Not everything I do here is of the brainiac variety. Some things are an attempt to bring out my (non-existent) creative side. Actually I have no patience for crafts and the like, but I do find certain activities therapeutic.
Besides ceramics, I signed up for a fruit carving class. (Batsheva can talk me into almost anything; isn't that what friends are for?) It's easier than it looks but it takes the right equipment and a certain amount of practice. Best of all, unlike ceramics, you don't have to wait for the results. (My mother used to make beautiful carved vegetables and watermelon baskets but I never had the interest to learn how to do it myself. There's a life lesson in that, but now isn't the time to explore it.)
On Monday we had a lesson in making fruit sushi. It was a demo only - no hands on - but it looked fairly simple. The results were beautiful and very tasty. Perhaps now people will stop bugging me about not eating sushi.
We love the Dead Sea. It's beautiful, especially for a desert person like me. The salt formations are unstable which makes the landscape new every time we go. We spent 3 days there this week. The weather was perfect - not too warm, cloudless blue skies, starry nights and an almost full moon. We stayed at a different hotel this time, the Isrotel Ganim, and we were very pleased.
Not tabular icebergs off the coast of Antarctica,
but this year's salt formations.
Yes, flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.
There are a lot of things a person can do in the desert, and we've done many, primarily hiking. This time we wanted to take it easy and be spoiled. We spent lots of time in the hotel's salt water pools and the spa. I've had spa treatments before but never shiatsu. I'd heard about how good it is for straightening the spine and loosening joints. I was also aware that it's painful. Well, the therapist looked like he trained at the Spetsnaz interrogation unit and I immediately regretted my decision to try this out. The treatment is done on a mat on the floor, which is uncomfortable enough, and it did hurt. Even standing up afterwards was difficult, and being told I was doing it wrong didn't help. It took a while to recover but in the end it was worthwhile.
We have two and a half weeks left here, and I'm fighting the end-of-trip depression that usually sets in 3-4 weeks ahead by filling our schedule as much as possible. There's a lot left to do, see and study, which keeps us busy but makes the time pass even quicker. As Sid said the other day as we floated in the salt water pool at the hotel, time doesn't go by, it runs away. Another life lesson best left for another time.
Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,
Peggy and Sid
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