Nostalgia

March 1, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Bus ride, Going to school, Hadera, Israel, Memory, middle-school, Morning, Siblings, Sisters, What Pegman Saw, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 29 Comments

Photo: Hadera, Israel

The bus rumbled on the narrow road, slow behind the loaded tractor wagon. A mix of diesel fumes, damp earth, and faint notes of orange blossoms wafted through the open crack in the heavy window.

They were going to be late. Again.

She sighed and glanced at her youngest sister, automatically feeling for the change-of-uniform she carried at the bottom of her school bag for the eventuality that her sister’s car-sickness would get the upper hand.

Across the narrow aisle, a woman coughed wetly into a handkerchief and shifted the plastic baskets that crowded the small space under her feet. Those will be packed full on the ride back from Hadera, their area’s shopping center and nearest ‘big’ town.

Finally, past Gan-Shmuel, the snailing tractor turned into a field and the bus picked up speed. Houses marked the city’s boundaries. She nudged her other sister awake. “We’re getting off soon.”

For What Pegman Saw: Hadera, Israel

Note: Depicting a very true (almost daily) childhood memory …

Sized History

June 9, 2019November 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Archeology, History, Israel, Micro Poetry, One Word Sunday, Past and Future, Photo Challenge, Poetry, Pottery, Size, Tel Zafit 14 Comments

Tel Zafit, Israel (Photo: Atara Katz)

Take a measure

Of history,

Held in hand

Like a gift

From time.

For One Word Sunday: Size

Ancient Crush

June 4, 2019November 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Ancient, Archeology, fpj-photo-challenge, History, Israel, Olive oil, Past and Future, Photo prompt, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Turmoil 4 Comments

Yam lower stone for crushing olives AmitaiAsif

Photo: Amitai Asif

You’ve seen nations

Rise

And fall,

Felt oil

Extracted

From trees’ toil.

You’ve seen

The farmers

Tend the soil,

Bread dipped

To nourish

Heart and soul,

As children laughed

And played

And lived

And died

Through centuries of

War and spoil,

While you remained

Above the boil,

Till peace returns

For olives’ roil.

Note: The photo is of an ancient base stone (called “Yam” in Hebrew) of the grinding stones that are used for the first step of extracting oil from olives. A current-day olive grove can be seen in the background to the left. Olives were first domesticated about 6,000 years ago, likely in the Mediterranean basin. Documented history of deliberate oil pressing can be found as early as 4,500 years ago (around 2,500BCE).

To this day, making olive oil involves several stages of crushing and rinsing to extract the oil. In many places, olives are still harvested by hand or by beating the fruit off of the trees. The olives are then washed, and crushed by milling stones (traditionally between a bottom stone like the one in the photo and one or two mill stone that stand perpendicular to it and roll around the base stone). The millstone/s were historically moved by use of man-power or animal power, and in some places still are. The pulp is placed in woven bags or baskets, then the baskets themselves are pressed. The liquid from the press bags gets drawn into a reservoir where oil is left to settle and separate. Oil is then skimmed off and allowed to settle again, sometimes repeatedly, to remove impurities.

For the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Ancient

Shimmer’s Glimmer

March 22, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Calm, Evening, Fish pond, Israel, Maagan Michael, Photo a Week, Photo Challenge, Photography, Poetry, Shimmer, Twilight, Water fowl 6 Comments

Photo: Na’ama Yehuda

Evening gathers to call

Flocks to watering hole

And to glimmers of fish

In the sparkling bowl.

Palm to palm

Whispers calm,

As the pond

Drained but bright

Refracts sun’s glinting light

From silvery fins

‘Til a good night.

For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: Shimmer

Living Wild

March 3, 2019March 3, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Capra nubiana, Desert, Habitat, Israel, Negev, Nubian Ibex, Photo prompt, Photography, Poetry, Spiky, Sunday Stills, Wildlife 10 Comments

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

You have come to my

Backyard,

To my desert,

My home.

So why look

So surprised

To see me coming

Along?

Trivia:

Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) are desert-dwelling goat species that are found in mountainous areas of North Africa and the Middle East. The wild population is considered “vulnerable” and is estimated at only 1,200 individuals. Nubian ibexes stand around 65–75 cm (2.1–2.6 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh around 50 kilograms (110 lb). They live in rough dry mountainous terrain and are a light tan color, with a white underbelly. Males also have a dark brown stripe down the back. Nubian ibexes have long thin horns which extend up and then backwards and down. In males these reach around about 1 meter (~ 1 yard) in length while in females they are much smaller and reach around 30 cm (~ 1 foot).

For Terri’s Sunday Still challenge: Wildlife

For Becky’s Spiky Squares challenge (even though this is not strictly a square …)

Salted

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Dried, Drought, History, hope, Israel, Past and Future, Photo Challenge, Photography, Poetry, Salt, Solutions, The Dead Sea 8 Comments

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

In the cracked curl

Of earth

Baked in sun

And ancient salt,

The Dead Sea

Awaits a

Flawed flow of

Redemption,

Or a whitened end.

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Texture

Rain Fed Red

February 10, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Anemones, Beautiful world, Bloom, flowers, Israel, Lush, One Word Sunday, Photography, Poetry, Rainy season, winter 9 Comments

Photo: Amitai Asif

In the depth

Of the winter,

Where so much

Appears dead,

Plan ahead.

For there are places

Where nature,

Finally rain fed,

Blooms into

Fields

Of red.

For the One Word Sunday Challenge: Red

For Cee’s FOTD

Flower of First Rain

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Beautiful, Botany, Colchicum stevenii, Fall, flowers, Israel, Mediterranean, Photo Challenge, Photography, Seasonal 4 Comments

Photo: Amitai Asif

It emerges in fall

Flowers preceding leaves

To mark the last

Breath of summer

And the bounty that winter

Will soon retrieve.

Colchicum stevenii grows in the Mediterranean region and throughout Israel, blooming between October and December. Its name in Hebrew “Sitvanit Ha’Yore” literally means “Fall flower of first rains.” Flowers range from 1-2 inches (2-5 centimeters), with petals shaped from straight ruler-like petals to egg-like. Petals’ hues can be lilac or pink to almost white. The bulb contain colchicine, a toxic/poisonous material that is used in medicine to treat arterial diseases and gout.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day