My Saturday afternoon hike up Givat HaTitora in photos

My blood glucose has been really high lately, so I’ve made an effort to get as much exercise as I can. That’s mostly been going for longer walks, and getting my heart rate up.

I decided to go for a hike up Givat HaTitoria this afternoon as an alternative to parking off in front of the TV for the afternoon.

The hill is an archaelogical site, and recently renovated tourist area that’s also pretty popular with Modiin’s residents. There’s a path around the top of the hill, with spectacular views of the city, and the area around it.

I walked past one of the city’s new water features, that was pretty spectacular in the late afternoon light. I had some fun messing around with shutter speed, and perspectives.

It was a nice way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Chanukah 2018 memories

Chanukah (aka Hanukkah) is my favourite festival on the Jewish calendar.

Hanukkah (/ˈhɑːnəkə/HAH-nə-kə; Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה‬ ḥanuká, Tiberian: ḥanuká, usually spelled חֲנוּכָּה‎, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew, [ˈχanukə] or [ˈχanikə] in Yiddish; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Ḥanukah) is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. It is also known as the Festival of Lights (Hebrew: חַג הַאוּרִים‬, ḥag ha’urim).
Wikipedia

A neighbouring building has this wonderful box at their entrance.

There are a few reasons for this. One is that I just love the candles, and seeing my neighbours add candles each night, and these growing pools of light in Israeli winter evenings. I also love that stores and businesses also light candles, and display them in their windows. It’s like a thread of candlelight that links us all.

Another reason is that Chanukah usually takes place in December, which is around my birthday, which is always my favourite time of the year.

Yet another reason why I enjoy Chanukah is that we live in the city of the Maccabees who we remember in this festival, Modi’in. We also arrived in Israel on the first night of this festival, so that makes it even more special to us.

Modi’in – Maccabim – Re’ut

Each year, I take photos of our candles, and show our progression from the first candle, to the 8th. This year, I decided not to go with my standard view of our menorah with each day’s addition.

First night
The second candle
Three candles
Blue and white for the fourth night
A colourful five
Lighting six candles
Splendid seven candles
Capturing the moment on the last night

Our son also helped us light the candles this year.

Our son was really into capturing each night’s candles with his phone. I noticed he was experimenting with ISO, and shutter speed on manual settings. Definitely some photographer Dad pride there! 📸

These can be pretty ornate!
My wife’s potato and sweet potato latkes! 😍

Of course it’s not just about the candles. This time of year is also a time for amazing donuts called sufganiot, and fried foods such as latkes. I especially enjoy my wife’s potato and sweet potato latkes!

Walking to the library the long way

I wanted to go for a walk this morning. We have some overdue library books so I decided to walk to the library. I managed to drop off one of the books, and got some exercise in the process.

I wanted to go for a walk, and we have some overdue library books. I went for a walk to the library, managed to drop off one of the books, but got some exercise in the process.

I made a point of doing more walking before I bought my Fitbit, but having the Fitbit is a great incentive to do even more. I enjoy tracking more of my metrics when I’m out, and about.

Pretty Purple

I often walk to the supermarket for our weekly shop. This morning I noticed these pretty purple flowers (roses?) on a street corner.

Google Photos tries hard to come up with creative variations. Its attempt for this one didn’t quite work out, though:

Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, Center District, Israel

Fireworks for Israel70

My son and I made our annual pilgrimage to Modiin’s Independence Day celebrations to watch the fireworks. As usual, it was a spectacular display, and we stuck around for all three parts of the show.

I took my Nikon camera with me to see if I could capture some decent photos with it too. I intended to take my tripod with me, but didn’t in the end. Instead, I propped my camera up on a bag and left it to capture two 10 second exposure shots of the second round of fireworks.

Even though the images are blurred, I like the outcome for the most part. I also shot some video of the second show with my Nikon:

We almost missed the third part of the show. They started about 15 minutes late and we were on our way out of the park when the fireworks started. It was a spectacular conclusion to the evening for us.

Flowers and Construction on a Sunny Spring Morning

I went for a walk this morning to drop off some (long) overdue library books. I took my camera along with me and captured some of the construction in the city.

I went for a walk this morning, to drop off some library books.

One of the aspects I like about Spring in our city are these flowers. They only flower for a short time, and I tend to photograph them every year (except, perhaps, last year).

I went for a walk this morning, to drop off some library books.

Little Red Flowers

These flowers seem to all over Modiin. I have no idea what they’re called but they’re pretty.

Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, Center District, Israel

A passing view of Park Annabe

I had a couple things to do in the city this morning and my route took me past Park Annabe, one of Modi’in’s central features. The buildings along the horizon to the right are part of a new neighbourhood that is nearing completion.

A view of Park Annabe in Modi'in Maccabim Reut — Park Annabe, Modi’in Maccabim Reut, Israel

I’ve been meaning to come past this way for a couple weeks to update my photos of the new neighbourhood so I’m glad I had that chance this morning. ~~I have a couple more photos on my DSLR that I’ll edit in the coming days.~~

Here are a couple photos I took with my DSLR: