in front of the hotel.

Line Fun Day, 2013: Camels and Flamenco

We spent the afternoon and evening at Eretz Bereishit (Genesis Land). Yes, I did ride a camel, but not the one in this photo.

Red buttercups:

Tiny irises:

Purple flowers, which I’ve never seen before:

I photographed this kid during the shepherding workshop. What a face! It was in constant motion, so I was lucky to get this shot, head on and in focus.

The live entertainment after dinner was provided by flamenco guitarist Baldi Olier and dancer Yael Tuchfeld. They were very impressive.

Line Fun Day, 2013: Yemin Moshe and Old City

Last week we had our last line (= department fun day) for the year and our last one as NDS (Cisco doesn’t splash out like this on social events). During the morning we had breakfast in Yemin Moshe, followed by an elaborate treasure hunt in Yemin Moshe and the Old City. I managed to take a few quick snapshots. The photo above is a street in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

Lion fountain, a gift from the German government, in Bloofmield Gardens:

Mishekenot Sha’ananim was the first Jewish neighbourhood (1860) built outside the Old City walls. It’s now a guest house for prominent artists, musicians, and academics visiting Israel. The almond trees have started to bloom.

Mondays and Thursdays are the weekdays when the Torah is read publicly, which makes these days popular for bar mitzvahs. Here’s a bar mitvah boy under a chuppah, accompanied by relatives and drummers, on his way to the Kotel (Western Wall).

We had to wait outside Zion gate for a while, trying to decipher a clue. I photographed this metal gate outside an Armenian Church.

Boys going into Zion gate. I’m not sure what the hats are supposed to be but they were cute.

Dormition Abbey, on Mount Zion, Old City.

Courtyard of Kinor David restaurant, where we ate lunch. This was taken from the patio on the roof.

Jerusalem Kosher Wine Festival, 2013

Last night I attended the third and final night of the 2nd Annual Jerusalem Kosher Wine Festival in Binyanei haUma. For 80 NIS, you get you a glass to take home and all the wine tasting you can handle. Fortunately, the hall is close to the Central Bus Station. The festival was sponsored by A. A. Pyup, a large kosher wine store in Sanhedria. The store is close to Har Hotzvim, where my husband and I work, and we have been shopping there for years. From the outside it looks like a cinder block shack but it has two large rooms inside and a covered area outside. Some 40 wineries provided tastings and sold individual bottles and a “3+1″ (i.e., 4 bottles for the price of 3) offer.

Cooking workshop. I think he was brandishing a piece of chicken.

Food blogger Miriam Kresh (Israeli Kitchen) , who is working on an article for the Green Prophet, invited me to come along.

The food vendors were stationed in the lobby. Miriam and I bought a cheese platter, which I’m not posting the photo because it was probably more cheese than I eat in two weeks. But oh so good — Camembert, red cheese (sheeps’ milk), Gouda, basil cheese (like eating pesto in solid form! That’s the green one below) and another that I’m not sure of. Other vendors sold sushi, pastries, chocolates, cakes, spreads, olive oil, and bread. There was plenty of food to soak up the alcohol.

I hadn’t planned to buy anything but ended up taking home a bottle of Adom Cabernet Sauvignon from Saslove Winery, Kibbutz Eyal, near Kfar Saba. It was rich and spicy. The description sounds like someone dumped the contents of a supermarket bakery aisle into this wine, but the result was delicious! The Adom Cabernet Sauvignon has received one commendation, three silver medals, a bronze medal, and a trophy.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon rich with cherry, raspberry, plum and blueberry aromas. Ageing for 20 months in French and American oak barrels spiced with mint, nutmeg, cinnamon, mocha, chocolate, vanilla and slightly smoky maple syrup.

The Saslove “Pink” rosé was semi-dry, rich, not at all cloying, with a floral perfume. It was an exceptionally good wine, and if I had had the strength to carry 3+1 by bus to Maale Adumim (Miriam did shlep 3+1 to Petach Tikvah by bus!) I would have included that wine. We tried the Reserved Cabernet Sauvignon as well, but Miriam and I agreed that it was less exceptional than the rosé and the Adom Cabernet Sauvignon.

Roni Saslove (below), an Israeli-Canadian second-generation winemaker (her father is an engineer turned winemaker), told us about how she uses different yeasts for different grape varieties and some she freezes in order to stop fermentation abruptly and retain the flavours. She makes excellent wines, very complex and almost textured.

When I left at 8:30, crowds were still arriving. Not too surprisingly, the attendees were mostly religious and young.