Foto Friday – Painting Feb Red
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture
It’s February which means only six more weeks of winter, or maybe just six minutes more, given the freakish weekend hot spell. The JNF-KKL has declared February a month-long Festival Darom Adom, or Scarlet South Festival, in honor of the wild red anemones now dotting the fields all over the country, but particularly the northern Negev region where the local residents have organized walking tours and entertainment.
Photo by Hirshfield, courtesy JNF-KKL
The red anemone or calanit, is a favorite of Israelis and one of the success stories of Israel’s campaign to save its wildflowers.
Photo courtesy of Free Israel Photos
According to website Wild Flowers in Israel, an excellent resource, “the Hebrew name ‘kalanit’ is related to the Hebrew word for a bride ‘kala’, referring to its beauty,” and is mentioned the Talmud.
Photo courtesy of Flowers in Israel
Hebrew University’s Flora of Israel Online has plenty of scientific articles and lots more photos of this beloved flower.
Photo courtesy of Wildflowers in Israel
For those who can’t be here right now to see these red beauties at their peak, we present a few images to enjoy. And please visit the JNF-KKL website to download their amazing screensaver of Israel’s wildflowers.
Photo by Gil Soffer
Nostalgia Sunday – Pressed Wildflowers
Filed under: Environment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Travel
Last week’s freakishly warm weather sent the almond trees into bloom. Although it was a false spring, residents of the entire country went out for their annual wildflower trek.
Yes, Israelis love their wildflowers. Well, at least they know not to pick wildflowers. In fact the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) did such a good job of brainwashing the past few generations of schoolchildren that you will never catch an Israeli picking a wildflower. They’ll throw garbage on it, pee on it, build an ugly edifice next to it, but pick it?! Never.
When I was a child, a bookmark with pressed wildflowers was one of the more charming tourist trinkets you could pick up (hard to find but still charming today).
Back in the pre-TV days, before the ban on picking wildflowers took hold, Israeli schoolchildren were encouraged to not only to pick but also to collect and study the different kinds of flora native to this land, and press them between the pages of a book.
Later on, commerce got into the act and albums were made available as promotional items like this one from margarine manufacturer Telma Gold Band.
And of course, the Israel Postal Authority (today’s Israel Post), did its part by issuing stamps of our most popular wildflowers.
Competing margarine manufacturer Blue Band also took on the cause as part of an advertising campaign bossily entitled (in the command form) “Know Our Country’s Flowers”. This ad is for the caper (Capparis spinosa L.). I’m not sure why all these margarine makers were so interested in educating the young people about wildflowers but I’m guessing it had something to do with safflower oil.
Today, you’re more likely to find cultivated flowers, rather than wild ones, pressed and waxed or laminated into bookmarks, candles and jewelry. I’m not sure, however, what the SPNI would make of this set of nails, but you’ve got to admire the work put into these tiny purple petals, lacquered and bonded onto synthetic tips, the handiwork of manicurist Ronit!
Foto Friday – Robert Gorsoun sees Israel’s beauty
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Travel
Robert Gorsoun is a photographer who takes pictures for the love of it. Wherever he travels, he snaps pictures and Israel is beautiful through his lens…
…the Banias in Israel’s north…
…a rainbow, captured in mid-storm over the Herzliya beach…
…a field of flowers by the roadside, stretching on forever…
…a water lily…
…or flowering cacti at the Utopia Orchid Park…
…and on through to the crater at Mizpe Ramon.
More photos by Gorsoun — including some spectacular panoramas that don’t fit on an Israelity page but should be seen — are posted on Panoramio.
Among the wildflowers
As Rachel wrote last week, wildflowers are in full bloom as the “rainy season” ends. The Modi’in area is saturated with beautiful flowers and one of the city’s greatest treasures is Givat Titora, a 140 acre green space with hiking trails, ruins, cisterns is currently the city’s main attraction and a popular spot for locals. Shockingly, contractors have been trying to get a hold of this land for years to build apartments. This site, set up to oppose construction on Titora, outlines the rich history of the hill. Titora is one of Modi’in’s greatest assets and the very thought of construction there sickens me.
On Friday I took my daughter to Titora for what we call an “adventure” – which is my way of branding something that she might not be able to get her head around. Right before her nap I told her when she awakens we were going to go smell the flowers. She was pretty stoked when she got up and starting screaming “FLOWERS! FLOWERS!” so I immediately threw her (well, placed her actually) in the car and took off! Here are a couple of photos from the afternoon.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts