Done with NaBloPoMo 2009 that is! Happy November 30th everyone. What better way to end this year's daily posting frenzy than with a post that illustrates the prickly and somewhat stubborn of those who call my little corner of the world home.
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Native-born Israelis are often called sabras - from the Hebrew for prickly pear - because they are "prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside". Trite and more than a little cliche, but also more than a little true. Israelis can be brash and overly agressive but when you look a bit deeper they're a bunch of big softies. Like the hard-talking barber down the block - he talks a good game, but when Itai did his own version of a sidewalk sale last Friday this tough guy walked over, asked the price of two little matchbox cars (about 50 cents each) and handed over nearly three dollars just because Itai looked like a good kid. And then of course there's always this. Examples of Israeli kindness don't come any better than that one.
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The sabra you see here isn't a prime example of its species, but I do love it's reddish yellow coloring. Objectively though, I'd have to admit that it's a bit misshapen. The other sabras growing on the same plant were fuller and of the more common barrel shape but it was this little one that particularly caught my eye.
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Click to enlarge.
It was growing on this sabra plant, tucked away under an Ottoman-era arch, remnants of what is thought to be an old agricultural storeroom. I love the way the arch has gone from ceiling to floor, with grass now growing on top instead of below. Very circle of life, isn't it?
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