At around 4:00 PM on Thursday, my daughter noticed a fire on the roof of a building. I called the fire department, and was told they were on their way. It was scary to watch burning intensely for so long, and even scarier when we heard a loud boom.
Eventually several trucks, police cars and ambulances turned up and they sealed off the street near our intersection. It turned out that a gas canister had caught on fire and exploded. The roof was severely damaged, but no one was hurt.
Israelis love hoopoes, and voted them in as its national bird. I spotted this pair digging in the local park:
For more of this week’s summer stock photos, see Robin’s blog.
Last week’s entry:
Robin from Around the Island started Summer Stock Sunday, a photo meme. Click on the links below to see what other bloggers have posted.
Pitangos
A few years ago, a friend pointed out a pitango tree with its tangy, red berries that ripen throughout the late spring and early summer. I would have gone through life not knowing that the berries are edible. This tree, like many, was used as a border along a fence.
I have a guest post up about tandem nursing at the Mommy News Blog. Although my daughter is wearing a kippah in the accompanying picture, it’s not meant as any kind of feminist statement. At five years old she no longer wears one. Anyway, now you all know how “radical” I am/was.
Israel is a country of contradictions. You can walk down the street and find futuristic robots , a herd of goats, or the owner of a horse and cart making a sale.
Today we went to the Poleg Nature Reserve near Netanya. The big attraction is this sand dune that the kids can roll down:
Two kids stayed there to dig a hole while the rest of us went down to the beach. As we approached, my five-year-old said, “I see tisha yarchei leida.” I guess those kites do look like moons, but there were a lot more than nine.
Visitors to Israel are struck by the presence of the “street cats” who live comfortably among the urban population. But only Bnei Brak, Israel’s most densely populated city, has the zchut or privilege of being home to a herd of wild goats.
I received these pictures today along with the Hebrew text below.
For redistribution to all:
Pictures of Israeli soldiers rescuing Palestinians from a tunnel (used for smuggling weapons) in Gaza.
In the most moral army in the world, instead of blowing up the tunnel, they [the soldiers] rescue the one who is trying to kill you.
After smuggling weapons they [the Palestinians] receive:
Medical care, blankets, a cup of tea.
I remind you what the three reserve soldiers received when they went into Ramallah [in Samaria in the West Bank] . . . by mistake!!
That is the difference between us and the Palestinians.
[MiI: There were two. One of them lived several blocks from my home. When his wife got the news she went to stay with a family member living on our street. Even before the victim's name was announced we watched as the reporters gathered in front of the building. The two soldiers had been brutally tortured and murdered.] 
Read more on Pictures of Israeli Soldiers Treating Palestinian Weapon Smugglers…
This is the last call for submissions to the next Jpix Carnival, to be hosted here at A Mother in Israel. Please send posts with pictures on Jewish and Israeli themes to jpixcarnival@gmail.com–the carnival is scheduled to appear next week.
In other news, my guest posts on two very different subjects have been published.
For Orthonomics, I wrote Shabbat and Seminary about Israeli programs for overseas students that rely too much on home hospitality.
And Crunchy Domestic Goddess hosts my first report on Diane Wiessinger’s visit to Israel.
Read more on Guest posts are up at Orthonomics and Crunchy Domestic Goddess…
A few months ago, the city began to erect a traffic circle at this dangerous intersection. Work stopped temporarily when residents of a neighboring street sued the city out of concern for the extra traffic in front of their homes. I am more concerned about the safety of the intersection, but I realize other issues are involved. My daughter fears the traffic circle will make it harder to cross the street on her way to school, when there are a large number of cars. She won’t be able to judge which cars are headed toward her as they go around the circle.
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