Day 22: Breaking with trends.

Last night was another great night for Cafe Ezuz. While there was no band playing, there were people there. Four soldiers getting fizzy bublicks, a couple of families eating, and this scruffy montser, who was just watching the road--or, perhaps she was waiting, like us, for the spectacular sunset. There was also a cat and lots of great conversation with Laurette, the volunteer from France. We talked about life and love and other important matters of the heart and head.

I did this a couple of nights ago. I had to make a support fence for the cucumbers. It was not terribly difficult, but I bet the cucumbers are going to be happy!





And still with the cement, you ask. Well yeah. It is nearly done now, and it looks good. It will be beneficial to the farm in so many meaningful ways. It is tough to imagine that an eight feet by six feet slab of cement could be so, but trust me it is.

I have no idea when this was taken, but sheesh the little guy is too cute. So I put it in here. I can see by the images that there are at least three day's worth of pictures.




This was the view on my way to the Bustan today. Work started at 0530, when we had to go and get the machine that smooths out the cement. But then when we got back I had to do down and work more on the berm. I'm at the bottom and have started to dig into the foundation of the hill, which I'm supposed to. So I think it will be another day or so before the area is ready for more progress towards Shelby Dam.

Then before lunch I had this great snack: a nectarine, an apricot, a garlic clove, and some nice tea. No matter how hot it gets, and it do be warm sometimes, I like to have tea.

We've been to the pool a few times, and I'm surprised by the number of Israelis that have tattoos. I thought I'd be the weirdo--insert joke here--but there were guys and girls with more tattoos than I have. I'm not sure why I'm so surprised, as the place is just like any other, where fashion and trends are clear to see. I guess I'm really just saying that I'm trendy--I wonder how I'll fade.

Day 21: Border patrol!

I got up early like I do on Saturdays, and I ate a good breakfast. I took three pieces of fruit and headed out into the desert. I started heading south and west, but for some odd reason I kept being drawn to the west. Well, if you have to go you have to go.

After just a few minutes walk I came upon these ruins. It is tough to tell when the structure was built. There is a pool for collecting water about ten minutes away that was constructed in the Byzantium days. So maybe because the chinking is mud, straw and stones. It is still fun to imagine that the building is from back in the day and wonder what ghosts are lurking about or what treasures are buried just under the corner. I left that for another day and moved on.

The desert was gorgeous this morning. But then I've never woken up or gone to sleep thinking this place is just ugly. It is dirty, to be sure, but that is the nature of the desert, I think.

It was really cloudy this morning. When it is like this the humidity is so high that I think I'm back in Florida. Avi said that on some days in July and August that there is fog that lasts until about nine in the morning. Crazy.

At some point I was driven further west. I cannot imagine what it was, but as the border loomed nearer I became bolder. So I set out for the border. I aimed for a spot on the fence between two towers, you know, just like in the "Lord of the Rings" series, because I figured I'd be harder to spot. When I was a hundred yards from the fence I was stoked because I thought I'd get to touch it today. Imagine my surprise, or not so surprise, when I heard a truck coming. So I had to walk faster but appear to not run because I really didn't want to get shot at or run down or scare the people that I knew were coming.

After crossing a hard-top road I get within about sixty feet of the boarder. The truck rounds the corner and blares its sirens--as if I could not see them. But they probably don't get to use it so much, so what the heck. They wave me over, and I'm all smiles and hello I'm a stupid tourist. The leader, who wasn't very amused asked if I spoke English and I said yes. He asked me questions like where are you from and what are you doing. Then he said that I couldn't be there and had to leave. I smiled and said sorry and okay and headed back towards Ezuz. I'll call this a victory and say that my quest for the border has been fulfilled. I'm not so sure I'll get off so lucky next time, if the stories fromt he Arazunis are true!

An aside here. As Val knows I'm a sucker for a Mediterranean, curly haired girl. Well Avi said that the only people guarding the boarder were women. So I really wasn't anxious about the truck that was coming, but when the three dudes in the truck called me over I was surely disappointed!


They turned the truck around and parked on the side of the road until I was a long way away from the boarder.

 The walk back was just as beautiful as the walk there, even though my route was much different. I thought that Ezuz sat on the highest hill around, but I'm finding out that is not the case. This is the second time that I've looked down into Ezuz. I thought to myself that the village would be tough to defend, but then I did find fighting positions along the hill I was on. I found a nice can opener and a bunch of ammunition that was left laying about. I took the can opener.

Day 20+x: It is someday.

I got lost in my posts and days, so this is day something between 19 and 21. I could count them, but my blogs would still be messed up. Plus this makes it kind of like algebra!


So yesterday I did something that everyone on Bustan Arazuni will appreciate: I made two walls higher. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but there were two walls that Avi made some time ago. They start about five feet three inches off of the ground. I'm five five, so I know because I scraped the top of my head and had a scab for a week. The other day the youngest daughter, Lulu, was carrying something and hit her head. She was in so much pain and so mad she yelled at her father, while she was still carrying the humidifier that is important to the family and crying crocodile tears because of the pain. And this wasn't the first time that he has been told about the wall. He fought with Tamar when he was making it. She said make it higher. He said I have to protect the tractor's tires. Well now he says "Always listen to the woman!" No doubt.

I went to Cafe Ezuz last night and heard a guy from Chile play a flute and guitar. He also sang. It was a lovely sunset, and the place was packed. It was nice to share space with so many people--at least 25--after sharing with so few. A group of soldiers came up right at sunset. They stayed to listen, too. The guy opened his set with "This is the first time that I've played for hippies and soldiers in the same audience." The hippies were already there. It really was fun.

Then we had a great Shabbat dinner, and afterwards we watched the "Blues Brothers." I sang and tried not to move around too much, but, sheesh, who could sit still!

Day 20: Diggin' away at the salt mine.

I'm a couple of days behind on blogging. I'm not sure why, but I am. It is a discipline to do this everyday, and I guess I just didn't have it in me for a couple of days. Now that I have to catch up I've learned my lesson and will just do it daily.

So it was back to the salt mines. Yes, that is salt on my shirt. I work really hard and sweat just a bit. Even though there have been days just as hot and I've worked just as hard on some of them, I was excreting extra special today. I went through two two liter bottles of water while I was a diggin' away.

So Shelby left. She had been working on what will now be referred to as the Shelby Dam because she got heat stroke working on it. She was down for three days, and then she had light duty for a few more. But, to her credit or not, she went back out and worked on the dam. Shelby was an amazing 20 something Canadian who is traveling a bunch this summer before she goes home. She brightened up the room with her kindness and stories.

Okay, so now I'm working on the Shelby Dam. I had to dig into a berm so that the dam can go into it. You can see the front where Shelby started, but I decided to work from the top down. It just seemed easier to me to throw the dirt on the other side rather than the side where we will work. So I dug and dug and dug; and I moved some rocks that were in the berm. I had to use an adze and a shovel equally because there are so many rocks. So it was a pull, pile, and toss method.
You can see by comparing the shovel and the adze to the massive stones how tough the work can be. But it really is so much fun just to move dirt. And I have like to dig. I can think of so many times when I was a kid that I dug with great vigor and sometimes great reward. One time our neighbor, Ms. Marge, who was an older woman (a widow I think), had a problem with her drainage system. I cannot remember exactly what it was, but she needed some diggin' done.

Ms. Marge baked bread--cinnamon bread to be precise. And I know I loved it. I can still close my eyes and see it with too much melted butter to top off the sweetness. So I dug up her cesspool and she made me some bread. I don't remember how much but I definitely remember how good! A good trade.

So I've just about dug out the berm where the dam will live, but I have some more work to do. If you are thinking this looks like a fighting position, me too! I didn't think about it until I stepped back and took a picture. It reminds me of when I was in Iraq. We had to make fighting positions because every day and night you had to stand-to and stand-down because the enemy is most likely to attack then--only if he was an idiot because we did this every day at basically the same time. Plus, if there was a barrage or an attack of some kind you would rush to your positions, which defended the perimeter of your camp or protected you because they were also covered. So one day I filled in my best friend, Pat's, position because our frontal lobes weren't done cooking and we played stupid dangerous jokes on one another. How could I have known that an alarm was going to go off that day. Everybody grabs their gear and weapons and runs to their hole, and, because there was an alarm which meant exigent circumstances, you sometimes dive into your hole. I dove in mine, and Weigel, my TC and battle buddy, was already there. Pat's was one position over to my right. I don't remember who we was holed up with. Everybody but Pat knew what I did; his battle buddy knew and went into another position. All's we heard was a big thud, and a loud "What the fuck!?", knowing that Pat dove into his now covered fighting position. We were all laughing so hard that I'm glad nobody was really attacking our camp. Pat ran and jumped in our hole, which wasn't made for three.

Soldiers do stupid things to one another. Maybe that is why we are so tight? Pat rolled over a mine of some kind. He left the army slightly disabled.

This is peanut hay. It goes to the goats. We glean from it the good nuts so that we have a snack. They are not always the good nuts, but it is better than no nuts. We feel special when we get a good batch. But this last batch has a bunch of empty shells. Disappointing, for sure. I think the goats are chuckling, though, since we usually take the good ones from them.

Nashville: Week 1

I am here in Nashville to work with a company who is changing the face of music education. I met the team from Quaver's Marvelous World of Music a year and a half ago at the Florida Music Educator's conference. I almost missed their presentation, but am so grateful I stayed the evening. Graham Hepburn, Quaver to my students, gave a technology based/21st Century/staying true to tradition presentation that blew me off of my feet. I was hooked. The Quaver program has changed my approach to teaching.


The Crew
Back row: Al, Brandon, Graham, Jim, Rita, Sam
Front row: Jeff, me, Stephanie, Jodie

The end of this summer marks the launch of the Quaver curriculum. I have been working with the Qfamily and a number of teachers who have developed the lesson plans. We have spent the week dissecting the lesson plans, making recommendations for the website, and discussing the new state standards. The days are long, but the work is fun and meaningful. I am having a blast.

While here I am staying with friends, Billy and Carolyn. They are more like family to me and are just the sweetest couple. Carolyn teaches sixth grade social studies and Billy runs a print business (t-shirts, posters, etc.) They are having a yard sale on Saturday morning and I cannot wait to see the East Nash locals come out to browse. They've got a pretty cool style. I hope I don't buy everything.

                     The cute couple                               Carolyn made us a delicious dinner

I met Marcus and Kara Caudill at Kaufman Kamp. They encouraged me to reach out to their daughter, Ashleigh, who lives here in Nashville. Their family has been making music for years now. It turns out that Ashleigh had a song recorded my Balsam Range and, it's my favorite Balsam Range song, Row by Row. (Ashleigh's version, Balsam Range version).

I went to Dino's to see her play on Thursday night. She sang, played banjo and bass, and was amazing. Now, Dino's, not so amazing. The bartender had to order pizza because they found a rat on the grill. Yup. This really happened.

 
This is a statue I pass everyday to and from work. Many people here are appalled that the figures are naked.

                               I passed these tracks on my very hilly run yesterday morning.

Day 19: A full day.

I left off with almost finishing the preparations for cement. Well, that is done; I finished it in the morning. This is the first time I've done this, so it has been a good experience in learning. Can I ever really learn enough? I think not. My appetite for information and experiences is never sated. I remember as a kid reading the encyclopedias that my mother bought. She got the whole set, that's right. I would read about a thing and while reading about that become curious about another and so on. When we had to do chores I'd hide in the bathroom and read. I thought I was so smart because who would think to look in the bathroom. Well, everyone, that's who. But I wasn't just a bookworm. I had to be outside mostly naked and running through the woods. I was what might be termed ferrel. I was with this girl for eight years, and she claimed to have tamed me. I'm chuckling as I sit here mostly naked and a lot stinky from this mornings work (Again, this is a yesterday yesterday plus a yesterday and today. I'll bet more today on there tomorrow when it'll be yesterday.). I've figured out that the harder I make it on myself the easier it is to be me. I mean, really, planning to live two months in the Negev but not knowing what I'd be doing or with whom. And yet here I sit, eating with my hands at meal times, munching on garlic cloves, and howling at the stars. Too good.

So we knocked off of work an hour early and had another art lesson. Today we did some color theory mixed in with water color painting techniques. We work from 10-12 and then from 2-4. This family is so into the lessons. I'm doing much to help the farm, no doubt. But the art lessons are my gift to them. I do this during the time I'm free. But they love them so much--the whole family does, that I feel so good in spreading what I love.

 We finished the lesson late, about 4:30, and we were supposed to go back to work. But Avi surprised us with a trip to the pool. What kind of a Cracker would I be if I didn't jump on a chance to swim?



Then last night I had to make some supports for the tomato plants. I'm an old hand at this now. It was nice to work in the garden instead of doing manual labor--which I love to do. Still, for a guy who loves a regimen, some change is just fine. Which is really why I'm in BFE. Okay, an aside here. When we were kids and we were lost or in the middle of nowhere we would say that we are in "Bum fucked Egypt." I still don't know what that means, except the middle of nowhere, but if I turn around I can see Egypt. Crazy. So I am here because I'm out of balance. I've never been in the Negev with the Arazuni family doing organic farm stuff. Imagine how much I'm growing! I can feel it. Not my peasant body--I must thank my mom and dad for creating it. I am really strong and powerful, which is good for farm stuff. And I'm resilient, so working in the desert doesn't bother me. I mean, I do go to Miami in the summertime because I love the heat.

 And then there is Lulu. She is absolutely one of the highlights of my trip thus far. She is a 10 year old alpha girl with very little fear and much common sense. She is my tour guide, Hebrew teacher, alarm for anything that needs to be done or will happen imminently, and so much more. The car was full, and when this is so the girls ride on the roof for the three kilometer ride from the orchard to the house. I couldn't pick a favorite, maybe you can.