I have my very own blog! How to start? Should I say who I am?

Well, you can see me here - sitting on a door dating from about the 3rd century. Gosh, it's even older than I am!

Who am I hoping will read me? Am I doing this to fill an empty void - or is it a meaningful activity in its own right?

I guess all the answers to this and many more questions will come in time. So watch this space. (Who? Who am I talking to???? Have I finally lost it?)

I do already have a web site http://www.rsvp-tours-israel.com/ so you can visit that too - but HERE's the place to add your comments. Nice, positive ones please :)

Aretz yaffa v'gam porachat

Don't forget to click on the photos if you want to see them large!

A shepherd watches his flocks just as David did three thousand years ago. Lucky for this lad that he doesn't have to fight off the lions and the bears. (The Crusaders killed the last lion a thousand years ago, the last bear met it's end barely a century ago.)

Hard to believe - but all these trees were planted by the Jews in the last century ...

the flowers came back on their own!

although when General Avraham Yoffe deputised every child in Israel into his Army for the Protection of Wild Flowers with the words "Don't pick! Don't uproot! Don't buy! And don't sell!" their survival was assured.

What the train traveller saw ...

So near, and yet so far away

Just had to share …

This week I took the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on my own, when I could just sit and enjoy the view.

It was heaven! I timed it so that I would arrive in Jerusalem as the sun was setting. I made sure to sit on the left of the train, window seat, facing forward.

……

The train leaves on the dot.

The first part of the journey takes me out of the built up areas of Tel Aviv to reveal intimate glimpses of people’s back yards. Within minutes I am seeing planted fields, sheep and even some domestic camels. I sweep by Lod, Ramle, and then I am away from human habitation. A look at the map will reveal that in this tiny country, these fields are an even tinier part – but somehow as you travel along you feel as if you are a thousand miles from civilization. The waving wheat is a rich green, the searing winds have not yet turned it golden. Then the track veers eastward and more fields are on the left, a Tel stands out upon the plain (Samson was here!), a forested slope is on the right, and the wild flowers are competing for my attention.

Bet Shemesh; the train empties and I know the best is yet to come. Towering cliffs on the right, the valley falling away below on the left, with glimpses of rushing water, the Sorek River. Yellow is the predominant colour, broom, acacia, wild chrysanthemums, mustard, with here and there a splash of red, anemones, red buttercups, poppies. The glorious redbud tree with its deep pink blossom, the cream flowers of the strawberry tree and the creamier flowers of the storax, all delight the eye.

I see kingfishers and jays, kestrels and eagles. A family of chukkars scuttle up the embankment (why do these birds never fly, I wonder). A jackal is hunting, following a well-worn path.

Ancient terraces, originally built by the returning Children of Israel 3000 years ago, straddle the hills. Today they encompass tiny plots planted with vegetables, vines, olive trees. I know I am approaching Jerusalem.

Whoever said this train is not fast enough has never travelled on it. The speed is perfect for watching nature as we pass it by – I find myself looking at my watch, wishing for the time to go slower.

Sadly the journey is at an end!

I'll be back!

To those who say the train takes too long … So you would “save” half an hour. But at what cost?

Here’s a poem I remembered from my childhood – says it more eloquently than I could. Though I have added my own verses at the end!

"LEISURE"

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

By Wm. Henry Davies.
________________________

No time to take a journey through the hills
To briefly escape from all life’s ills.
To watch from a window as delights unfold
Waiting to see what each view will hold.
A poor life this, if full of strain
We have no time to take the train!

By Pm. Joyce Levene