Field of dreams

I was on vacation with my family earlier this week.

One day I'm eating fast food in the Azrieli Tower in Tel Aviv and the next day I'm picking corn in a massive field in the southern Golan kibbutz Afik.

No, I didn't quit my day job; I decided to take one more day of vacation and lay low in the Golan. After all, yesterday there was a "county fair" on my moshav and I wanted to help out a bit. So when I asked how I could help, one of the organizers told me to meet up with one of the farmers and go pick fresh ears of corn.

A great experience if you haven't done so already. When we drove out to the corn fields it literally looks like you're in Iowa or Nebraska, except for the fact that they probably have a billion times more corn. Nevertheless, this Golan corn field was MASSIVE!

Corn needs a lot of water to grow, so the slender stalks were situated on a clay-like mud, which made it nearly impossible to walk on with sandals, but a sensational pleasure to walk on barefoot.

And of course eating two freshly plucked corns at the end made the trip more than worthwhile.

An end of an era?

I was pulling out of Qatzrin last week and I noticed an orange traffic sign. For those not familiar with Israeli traffic laws, orange signs indicate temporary changes.

The sign said that tomorrow, Monday, August 20th, the Benot Yaakov Bridge will be closed and that travelers should use alternate routes. I.e., you won't be able to use Road 91 to enter or exit the Golan tomorrow.

Truth be told, I caught the sign with the corner of my eye, but my assumption is that the old one-lane bridge that was built in the late 1960s will be yielding way to the newer, safer two-lane bridge tomorrow.

This is big news for traffic safety, but wonder what they'll do with the rickety Bailey bridge... and the Golan's lone traffic light?

Start saving

As I was driving near the Golan Heights Winery last week, I noticed signs announcing a one-of-a-kind wine festival.

Chave told me about it, but at 1,000 Shekels a ticket, this festival was too expensive for my blood. Start saving! But luckily, I heard about it from some friends - one of whom works at the winery.

Basically, the event was open for predominantly for journalists and wine aficionados connoisseurs who came from all over the place (so if you see them in the press soon you'll know why!). There was unlimited wine, good food including fine chocolates and cheeses, and interesting exhibits on wine making and tasting, how barrels are built (there was a man from France who came in to give the demonstration), and of course a visit to the vineyards.

And speaking of vineyards, the time for the harvest - batzir in Hebrew - is upon us and has even begun in the Southern Golan Heights, where they grow a variety of Riesling and Muscato grapes.

The progrssion of the harvest goes from south to north, where it is significantly cooler. Winemakers are closely monitoring the vineyards and the harvest should go on for the next month or so.

And as for next year's festival, I'm starting a fund and am willing to match any donation!

Swerves, curves, and then takeoff

I live around 2,000 feet above sea level. And from my office in the Western Galilee, I can see the Mediterranean Sea. Throw the Kinneret, the world's lowest lying fresh water lake, into the equation and we're talking about a lot of ups and downs on the way in and back from work.

There is one spot, though, that I think is truly breathtaking - and, of course, I drive it every day. It's the spot coming down from Almagor towards the northern side of the Kinneret. I'm no good at estimating these sort of things, so I thought a picture would help.

The Golan is on the left and the Galillee is on the right.

Here you can see how the road swerves downwards towards the Kinneret. It's the sort of road that makes me wish that my car could fly.

Actually, if one were to be in possesion of a man powered plane, this might be the ultimate place to fly.

16 minutes of fame in the Golan

Just the other day, Chave and I were in an office in the Golan Heights city of Qatzrin. We were filling out some paper work and as we were finishing the lady asked if I was the person in the paper.

"I was; I am, I mean," I said.

See, at the beginning of June, the local weekend paper ran a feature story on me. That weekend, I got tons of comments from people on my moshav –– which felt quite nice to be honest. But 15 minutes of fame comes and goes very quickly and I haven’t really thought about it since.

However, I was shocked/pleasantly surprised to hear that this lady recognized me. So there you have it –– my 15 minutes of fame got a one minute extension… which I’m sure some of you will say, got me back on the blog!

Regarding that, I apologize if people were coming here only to see that I didn't post a single word in the past month. I wasn't hibernating for a month; I've just been quite busy. So over the course of the next few days/weeks, I hope to either share some of those experiences with you or maybe I’ll experience even better stuff and share that instead.

I'll keep you posted.