On the plane — January 11 We are almost home after a month’s absence. It’s been an incredible trip — upending my mind, raising my consciousness, lighting up the globe of my imagination so that places that were once just names to me are now pulsing with life. It’s been the kind of transformative trip…
Tag: MiddleEastern food
Random Things I Love about Paris ~~ January 7, 2018
It’s our second to last night in Paris, capping off a trip of a lifetime to exotic places I never thought to see. With all that adventure, I planned a little familiar comfort at the end of the trip with a few days in the loveliest city in the world. I wish I could write…
Breads and spreads ~~ January 3, 2018
On the plane from Amman to Paris. About to take off. Images, thoughts, impressions, and emotions about our month in Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan are a swirling kaleidoscope in my head. This has been one of those change-the-way-you-see-the-world trips. It will take me some time to process it. But mostly, in this moment, I am…
Time Travel ~~ January 1, 2018
Yesterday we said goodbye to Maria Gadnaor, a joyful, funny, sprite of a travel companion. We enjoyed her company so much. She saw us from Eilat, through Petra (Big and Little), to the place where John baptized Jesus and set the forces of Christianity in motion. The baptismal site is such a poignant place. There…
Makdous Fatteh ~~ December 30, 2017
So, I spent yesterday leaning on a cane as we hiked around and I got carsick descending into a valley where the rest went hiking in a creek. Still, it was a lovely day. The cane got me through Little Petra which was really lovely, even if it wasn’t big Petra. The natural rock formations…
Wadi Rum (The Valley of the Moon) ~~ December 28, 2017
Today was our visit to the ancient city of Petra, and I am sorry to say that I have nothing to say about it since I was laid up in a hotel room with a dodgy knee. [Gorgeous pictures of Petra, taken by Gale: The fall I took skidding in the sand of the Timna…
The hopes and fears ~~ December 24, 2017
Waking up in Bethlehem the day before Christmas Eve. I don’t think I’ve been in a sadder place. It’s Palestinian territory, landlocked in the West Bank, surrounded by walls designed by Israelis to keep terror and violence where they belong, which, they are determined, will not be in Israel. The day before, we arrived shortly…
Knafeh ~~ December 20, 2017
Another day of over-eating. It was also a day in Old Jerusalem, and I’ll have more to say about that later as it sinks in. But right now my mind is focused on something blessedly more simple: knafeh. Knafeh (there are probably a dozen ways to spell it and almost as many to make it)…
and away she goes.... 