The year has begun and with it, its resolutions. And a few tweaks to the way we normally do things. It was J that suggested instead of the frenetic school run, the boys take the bus - and an hour of quality time can be salvaged from the daily marathon of dwarfs, jobs, feeding patterns, homework and a Pea. And now we all eat dinner together at night saving food, time, and washing up. So the dwarfs have to sample new things. Things sampled (and liked so far): carrot soup; chicken drumsticks in sumac; beetroot soup; cauliflower; ratatouille; babaganoush. It's a great new order.
I had a slow start - just couldn't get down to things. Then I remembered about saying: 'YES' to things that come your way. Within reason of course. So I joined a walk on my own last week - with a Palestinian guide and an Italian man from the UN. 'No one is really walking' said the guide, 'Everyone's afraid.' Though hiking in this place is about one of the safest things you can do at the moment. A few hours later a scary-looking, slavering dog gave chase and I had to momentarily eat my hat. We carried on walking slowly and he lost interest and peeled off. But for a moment I looked down at my bare arms and short nails, and wondered, not one of us with even a stick.
I found some myrrh by the roadside as we flanked the aqueduct built by Herod all the way to Jericho. It's still used as the main artery of water for the city below. From the big road (the same one the Pea and I travelled towards Jordan) you wouldn't even know this wadi exists.
Our guide said: "Honestly I do this walk almost every week and return each time astonished by this spectacular piece of heaven so close to us"
Past St George of Coziba (a Coptic Christian from Egypt) monastery and down into Jericho - the world's longest inhabited city. It was an inspiring way to begin a new year.
Where streams of living water flow.
And this led to a further hike this weekend with the same guide. And with J and the dwarfs and Mrs Pea for company: around Nabi Saleh in the West Bank near Ramallah, through a forest, barely used by humans.
Out we set on Sunday morning. The Lozenge in khaki green from top to toe, binoculars, compass and backpack at the ready - 'for collecting thingth'. Rashimi in spritely form with an old Farrow and Ball bag slung over his shoulder and a frayed cap. For the three hour hike (we took our time, as there was so much to play with on the way) they collected acorns to plant at home, 'and grow oaks'. The pea slept and chatted intermittently. B.Y.O. milk in the rucksack.
We did 7km in all - with not as much whining as we had feared. And 2 bags of pick and mix sweets brought out at the final stretch pumped them up enough to finish. A natural wonderland. And not an Israeli settlement in sight.
As Rashimi fell into a deep sleep he said: 'Mummy, I want to go back to that place.'
Those lucky bees.
The Lozenge is star of the week at school. This is nothing to do with achievement, simply a process of giving each child in the class a turn at being the focus.
This is the Lozenge aged 6, in a nutshell.
These damn Israelis. You can still see their presence everywhere. That metal security fence in the second photo was probably put there by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority like it developed hundreds of nature reserves and archeological sites over the years inside Israel and in the west bank which was under its control for decades. And the path you took used to be a very toured path by Israelis before it got too dangerous for them to enjoy it like you did. You know, Israelis tend to get murdered by Arabs in areas where the "Palestinians" have some control, even when they just try to enjoy nature.
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And all the "Palestinian" tour guides who teach tourists now about "their" land got their education as tour guides - their knowledge about the history, agriculture, nature of the land from Israeli institutes and teachers (and if from Arab teachers then these Arab teachers studied originally in Israeli institutes ).
There were no Arab tour guides or nature reserves or development of archeological sites in this land before 1948. The Brits and other Europeans and Americans did develop these aspects of the land to some degree (nothing to compare with what Israel did in its 67 years of existence and the Zionists did even before 1948), but Never did the "Palestinians", who get the more academic and deep knowlege of "their" land mainly from the Israelis, although they'll never admit it.