ISRAEL - the Aaretz

Life is so great. This is the view from my patio every evening.

We arrived in Israel after a very long day of traveling. The heat - a beautiful 90 degrees with a nice wind blowing was awesome after the five hour plane ride from Paris. Back in the city where I was born, Tel Aviv.

Instead of pushing or making things happen, an apartment fell right into our lap. A friend of a friend's had a beautiful penthouse apartment in Tel Aviv - right in the heart of the city - two blocks from Shook HaKarmel and seven blocks from the ocean. A three bedroom apartment with three bathrooms. A very lit up apartment with lovely tile floors and a big balcony with a view to the sea. And our friend lent us a juicer.

We are having an amazing time here. We get up in the morning and go to the beach - float on the clear water of YAM HATICHON (the Mediterranean Sea). We head back to the apartment and stop in the Shook (the Market) and listen to the vendors hawk their tomatoes and figs and pomegranates as the fish vendors argue with the meat vendors. My Hebrew comes back to me as I listen to the accents and intonations, remember words long forgotten and learn new ones.

Here we have found all the ingredients to juice and stay on track with our raw lifestyle. Unfortunately, the breads and cheeses in this country are delicious. The smells and aromas of food baked or made with love is hard to resist. The creams and yogurts and seeds and nuts. Oh my!!!

Another blessing - there is so much walking over here. Almost impossible to find parking in this crazy city. All these one way streets. We are definitely getting a lot of exercise trying to find our way around.

Noah's father is with us - a double blessing - to have done this trip once with my Dad and now Noah's Dad - I like it!!! What a blessing to be with your parents once you have grown up. To experience each other through the lens of time and life.

We have a family reunion today - going to the Kfar to meet cousins we saw in Vienna for Tanta Berti's birthday. And the third and fourth generation of cousins (my age and their kids). It's like a wedding - time to greet people into our family.

I brought my yoga mat and I sit on the patio - stretching and breathing - on top of most of the buildings in the area - vibrating to my tunes and sending love out into the world.

So many things to do, people to see, places to be, tee hee!!! And yet, I sit here and BREATHE and take it all in for another moment. I center myself and take another breath.

Bring it on!!