Yagel and Rena

When my son and his girlfriend asked me to make them a sign with their names on for the front door of their student apartment, little did I know that the piece I came up with would become one of my most popular designs! I have cut this piece quite a number of times this year, making the occasional tiny change to the design to suit the brief.

In August a customer thought my design would make a lovely baby gift for some newborn twins. She knew that the final piece would be bigger than my original creation since she wanted to include not only the new babies' names but also their date of birth.

She sent me a photo from the joint Simchat bat and brit milah to show me the different shades of greens and beige that the family had worn at the ceremony. "I think these are the colours she [the new mum] likes" my customer wrote.

My final piece measured 25 × 20 cm. It features the twin babies' names, Yagel and Rena, written in Hebrew, with their birth date displayed below. The name Yagel means "to rejoice," while Rena means "melody" or "song." Together, the names express a beautiful harmony of joy and song.

My customer was thrilled with the piece, first writing: "Thank you, it’s beautiful," and later adding "The papercut you created for Rivka was really appreciated. She was so touched."

* This post has been shared on Craft Schooling Sunday, Happiness is Homemade, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Tuesday Turn About.

65 Years of Wedded Bliss

Back in 2020, I created a special card to mark this couple's 60th wedding anniversary. At the time I received a copy of their wedding photo and recreated it in paper, showing the groom in his top hat and his bride in her lace dress and flowing veil. Last month their daughter contacted me once again and asked if I could make a card for her parents who were now celebrating 65 years of wedded bliss!

This time she asked if I could use a recent picture of her parents, but to show them with a 65th anniversary cake, and not the Leyton Orient F.C. one that was in the photo she sent me!

Their daughter also asked me to recreate the setting of their salon, with its pale pink walls, and to include a couple of family photos in the background. One shows almost the entire family, though without the couple's daughter-in-law, who was unwell with corona on the day the photo was taken. To make up for her absence, the second photo features her alongside her husband on their wedding day.

I carefully created the portraits of my customer's parents, adding all the little details like the glasses hanging on a chain around her neck and the tumbler of whisky in his hands. I then added a large round cake on the table in front of them, photoshopping the greeting "Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary Mum & Dad onto it. I added some tiny red and pink flowers to the cake for a pop of colour.

The 65th wedding anniversary is known as the Blue Sapphire Anniversary. It is traditionally celebrated with the gift of blue sapphire, symbolizing strength, power, and the enduring love of a long marriage. However, this is a relatively modern convention, unlike the centuries-old traditions of silver, gold, or diamond anniversaries.

Once again the couple loved their card. "Thank you so much for the beautiful anniversary card you made for my parents" my customer wrote. "They loved it." 

On the 8th October, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement and signed the first phase of a 20-point plan to end the war. A ceasefire came into effect on the 10th of October.
As part of this first phase, all living hostages are to be released tomorrow, 13th October, in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 terrorists serving life sentences. Israel has already begun withdrawing its forces to pre-designated lines within the Gaza Strip.
Since the war began in October 2023, I have lit an extra candle every Shabbat, reciting a small prayer in my head for the safe return of the hostages. On Friday evening, I lit what I hope was my last extra candle, and tomorrow I pray I'll be celebrating the hostages' long-awaited return.
Still, my heart aches for the families whose loved ones won't be coming home. I think of the thousands who lost family and friends so brutally on the 7th October, and of the hundreds of soldiers who gave their lives - among them Gadi’s dear friends, Yakir and Ariel. Their bravery and their loss will never be forgotten.

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop and Funtastic Friday.

The Dead Sea Works Visitor Centre and Metsoke Dragot

Mister Handmade in Israel and I recently spent a few days in the area of the Dead Sea. The war is still raging here in Israel - not long ago we buried another young soldier who grew up in the city where I live and who was in fact in the same battalion and special unit that Gadi was in. But sometimes you need to take a little time to breathe, so I persuaded my other half to take some time off work.

For our first day I booked tickets for a tour of the Moshe Novomeisky Visitor Centre, an open-air museum located at the site of the original Palestine Potash Company plant and workers' camp in Sodom, a town commonly known as the location of the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Palestine Potash Company was founded in 1929 by Moshe Novomeysky, with the support of British engineer Thomas Gregory Tolock. The first plant was established in 1930 at Kalia, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, followed in 1934 by a larger facility at Sodom, on the southern shore.

The company quickly grew into the largest industrial enterprise in pre-state Israel, at its peak accounting for more than half of Mandatory Palestine's exports. Its operations relied on evaporation techniques, creating shallow pools lined with waterproof salt soil. As the salty water dried, it produced potash - a pinkish-orange, potassium-rich salt formed from ancient seabeds that had evaporated millions of years ago. Output from the Sodom plant was shipped north by boat to Kalia, and from there transported by truck to Jerusalem and the port of Haifa for export.

The plant complex also developed into a small community. By 1940, around 300 people lived on-site, including 40 women and 20 children - making it the southernmost permanent Jewish settlement in Mandatory Palestine. At the time, the only way to reach the southern plant was by boat across the Dead Sea.

During the War of Independence, the Kalia plant was destroyed and the Sodom plant shut down. In 1952, the Dead Sea Works was established as the government successor to the concession, and a year later a road was built linking Be'er Sheva to Sodom. With improved access, a new plant was constructed, and production resumed in 1955.

The Visitor Centre, spanning the original workers' camp area including the dining hall and workers' accommodations, highlights the vision and determination of those who transformed the Dead Sea. Our guided tour used modern technology, such as virtual reality goggles, to transport us back in time and show us what life was like for the potash workers in the 1930s and 40s.We learnt about the geological processes that created the Dead Sea (the formation of the Syrian African rift valley), the process of mineral extraction from the Dead Sea, and the heroic story of the pioneers who established the original Potash Company site, overcoming harsh living conditions in an isolated region. It also addressed the ongoing balancing act between environmental conservation and economic development.

Afterwards we stopped briefly at the shores of the Dead Sea to take some photos. An ecological wonder located at the lowest place on Earth, the Dead Sea sits at 439 metres degrees below sea level and is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.
We then continued north along Road 90 before turning onto the winding road that leads to Metzoke Dragot, the travellers village where we planned to stay. Metzoke Dragot is located on a cliff 21 metres above sea level and overlooks the magnificent view of the Dead Sea on one side and the rugged Judean Mountains on the other. 'Metzoke' means 'cliffs of' in Hebrew, while 'Dragot' is the name of the area near the Dead Sea, named after Nahal Dragot (Dragot Stream), a nearby desert stream that gives the area its name.

We chose to stay in a "tent" perched on the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea. The views were spectacular! Our boutique tent was rather more upscale than a basic tent. It was spotlessly clean and very comfortable, and came with air-conditioning, a double bed, TV, electricity/charging stations, and private bathroom facilities! Two sunbeds were placed outside the tent, next to our own private dipping pool. I spent hours sitting in the pool reading an excellent book, 'The Lion Women of Tehran'. There was also Wi-Fi available at the site. It was not luxury hotel standard, but definitely much more pleasant than basic camping and we loved the experience!

We ate dinner in the Metzoke Bar, a café-bar overlooking the Dead Sea. On the first evening I enjoyed a veggie burger, then the next day I tried the vegetarian schwarma made from seitan. I loved the cold Metzoke Beer, though sadly it seems that it is only available at the bar there. The Israeli breakfast included eggs, bread, labane, tehina, vegetables, and hot and cold drinks. It was very good.

Nubian ibex, a desert-dwelling goat species, wander through the site and I jumped up from my chair several times to take photos. Metzoke Dragot's cliffs, wadis (ravines), rocky slopes, and limited water sources make it suitable for ibex. They are very comfortable with people and we saw them often.

This isn't a paid post - Metzoke Dragot simply turned out to be the perfect place for a short stay, with just the right balance of comfort, sweeping Dead Sea views, and a peacefulness that made it hard to leave.

* This post has been shared on Saturday's Critters, Nature Notes, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Tuesday Turn About.