Wednesday, February 10, 2010

String Theory

If you are like me and want to know more about the latest theory of universe check this out... and then read the book.

Free University Course on Close Relationships

If you are a fan (like me) of all those free university courses then you might like this one (close relationships).
It is a course about close relationships and how they change and develop over time. It's a great professor and interesting, thought provoking material... (now I want the book that goes with the course... watch out.)

Noah's ark

We were playing Noah's ark and Michelle tells me: "Mom, this woman is you and this man is daddy (showing me Noah and his wife) and...oh, they don't have children...you know, I'm in your stomach and Eshel is in daddy's OK?"

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Mount Hermon

Almost twelve years have passed since I last saw snow on the ground...
Lots of memories flowed through my head as we walked on this wet brown snow....Yes, snow in Moscow was different, but the trip to Hermon was definitely worth our time and effort.




















Kids fell asleep on our way to Hermon so Sasha and I could enjoy the fabulous views. The forests that we passed looked so familiar, so European... the fog reminded us of Venice and our trip to Italy... it seemed like we went up the clouds...















The road was long but in the end ....


































(Moscow in spring - wet, wet snow with new grass peeking out from underneath, with small green buds on the trees and with evergreens looking so pretty under the white blanket)















getting out of the car was cold (and it was one degree - how did we live with -20?)















we walked on the snow listening to our feet make the crunching sound (remember the crispy Moscow snow? and our leather boots that didn't get wet? (here we needed rubber boots)) oh, and don't forget the smell (I love how thunderstorms smell and how rain smells after long hot summer and I love the smell of snow! fresh and cold and ... like spring




















we made snow man (a little one - just to remember what it was like)

drew pictures and just enjoyed the cold (Eshel didn't like it, he didn't even want to get off and walk)















After Hermon we visited the Nimrod castle - magnificent!















for Michelle a castle is a place where princes and princesses live (she has no apprehension of time yet - there is no present, future or past for her yet and so we are always on the look out for princesses) Oh, in Nimrod there could be so many hiding in different places!

This guy was welcoming us in















The view from the castle is breath taking ...















and the clouds that passed under us ...















walking in the castle















On our way back home we stopped at the Saar waterfall




















Sasha asked if I thought we could swim over this river and I remembered Pse-Zuapse and that time when my mom decided she could go across one of the mountain rivers. It was very shallow - maybe up to one's thighs and the place she chose was wide and so, she thought, the current wouldn't be very powerful... fortunately someone saw us and helped us out (I think we crossed on the bridge in the end).















On this picture you can notice the black rocks - it was fascinating to see how the usual Israeli limestone all of a sudden was changed by the basalt rock.















Michelle saw this little beetle right next to the road on our way to the car - I wonder if it's protective red color is just a defence or it is actually poisonous...




















We were all very tired and very happy - a true family vacation!