Portola Vineyards

We had a great time today painting the turning leaves on the vines at Portola Vineyards. Lovely little organic winery with some good wines to boot; wine tasting of course! Great spot to return in Spring, when the leaving begins amidst the flowers.
For some reason neither my scanner nor my Android phone gets the colors quite right, but at least here's the result for today:

The Holy Land and the Middle East

Back from our trip to Israel and Jordan. Had a good time and connected with some realities of the region. Didn't have enough time or inspiration in the right places to paint as much as I had expected, but got in these four anyway:

church at Old Jaffa

impression of Old Jaffa covered alley

Jerusalem stone

Jerusalem street scene from our hotel 

Israel was not what I expected at all. Despite 200,000 years of human habitation and an incredible amount of human history, almost all of what I saw was basically either modern (mid-20th century) or modern mixed in with some older structures, with the exception of the Old City in Jerusalem. Yes, we did visit Caesaria Roman ruined port city and the Crusader castle in Acre (Akko), plus Safed (Tsfat). But even with that said, this is a modern country that felt closer to the US than even to Europe. In fact, cousin Yossi says they are the "51st State", and he may have a point there.

Cannot tell you how impressed I am now with the achievement of the Jewish state. What they have built and pioneered in less than a century is nothing less than a miracle. They have truly made a desert bloom in so many ways. And their industrial base (read more tech than manufacturing) is the envy of every nation that isn't prejudiced against them. They are leaders, and in those ways we would be wise to take a lesson.

Our experience of Israelis in the US has often been "pushy". We didn't experience them that way at all in their home country. Friendly and relaxed, but taking care of business in a way that wasn't obsessive (vs. the US and German style).

For some reason, Israelis don't seem to take to their train system, which is basically along the coast and to Jerusalem, though it's as good as anything in Europe in standard trains. They go for their buses or mini-bus "sherut" system. It all works, and it proved much easier to navigate once there than we were able to find out from the States. So you don't need a car, but the roads are excellent if you want to drive anyway.

Food was off the charts! The few Middle Eastern dishes we had were always a revelation compared to their US imitations (falafel, hummus, etc.) You can get pretty much anything you want from any cuisine there and it's all good and ridiculously ample. Portions were always at least double what we would have expected. Two people can share any dish! 

As to the rougher side of the Middle East, it's amazing how close together and knit together the Arab/Palestinians and Israelis are. We felt safe there, despite the troubles. The Israeli police and IDF presence was really strong due to the random violence while we were there, though. We both felt bad for the average Palestinian (or anyone looking Arab, even if Israeli citizens). They get treated to suspicion and hassle, and you can see how it contributes to their frustration. However, the Israelis are in a tough spot where they cannot let down their guard for long and are portrayed improperly as oppressors, when all they're trying to do is be safe among their neighbors who are definitely desirous of having them leave the area altogether. And you can see how uneven the treatment by the UN and the Arab nations/peoples are with regard to Jewish worship places. I'm not agreeing with right wingers like Netanyahu, of course, but do see how difficult this is.

Tel Aviv was Miami Beach/Miami Dade in the 70s to me. Couldn't have imitated it better if they had tried. Not much to recommend there and Old Jaffa is so small and limited as an attraction.

Jerusalem felt like a beautiful city and peaceful by comparison, but it does shut down a lot for Shabbat.

Safed was a fun little hill town with some real art among the many tourist oriented places. We felt very much at peace there.

Roman Jerash in Jordan was well worth the trip as was spectacular Petra, though the bus rides were interminable to get there. I saw nothing else to recommend Jordan, including ugly Amman.

Not much else to say other than that we were both glad we finally went. Loved spending time with relatives in their true home, and whenever anyone found out we were Jewish, they usually said, "Welcome home."

Bedwell Bayfront Park painting

A little fun in the early Fall sun with the painters today. Bedwell Bayfront Park is little known, but really quite nice. Rolling hills with tree variety and fences, salt ponds and Bay all around it, then the mountains ringing the Bay. Lots to choose from.
The cell pic (like my scans) does not do the color justice, but this is close enough.