A Walk on the Edge

A cove on the shore of the Sea of Galilee--Lake Kineret, from the ancient Hebrew kinor, or harp, as it was thought to be so shaped. Shaped much like the anatomical heart, minus the hoses though. Jerusalem is the spirit and soul of Israel, and the Kineret, then, is the heart. The great pumps send the waters up almost 700 feet--to sea level--from this deep hole in the earth, and into the National Water Carrier and out to the rest of Israel.

Below is a composition for the Scottish Highland Bagpipe, commemorating a mountain in the Negev Desert of southern Israel which some archaeologists believe to be the true Mt Sinai. I've been composing for the pipes for many years.

Hear HAR QARQOM --The Saffron Mountain

Dining Area with Books & Cat

Some people like to look at cabinets of dishware while eating. And what could be more interesting than staring at an armoire full of plates, at the same moment that you are actually eating off of one! A truly integrated, multi-sensory experience if ever there was. Though as a rule, I find books and cats more satisfying.

Usually we eat out of large plastic bowls while sitting in the salon. If only we had an armoire maybe we'd feel inspired to sit in the dining cul de sac.

Speaking of sacs, this is also one of the very few spots in all Israel where lessons on the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe (Khemet Khalilim Skotit) take place.

Fresh Food Every Day

Green onion, yellow onion, hot red pepper, tomato, eggplant, and just off screen olive oil, cabbage, and puy black lentils. Maybe a little heavy on the "breath fresheners," but my kind of food!

A Tropical Bird

This is from a series of birds that my wife Janet drew about 25 years ago for a showing in Hawaii.

Hezikaiah's Tunnel Inscription in Proto-Hebrew Letters

This the famous Siloam Inscription found in Hezekiah's Tunnel, down by the City of David. The tunnel goes from the Spring of Gihon to the Pool of Siloam (Shiloah/Shilo'akh) to provide water for Jerusalem during the coming battle with Sennacherib and the Assyrians. It is 533 meter long, and is slightly but consistenly graded to flow down from source to pool. This excavation from around 700 BCE in the reign of Hezekiah.

Note well the alphabet used: Yes, it is the Hebrew alphabet, but no, it doesn't look like the lettering on the kosher butcher's shop. It is the alphabet that King David wrote with, and read. It is very primitive looking. Next time you play around with some digital version of the Hebrew Scriptures in English, or in some other language, don't forget what the first "edition" looked like!

Translation:

... the tunnel ... and this is the story of the tunnel while ...
the axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to cut? ... the voice of a man ...
called to his counterpart, (for) there was ZADA [straightness] in the rock, on the right ... and on the day of the
tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax and flowed
water from the source to the pool for 1200 cubits. and 100?
cubits was the height over the head of the stonecutters ...

Mount of Olives from Silwan

This is a photo I took of the Mount of Olives from a slightly different angle than one usually sees, from the villiage of Silwan. Silwan is, now, mostly Arab, but the name itself is a corruption of the ancient Hebrew place-name Shilo'akh, known to the west as Shiloah, with the final guttural tossed in the gutter of pronunciation mutation. Now, that isn't the end of it, as this place-name has yet another version well-known in the west, but usually applied to the healing waters anciently at the well-visited spring: Siloam. The final 'm' came from the Greek, I think.

Silwan/Shilo'akh/Shiloah/Siloam is also home to the archaeological dig Ir Dahveed, aka City of David. This area was actually inside the walls of Jerusalem at one time, and a strong minority archaeological opinion says this may have been the temple site, and not the temple site a few hunded meters away.