Moving on ... more projects

I spent hours today working with HP Photosmart Essential 2.5, tagging photos so I could get them into some sort of album on my computer - this program is free - and when I closed the program and started it up again, all my tags were gone! I need to give up thinking about anything to do with these photos. They're all on Flickr now, they're in some sort of order that makes sense, and I need to move on!!! Oh, I can fritter away so much time without even blinking an eye, it seems. It's unbelievable how must time I lose when I'm focused on something.

There's tons of life out there still to be lived, and I can't get stuck on one single thing!

This morning, when I woke up (and I DID sleep all night last night!), I had an idea what I wanted to do with the fabric I purchased in Jerusalem. I think I can make some banners from it. I think there's enough color in these fabrics that I can create objects I can mount (applique) on some black fabric. The first one I thought of was "I am the vine ...," making passion flowers from the flower print, with hand embroidery for the anthers and stamen, and perhaps for the ruffle that lays just over the petals, and using some of the Damascus cotton for a border around the banner and perhaps some shapes here and there within the banner. I think I would like to put a thin layer of cotton - or a thick pellon-type layer - between the top and the backing - some quilting might be good to make objects stand out. (Donna, take note - I might not get to this until you get home next fall!).

While we were in church this evening (last Wednesday in Advent), I thought about "Feed my sheep...," "Lilies of the field...," and some other banners I could make, creating objects such as flowers, sheep, etc., from the Jerusalem fabric.

You can see part of my first sketch beneath this beautiful leaf I picked up as we were going into the sanctuary this evening ...

Ah, so little time! I could spend a month designing these banners, but I don't have a month I want to spend right now. I really want to get my small quota of military quilts made for December, and that's what I want to start on in the morning. I think I'll play around with some strips that I'll lay out various ways and see what happens.



Macy's is having their "last one-day-sale of the year" - hahaha! - whatever that means, but I thought I'd like to go shopping. I haven't been to Macy's forever - North County Fair (NCF) is at the south end of Escondido, and it seems I either drive to the library, about four miles from home, or I fly to some other part of the world - but Escondido just seems too far for me to go! I asked Lauren if he wanted to go with me, knowing he would say "No," and much to my surprise, he said "Sure!" So off we went.

The trip was productive because I found these clever back-pack bags there, and I just happened to have my camera. Lauren held the bags for me while I took pictures. It seemed better to do than to sit on the floor and sketch the details - which I would then have to interpret when I decided to see if I could make them!

The bags (at a whopping $138, not on sale) are fully lined with some neat pockets inside. The top is clasped together by snaps attached to a pair of leather strips. The bottom outside zipper pocket goes completely under the bottom of the bag, leaving a nice bit of room in which to tuck away a few things I wouldn't need to get too often, but which I'd want to have with me - just in case. My backpack is full of those kinds of things - notebooks, pencils and pens, a hat or two, some gloves, bottled water, my camera, sometimes a pair of binoculars, Hall's throat soothers, checkbook, calendar - you name it, I'm prepared! I really liked the looks of these bags, and I don't think they'd be hard to adapt to something I could make at home!

Whoopee! What a neat find for a morning of shopping!

While we were at NCF, we had a big almond-crusted pretzel, and I dipped my half in some Glidden's spicy mustard. Yummy!!! We also stopped at Starbucks because Lauren had a gift card from them, and I had a double latte which reminded me somewhat (but not quite) of the wonderful "white" coffee we can get in some parts of Europe. That prompted me to dig out our espresso maker from the cabinets when we got home, and maybe I can figure out just how to make the coffee I remember from some of our travels.

Last things for the day, before I forget... I picked up a few things in Israel just for us - a Druze Hat, just because I wanted something cheap in this beautiful, coarsely-woven, fabric, and a crocheted shawl because it was hand made by a local person - probably a Palestinian woman. The little circlets in the shawl are double-crochets around a chain, and then incorporated into the shawl. I love supporting local artists and crafts persons when we're traveling. I hope hand-crafting never ceases anywhere in this good old earth! The nature of the craftsmanship in the shawl make me leery of wearing it - it might not be durable - but I think the pair will make a nice wall decoration.

And that's it for today!

Israel 07 - The photo album

Dear friends and loved ones,

After a week of manipulating and arranging and rearranaging photos, blurring my aging eyes with pixels and colors and every shade of light and darkness, I have finally completed our Israel 07 album on Flickr.

At the same time, maybe I am finished with adjusting again to our local time. The two goals seemed to go hand in hand. Perhaps I was living in multiple worlds while I worked on the album - the past and the present, Mid-East time and Pacific Standard time - and neither would reconcile until I finished the album. Until the album was completed, I would have no normal sleep.

During the trip, my memory captured some quotables by Anise (I'm not sure exactly how to spell his name) - our very knowledgeable and eloquent tour guide from NAWA, and Pastor Matthew - our host from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Escondido. Pastor Matthew said something that keeps resounding in my memories:

When I'm here in Capernaum, I long to be in Jerusalem; and when I'm in Jerusalem, I long to be in Capernaum.

Church of St Peter's Primacy
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
Such it seemed with me as I completed the album. When my spirit was in the present in Israel, I longed to be in its past; and when my spirit was in Israel's past, I longed to be in its present. It is the wonder of such a place. The experience is transforming on levels that can't be understood.


Church of St Peter in Gallicantu
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.
One of the strongest impressions that will remain with me, as I think of this place that has such a presence in our lives, is that Israel is a place of light and color. On many occasion, after snapping a picture and checking it to see if my lighting was sufficient or overdone, I found myself sighing with wonder and contentment at the brilliant display of colors and light! Had there not been another picture I wanted to capture quickly, I would have found myself lost in the image on my disc, being satisfied as I explored the display I saw there.

I had the fear, before we took this journey, that Israel would be some sort of Christian Disneyland, overbuilt with human (and therefore artificial) monuments to stories in the Bible. That fear was unfounded. I found myself weeping at the Wailing Wall, as I did at Fatima, with the people there, both men and women. Our needs are great no matter where we are, and we seek God's closeness throughout our lives.

Israel is a living, breathing place. The monuments (chapels, churches, sanctuaries, basilicas) are so respectful and so tastefully exhibit the remains of the historical sites they protect. They have been built with the greatest of care and sense of beauty. Rarely are they duplicates of one another; rarely do they show a sense of a group of humans grabbing a spot and saying "This is Mine!" I feel a great sense of gratitude for those who participated in creating these works. They were creating no Disneyland.

Here's how I recommend viewing the album, if you are so inclined:

-Open the collection by clicking the Israel 07 box that should be on the right of your screen.

-Choose a set to look at, such as 10 Dec 07 - Capernaum. I believe you will see the main picture for the set, on the left, with a description of the set's contents, with thumbnails of all of the pictures on the right.

- Here, choose one of two choices:

-Beneath the 10 Dec 07 - Capernaum label just to the right of my picture, click the Details link and view the pictures with their descriptions -- or

- Click the Slideshow link at the right corner just above the pictures. If you view the pictures as a slideshow, move your mouse over the picture. You'll see an "i" when you do that. Click the "i," and the captions will appear below the picture as the slideshow progresses.

You can leave comments if you have something to say about the picture - a clarification of the image, your thoughts, or whatever.

I hope you enjoy. The album isn't perfect, of course - if perfection were attainable, it would take much longer than I have spent on this endeavor - but I hope you enjoy it as it is and get a taste of what we saw and felt during this brief journey!

It was a marvelous trip, one that I would recommend to anyone who is inclined to travel. Our touring company, NAWA, specializes in Christian tours, but the trip was as much about present-day Israel and Palestine as it was about its historical Christian past and present. That, to me, gave this trip a distinct advantage. Whatever we longed for, from the vantage point we were enjoying at any moment, was not far away.

Please feel free to forward our Flickr or my blog link to anyone you believe might be interested. We love to travel and our thirst to know our world and our co-habitants on this earth is endless. We love viewing albums of others on the Internet, and we try to present our albums in a way that means you can travel with us, too.

Sue and Lauren

Getting caught up?

Well, maybe! But in reality, that never happens.

I've been adjusting my sleeping hours, trying to get back to normal (whatever that is for me). The last two nights, I've been in bed by 8:00 and then up again about 1:00 for a few hours, then back to bed until 5 or 6 o'clock. Eventually, I'll settle on getting in bed at 10:00 and up at 5:00 - my more or less normal schedule.

Poor Lauren. In years past, he would have fussed and fumed and (emotionally) punished me for disturbing his sleep; but after all these years, he's finally realized that sleeping isn't my first priority, and, therefore, I have something of what looks (to him) like a sleep disorder. These days, he just makes a mental note of (ALL) my movements during the night so he can briefly (and quietly) mention a few of them sometime during the next day. But it's rare, these days, that he engages in that horrible scowl of disapproval, blaming me for disrupting his peaceful sleep.

Oh yes, poor dear Lauren. Being married for a long time means that you either accept the habits of your significant other or just give it up and either grumble and fume about it - or learn to live alone. We are most fortunate that we have chosen the former position - we have learned to accept each other.

During my recess from sleeping during the night, I've been working on the Flickr photos for our trip to Israel, and though I've made a lot of progress, I still have a few things I want to do:

- Finish pulling out some photos from sets that are too large in favor of smaller sets (make the collection (album) more granular).
- Add a few more of Lauren's photos which I really like. His eye is different from mine, and he captures some things I am either not steady enough to capture or which I don't see. I like his work.
- Do some documentation on the photos, such as descriptions of where we were, brief history of some of the churches and sites we saw, etc. I'll use my two picture books and the Internet to pick up a few helpful facts.
- Do a brief summary of the album for my blog, with links back to the Flickr pages.

I'm working on my newer laptop this morning because it's in the main part of the house and it's a tad warmer in here. I really should install IE 7. I'm still on version 6, and I miss being able to open multiple tabs in an IE occurrence. Since I'm not working any more - it has been almost a year - I should take this computer over as my personal one. But I've been slow to do that because my little Compaq from probably 2004 has been a wonderful workhorse, and I favor it a lot. It has been nearly around the world, and it still chugs along!

So, on with the show for the day! Here goes ...

References for Israel trip

While I'm getting our photos together on Flickr, I've found a number of good Web references for our trip by searching keywords in Google. One of the best overall sites is http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/sacred-sites.htm.

We brought two books with us on our trip:
- The Holy Land - Follow the Steps of Jesus - Etty Boochny
- The Land of Milk and Honey -John A Beck

And we purchased an additional book while we were there:
- The Holy Land - The Land of Jesus - Palphot

I would highly recommend either the Boochny or the Palphot book - or both - as travel companions during an Israel tour. The Beck book would be suitable if you want to get into a more in-depth history of the region. It is all narrative - no pictures.

Hymns we sang in Israel

At nearly every stop on our tour of Israel, the Pastor lead us in devotions. This is a list of the hymns we sang, noted in our LSB (Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing House, 2006). Looks like we might have missed a few notations.

Dec 5
- O Little Town of Bethlehem, page 361
- Silent Night, Holy Night, page 363
- O Come, All Ye Faithful, page 370

Dec 6
- One Thing's Needful, page 536 (Church of Mary, Martha, & Lazarus)

Dec 7
- Go to Dark Gethsemane, page 436 (Gethsemane)
- Ride On, Ride On in Majesty, page 441 (Bethpage)

Dec 9
- All Christians Who Have Been Baptized, page 596 (Jordan River)

Dec 10
- Preserve Your Word, O Savior, page 658 (Sea of Galilee)

Dec 11
- 'Tis Good, Lord, to Be Here, page 414 (Mt Tabor)
- O Christ, Who Shred Our Mortal Life, page 552 (Nain)

We haven't moved to the LSB at our church, but I wish we would. I really like it.

Two evenings, we joined together for Compline, the Prayer at the Close of the Day. It's a beautiful devotional, very quiet and settling. It ends with the Nunc Dimittis (Song of Simeon), a very favorite set of verses for me ... Lord, now let your servant depart in peace...

The photo above is of John, reading the scripture for this stop at Mt. Tabor. John, 86, and his wife, Lois, were a constant inspiration to us on our trip.

Dec 10 07 - Moments of Meditation

It is 2:00 in the morning here in Tiberias, and the city does not sleep. I awoke from my sleep and brought a pillow out here to the little balcony to sit and watch the people mill about in the concourse a half a block over from our hotel; and as I ponder their lives, I also ponder my own.

It is no wonder God loves these people, these Jewish people in their very particular and peculiar dress - the men in black, and often in long robes and a variety of head coverings, white beards on the old ones and curls around the ears of many of the young ones - women in long skirts, wigs, scarves, or caps to cover their heads, and their children close by. They know how to enjoy life and family, I think. They are serious about the observance of their religion and the way they believe God wants them to appear to the world, and they are equally serious about their light-hearted joy in being together, enjoying the night.

Is life best in the night? Wherever we have been on this trip, orthodox Jews, in their prescribed garb, come out and congregate at night, chattering away until the wee hours. The children play with abandon, men gather and talk together and women often gather separately, and there are the couples who are contemplating marriage who have come to the point where they meet alone in a public place to get to know one another better. They seem joyful in their living.

And while pondering the lives of these orthodox and not-so orthodox Jews along with their co-habitants of this land, their Muslim brothers and sisters, I ponder my own life and find that I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving that I have been so blessed. Being here, by the Sea of Galilee, is only a reminder of how blessed I have been. My life has been rich beyond my dreams, beyond any reason or entitlement.

Here in this place, at this moment, I am filled with love for those near and dear to me. In my mind, I see the richness of my childhood - parents and grandparents who loved and cared for me, a sister and brother who are still mine after all these years. I am thankful for much. I have lived in holy places.

I reflect on those who I have lost - parents and grandparents, our son, and those rare persons who became my very special friends for life. I have been blessed. At the loss of those beloved people, I was whisked away to holy places while my pain healed; and now I wear the memory of my loved ones like the most precious of jewels.

I reflect on those who are with me in this time of my life whom I love much - a good husband, a wonderful daughter who does much honor to her parents, grandchildren, and good friends. There's no rhyme or reason to who you will love or who will love you; and I realize this love is a holy gift, given to me to hold in my hands. For my family, for my friends, and for a very special friend-for-life, I am thankful. I am blessed. They, too, these living ones, are my jewels.

At this moment, I am content. I am at peace. I can ask for nothing because I have everything. I have lived in holy places and I have been touched with holy gifts. At this moment, I have no cares. I carry no ill will against others. All is forgiveness in this holy place. I have no anger, no disappointments. I am healed once more.

I want to always be here. I want to live in this holy place forever. It is pure here. I don't even feel the hard cement beneath my thin pillow. I see stars in the sky. I see happiness on the street. I hear the calming rhythm of the Sea as the waves come in and out. I am full of love and I can feel the holiness all around me.

But it is not for me to stay here now. We ordinary people cannot sustain holiness for long. It sears us and numbs us after a while.

Because I have been in holy places, I will remember and long for these moments when I'm once again in the valley of my life.

In the valley, where I will be even moments from now as morning comes soon, I pray that I will remember, that the light will shine brightly for a little longer, that I will be quick to forgive and slow to offend, that I will see the hurt and sorrow in others and respond with love and comfort, that I will be generous of spirit, patient, kind, and giving. I've thought about my dad a lot during our stay here. He was all these things in his declining years. I would emulate his example, if I could. He walked closely with God.

So here, by the Sea of Galilee, I pray:

Thank you Lord, for the times I have lived in holy places, when you held me close and whispered strength and purity into my ears, when your spirit held me aloft and protected me from pain that was unbearable, when your light was all around me and I could see above the darkness. Thank you for those you have given for me to love and be loved by. Thank you for wisdom when the task was too much for me. Thank you for insight along the path, for the light at my feet, for those I have been able to lead along the right path, and for those who have lead me. Thank you for this blessing this night, for these moments of meditation, for these people joyously congregating on the streets below me, that we have shared this moment in time together. Thank you for these small glimpses of your holy place.

Sunday, Dec 9 - On the road to Tiberias

Another amazing day. We left the hotel this morning about 8:30 and headed toward Tel Aviv on Route 6 and north to Nazareth, Cana, and Tiberias. The landscape changes as we go, and we see what must be the most fertile valleys in Israel. (I haven't adjusted the picture size, so be sure to click the picture to see all of it, up close and personal.)

It seems that wherever there is a hill, a city grows. Houses seem to be stacked on top of one another, ready to slide down the hillside like a stack of dominoes. When I post to Flickr, I will post more of the things we saw.

We visited the Church of the Annunciation, with its beautiful stained glass windows through which the sun splashed color all through the sanctuary where Mary's house was enshrined, the Wedding Feast of Cana, the Church of St. Joseph, the Jordan River, and many other places on our way to our hotel in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The picture is of Lauren wading in the River Jordan.

We have a balcony in our room, overlooking the Sea, and we can watch the sun rise in the morning as we awake. How sweet it is.

Tiberias is a resort area, and it's alive with people of all ages, music, lights, shops, restaurants, and excitement. Lauren and I went for a walk this evening, after supper and Compline (a vespers service we have celebrated only once on this trip).

To close this blog, I'll post a few pictures of the area near our hotel in Tiberias.

Saturday evening - Dec 8 - Walking the Via Dolorosa

Today was the walking journey down the Via Dolorosa, beginning the first thing this morning with a bus trip to Herod's Gate (Muslim quarter) and culminating at Holy Sepulchre Church where we exited at the Jaffa Gate (Christian quarter). It was a long and intense walk, and that wasn't the end of the day's journey. We ended today's travels at a place called the Garden Tomb which I'll describe a little further on in this post.

My, so much to absorb in a day! Our pictures, our notes, and a couple companion publications will tell us the story - over time, that is. It was too much to take in with one gulp. It was a day to ponder for a long time.

The picture above is a scene I captured in the Holy Sepulchre Church.

Lest anyone believe that old Jerusalem is simply a series of holy places, as I might have thought before we came here, know that the town is most definitely alive and bustling with people and the business of living. There are markets and people milling about everywhere. People make their homes there, conduct all sorts of businesses there. The city buzzes with activity.

It is interesting that every type of God-worshipping religion seems to have its own place in this city; and those places were won and continue to be won with a lot of rules and regulations brought about by battles, arguments, and sometimes good will. It seems to be a peace that works, but at times it must be somewhat uneasy. Everyone stakes a claim to Christ; and, as one might expect, everyone has a different idea about how to pay homage to (and assure that other people pay their proper respects to) that claim. The fact that it works is a miracle.


Although I don't have the notes handy about the history of the Holy Sepulchre Church, I'm pretty sure this church was originally established, like many other traditional religious sites, during the times of Constantine; and then it would have been enhanced and rebuilt a number of times, over time, as other nations or groups became dominant and gave their own expression to the site. The tradition underlying this church is that it encloses the tomb where Jesus was buried. Lauren went through the line to see the tomb while I wandered through the church itself. The church seems to be the size of a couple small cities, and it has many, many rooms.

There's another site that proposes that it could be the site of Jesus' tomb -the Garden Tomb. This site is sponsored by the Garden Tomb Trust from London, England.

After we left the Holy Sepulchre Church (and therefore left the old city), we had lunch and then went to the Garden Tomb grounds. They are beautiful. David Longworth, from the UK, was our docent, and he gave us an excellent tour of the small area. Truly an exceptional speaker!

Afterward, we split off with our partners or alone and walked through the gardens; and then we regrouped in one of the reserved areas and Pastor Matt lead us in communion. It's good to travel to a place like this with like-minded Christians. There's much we might not agree on - we surely come from different lifestyles and generations - but we are very much in agreement about the foundation of our faith. When we come together, we ARE together. I am thankful for that.

One very fun thing today was that Anise (our NAWA guide) did find us a couple fabric shops in the old city, and he gave me five minutes to look at and purchase fabric.

When I protested that I couldn't even take stock of the fabric in five minutes, he relented and told me to take all the time I needed. I ended up purchasing 2-1/2 meters of some nice cottons and 1-1/2 meters of what the shop keeper called Damascus cotton.

In the meantime, Pastor Matt and his group from Gloria Dei decided they needed some of this fabric for new paraments for their church, and they were still busy shopping when I was through. It was funny, and dear Anise just shook his head and accepted that we would never move as fast as he would like.

At supper this evening, I learned that these hotel kitchens are Kosher. One of the dining room people explained to us that they might as well close down the restaurant if they weren't Kosher.

After yesterday's (Friday) activity at the hotel, I can understand how that might be. On Friday afternoons before sunset, many orthodox Jewish families head for local hotels where they enjoy the fellowship of other families, eat well, have places for whatever observance they need to have to honor the Sabbath, and break no rules. Our hotel was full last night, with children playing all over the huge lobby area and groups sitting here and there just chatting away. The function of one of the elevators was changed so that if you got in it, the door would close and take you to the next floor. You didn't need to push buttons. Now, that may be too simple of an explanation and the elevator may have done more than that, but it was a puzzle to us. Over the course of the evening, someone explained the strange behavior to us.

Some of us were puzzled as the obviously orthodox Jewish families joined us in the same dining room, but now we know. The dining room (and the kitchens) are ALWAYS Kosher! We have learned much, and we're delighted to add these few additional tidbits to our bank of knowledge.

Tomorrow, we head to Galilee for two nights, to Tel Aviv for one night, and then straight on to the airport to begin our trip home. Our trip is going fast, but we're packing it with wonderful memories. What a way to spend Advent! We may not have any additional posts to blogger until we're home, but I'm glad I have been able to keep a little bit up to date so that those who are "traveling with us" know a little of where we are and what we're doing now.

As for last things for today, we had a beautiful sunset this evening - the first we have seen here. My picture doesn't do justice to it, but it was such a lovely treat to discover when we arrived back at our hotel and opened the curtains in our room.

Saturday morning - Dec 8 - A new understanding

Does morning bring a new light inside us, as well as external to us? Maybe so. Maybe that's what we mean when we say we want to sleep on it. This morning in Jerusalem, the morning of our first and only Shabat in Jerusalem, the coming of the light caught my attention. The hotel is beginning to bustle a bit as small groups gather in the lobby for coffee; and others, mostly men, leave the hotel to meet for prayer. Today should be a quieter day in the city. We expect that traffic will be lighter than yesterday. Our guide tells us that Fridays always bring people out to the streets, to the markets, the old city, as they prepare for the Sabbath.

We'll be spending much of our day today, this last day in Jerusalem, in the old city, as we finish our holy week journey during this Advent season. This afternoon, we will be free to shop. I'm hoping to find fabric that I can bring home and incorporate into a quilt. It would be a very nice memento of our trip.

The hotel lobby is on the fourth floor of the building, and the dining facilities are on the second. This picture is a view of the dining area reflecting from the windows at the rear of the lobby area. The hotel is quite sufficient for this part of our journey, and the staff has been very attentative to the needs of its patrons. We are not allowed to go out and wander, except to the two adjoining hotels - our guides (our paid guide from NAWA and the pastor of the church sponsoring our group) are afraid they will lose us. We are a small group - only 14, and we are behaving well; so I don't think they need to have many fears that we will wander far. However, without their frequent reminders, we might be tempted!


In the illumination of this early morning, I recalled our NAWA guide's explanation yesterday of orthodoxy, an explanation that I had never considered. He said that both the Muslims and the Jews believe that God is mad at them. Orthodoxy may encourage him to turn his face toward them again; and if he turns his face toward them, they will have better lives.

The lightbulbs flashed with this explanation. Of course! This makes perfectly good sense. This was the point of the Essenes, too, from my understanding. God turned his face away because the people were so disobedient, and the Essenes (those who, it is believed, were the Dead Sea Scroll writers) believed they could turn God's favor back to the by correcting their observances.

These few words may provide the greatest illumination I receive on this trip, and it's major. Orthodoxy is always something a Christian ponders, whether we're pondering it by comparing it to our own interpretation, or by pondering it to consider how we can or should be more orthodox. This simple phrase - God is mad at us - never occurred to me. I don't need to subscribe to this belief to understand it. I will now forever have a new awareness and appreciation of orthodoxy.

So, here on this Sabbath in Jerusalem, I give thanks!

Just one final note for the morning. This is a picture of my breakfast today. It's cottage cheese (but probably not low or no-fat, as I would prefer) topped with a tomato-cucumber salsa, yellow peppers (yum, yum, yum), sliced cucumbers, and what looks like a barley museli mix. I usually mix some basmati rice in with this scrumpt-dilly-icious healthy mix of food, but there was none to be found this morning. I suspect that's because it's the Sabbath here, and there was little cooking going on in the kitchen. In the bowls just above the plate, I have two boiled eggs (today, they're cold; but usually they're still warm from the boiling water) and some fresh fruit - grapefruit and pineapple today. At home, I usually have a favorite combination of Wheat Chex, All-Bran (original), and my own museli mix, topped with banana and skim milk; but the combination in this picture seems just as good and it holds me all morning, just as my at-home breakfast does. In all our travels, we have never consistently had such good food as we've had here in the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem!

Maudy Thursday in Israel, during Advent

No, it's not really Maudy Thursday, and tomorrow won't be Good Friday, but that's where we are in our progression on our trip. Today, we went to the Mount of Olives and then journeyed down to the Garden of Gethsemane, making several stops along the way.

Each day of our trip is better than the last, it seems; and each day has its high point.

For me, today, the high point seemed to be the Wailing Wall. I was moved there, with the many who come to pray, both men (on the left) and women (on the right), each carrying their different concerns to a place where they prayed God would hear them, accept their offerings of adoration and worship, and honor their petitions for their hearts' desires.

I suppose my reaction is because these were people of the here and now, people with expressions arising from their daily, very present lives - in contrast to people who are simply on a pilgrimage (such as might describe us) who have the luxury of time and money to travel to interesting (and, yes, holy) places.

I am always touched by the real lives of people. I went to the wall, but I did not touch it. There were many women there who were deeply involved in their conversations and pleadings with God, and I was only there as an observer and tourist.

I stopped and exchanged blessings with one young woman who described herself as a widow and mother of two, and then sat in the back of the area for a while and thought and prayed about the daily lives of these women, their concerns, their many desires - both the spiritual and the mundane (I know there's a better pair of words for that), but real perceived needs for their daily lives - their daily bread, one might say. I joined them with my daily needs, knowing that we are somehow in this together. We need each other.

As a woman, I felt especially close to them, whatever their petitions and needs, and I felt I was most definitely in a holy place.

I am giving up posting to Flickr while we're traveling. Neither Yahoo nor Flickr seems to like the IP address from which I'm writing (and both are owned by Yahoo, I believe), and Blogger is much kinder to me. So a few notes here and there will have to suffice.

What marvelous sights we are seeing. Not the least of these is the olive trees in the Garden - they may be as many as 2000 years old. They are called Silent Witnesses because they may have been here at the time of Christ. How awesome that thought is.

The colors we are seeing are spectacular. Every time I take a picture, I feel gleeful laughter as I see how wonderfully the colors are rendered. I believe I could spend a week here on my own, just so I could stay in any particular place for a while and think about what I'm seeing. I never pictured Israel looking like this. All I thought about was desert, but it is the most beautiful desert. There is a gold cast to so much that I see, whether indoors or out. It's amazing to me. My eyes are enjoying a sumptuous feast. This particular picture was taken in one of the chapels we visited (I will have to refer to my notes later - but I think this is the traditional spot where Peter denied knowing Jesus) using NO flash. I set my aperture to +1/3 to capture more available light, and this is what I got. Pure joy!

Because I'm having no luck with uploading to Flickr, I will need to start sitting down in the evening in our room (we have to go to the lobby for Internet connections) and just dumping all my impressions in Wordpad! These first impressions make me feel so alive, I hate to lose them before I complete my journaling of this trip.

It's hard to imagine that we have waded in both the Arctic Ocean and the Dead Sea this year. Never in our lives did we ever believe we would ever travel to these places. In this place, in Israel, I am blessed to say that God has been good to us way beyond our wildest imaginings. Praise be to God! And that reaction was exactly what I was hoping would be the result of our trip. This is, indeed, a pilgrimage - maybe not in the classic sense, but in the sense I seek to be renewed and reawakened to my brothers and sisters, all around the world, who also seek.

Computers! Like cars, it's a love-hate relationship

We're having the best time on our visit to Israel, and yesterday I was able to load pictures to Flickr. Today, although I can get on the Internet (obviously), I can't get to Flickr uploads. Ah, computers are like cars - so necessary for the enjoyment of our daily lives, and so impossible to ignore when they don't work the way you are used to having them work.

But enough of that. Can't get to Flickr, but I sure can get to Blogspot, it seems.

We're with a great bunch of travel companions from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Escondido. We seem to have all the necessary ingredients in common, and it's really great.

Some of our friends asked if we would feel safe on this trip, and the answer is a resounding Yes!!! It seems like anywhere else we've visited from time to time. It's all new to us, so everything is unusual at first. But there doesn't seem to be anything around us that causes us fear.

Yesterday, I posted most of my pictures on Flickr. Today, I'll post a few here on blogspot (hopefully). We're starting our mornings around 6:30 or 7:00 with breakfast, and then we're on the bus and rolling by 8:30. Today we went to Bethany. Like Bethlehem, it's mostly Palestine sector, but unlike Bethlehem, there weren't any checkpoints we needed to go through.

In Bethany, we visited the church of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and the tomb of Lazarus. Lauren actually went to the tomb. I didn't. It was a dark, dank, and deep climb into the ground, and as soon as I started the trek, I knew that wasn't the place for me. Claustrophobia was immediately apparent to my senses. Lauren got a picture or two, and I will post them on Flickr at a later date; but one picture I CAN easily post here is just outside the church / tomb area - Lauren on a camel!

As in most tourist areas, everywhere we go someone wants to sell us something. We don't buy much, but Lauren is a friendly guy, and he forgets to not have a conversation with the sellers - so we end up with a few (very low-cost) goodies to bring home with us. It's all part of the experience for us, and it turns out to be a lot of fun.

There's so much to see that's so pleasing to the eye, but one of my favorite sights is the produce stands. I love the food we're having - it includes a lot of wonderfully prepared fresh fruit and vegetables. This one is a sample, although it's more deluxe than most because it was set up as part of a restaurant where we ate.

Oh, yes, the food is wonderful. I love basmati rice, but it is so much nuttier here, and there are these wonderful salsa-like mixes of seasoned raw vegetables that make me think I'm having some sort of delicacy. I am in (healthy) food heaven! Ahhhhhhh!

I have lots, and lots of wonderful pictures - at least they seem wonderful to me - of the mountains, desert, valleys, shepherds, sheep. I can't wait to get them loaded to Flickr! But I will have to be patient, I suppose.

Can't get to my Yahoo mail, either - not using Outlook or by looking on the Web. Well, so much for that!

In the meantime, Israel is a wonderful place to visit. We have met very friendly people on both sides of the divide - both the Palestine and Israeli sectors. We can only pray and pray and pray for peace. Both sides need to come to terms and work together. I don't understand everything there is to know about the political agenda; but I do know that these wonderful people - all of them - need to be able to build a future!

More on another day.....

Israel itinerary

Dec 3-4
UA 346 - SD to Chicago
LH 431 - Chicago to Frankfurt
LH 686 - Frankfurt to Tel Aviv

Dec 4-9 - Grand Court Hotel, Jerusalem (972-2-591-7777)
Dec 9-11 - Golden Tulip Hotel, Tiberias (972-4-671-4444)
Dec 11-12 - Blue Bay Hotel, Netanya (972-9-860-1000)

Dec 12-13
LH 691 - Tel Aviv to Frankfurt
UA 901 - Frankfurt to San Diego

NAWAS International Travel Group
Tour SF/07/1063 - lead by Rev Matthew Richardt, pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran in Escondido

Israel, here we come

We signed up for a trip to Israel with a group from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Escondido. Pastor Matthew Richardt, pastor of Gloria Dei, will be hosting the tour. We met with the group a couple Sundays ago; and at last count, there are probably no more than 15 of us. That should make for a nice group.

Here's the itinerary:

Dec 3 - San Diego to Tel Aviv
Dec 4 - Check into hotel in Jerusalem after brief drive through the city
Dec 5 - Ein Kerem / Bethlehem
Dec 6 - Jordan River / Jericho / Dead Sea
Dec 7 - Bethany / Bethpage / Pater Noster / Dominus Flevit / Gethsemane / Cenacle
Dec 8 - Via Dolorosa / Holy Sepulchre
Dec 9 - Garden Tomb / Tiberias Nain
Dec 10 - Magdala / Mount of Beatitudes / Boat Ride / Capernaum / Tabgha
Dec 11 - Cana / Mount Tabor / Nazareth / Netanya
Dec 12 - Back to San Diego