Hai-Bar

The spot we were staying is best known for it's little zoo, called a 'hai bar' (roughly: living desert) which Mikael, Yael, and Liya really enjoyed. There was a petting zoo and a bunch of monkeys that aren't pictured. We toured the zoo towards evening and again in the morning.

The place had a cart that was for hauling luggage or equipment, but it was also useful for hauling kids.

The legend called this a 'swamp cat' which is apparently also a jungle cat.

That's a camel. Mikael really liked the camel.

Here is Mikael with his new down-over-the-eyes-cool style for wearing his hat, joining Liya and Yael in the cart.

Vimeo.

יקב ענבא

במסגרת חוויות הטבע של הקיבוץ מצאנו את עצמינו בעיצומו של בציר ענבים.

.מיה ועידו הקימו יקב קטן ואיכותי שנקרא יקב ענבא הם מייצרים יין בוטיק כבר 4 שנים , ובכל שנה מגבירים הילוך.

השנה ההילוך הגיע למעל 2 טון ענבי קברנה !

הם אנשים רציניים.

בקבוק נמכר במחיר של 50 ש"ח , מי שמעוניין לקנות - אפשר ליצור קשר עם מיה דרכינו.

מיכאל ואני יצאנו לסיבוב על האופניים בדיוק כשהענבים הגיעו. סגולים, קטנטנים, מתוקים ומבטיחים!

אז עצרנו לעזור כשעידו התחיל להעביר את אשכולות הענבים דרך מכונה שמפרידה אותם מהשידרה . הענבים עברו לחביות ענק, במרתף של הקיבוץ. עידו הלך עכשיו באישון לילה להוסיף להם שמרים כדי שיתחילו את התסיסה.

מיכאל - הוא חגג!

הוא אכל ענבים בכמויות מדאיגות, דחף אצבעות לתוך האשכולות וחקר ונגע וטעם.

--

The Anba Winery

As part of our exploration of the kibbutz nature we found ourselves smack in the middle of a winery harvest. Maya and Ido have created a small, quality winery they call the Anba winery. They've been making specialty wines for 4 years now and every year they increase their product. They are working with 2 tons of cabernet grapes this year. They're super serious. A bottle sells for 50 NIS this year, and anyone interested can contact them through us. Mikael and I went on a bike ride just as the grapes arrived: purple, small, and full of promise. So we stopped to help as Ido started to pass the bunches of grapes through a machine that seperates them from the skeleton (is that what the stems are called in English?) The grapes are now stored in huge vats in the basement of the kibbutz. Ido just went to add yeast in order to start the fermentation.

Mikael had a blast! He ate grapes in worrisome quantities and stuck fingers into the grape bunches and touched and tasted to his hearts content.

Painting

There was a question about the painting, so I'll translate what Liya wrote about it for the Hebrew-impaired:

My talented younger sister painted this painting. In the painting she's blowing bubbles with Mikael. The painting is made in chalk colors.

Park Hayarkon

There is a large green (well green and brown) park in the northern part of the city called Park Hayarkon (all right, almost all of the 17 people reading this know that, but there are a few who don't). This morning, we called Liya's brother Ido and arranged to meet him there. The kids were all together in their bimba fleet and after a grueling hike of many tens, perhaps even hundreds, of meters we settled down to a well deserved picnic. Mikael was soon full and spent the rest of the picnic trying to snag unattended boxes of food so he could turn the contents out onto the grass and then crawl in them.

 

 

 

 

Springtime in Givat Ada: the field

We took a long walk through the woods which are in beautiful flower right now. At some point, Maayan Shahar stopped us and said, let's just put Mikael down in the grass so he can play. It was a great idea. He had such a good time! It made us want to live just up the street from some beautiful woods that are always in flower, but we'll make do with having grandparents there.

Picnic in Park Hayarkon

In what we hope is the beginning of a tradition, Liya and her friends gathered in Park Hayarkon for a picnic. Mikael went with them, but I went on a long walk with my scientist friends.