Ah, Don, that is gorgeous & hope you don't mind that I copied just to show my sons how unique it is.... to give them ideas of one they would never have imagined.  Wonder if yours was a naturally formed shape or maybe soaked to bend.... any idea what kind of wood it is?   I have a "plain" curved handle one that my father said his mother & gr-mother used.... it was varnished.  He also used it now & then.  Thanks for showing us again, impressive. 

Don...
...your cane looks unique...I bet you would be hard pushed to find another one like yours...nor with Identical carvings... It looks strong, solid and reliable.....

Shirley, what about showing your father's one? or your sons'?

My Grandson Collects Old canes that are different. How he would love that one. It sure took some carving.

Don, that is a beautiful cane. When they have the big Polish Fair in the summer in Polish Town they sell fancy canes. I bought one with a wolfs head. A few years ago.

Lindancer my first cane in this style is one I bought while in Poland. The one illustrated here is Ukranian.

Quite often as I walk the streets of Netanya I stumble across interesting  events which seem to reflect the fabric of everyday life. The following photos were of an event taking place as I was walking home.  A car pulling a trailer, garishly lit and blasting music at full volume pulled up in front of a apartment building. From out of the trailer they extracted the framework for a large canopy, equally garishly lit.  Then from the apartment a throng of people emerged in a procession led by a person carrying the Torah Scrolls who proceeded to the canopy under which he danced with the scrolls. The scrolls were handed off to each member of the procession who did his little dance under the canopy. It was a joyous event and I didn't stay to the end, but it was so wonderful to see such happiness in a time when strife is so predominant. And nobody seemed to care that this was in the mid day on one of the busiest thoroughfares in town.
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Okay, Don, that's like tearing out the last page of a mystery or forgetting the punch line of a joke.... What was this "ceremony" all about?  With a vehicle decorated so elaborately it must be a fairly common event.  Please, the rest of the story?   Love the photos.

Shirley we just had a similar discussion on Facebook. We don't know what the beginning was so we can only speculate on the ending.  The canopy represents a new home for the Torrah which may be a donation to   the synagogue and the celebration is to commemorate this donation. This may also be the end of a wedding ceremony in which these same rituals would be observed; although this seems to be unlikely

Don, thank you so much for these photos featuring Israeli life! I have saved both this year's and last year's and have enjoyed both folders!

I also saved Bubble's travels, it is a great way to travel the world and see another style of life.

The countdown to Pesach (Passover) is in full operational mode and this morning I did my little bit by assisting in the preparation of the nut-filled dates. This procedure involves opening up the dates with surgical precision, removing the pitt and filling the cavity with either walnuts or pecans. This part is performed by my assistant and you can see the finished product ready to be consumed in a few days from now.

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The end product.
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Good Job,  Don.  Look delicious !  My mother used to make these at Christmas, and then she would roll them in granulated sugar. 

Looking forward to seeing some more of your culinary achievements.

Joy

Don and Bubble, they look delicious.   Watch your fingers slitting the dates.

Mentioned cutting fingers and brought to mind several years ago.  I was slicing radish's and caught a large tip of one finger.   Close to emergency room so held the tip and drove to the hospital.  A young doctor came in, mentioned a graph but thought he would be able to put in several stiches and save.  He said that it would possibly work but the tip of my finger might be always numb.  I asked if I would be able to play the piano, he said of course.  I told him that was great, I never could play the piano.  He looked shocked, had never heard that story in the past.

Those dates look delicious.  I’d love to have one right now.

Jack, that was funny.  I guess the doctor not used to a patient with humor.

Don they look delicious . just like I could reach in the PC and take one.

Jack, your little joke reminded me of my friend who had foot surgery and asked the doctor if she would be able to ski.  He told her she would and she gave the doctor the same answer you did.  I had never heard that before and thought it was really funny at the time.  I guess the doctor's were just caught off guard.

Joy

Joy I liked your story.  Do not even know the doctors name, but he did a good job.   I still do not play the piano, but my fingers only get numb when holding onto a cold beer.

Don. Now how many of the dates did you pop in your mouth while filling them? I have always love dates. Buy them already pitted and eat like candy. Same with prunes, raisins. done it since I was a child. Yours look so rich.  You do have a busy time cooking in the next few days.
Now maybe that little bus the other day that you saw had something to do with the movie of the Torah from one place to another for Passover.

Don and Bubble, how nice of you to share these "slices" of life with us, thank you. My mother always candied dates for Easter. She was a wonderful cook.

Oh, how yummy they look.  I do believe they are larger than any I have seen before, yes?   Does appear that our favorite long distance couple has a good time no matter what is going on.  (((hugs))) to you both & thanks for sharing this important & special time.

After days and weeks of preparation  Pesach, or Passover is upon upon us. The table is set the food is ready and we can all enjoy now the fruits of our labours; not that my labours were all that significant, but were part of the process nonetheless.

Doing a bit of shopping for some of the essentials is the most fun and challenging    and in this most recent episode, armed with my English-Hebrew dictionary and a few fractured Hebrew phrases I set forth to buy some wine that was kosher especially for Passover. It’s important to know that there is kosher for day to day living and there is kosher just for Passover. The latter was my objective.  I made my wine selection and asked the clerk, in Hebrew, if it met the conditions for Passover and assured me it did. As it turned out it did not; the wine did not conform to the requirements of strict rabbinical law and should not have been on sale. But I repeated to Bubble the exact question I asked the clerk and she assured me that what I asked could not be misinterpreted, so the clerk was untruthful for whatever reason. Just another misadventure for an innocent abroad.
This is a photo of the Seder table.
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And I bet the food was scrumptious. Enjoy Passover. Will start here as sundown today.

Sorry, Don. People are the same all over it seems. Enjoy your Passover meal!

The days after Passover were quiet and leisurely and so on Sunday we decided to just go for a drive.  We ended up in Herzylia, a few kilometers south of Netanya. This is a city famous for its marina and for being one of the wealthiest areas in Israel, home to millionaires and diplomats.
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We toured the marina and lunched at a seafood diner where I feasted on the finest fish dish I have ever eaten.  We were a party of four and we ordered two fish which were big enough to fill two platters and indeed it was enough for all of us. It was a pleasant outing diminished by the fact that Bubble was not with us.
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