Hiking in the Carmel

I received some very positive comments after I showed you photographs of my travels around Israel during Passover, so am back again to show you yet more of Israel's beautiful landscape, this time in the northern region, in the area of the Carmel. This weekend we hiked there with a group of friends. The sky was blue, the scenery was fresh and green, in direct comparison to the dry, arid, yet equally beautiful landscape we visited just two or three hours drive further south at the Dead Sea. I didn't see my boys for most of the day, except for when they wanted food! They like to be up front with the madrich (guide), and anyway manage to climb over the rocky landscape at a much quicker pace than their parents! You can see from the photographs above what a beautiful day we had.
The cards above were part of an order that I completed some time back, but I prefer to wait a little and show them to you only after the relevant birthdays have passed. Cards for different generations were requested, and you can see here a card for a keen golfer, for a man, young girl and an anniversary greetings card.
The cards that I began to supply to a local Judaica shop back in November really do seem to be selling well, and last week I took yet more Bar and Bat Mitzvah cards to the store, to refill my stand. As always, I am happy to recreate the designs that are popular and seem to sell well, but also like to come up with some new ideas too. Above you can see another design for a Barmitzvah card, showing a Torah scroll, a Tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, which a boy is obligated to wear in the synagogue from the day of his Barmitzvah and onwards, and a kippa. The Hebrew greeting says "Blessings on the occasion of your Barmitzvah".
Finally, don't forget about my 'Happy (Blog) Birthday' giveaway in my previous post. I am always pleased to read your comments and will be very happy to send a package of 'Handmade in Israel' goodies to the winner on May 17th!