The Rehovot Walk

On Friday, the Rehovot municipality sponsored a "Rehovot Walk". It was free and there was a 5 km route or an 8 km route that you could go on. I talked DH into doing this with me. The weather was PERFECT - mini-heat wave, in fact - and it's a gorgeous time of the year. EVERYTHING is in bloom and the whole country smells heavenly if you're anywhere near open, uncultivated land. The walk started off at the small orange grove museum near where I work. We parked the car in the lot there, picked up a map of the route and a couple bottles of free water they were handing out and started off at 8 a.m. We did the longer 8 km (~5 mile) route and finished up at 10 a.m. near the cemetery where they had a mini-bus waiting to take people back to the starting point and their cars.

It was SO wonderful to be in the great outdoors, to feel small and sense the hum of life and activity all around us even if we couldn't see it. The birds and the bees and the ants and the lizards and the rabbits and the snakes......

Enjoy the pics! There are a couple here that came out so good that I would love to have them blown up and framed.

On the way to the starting point. These fields are about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.



Thistle blossom



THIS way!





Orange tree

The starting point at the orange museum.

The banner says "Rehovot Walk" and the blue boxes are bottles of water that they were handing out for free.

Orange tree in bloom.

Sabra cactus (aka prickly pear). Native Israelis are known as "sabras" b/c they're all prickles on the outside and sweet on the inside.

Those fruits ARE edible - believe it or not - if you want to tangle with the prickles.

On the grounds of the world-reknowned Weizmann Science Institute which is down the block from where we live. I was told these buildings are used for science experiments.

A Holocaust memorial on the grounds of the Weizmann Science Institute. It is a massive log in the shape of a Torah scroll and etched into it are the numbers that were tatooed on the arms of all those who were put into the concentration camps for extermination.

The wonderfully green and cool cultivated grounds of the Science Institute.

Dr. Chaim Weizmann - the 1st president of Israel and after whom the Science Institute is named -  and his wife are buried on the grounds. This is their grave marker.

A 1952 Lincoln - the car of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the first president.

How nice! A youth orchestra playing rousing marching music on the corner a few blocks down from where we lived. They serenaded us as we walked past.

Monstrous apt. buildings a few blocks away from us. Hate them! But the flowers are nice.....



Not-yet-ripe carob pods.



Horse shoe tracks....

Olive trees.

Avocado trees. Wild? Planted by someone at some point? Who knows?



Avocado.



Is this picture perfect or what?

Newly mown field. Breathe deeply!

Bus after bus after bus of school kids were bused here to participate in the walk. This is the endpoint and the buses are waiting to take them back.

And another "funny" from Y:

Y: Ima (mother/mom), you know what's the difference between boys and girls?

Me: What?

Y: 1) Boys can't grow babies in their tummys and 2) Only girls have privates. Boys have "bulbuls" (childish term for "penis"). That's it!

What? THAT'S IT?!

Yesterday, after MONTHS of only agreeing to eat white pita bread with chocolate spread in it for her school lunches, Y informed us that from now on she wants w/w bread with tuna and sliced tomatoes in it AND half a cucumber in a bag and sliced yellow bell peppers. Where did THAT come from? (Maybe had something to do with the recent slew of dental appointments she's just finished with to fill cavities in about 12 of her teeth despite us making sure that she brushes her teeth every night.) Music to my ears.....never thought I'd live to see the day. We're talking about Little Miss Fussy.

We woke up to heavy rain this morning as they predicted. I wonder how long it will last.