A marvelous sculpture garden, with recordings, of Bob Hope addressing troops in Viet Nam

One of the most thrilling aspects of our San Diego stay was the fact that the airport is so close to the city that planes were flying almost directly overhead as we made our way to Balboa Park.

This is a lot more exciting live!

Our sabbatical of February 2012-California, Mexico and Hawaii

This is a very different kind of sabbatical, quite self-indulgent and relaxing. The best part is that we avoid February in Boston. We arrived in San Diego, enjoyed a few days there, walking for miles under perfect blue skies, temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. Balboa Park, home of dozens of museums, was our first destination. A highlight was a tour of the San Diego Art Museum. Actually, the real highlight was a drink at a restaurant, La Prada, that we've been to several times before. Their mojitos are fantastic. We walked the San Diego waterfront a little before sunset, spent Friday in La Jolla, an elegant and beautiful town about 40 minutes from downtown.

On Saturday morning, we boarded the bus for Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Mexico. The best description is that this is summer camp for adults. The food is both delicious and healthy, there are an amazing number of classes. I've taken tennis lessons, done circuit training, ride and glide (part-spinning and part gliding different body parts on plates that slide easily on carpet, yoga, hiking. This is ashtanga yoga week with a beautiful teacher from San Diego. I could go on and on. Roy has even done pilates!! People are from all over Canada and the U.S., most interesting and friendly. We're physically exhausted but are enjoying the activity tremendously. And the grounds are spectacular in a rustic, rugged way. This is not a fancy spa; it is for people interested in both physical activity and mind/body work. The ranch is nestled in the mountains and, if one chooses, there are some pretty serious mountain hikes. So far, we haven't made it up at 6:15 a.m. to get on board. I'm not sure we will. There is a garden hike that we will take where one hikes to the organic garden that they have here. Breakfast is served there and is supposed to be quite spectacular.

We're here until Saturday, then on to Los Angeles where we'll spend some time with friends, also see Laura and Jared who are planning to come for the weekend.

It is our last week in Israel and we are saying goodbye to friends, getting ready to return home.  Today was our last Hebrew class with Shelley.  We've finished our darbouka lessons with Evan and enjoyed a lovely morning with Rabbi Bill Hamilton and his family.  This country is preparing for Purim, which seems like Halloween, Mardi Gras and Christmas all rolled into one.  Today we saw a big pink bunny riding a motorcycle in downtown Jerusalem.   Sorry we didn't get the camera out fast enough.  

It is Shabbat afternoon, we managed to prepare lunch for friends Ammi and Anat from Haifa as well as Ronne and Bernard who are here with the CCAR.   It's no easy feat to prepare lunch in a kitchen the size of a table, but we managed to pull it off.  It's good soup weather!  Jerusalem is finally getting some of the rain it needs so badly.  It's windy and cold and Israelis are thrilled and grateful for every raindrop; I discovered that my winter coat is not at all rainproof.  Last night, we walked in the pouring rain to the Jerusalem hotel to join a group of rabbis on a bus to Shabbat services in Mevasseret Tziyon.  We were two cantors among several hundred rabbis who were divided up and hosted by different congregations around the country.  The service was pleasant and the congregational participation was full-voice, but the music, except for one or two pieces, was shopworn and identical to Kol Haneshama and Or Hadash.  There's a lot of Debbie Friedman liturgy here and it seems that the Israeli reform movement is badly in need of some new creativity.  After services we were warmly hosted at the home of Shaul and Tania Feinberg, where we enjoyed a traditional Shabbat dinner with several of Shaul's rabbinic colleagues.

Last week we were delighted to have a few days "on the coast."  Laura, Roy and I joined Henry and Laurie in Herzliyah--truly another world!  After living in a kosher apartment in very kosher Jerusalem, it was a novelty to find ourselves in restaurants where they serve "shrimps" and hamburgers with bacon.  Herzliyah was our base for a day of touring and "hiking" with Laura, Henry and Laurie.   Our guide, Yuval, did the best he could working around the weather.  We did manage to do some great eating.  Our most challenging hike was Arbel, a mountain up in the Galilee.  The pictures say it all...

Laura arrived last night just as Shabbat was about to begin, a challenge for her sherut driver who insisted on driving through parts of town full of observant Jews who resent drivers on Shabbat.  She joined us for Shabbat dinner after a walk through the new city.  We enjoyed a traditional chicken dinner in our kosher kitchen--nice to pull out the meat dishes for the first time.

Today we toured the Old City, haggled with a few merchants in the shuk, but mostly enjoyed walking around the city on this warm and sunny winter day.

Tonight we will head out to dinner on Emek Refaim with the Wolks who are here with their grandson.