Our bodies are slowly readjusting to the Portland time zone. I felt fairly normal and didn’t feel as if I was going to fall asleep until 6 pm. After dinner, I had a bit of a revival and so I thought I would post some more photos and thoughts about our trip. Here are some photos that Steve took with our other camera to prove that I really was there.

Can you find me in this group shot?

My regular blog readers know that I am a bit of a foodie, and I often post photos of food when we travel. But alas, the food in Israel was not very photogenic. Our breakfasts and dinners were in the two hotels which also housed other large groups of tourists. All of the meals were buffet style and kosher. There was always a big table of salads and cheeses — even at breakfast. The kibbutz hotel had the best food, especially for breakfast. The hot dishes were really overcooked and sitting in those big metal pans for who know how long? Our lunches were often similar fare — plates of salad, hummus, baba ganoush, etc with pita bread, followed by a meat and vegetable course. The best lunches were in Palestine — shawarma was my favorite — lamb which was cooked on a rotary spit, thinly sliced and served in pita with condiments and a yogurt sauce.

One of the most fun finds was a litter of puppies in one of the ruins near out kibbutz. Look how cute they are. Click on the photos for a better view.

I promised to show some of my purchases. The necklace on the left is a version of The Hand of Fatima. It has the hand, the Star of David and two birds. Next to it is a cross which was a gift from the owner of the tour company, Guiding Star. It has the loaves and fishes from the feeding of the 5000. Next is another hand of Fatima, a gift from the Center for Spirituality which sponsored the trip.

These items are made of Olive Wood — a small nativity scene, and some crosses. The two Jerusalem crosses were also gifts from the Center.

I bought two scarfs in the old city. Both have peacock imagery. The first is Pashmina and silk:

This one is cut velvet.

This is a small pillow cover made from dupioni silk with satin stitched applique with the very popular pomegranate motif.

I also bought one of the Palestinian quilts. I think this might be a prayer mat.

And to bring everything home, I found this bag which is made by the Druze, a religious sect that lives in Galilee.

I am setting up a Yahoo group for the members of the tour group. It is somewhat of a challenge because many of them are not as internet savvy as I am. Tomorrow was the day that the demolition of our bathroom was to take place, but thank goodness the contractor needs more time because I have to reorganize all my stuff from the bathroom and the closets into the guest bedroom and bathroom. I have not had the energy to tackle that — maybe tomorrow.