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photo page 18 |
An unexpected treasure on our bookshelves: Clara and Nathan,
who we met just a week ago, have moved from Eilat back to Holland. When we
offer to help move some boxes in our mini-van, Nathan asks if we would
care to have his Encyclopedia Brittanica. What a splendid offer! The
complete encyclopedia is huge, but the new cupboard in de living room seems
to be made to measure: the whole series neatly fits the entire width of the
shelves. Thank you Nathan, we know that parting hurts, but we appreciate
your gift very much and will take excellent care of it.
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Almost always, the wind in Eilat is northerly,
and the sea near the boulevard is without a ripple. But not always: on some
rare occasions the wind turns south and picks up during the afternoon.
The waves travel over the entire Gulf of Aqaba, growing al the way, and suddenly
we have a surf on the beach. The water spray even reaches the boulevard,
and everything including ourselves taste salty. The windjammers take to the
sea as they are moored only by a single anchor, that will not reliably keep
during the night.
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Yuval and Ruth often have friends and family from
Holland staying at their home, sometimes even so much they do not all at
once fit their apartment. Our flat has plenty of space, and so Tomas came
to stay with us for a couple of days. He left Holland during a blizzard
that left half a meter of snow and disrupted traffic. His plane was 6 hours
late, so he missed the connection to Eilat and arrived the other day. That
was a shock, from freezing Holland to exceptionally hot Eilat, and his face
shows the excess of sunshine. A perfect opportunity to start the BBQ and
have a wonderful evening dinner at the balcony. In March!!!
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Anat takes Sonja around on a tour to some kibbutzim
in the Arava. The first is "Grofit" which lies on a hill top in the middle
of the valley. Up on the hill, cows and chicken are raised. The view
and the colors are breathtaking.
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Down the hill, the kibbutz is very active in large scale agriculture. Dates grow on these huge palm trees.
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Moreover, the kibbutz has enormous green houses, in which
they experiment with various crops to find out what thrives in the desert.
The big advantage here is the almost complete lack of insects and fungi,
and there is plenty of water below the surface. This green house is red with
shrubs that originate from Australia.
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Orit of kibbutz "Elifaz" has created an oasis of
rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks and hundred of cows. Anat leaves with her fourth bunny.
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Hey, something familiar to Henk: the milking
parlor of Elifaz is equipped with the Afikim MM85 milkmeter: Henk has repaired
hundreds of these.
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Sailing regattas are held on Easter weekend, and from
our apartment we watch as hundred of minuscule sails scatter across the Red
Sea. Way too far for a picture. The solution: to rent a small motor boat.
After receiving the instructions ("this is forward, this neutral, and this
reverse, but please don't use that") we head for the sea: for Henk it feels
like his former motor boat "Blitshipper".
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Sonja shows that her roots were on a barge in Holland, while Henk is in precarious balance at the bow.
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The regatta includes Lasers and Optimists for the
young ones. Those are particularly fun: due to the strong winds the square
Optimists constantly take over water, and the sailors are fanatically bailing
out to keep afloat.
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March 27: our personal Jom Ha'Atzmaut. Exactly a year
ago we left for our first term in Eilat, with 200 kg of luggage and thoroughly
exhausted. We celebrate with a dinner at Boston Fish & Grill.
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Since every opportunity to celebrate is a good
opportunity, we keep on celebrating. Today is Yuval's birthday, but since
he is in reservist duty in the army, we have to do without him. We have sushi
at the Giraffe Noodle Bar with Ruth and their friend Jerusa. The seem like
twins, and Jerusa is a twin indeed, but not with Ruth. Sorry Yuval, better
luck next time.
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Ruth arranged a surprise party on the day that Yuval
returned from the army (April 6), at our place. With 10 guests hiding in
the kitchen, Yuval is lured upstairs with some excuse, and when he passes
the kitchen, we all burst out in an enthusiastic Jom-Jom-Hoeledet. Yuval
is flabbergasted. At the table, his birthday cake is waiting: happy birthday
Yuval, Mazal Tov!
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Our present for Yuval is a "Raffi", as voucher to have another dinner at the Giraffe Noodle Bar.
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Cami and Ronen, Ovadja and Raija-Lisa, Anneke, Dina and
Ismael; we all enjoyed the various attributions to the buffet: potato salad,
quiche, fruit salad, cheeses, meat balls, stuffed tomatoes, lots and lots
more.
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The Elah foundation has organized a meeting for the Dutchmen
in Eilat, at April 7. This time, Henk Smit gave a presentation of his works
as volunteer for the bird sanctuary, an area just outside Eilat that is used
as stop-over for thousands and thousands of migrating birds. The area has
been a baiting place forever, since it used to be a salt water swamp. When
the swamp dried out, water basins were established with lots of shrubs that
provide high energy food for the birds. The basins themselves are perfect
for waders, as they are shallow and contains krill. Even flamingo's frequent
this area.
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Henk Smit shows what is called in Dutch a "little beach
walker" ("little stint?") . The birds are caught in traps to be checked,
measured and ringed, so that their migration can be followed. Henk once caught
a little bird in Holland at Schiermonnikoog that some 6 months earlier
had been ringed in Eilat. It does not appear to be stressful for the
birds, as some are caught every day during the couple of days they spend
feeding in Eilat.
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There was even a sighting of a couple of "big beach walkers".
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During the presentation, a group of storks circled the
area, looking for a place to spend the night. It must have been well over
200!
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Reuven, the bird sanctuary manager, shows how the birds
are ringed, weighed and measured. Subsequently, he 'throws' them out of
the window.
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This dove has just been ringed, and is being pampered by
the girl that lives next door. The action helps greatly in her recovery,
as she became sick on the way from Eilat to the ringing station. She had
highly anticipated this day.
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The apartment building where we live is very well maintained
and cleaned. Nevertheless, this wreck has been dumped in the car park and
been there all year long, opposite our mini-van. Inside is a terrible mess,
with dirt, dust, garbage and torn apart intestines of the car. As Sonja goes
out in the morning to do the shopping for the bird meeting, she hears squealing
from the wreck ......
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This little cuty was crawling all alone through the rubbish, and screaming
her head off. We kept a close watch on the car all day long, but mother cat
never showed up. Returning from the bird sanctuary, the kitten was still
there without any food or drink. Time for a difficult decision....
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Oops, and then we had a pet.
She easily fits one hand, the umbilical cord is still attached and eyes and
ears are closed. She cannot be any older than 8 or 9 days. We decide that
her birth date must have been April 1. We realize all too well that her chances
of survival are very slim, but leaving her to succumb of thirst is no option
either....
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First we try to feed with a doll's bottle, and later with
an original pet bottle. The kitten is constantly searching for the nipple,
but when found, spits it out with a disgusting look on her face: YOU CALL
THIS MILK???
It takes a lot of sleep and energy, but the next day she drinks a few drops,
so we keep trying every 2 hours. She has energy aplenty, she meows like a
bullhorn, crawls all over Sonja, and luckily falls asleep every now and then.
In the evening, during our seventh attempt, she suddenly accepts the bottle
and gulps a full meal (5 ml lactose free baby formula), and from that moment
on feeding goes well. If she survives the first couple of days, she might
have a chance....
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