Harvest time
So John and I drove up to our favorite cabins at Vered Hagalil last Saturday morning to enjoy the three-day weekend, and enjoy it we did! We had a late lunch when we arrived with a nice bottle of wine, then watched the sunset over the Sea of Galilee and played a game of Scrabble.
Sunday we visited our two favorite wineries in that area and stocked up on some of our favorite white wines from Galil Mountain and Dalton. After a great lunch at Doris the Butcher in Rosh Pinna, we came back to Vered Hagalil and had massages, followed by another pretty sunset over the Sea of Galilee (known locally as the Kinneret, which translates to “harp” because of its shape).
Vered Hagalil is sort of a resort and sort of a ranch. Not fancy, but very relaxing. After breakfast Monday morning, I had my coffee while watching the horses being exercised in the ring, watched a horse getting shod, said hello to my favorite “paint pony,” and petted the foal who has grown since the last time we were there, and watched a litter of six kittens play, jump, hide, attack and otherwise torment their mother. (The kittens were the funniest thing I have seen in a very long time!)
I bugged John until he drove me down the hill from our cabin to the Mount of the Beatitudes. We may have spent 10 minutes there. There is an Italian chapel on the site; we searched for the plaque that says it was built by Mussolini but couldn’t find it. Amid the swarms of Chinese tourists, we did find this:
Why is it that a four-day week at work feels like a six-day week?
Yes, back to work on Tuesday. It was a super-busy and interesting week. And emotionally exhausting. And fun. We have a fantastic group of local staff in our section and I really enjoy working with them.
It was nice to top off such a crazy week with a glass of wine upstairs on Petit and Howie’s balcony (until the phone rang and had to be on the phone the rest of the night with police and hospitals, anyway!).
Our new American Citizens Services chief arrived on Friday. John and I had breakfast with him and his partner at Benedict’s this morning. He’s a great guy, and I look forward to working with him.
We continued our visit with Petit and Howie on Saturday with lunch down at the renovated old Train Station. Petit recommended a wonderful Italian place and we sat outside and enjoyed the food and the fan blowing on us.
Howie and Petit
John at the Train Station
Inside a shop at Old Train Station