EVENTS & PICTURES 2024

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November 2024 - Sofia

Sofia soup bun







We are in Sofia, Bulgaria where I am one of the organizers for a workshop for Bridge Tournament Directors. 
Doreen explored Sofia despite the cold and snow and
enjoyed soup in a bowl.












The staff of the workshop was invited by the Bulgarian Bridge Federation to a restaurant featuring typical local food.

Sofia staff
Clockwise from left bottom: Maurizio (Italy), Dimitris (Greece), Catherine (France), Gordon (England), Marc (Netherlands), Ton (Netherlands), Jacek (Poland), Robert (Austria), Elitsa Georgieva (Sofia, President BuBF),  Jacob (Denmark), Doreen, Eitan, Fearghal (Ireland), Georgi (Bulgaria)

Novemvber 2024 - In Eilat with Aviv and family

We are always delighted to be with our family and in Eilat we had a lovely dinner with Eilat Levys.
Eilat-Levylike fatherlike father-like son

Exercising
After 60 years Doreen finally persuaded me to start an exercise regime. Once a week I meet Hila my personal trainer and pull and stretch and push and bend.
trainingtraining

Lunch at Reshta Restaurant
 
reshta





On the  recommendation
of our in-law Avram Segoli
we had lunch at the Reshta Restaurant in the village
of Ein Rafa (Ein Naqquba) near Abu Ghosh.

The menu consisted of local Arab dishes and we can
recommend a visit there for something very different
from the usual local food restaurants.


October 2024 - Ella Ogden

Our dear friend Ella Ogden passed away this week. We feel for Christopher and Dimitri who have lost their parents Ella and Archie in the space of a few days. We will always remember our good and joyful times with Ella and Archie. A few years ago Doreen wrote about the Ogdens in her column.

Ella


October 2024 - Mikhal and Maayan in Uganda and Rwanda

Daughter-in-law Mikhal Segoli and her son Maayan visited Uganda and Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas the area is famous for. Their  visit was a great success as can be seen from the pictures below and from the picture in the Archive files.
Gorilla viewingGorilla viewinhviewing gorillas



October 2024
The Rons, daughter Vered, Aviv, Dani and Lior, had their flight to Greece cancelled and instead decided to spend their vacation in Cyprus where they stayed in our apartment .
rons CyprusCyprus salt lake

The salt lakes in Cyprus are dry in summer and the Rons had a great time walking on a dry lake.
Cyprus salt lakeCyprus salt lake
More pictures on the pages of Dani and Lior.


October 2024 - Archie Ogden
We were saddened to hear about the passing of Archie Ogden. When we were in St Thomas in the Virgin Islands we had lots of good times with Archie and Ella, who were warm and welcoming. Archie visited Israel last year and we had lunch and talked about old times.
Our condolences go to his sons Christopher and Dimitri and to his ex-wife Ella.
Ogden

October 2024 - Papayas!
We have had an amazing crop of papayas this year and we keep the family and friends well supplied with this delicious fruit. When the Rons came for dinner last
Friday night we jokingly prepared an appetizer of papayas. We still have tens on the trees waiting to ripen.
pawpawpawpaw

October 2024 - Charles and Sheenagh in New Zealand
Cousin Charles and Sheenagh Levy (
see Hershovitz/Levy and Matz family trees
) are enjoying their New Zealand trip with daughter Katherine.
(see also here)

charles fam

October 2024 - Memorial for Yael Segoli

We attended a memorial for our daughter-in-law Mikhal's mother Yael Segoli (see Memorial Page) who passed away 4 years ago. Daughter Ophra Ohanna eulogisesd her mother as Yael's husband Avraham, niece NitzanYaniv and Mikhal and Maayan look on.
memorial Yael

October 2024 - Rosh Hashanah
In spite of the tense security situation we celebrated Rosh Hashanah this year at Moran and Mikhal's home at Midreshet Ben Gurion. Unfortunately the Eilati Levys were unable to join us.  We had a lovely time and too much food of course, including roast goose prepared by grandson Maayan.
No festive gathering of the clan is complete without gefilte fish, gehakta (chopped)  liver (real, vegetarian and vegan!) with chrain (horseradish) and of course gehakta herring.

chrain10




My job was, as usual, preparing the horseradish.
No one who has ever grated the pungent horseradish
will be surprised at me wearing goggles and a mask.


We had a double celebration this year for Rosh Hashanah fell on granddaughter Danielle's birthday.
Rosh Hashana2024Rosh Hashana2024

Rosh Hashana2024






As has become custom Maayan prepared something from Doreen's A Potpourri of Memories
 
and read the story connected with it. In addition
he had prepared more pictures to be added
to the loose leaf version of the cookbook.


This was the first time that 3 family dogs were together. We missed the 4th 'cousin', Oreo from Eilat. It was not quite plain sailing but there were no big problems.
3 dogs


September 2024 - Sheenagh and Katherine in New Zealand.
Sheenagh Levy is in New Zealand visiting her daughter Katherine. Cousin Charles will soon join them..
(see Hershovitz/Levy and Matz family trees.)
Sheenagh-Katherine-NZ

Double congratulations to Devra Hock

We had the pleasure of meeting Devra Hock some years ago, and have kept up some contact. We received some lovely pictures of her marriage to Zach Reid  and of her receiving her PhD last year. She is at present Assistant Curator for Science Education at the New Jersey State Museum. (see Nochimovitz/Nickel family tree).
devra hockDevra HockDevra Hock

September 2024 - A short visit to Sydney
On our way back from Sde Boker we popped in to say hello to Sydney Lossin, who is not only a
cousin (see Matz family tree) but also a fellow papaya grower. We were amazed at the number of papaya plants she is growing - a virtual plantation.
sydney9

September 2024 - Dinner at the Segolis
We're getting ready for our Rosh Hashana - New Year - dinner which I'm sure will, as in previous years, be more than ample with enough left-overs for another few meals. Yesterday we has a "practice run" at the Segolis with most of the family. For light entertainment there was a game of Scrabble.

at sde boqerat sde boqer


September 2024 - With the Cartoons in Cyprus

We are in Cyprus with friends (and almost relatives) Selma and Lennie Cartoon (see also here). We came yesterday and will return on Tuesday morning.
cyprus CartoonWaiting for the flight
Today we drove to the Trodos mountains. We have visited Omodos a few times but today was special as a young theologian explained the various objects and pictures and gave us a fascinating account of the background and history of the Monastery of the Holy Cross there. The church is home to two priceless relics: a piece of the rope used to tie Jesus to the Cross and a small chip of the cross. 
We visited Vouni and unlike our previous visit (when apart from us and the Porters there were only 2 other couples visiting there) the village was teeming with visitors. We had a light lunch the in a crowded restaurant Tavern Lenias - open Saturday and Sunday only) and ended a tiring but enjoyable day with a visit to the Chantra Falls. In summer there is not much water in the waterfall but we hope to visit there again in the winter when we're told
the falls are full and impressive.

Enjoying a coffee break at Omodos and a light lunch in Vouni.
cyprus Cartooncyprus Cartoon

September 2024 - A short visit to Dublin

We visted Dublin on our cruise to Iceland in 2017, and were fascinated by the museums and sites there, especially the Bog Men on display at the National Museum of Ireland. We wanted also to visit our friends Maureen and Paul Porteous especially since Paul fell and broke his leg.So we decided to spend a couple of days there, and were happy we did so.
There are pictures on the page of our previous visit. Here are a few more -  a statue reflecting the suffering of the people on the way to America during the Potato Famine years,
Paul and Maureen together with us at Celtic Nights, and Doreen saying hello again to Molly Malone.
Dujblin emigratePorteusDublin malone
We thoroughly enjoyed a visit to the excellent Emigration Museum which we had not seen on our previous visit.
Our hotel was well situated, walking distance to everything we wanted to see, and the dinner and Celtic Nights show was good fun and showcased the amazing Irish dances.

dance
Click on the picture

September 2024 -  Contact with Bridget Glasser
We were  happy and surprised to receive a mail from Bridget Burrows,  the great granddaughter of Doreen's grand uncle Yeina Glasser, with this picture handsome updates to the Glasser family tree.
Baby Bridget with great grandfather Yeina and grandparents Stanley and Susan.
 
glasser

September 2024 - Wt. Dani and Lior in London

We are in London with granddaughters Danielle and Lior Ron for their 'batmitzvah' trip. Yes, we know they are both in their twenties but we never took them on a batmitzvah trip and they insisted that they should have one, like the other grandchildren.


chinese restaurantCamden tourCamden

Both Dani and Lior were born in September, so we treated them to a birthday meal at Pied a Terre, a Michelin star restaurant, which had vegan and regular tasting menus, both delicious.
bday

We visited China Town and we took them to our favourite Chinese Restaurant, TPT, which we enjoyed very much. I was surprisedby the variety of vegan choices for the girls, but nevertheless had my deliciousroast duck.

china townchinese rest tpt

And of course, no visit to London is complete without a ride on a double decker bus and a 'conversation' from a London red phone booth.
booth

September 2024 - Doreen Demonstrates

Doreen demonstrating against the government and especially about the Prime Minister.

deonstration

August 2024 - More pictures from Cyprus

Vered Ron and the Segolis in  Protaras and a view of the popular and lovely Fig Tree Beach. (Thanks to Aviv Ron for the pics)
segolisVeredFig Tree Bay

The last few days of the Segoli trip

Walking on a dry Cyprus salt lake. In winter the lakes fill with water and flamingoes stop over here during their migration.

Salt LakeSee more pictures on the pages of Lotem and Zoe

Lotem and Mikhal looking at the sunrise while having breakfast on the verandah at our Cyprus apartment.
Sunrise


August, 2024 - A family visit to Cyprus
(see below for Ilay Levy's visit)
See some more pictures on the pages of  Lotem and Zoe.

The Segolis stayed for a couple of weeks (partly in our apartment) and toured the island.

The Segolis at Lefkara Reservoir
CyprusCyprus


Peacock Falls and the Caledonia Trail and waterfall

peacockwaterfall

CharmersWe joined the Segolis and had dinner at Charmers Restaurant
Shortly after picking up the Rons after their sail we visited Aphrodite's Rock
Ahrodite Rock

The last few days we, Vered and Aviv, and the Segolis have been together. We enjoyed a visit to Agios Minas Monastery and the wine tasting at the nearby Christoudia Winery.
Agios Manas

But the highlight was probably a visit to Ayia Napa and the caves at Cape Greko where the Rons and Segolis jumped into the sea from the cliff. They also enjoyed swimming at the "3rd best beach in Europe" (Trip Advisor) at Fig Tree Bay In Protaras

Lotem    Vered    Aviv
jump lotemjump veredjump avivr
and of course Moran
moran/ jump
Moran's jump - click on the picture or here  for a short video.

Sunrise






All good things must come to an end. Tomorrow Sunday 18/8 the Rons return to Israel,
the Segolis will stay on  for a few more days until Saturday 24/8,
and on Tuesday 20/8 we will wake up at sunrise in time to catch our very early morning flight back home.







August 2024 - Ilay and Esther enjoying their visit to Cyprus
The girls enjoyed a visit to the large Jumbo in Larnaca, and ice-cream at Gelato Pagotomania after a delicious fish meal prepared by Doreen.
See another picture here in Archives and here for Ilay's page. .
ice creamJumbo

Vered and Aviv sailing to Cyprus

Daughter Vered Ron and Aviv are sailing in Cyprus and will later join us in our apartment.
vered sail cyprus
August 2024 - Gabi Nathan is an Eagle Scout

Congratulations to Gabi Nathan on becoming an Eagle Scout. She has earned 39 Merit Badges - 18 more than required.
Gabi is the daughter of Melodie and Mark Nathan and granddaughter of Doreen's cousin Lucille (Nickel) and the late Graham Melamed.
See Nochimovitz/Nickel family tree. 
Gabi Eagle Scout

UPDATE: (September 2024):
Gabi's grandmother Lucille joined the family at Gabi's Eagle Court of Honor ceremony.
Melodie scoutMelodie scout


Melly Braverman and Family

Melly Braverman, our ex brother-in-law, had a family reunion with his children at the summer home of Fenella Bishop, his former companion.

Back row, On the left: Yael (Braverman) with son Rafael and husband Donny; Tamara (Bishop) Morrow and Melly; Denise Braverman and Shai.
In front: Tamara's children, Nevaeh and Lily.
(Fenella took the picture)

 
melly reunion

July 2024 - Friends luncheon
luncheonluncheonluncheon
Left: Talking about old times, Ziona and Maureen. Centre: Doreen reminiscing about old times with her friends. Right: Vered and Louise sharing a joke.
Another picture (in Archives) here.


July 2024 - The Tournament Directors in Wroclaw

One of the main reasons I enjoy being at the various bridge championships is the opportunity to meet old friends whom we have known and worked with for many many years, and to meet new friends, also from all over the world.

It seems like Dimitris Ballas from Greece and I have been colleagues and friends forever. Sometimes we worked together, sometimes parallel and sometimes with different positions. One of my jobs is to appoint the Tournament Directors (TDs) who are the judges at each Championship. The head TD Marc and I also go back a long long time, and Fearghal is a good friend.
Below on the left, Dimitris and I,  and on the right  the TD staff, from l-r

DimirtisTDs

Adam Magyar (Hungary), Yossi Fibert (Israel, trainee), Andrej Boida (Poland), Jakub Kaprzak (Poland), Dimitris Ballas (Greece, Operations Director), Marc Van Beijsterveldt (Netherlands, Head TD), Eitan Levy (Israel, Reviewer and TD Com. Chairman), Yuval Ben David (Israel), Jacob Duschek (Denmark), Fearghal O’Boyle (Ireland)


July 2024 - Kohlrabi Salad
In Wroclaw we had dinner one evening at the Lwia Brama Restaurant in the Old City a few hundred meters from our hotel. The first courses were interesting - I had beetroot humus and Doreen had a salad of thinly sliced kohlrabi.

Kohlrabi meal

July 2024 - Wroclaw Dwarfs

There are over 600 diminutive dwarf statues in Wroclaw. The first was created in 2005 part an anti-Communist movement and shows the dwarves sawing a sword. In Wroclaw one has to keep looking down so as not to miss the little statues positioned throughout the city. (see also more dwarfs on a visit a couple of years ago.)

dwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfsdwarfs

July 2024 - Vered and Caryn
Daughter Vered Ron has returned from a trip to USA where she had the opportunity to again meet up with Caryn Sangupta, the daughter of Frankie and my late cousin Vivian Klaff. (see Goldberg family tree).
Caryn

July 2024 - The Chariot Festival
chariot festival



The Ratha Yatra of Puri, is considered the oldest and largest Hindu chariot festival celebrated
annually, on the bright half of the lunar month of Ashadh (June–July).

During the festival, three deities (Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra) are drawn
by a multitude of devotees in three massive, wooden chariots on 
bada danda (the grand avenue)
to Gundicha Temple whereby they reside there for a week and then return to the Jagnannath temple.
(Wikipedia) .

For more information link to
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48864239  or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratha_Yatra_(Puri)



During our visit to Wroclaw Poland Doreen saw the celebration of the Hindu Chariot Festival, where devotees pulled the chariot four times around the Market Square.

July 2024 - Some of the 31 countries taking part in the World Youth Bridge Championships.

bridge countries


July 2024 - Doreen demonstrates
demonstration
Doreen demonstrating against Netanyahu and our government which seems intent on destroying democracy and our country.

July 2024 - Family Friday night dinners.


Levys-Segolis

                      




                              The Segolis went to Eilat for the weekend and had Friday night dinner with the Eilatis,









Rons-us







while we went for Friday night dinner to the Rons.









The Greenbergs visit
We were delighted that Aura and Hilton Greenberg from Canada could spend a few days with us on their visit to Israel. Aura was at school with Doreen in Durban and I knew Hilton before either of us was married. Although they live in Canada we keep in close contact and see them fairly often, for example here. We enjoyed a meal with them at the M25 Restaurant at the Carmel Market.
greenberg

Maayan receives achievement certificate
We are very proud that grandson Maayan Segoli was awarded a certificate for excellence in Physics at Ben Gurion University. We went to the Ceremony where he was presented with his certificate. (see Archives).
After the ceremony we went for lunch where granddaughter Danielle (who is studying for a degree at BGU) joined us
Maayan-awardsegoli-lunch


June 2024 - Vered celebrates her birthday with friends.
VeredBday2024Mazal tov, Vered. with Keren, Vered, Osnat


June 2024 - Welcome, Maya

Mazal Tov to Naama and Mor Kadosh on the birth of their first child, daughter Maya. Congratulation too to parents Racheli and Avi Gilad . (Goldberg family tree).

Maya Kadosh

June 2024 - with the Porters in Cyprus

Doreen writes:

One of the pleasures of having a holiday apartment in Larnaca is to invite people to join us for a few days. First the Colin and Louise Kessel came and this week we were happy to welcome Basil and Noga Porter. We always have people staying over at our house in Kiryat Hasharon, but somehow sharing an apartment overseas with friends is a much more intimate experience; talk flows and experiences are shared.


When the Porters arrived we took them to the town promenade to enjoy a good steak and soak up the atmosphere. Little did we know that, a few days before, Cyprus had marked 50 years of the illegal Turkish invasion. The main promenade was full of music, dancers and all kinds of stalls, making it all very festive. We were particularly interested to see the many sellers of corn of the cob, remembered from the early days of Israel.

Porter

The following day we drove to Protaras to swim in the amazingly clear waters of Fig Tree Beach. A real pleasure.
We found a spot on the grass to drop our things – umbrellas and chairs are all taken by 9.00 in the morning.

We then continued to Capo Grecko to view the stunning scenery of the sea caves in the water and watch enthralled as people jumped off the cliff to the clear blue water, 10 meters below. (see later pictues of our family jumping.)

Noga and I went to the viewpoint and then exhausted we returned to our holiday apartment in Larnaca to rest.

Cyprus-PorterCyprus-Porter

After a rest we prepared (and ate!)  the fish that Basil and Eitan had bought that morning.

Cyprus-Porter

Noga had picked up a brochure at the airport that had an article about a charming village in the mountains called Vouni. So the next morning, since it was on the way to our planned destination to Kykkos monastery, it seemed a good stop.

After over an hour of driving we arrived in Vouni, holding our breaths that there would not be oncoming cars in the narrow streets between the picturesque houses. We parked next to the church and walked to the café opened in 1908. We joined two couples, English Greek and German and talked. Cleo the wife of the owner joined us but Elias the owner sat on the side saying he had to serve the backgammon players on the other side of the road with coffee.  Chatting up the locals is a favourite occupation of Noga and me and we spent a delightful few hours talking with the two couples.

Panicos, the Greek man and unofficial ambassador for Vouni arranged for his German friends and us to visit the little museum showcasing life as it had been.

 He then arranged for someone to open the Greek Orthodox Church, richly decorated. In the late 1600’s there was a plague and the people who found refuge in the church were saved. They then settled in this beautiful tiny village. Once bustling with over 2000 people, today there are barely 200, mostly pensioners, but also the grandchildren of the owners of the houses who are returning and restoring them.

It was definitely a charming village and absolutely a good stop!


Cyprus-PorterCyprus-PorterCyprus-Porter
Cyprus-Porter

We then drove to Omodos which we have visited before where had lunch. After lunch an hour drive to Kykkos no longer seemed inviting so we drove home.

Cyprus-Porter
The next morning we drove to Lefkira and liked our visit to this village showcasing local crafts. Then we enjoyed a most satifying light meal at the Liv restaurant back in Larnaca.

Tomorrow morning we are scheduled to return to Israel.

For another picture see the Archives.


June 2024 - Happy birthdays to Doreen, Vered and Aviv.
June is a special month for our family, Doreen and two of our children Vered and Aviv have June birthdays. The family decided to have a joint birthday party this weekend.  We all had a fantastic time. We met at the Nammos restaurant where we enjoyed their delicious food.

mammos3 birthdays

Doreen didn't expect any presents but she was absolutely delighted when she received them. Of course the presents related to food!

The Segolis prepared a special edition of Doreen's cookbook A Potpourri of Memories with added pictures of the recipes prepared by Maayan over the last few years. The book is in a loose-leaf folder so recipes can easily be added. The Levys bought a salad bowl set which is perfect for Doreen who has a salad at every meal. The Rons gave her a beautiful dish inscribed "I Love that You're my MOM".
3 birthdays3 birthdays

The Segolis and Levys slept over at the Ron's and with us, and today we had picnic next to the pool at the home of good friends Ruti and Dani Erez. It was even a bigger success than we had hoped for.


3 birthdays3 birthdays3 birthdays3 birthdays3 birthdays


June 2024 - Shakshuka
I got a gift of a breakfast for two at the Good Morning Sunshine Baker for organising the ESRA bridge morning, and we enjoyed the shakshuka there.
shakshuka bfast

June 2024 - Brunch at the Cartoons
Lenny and Selma Cartoon our "almost relatives"
invited us for brunch. Not only was the food varied and delicious but we also enjoyed the company of our good friends Basil and Noga Porter and Jeff and Pam Bethlehem.
Cartoon brunch
clockwise: Basil Porter, Pam Bethlehem, Jeff Bethlehem, Frank (a guest from Australia), Noga Porter, Lennie Cartoon, Doreen, Selma Cartoon, me.


June 2024 - With Colin and Louise Kessel in Cyprus

We were delighted to entertain Colin and Louise Kessel as our first guests at our apartment in Cyprus. We havc known them since our youth in South Africa and see them and enjoy their company regularly, and this time was no exception..

L-C-Kessel Cyprus
A short rest afer a walk along the Larnaca promenade

L-C-Kessel CyprusL-C-Kessel Cyprus
Choosing supper from the fisherman's stall near our apartment

L-C-Kessel CyprusL-C-Kessel Cyprus

As always, meals are an important part of every holiday, whether at a restaurant (left) or at home (right)

L-C-Kessel Cyprusjump
We thoroughly enjoyed a visit to Agia Napa and Cava Grecho with its beatiful views, such as the sea caves.

See another picture in the Archives.

May 2024 - Batmitzvah cake
It's now a tradition. Every year Doreen donates an elaborate birthday cake (expertly made by Michal Kimchi) for the batmitzvah ceremony of disadvantaged girls, a project of ESRA.

See last year's cake and Doreen's column from 2 years ago.
batmitzvah cake

May 2024 - A visit to Laura Nickel
 
We visited Laura, Doreen's aunt and wife of the late Julius Nickel. We were delighted to see how cheerful and happy she was.
Laura

May 2024 - Congratulations to Nitzan Partuk

Congratulations to Nitzan on her marriage to Sagi Maor. Here she is with grandmother Sydney Lossin my second cousin and a fellow papaya lover and grower.


Sydney Nitzan
May 2024 - ESRA bridge morning
The ESRA charity had a morning bridge competition to raise money for their project of music instruction to under-privileged teenagers. The Israel Bridge Federation donated the equipment and I organized and ran the competition. Doreen was supposed to be my helper but there was a player short so she also played.
ESRA bridge

May 2024 - Cooking class
Doreen continues with her volunteering with ESRA with cooking classes for disadvantaged children. (see Archives). This time she had a helper - granddaughter Zoe.
cooking Zoecooking Zoe

May 2024 - Mike and Dafna Ossip

We renewed contact with old friends we have not seen for for more than 20 years. We were very friendly with Mike and Dafna Ossip, socially and through bridge. Mike and I regularly met at the bridge table often as partners or in the same team. We had good times with them including at the fishing village in Sinai.
This week we they came over and we talked about old times and we enjoyed a game of bridge.

Mike and Dafna

May 2024 - The Segolis have a visitor
visitor
The Segolis live in Midreshet Sde Boqer, a small community in the Negev dessert.  There are a few large mammals that live in Israel's deserts including the very rare cats karakuls and leopards and the more common camels and ibexes.  The ibexes -"wild goats distinguished by the male's large recurved horns" (Wikipedia) -  also roam in the populated areas of the Negev and are common sights in  towns such as Mitzpeh Ramon. They also roam in the area where the Segolis live and are often seen. However I think that this is the first time that an ibex has decided to visit the Segolis. I hope they made him feel welcome.

The ibexes are not afraid of humans. When we celebrated our 50th Anniversary with the family in Mitzpeh Ramon we saw many ibexes close up. Click for a picture of granddaughter Lior Ron with an ibex.

May 2024: Yom Haatzmaut - Independence Day 
Carol-Terry
As has been the custom for many years Terry and Carol Kessel invited long standing friends to an Independence Day luncheon. This year we didn't have much to celebrate, but the occasion was a celebration of long time friendships - many going back to South African days. It is a special treat to see each other, at least once a year.  A big thanks to the Kessels/
As usual the food was outstanding and despite our initial trepidation the affair was a resounding success.

Fanny Levy's death certificate

The death certificate of Fanny Levy, one of my father's sisters, who died before I was born. My sister Fern was named after her. See also Archives.
Fanny death

May 2024 - Zoe Segoli's batmitzvah celebration

The Levy and the Segoli families celebrated Zoe's batmitzvah with a gathering at the Gofra Beach on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). It was fun to be together and the venue, though very basic, was  suitable for the event. Most slept in tents though a 'caravan' was available. Everyone brought food and everyone pitched in to help prepare the meals. It was an enjoyable event.
Click here for another picture.


Zoe BM party
Zoe BM partyZoe BM partyZoe BM party


May 2024 - Welcome, Yuval Haberman

Congratulations to Dani and Tali Haberman on the birth of son Yuval their first child. They are in Washington DC where Dani has a medical fellowship.
And special Mazal Tov to grandparents Shuli and Eitan Haberman on the birth of their 6th grandchild.
See 
Goldberg family tree.
Haberman Dani Tali


April 2024 Eating lionfish in Cyprus

Wikipedia: "Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red or black bands, and ostentatious dorsal fins tipped with venomous spines. Lionfish are a recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

While culling by marine protection agencies and volunteer divers is an important element of control efforts, development of market-based approaches, which create commercial incentives for removals, has been seen as a means to sustain control efforts. The foremost of these market approaches is the promotion of lionfish as a food item."

The fish is well known (and avoided) in Eilat and we have never heard of it being eaten. However it (with the venomous spines removed)  is fairly popular in Cyprus and it's common to see them in various sizes in supermarkets and at the fishing marina close to our apartment.  So we helped the fight against invasive species and bought a good sized lionfish which Doreen baked in the oven. The very white flesh was tasty and didn't have a fishy taste or smell. Visit us in Larnaca and try it!

Cooked and uncooked!
lionfishlionfish


April 2024 - Panos Steakhouse

There are pepper grinders and there are pepper grinders ..............
pepper grinder

April 2024 - Vered and Aviv in Brazil

Daughter Vered Ron and Aviv in Brazil (after multiple flight issues lasting 50 hours). But they got there in the end. Here they at the Iguazu Waterfall between Brazil and Argentina, considered to be the biggest waterfall in the world. 
Iguazu falls

March 20254 - A visit to Yaffa Loew

Second cousin Yaffa Loew was in a traffic accident. Her car is a total write-off and she is suffering from some injuries but fortunately nothing was broken. She will need more treatment and we wish her a speedy recovery. We, Doreen, her sister Louise and I, made a lunch and visited and in spite of the pain, she was her usual  positve self. After visiting Yaffa we visited her brother Yaakov and Ziva and spent an enjoyable couple of hours with them.
Yaffa-Louise

March 2024 - Maureen Fain's 80th birthday.

maureen80
(see another picture, of Doreen raising a toast to Maureen at her 80th), in the archives.

and a picture of Maureen's 60th twenty years ago
Maureen60Maureen60maureen and dick
Maureen and Doreen                                                    Maureen                                                               Maureen and Dick

March 2024 - Lotem amd Amit get their driver's licence.

lotemAmit licence


March 2024 - A preview of Doreen's planned vegan cookbook.

The Eilatis' visit was a good opportunity for Doreen to show them how her vegan cookbook is progressing. They were very interested and promised to submit their contributions for the book.
cookbook preview


March 2024
Son Moran and Mikhal paid a surprise and welcome visit to relative Yaffa Loew this weekend.  (see Schank tree)

yaffa-segoli


March 2024 -A visit to Galit Rubin

Galit
While in Cyprus we drove to Limassol and visited Galit Rubin who now lives in Cyprus. Galit is friend of  our son Moran and we haven't seen her for many many years. We enjoyed meeting her again and received some useful information about life in Cyprus.

2nd March 2024 - our first day in our holiday flat in Cyprus.
After some months of negotiations we have a holiday apartment in Cyprus.

It's on the fourth floor with a sea view and an easy 2 minute walk to the beach promenade.
viewpromenade

Our first meal - breakfast this morning on the verandah
breakfast

Then a short drive (we could have walked 7 minutes!) to a local marina where fishermen sell their catches in a small wood shed. Today there was a large selection of fish, and octopus, squid and prawns.

We chose a labrak, which Doreen baked in the oven. It was absolutely delicious.

choosing fishlabrak


February 2024 -Gabi Nathan's project

We received this from Melodie and Mark Nathan ( see Nochimovitz/Nickel tree) showing daughter Gabriella's Scout Eagle Project work. She and her volunteers made 20 elevated dog beds for as local rescue organization.  Well done, Gabi!
Melody nathan

February 2024 - Congratulations Yahel and Donny

Congratulations to niece Yahel Braverman and Donny Dvir on their marriage this month. Yahel and Donny have been partners for a long time and decided to tie the knot. Congratulations too to their son Rafael and Donny's daughters Gaby and Avigael.
(see Gordon/Glasser  and  Schank  family trees)
Yahel wededing


February 2024 - Happy Anniversary to Charles and Sheenagh

Charles and Sheenagh

Compare this picture of the "second" traditional wedding of Charles and Sheenagh to their 'first' civil wedding.

February 2024 - Simon wine

We received an unusual bottle of wine from daughter Vered and Aviv. Simon winery is a small family boutique winery in Kfar Tivon in the north of Israel. The wine was being bottled when news of the 7/10/23 attack was heard but the bottling continued. This is written of the back label of the bottle:

This wine was bottled on the morning of black Saturday 7.10.23 as a sign of the continuing production of Israeli products in the face  of the attack on our country, and is dedicated with love  to the memory of all casualties of that accursed Saturday.

Simon wineSimon wine back

February 2024 - Keeping warm

We were invited by granddaughter Lior Ron to brunch at a local cafe. It was very nice and it was lovely being with her. I was a little cold but managed to keep warm.
feeling cold

Ziona is 95

Ziona95




We attended the 95th  birthday party of long-time friend Ziona Glassman.
We have known her since our days in Hofit nearly 60 years ago and shared many
moments with her and her late husband in many places, including Eilat,
Sinai, The Bahamas and the Virgin Islands.














The bucket

On our first family motor home  trip in 1975 we all had jobs to do to keep the motor home clean. Moran and Aviv went to empty the garbage bucket..  On the way back Moran wandered a little off course and big brother Aviv 'helped' him find the way. 😏🤣
bucket

January  2024 - Another short visit to Cyprus

We spent 3 days in Larnaca Cyprus and enjoyed the rest and the quiet. Cyprus is an ideal "get away" destination as the flight time from Tel Aviv is only 40 minutes. We enjoyed two excellent meals at restaurants that were an easy walking distance from our hotel (Hobos Steak House and Ocean Basket) and quick meals at the local Metropolis Mall, including of course KFC.

Ocean BasketOcean Basket


KFC Larnaka1


Although I do like eating at KFC (usually hot wings) my main rerason for eating there is to add to the list of KFC restaurants visited by our family.

Here are links to some previous family KFC visits
Beersheva Israel Wuhan China, Brasov Romania, Moscow Russia, Shenzhen China, Mongolia and Istanbul,
 
Berlin Germany, Belfast N.Ireland, Prague Czech, Madeira, Wroclaw Poland, London., Nicosia Cyprus,
Sinai Egypt, Netanya Israel , New Delhi India, and Marrakech Morocco














January 2024 - Ari Lossin

We were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Ari Lossin, husband of second cousin Sydney Lossin (Matz family tree). We have kept up contact with Sydney and Ari and as always, enjoyed our  visit to them a month or so ago. We send condolences to Ari's children Yonat and Adi and grandchildren and share in the grief of Sydney and her daughters Michal and Yael.


Ari Lossin
Ari Lossin ז"ל
1933-2024