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December 2014 - Charles and Sheenagh in Cape Town.
Thanks to Sheenagh Levy for sending us these delightful pictures.
On the left is 6 month old Meira Carno, daughter of Yonatan and Jenna (nee Cotton) Carno.
On the right, clockwise, Winnie Levy, Cecile Cotton, Chartles Levy, Sheenagh Levy, Martine Singer (Sheenagh's mother.)
Click here for a picture of the four generations.
December 2014 - Dinner with Charles and Tarryn in London
We were fortunate that our London trip coincided with a business visit by cousin Charles Levy (see Matz and Hershovitz trees) from Johannesburg.. On Monday we met for dinner and were joined for a short while by Tarryn Klotnick (see Matz family tree), a delightful younger generation relative now living in London. Vivacious bubbly Tarryn was on her way to a retreat - a week of silence. Now that was surely a challenge! Later in the week we met Charles again, and enjoyed a rack of ribs.
December 2014 - Visiting Joe Woolwich
During our visit to London, and while I was away in Alicante on bridge business, Doreen visited Joe Woolwich (see Goldberg family tree ) who is in a frail care centre in Manchester. As you can see, it was hard to coax a smile from Joe!
December 2014 - A visit to Susan Horsewood Lee
Doreen: Last year when we visited
Gorongosa Game Reserve in Mocambique we met Susan Horsewood-Lee a
family doctor from London. After enjoying a few outings together I
promised we would look her up when next we visited London. Just before
we rang the bell to her house in Chelsea it occurred to me that it
could be a most awkward luncheon - perhaps we would have nothing to
talk about. After Susan took us around her extensive and important art
collection and we had lunch we were surprised that time had passed so
quickly and we hadn't discussed all the things we intended to.......
next time!
November 2014 - A visit to the Carmel Caves
Doreen and the Segoli children visited Nahal Hama'arot in the Carmel mountains, where stone-age man has left remains for the last 50,000 years, The skeleton of a Neanderthal woman was found there as well as 80 burials of people in a foetal position with their heads encircled with beads made from sea-shells, buried in shallow stone graves some 12.000 years ago. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site
November 2014 - Flopsy meets the ibexes.
Doreen writes: After two cold and grey days babysitting the Segoli kids in Sde Boqer, with the kids in school I went to Ein Avdat which was full of water after the rains, As I walked to the outlook with Flopsy our dog there was a fascinating encounter between Flopsy and a local herd of young male ibex,
Flopsy. a medium-sized dog, is deathly afraid of even the smallest cat and when he starts yelping we are not sure whether he was attacked by a cat (never) or if the cat just stopped in its tracks and glared at Flopsy, But something basic and instinctual rose in this dog fed on dog food and occasional bits of chicken. He barked and struggled. straining at his leash desperate to get to these ibex. so much bigger than him, I have no idea what would have happened if I had let him loose,
For their part. the ibex were more curious than afraid and nimbly negotiated the rocks to stand a safe distance away and stare intently at Flopsy, The largest repeatedly stamped his front hooves as if to shoosh him away and made hmppphing noises as if to scare him away, They remained looking after us long after we left the site.
November 2014 - Milan
Of course no visit to Milan is complete without a visit to the Duomo, and a picture taken on the roof the building.
November 2014 - Lausanne and the Olympic Museum
On our trip to Italy/Switzerland we spent two enjoyable days with good friends Pierre and Francoise Collaros, who live in a small village just outside Lausanne..
We visited the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit, in particular the exhibit devoted to time.
After a few tries, Doreen gave up trying to break the world high jump record.
November 2014 - Peak to Peak Walk
The highlight of our trip toItaly/Switzerland was a walk on the suspension bridge between two peaks in the Gstaad area in Switzerland. See This Week's Picture.
After two cable car ascents this is the view of the bridge before starting the steep walk up to it.
November 2014 -A visit to Milan and Berne
We hired a car for 6 days to tour a little before ending up in Milan for a bridge meeting.
While waiting for the car we enjoyed a croissant and coffee at a local
cafe in Milan
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the old city of BernrNovember 2014 - Aviv Levy helps to save Billy.
Aviv helping Billy to readjust to the open sea.This week the online newspaper ynet published a long article about the rehabilitation of a turtle. The turtle, which was given the name "Billy", had a 7cm fish hook embedded deep in its throat and was unable to eat. It was caught and the Nature Reserves Authority and the Coral World Park decided to attempt to save the turtle. Our son Aviv, scientific director of Coral World, was intrically involved in the whole operation and is featured in the article. After a successful operation to remove the hook the tutle was fed and cared for before being released back into the sea.The article (in Hebrew) can be accessed here, and one of the pictures from the article is reproduced above.
October 2014 - Rebecca and Sarah Garbawy visit
Rebecca Garbawy with Sarah, the latest addition to
her family. See Matz
family treeOctober 2014 - The Segoli and Levy cousins in Eilat
Maayan and Lotem spent a few days in Eilat with cousins Itamar, Amit and Ilai. They had a wonderful time together, talking, playing games borth digital and conventional, and even got to sleep in a tent.
The Ron family - daughter Vered, Aviv, Danielle and Lior are touring Slovenia and Croatia
The Ron family - daughter Vered, Aviv, Danielle and Lior are touring Slovenia and Croatia in an RV (recreational vehicle, motorhome). From reports so far they are having a fantastic time. There are some more pictures of the family here and on the pages of Danielle and Lior.
From Slovenia they will continue on to Croatia.
October 2014 - Shirley Poluck visits
Shirley Poluck, a friend from our ulpan days in 1965 in Netanya, is visiting Israel and stayed with us for a night. We see her fairly often in Israel or in England and it's always a pleasure.
Rosh Hashanah party in Netanya - September 2014
On the Saturday - the day after Rosh Hashanah - we had a party at our house in Netanya for Doreen's family and close family friends to say welcome to the Segolis on their return to Israel. It was lovely seeing and meeting family again and everyone had a great time.
First night Rosh Hashanah - September 2014
We celebrated the first night of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) in Eilat with Aviv and Limor at their home. Limor's family were there and also Vered and the Rons. It was a very enjoyable evening, and the food - taste, varity and quantity - amazing. The best of typical Ashkenazi and Moroccan festival cuisine..
PREPARATION
SOME EXPLANATION OF TRADITIONS AND THE MEAL
SINGING, DANCING AND CELEBRATING
There are some more pictures on the pages of Danielle, Lior and Ilai.
September 2014 - Tali Klaff at her batmitzvah party reading the presentation she prepared .
As part of her batmitzvah preparation, Tali, with parents and brother, visited Israel a few months ago. Click for a picture taken then.
September 2014 - Sde Boqer Segolis and Eilat Levys
With their house in Sde Boqer more or less organized, the Segolis went down to Eilat to spend a weekend with the Levys. They were joined by the Levy's cousins on Limor's side, Michael and Yonatan. From reports it sounds like everyone had a fabulous time.
August 2014 - The girls at the wedding of Ben Tal and Lee Agiev.
Danielle, Doreen, Vered and LiorAugust 2014 - A visit to the new shark attraction in Eilat
August 2014 - Helping the Segolis settle in.
Doreen, Flopsy and I went to Sde Boqer to help the Segolis get organised on their return to their house in Sde Boqer. Doreen and I helped where we could, and Flopsy kept Zoe occupied.
August 2014 - The Levys and the Segolis at the airport
After 5 years overseas (Davis, USA and Townsville, Australia) our youngest son Moran and family have returned to Israel. They will be returning to their house in Sde Boker where Mikhal will be a lecturer at Ben Gurion University. The Levy and Segoli families were at the airport to meet them
Tuli and Flopsy also came to meet Zoe, who was in 7th heaven walking and patting the dogs. (see picture.)
l-r: Moran with Amit and Ido, Doreen,
Avraham with Rotem, Vered, Lotem, Mikhal, Maayan, Yael, Eitan.
in front: Zoe, Nitzan and Naama
See picture below on how to pack "light."
August 2014 - Meeting a new relative - Rachel Hodes
Rachel Hodes, granddaughter of Doreen and Louise's cousin Marsha Krengel, who was in Israel studying, contacted us. We met her at the apartment of Julius and Laura Nickel. Present were 4 generations of Leiba Nickel's descendants: Julius (above left), Louise Braverman, Louis Nickel and children Gali and Amit, Rona Nickel (above right) and children Matar and Leshem, and Doreen (and I) with granddaughter Danielle. The three older girls, above, were surprised to find out that they were all born in September 1995. Rachel is a delightful young lady and we were all happy to meet our new relative. See Nickel/Nochimovicz family tree.
While we enjoyed Laura's snacks Julius spoke to us about his father Leiba who was a wood carver in Slonim, Belarus. (See examples of his carvings here), and the cousins (middle picture, Matar, Amit, Danielle, Gali and Rachel) tried on the hats custom made for them by Matar.
August 2014 - how to pack light
We were amused to receive this picture from Moran just before their flight to Israel.
August 2014 - How to pick mangoes
August 2014 - The Segolis visit the Glassers in Melbourne
back: Moran S, Mark G, Mikie G
Mikhal S with Lotem and Zoe, Maayan S, Sue G
After their tour of the southern part of Australia, the Segolis spent a few days in Melbourne before flying to Israel. In Melbourne they visited the Glassers (see Glezer family tree) .
2 August 2014 - An ex-Eilati party for Dalia Lamdani
Ziona
Glassman, Ruti Erez, Yael Paperna, Sheila Meltzer, Vered Levy-Ron, Aviv
Ron, Caroline Livne, Doreen and Dalia
Today we invited some ex-Eilati friends and had a luncheon party for Dalia Lamdani. (see Doreen's Column last month on Dalia's latest book)
For previous meetings of the Eilati Old Girls' Club click here and here.
Today we invited some ex-Eilati friends and had a luncheon party for Dalia Lamdani. (see Doreen's Column last month on Dalia's latest book)
For previous meetings of the Eilati Old Girls' Club click here and here.
25 July 2014 - on the road to Eilat
This was a week of Eilat grandchildren. Itamar finished English summer school (a huge success) and his two sisters Amit and Ilai spent the week with us and with daughter Vered and family. Yesterday Vered and Aviv drove to Eilat with daughters Dani and Lior, and with the three Eilat Levys. We didn't envy that trip, but Vered reports that it was very pleasant. Here's a "selfie" of the car. Vered and Aviv in front, Ilai, Lior and Dani in the middle row, and Amit and Itamar (partly hidden) in the back seats. Where was all the luggage??
July 2014 - The Segolis visit Kangaroo Island.
July 2014 - At the Eretz Yisrael Museum
Our grandchildren Itamar, Amit and Ilai enjoed making their own kites at the Eretz Yisrael Museum, and then flying them. See Pictutes on the pages of Amit and IIai
July 2014: In Burghausen for the 12th European Junior Pairs Bridge Championships
I'm in Burghausen as Chief Tournament Director for this event, which is taking place in the delightful old town of Burghausen, noted for having the longest castle in the world (1 kilometer!).
Below are two pictures taken in the main street in the old town. The Old City Hall, on the left, is where the Bridge Championships are taking place.
This picture shows the back of the Old Town Hall (the greyish building) and the bridge over the River Salzach where I cross in the morning on the way from my Hotel in the Austrian Village of Ach to the tournament in the German town of Burghausen. The border between Austria and Germany runs along the middle of the river and at the halfway point of the bridge.
July 2014 - A beach picnic
Doreen and I enjoyed a picnic at the Tel Aviv Mandarin beach on Friday night, with Rons (Vered, Aviv and Dani) and good friendYael Paperna and family.
Sitting on the left (in white shirt) is Mikey Glasser (son of Doreen's cousin Mark), on a visit from Australia.
July 2014 - European Champions
It was a proud moment for Israel and for all of us when, as president of the Israel Bridge Federation, I was presented with the trophy, and Hatikvah was played and sung.
The Israel team was Ilan and Ophir Herbst, Alon Birman and Dror Padon, and Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz. The non-playing captain was Ron Pachtman.
June 2014 - Vered celebrates her Skipper Certification
Vered with her fellow skippers. (Click for another picture of Vered)June 2014 - Croatia and Trieste
On our visit to Croatia for the European Bridge Championship, we took the opportunity to enjoy some good food, and Doreen drove to Trieste with Grazyna Kielbasinski of Poland for some Italian shopping.
June 2014 - Shavuot picnic in Park Raanana
An evening picnic in Park Raanana has become an annual tradition during Shavuot for the Glazer branch of the family in Israel. This year was no exception and we enjoyed the company, the food and the cool evening. This year long time friends Hans and Lottie Reijzer, and their daughter Josie and her son Naftali, in Israel visiting from the Netherlands, also joined us.
l-r: Doreen, Lottie and Hans Reijzer,
Aviv Ron, Vered Ron, Lior Ron, Limor Levy, Ilai Levy, Gabi Dvir
June 2014 - Ari and Carli Davis visit Israel
We spent a very pleasant few hours with Arie and Carli Davis, children of Lindy and Richard Davis of New Zealand. Arie and Carli Davis are studying in the USA and came on a visit to Israel with the "birthright" programme. We've known Lindy and Richard since our Bahamas days and have seen them a few times since then. We are the godparents of Arie and and visited the Davises in New Zealand for older brother Jordan's barmitzvah in 2001. (see link).
May 2014 - Denise Braverman in the Triathlon
Congratulations to our sporting niece, Denise
Braverman,
who successfully took part in the Herzliya International Women's
Triathlon today.May 2014 - Gabi receives her purple belt
Congratulations to Gabi Nathan (pictured with
Melodie and Mark) on receiving her karate purple belt.May 2014 - Asher Zelig Klaff
Thanks to David Rothschild for these pictures of baby Asher Klaff and family.
Sara Malka Melamed, born 21 May
Mazaltov to Max and Aviva Melamed on the birth of a sister to Daniella, Yehuda and Talia. Special mazaltov to grandparents Graham and Lucille Melamed. (see Nochimovicz/Nickel family tree.)
May 2014 - Moran the the Academy of Science Awards Dinner.
Son Moran Segoli was an awardee in the Early and Mid-career Researcher category, and received the Academy Travel Award at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Academy of Science.. (see also This Week's Picture Archives).
May 2014 - The family's Friday night dinners.
A few months ago our grandaughter Lior started a What's App group for our immediate family. The volume and variety of postings is amazing. This morning the family sent pictures of what they prepared for Friday night dinner last night.
Granddaughters Dani and Lior enjoyed Granny Doreen's dessert of meringues with ice cream and bananas sprinkled with cocoa and cointreau.
The Aviv Levys enjoyed Limor's delicacy, Tunisian Couscous.
The Segolis enjoyed the children's professional looking sushi.
And no doubt, in Madrid, the Rons enjoyed Paella. (see picture in previous item.)
May 2014 - Aviv and Vered Rn enjoy a few days in Madrid.
Our daughter Vered Ron and her husband Aviv are spending a few days in Madrid, spain and by all accounts having a wonderful time.
April 2014 - A visit to Hong Kong
The view from our hotel room, and in a very interesting herb garden next to a monument to Shennong, the "father of Chinese medicine".
Hong Kong has the most amazing concentration of skyscrapers, office buildings and apartments both old and ultra modern. The city is very clean, surprising for a city where nearly 8 million people are crowded into one of the most densely populated areas in the world. 90% of the population uses public transport: buses, tall narrow trams, ferries and subways that cross Victoria harbour underground; the streets are always crowded with pedestrians.
When we visited Hong Kong in the late '90s, every second store sold cameras. Today you hardly find such a shop because everyone uses their tablets or smartphones. Instead the malls and the streets are full of shops offering the most exclusive brand names in clothing and jewellery from all around the world. Their customer base has to be the local population; we certainly didn't see enough foreigners to justify such shops. One building was full of small stalls displaying cheap goods and money transferring, catering specifically to Phillipine workers in Hong Kong. Across the harbour in Kowloon there are a number of street markets, more suited to our budget.
In the busy area where we stayed the roads had names like Seafood Road, Dried Fish Road and Bird's Nest Lane. The amount of shops, wholesale and retail, offering dried seafood of an ashtonishing variety, mushrooms, deer antlers, bird's nests and many things we didn't recognise was mind boggling. We understand they were for food and medicinal use. It makes one cognisant with the pressure our natural resources are facing.
At the food markets, the colour was green. A huge variety of green vegetables was on display with many kinds of mushrooms and enromous carrots, but few tomatoes or red peppers. There were many kinds of fruit, including lemon imported from the USA!
When in London or New York we always try to eat at Chinese restaurants where Chinese eat; here we were glad if they had an English menu and we often pointed at a dish at someone else's plate and ordered that!
April 2014 - The Rons spend passover in Eilat
During the Passover vacation, the Rons went down to Eilat and had a most enjoyable seder with the Sadeh family, at the house of Limor and Aviv.
After the seder there was time for a little relaxation.
Click for more pictures on the pages of Danielle, Amit and Ilai.
April 2014 - Passover
We celebrated both nights of Pesach with seders, the first night at a communal seder organised by the Chabad movement, and the second night at home with friends.
Eitan spent days preparing a Haggadah and had both adults and children hanging on to his every word. Moran led the children in the English version of Ehad Mi Yodeah that they had learnt at the Chabad seder the night before.
For a change we had Australian lamb instead of turkey, our usual Pesach fare, but kept the kneidlach, gefilte fish, maror and haroset to every-one's delight. Chabad does not have kneidlach or haroset, so for the children it wasn't a REAL seder!
April 2014 The Red Centre of Australia with the Segolis- 2
For
more pictures see the pages of Maayan,
Lotem and Zoe.
After saying goodbye to
Uluru we drove back to Alice Springs. On the way we stopped for a view
of Mount Conner, and we were lucky to see a thorny devil crossing the
road. These creatures look like some prehistoric mini-monster. They are
slow moving and we all had a turn holding it.
In Alice Springs we stayed at a holiday campground. On our last night in the Red Centre we went to a restaurant we remembered from our visit 13 years ago that offered bush tucker and were not disappointed. We all thoroughly enjoyed the crocodile spring rolls, roast kangaroo, camel and date sausages, fried barramundi and the smoked emu. The next morning was "pancake day" at the campground and the adults and kids also enjoyed this more conventional food.
See below for the previous days in the Red centre
12 April 2014 The Red Centre of Australia with the Segolis
We are with the Segolis in the "Red Centre" of Australia. We've been here five days with another two to go.
We spent the first day and night in
Alice Springs. We were expecting
hot and dry desert weather, but it rained nearly all the time we were
there. The next morning we drove nearly 500 Kms to the Kings Canyon
Resort, again with rain all the time. There was lots of water on the
road, and a few Kms from the resort we were stopped by a "Road Closed"
sign. Fortunately the rain had now stopped and after a few hours -
which we
spent going on a short walk in the nearby Kings Canyon - the level had
dropped enough for us to cross the water.
The next morning we went on a 4 hour hike in Kings Canyon. There were a lot of water pools from the previous days rains but that didn't bother Zoe.
Kings Canyon is quite spectacular, with sheer walls hundreds of meters high. Looking over the edge is exciting, and Lotem and Maayan crawled to the edge. Zoe had to be content with a viw over a less formidable drop.
The next morning we went on a 4 hour hike in Kings Canyon. There were a lot of water pools from the previous days rains but that didn't bother Zoe.
Kings Canyon is quite spectacular, with sheer walls hundreds of meters high. Looking over the edge is exciting, and Lotem and Maayan crawled to the edge. Zoe had to be content with a viw over a less formidable drop.
After two nights at Kings Resort we made
our way to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park where the fabled Uluru
(Ayers Rock) is situated.
This amazing wonder of nature is one of those few "you must go there"
places that doesn't disappoint. The Segolis went on a hike all around
the rock, while Doreen and I went on a shorter route. Just next to the
parking lot I was fortunate in seeing a wild Dingo come up very close
to me.
The next morning we went to Kata Tjuta
(The Olgas),
also part of the National Park, and also a beautiful and interesting
site.
After all that walking there's nothing like a good massage and a hot jacuzzi bath.
We said goodbye and bon voyage to Aura and Hilton Greenberg (and Happy Birthday to Aura) at a restaurant in the delightful renewed market place in Jaffa. (see also This Weeks News archives.)
March 2014 - Doreen and Aviv go diving
In preparation for diving in Australia on her trip , Doreen went on a refresher dive with son Aviv, a qualified dive instructor. Although she hasn't dived for some time, all went well and she reports a terrific dive with lots of interesting fish
March 2014 - Purim 2014
The festival of Purim has arrived - the time of fancy dress and costumes and special three-cornered homentaschen (oznei Haman) biscuits.
The
Eilat Levys - Itamar, Amit and Ilai
The
Ra'anana Rons (Dani had a different dress each day of the weekend!)
The Townsville Segolis
Maayan, Lotem and Zoe preparing homentaschen for Purim. They look delicious.
I'm
sure you'll love seeing these Purim pictures from previous years.
They'll bring back many memories:
2004 more 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009 more2009 2010 2012 2013 more 2013
2004 more 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009 more2009 2010 2012 2013 more 2013
March 2014 - Doreen's Invitational Bridge Competition
Natalie, Louise, Jeanette, Beryl, Leila, Ziona, Blanche, Doreen, Myra
February 2014 - Awards to Morris Kahn and Smokey Simon
We attended a dinner in honour of Morris Kahn and Smokey Simon for the great contributions they have made to Israel society. Morris is my ex-boss, and we have remained friends with him and his family. Smokey and Myra Simon are also long-time friends. We have sailed with Morris on his yachts, and travelled to the Galapagos and to China with the Morris and his late wife Jackie and with the Simons and we always enjoy our time together.
Morris and Smokey received Life-time Achievement awards from Telfed (The Israeli branch of the South African Zionist Federation) .
In the picture Morris's son David is saying a few words about his father who is holding the Achievement plaque.
February 2014 - Sun at Timna Park - rain in Eilat
More pictures of Timna on the pages of Itamar, Amit and Ilai.
February 2014 - Frankie and Dave snowed in
Frankie Klaff sent us this picture to show the effect the big snow storm in Northeast USA is having on them.
February 2014 - For pictures of our visit to Berlin, click here.
January 2014 - Dinner with Croatian friends
We have met Branka and Goran Grguric of Croatia on quite a few occasions over the years and developed a friendship with them. Goran runs bridge in Opatija, Croatia, and on the three occasions I have been there for bridge he and Branka have always ensured that I got 1st class treatment. We will be seeing them again in Croatia in June but in the meantime went out for dinner with them in Berlin. We were joined by Jurica Caric, the President of the Croatian Bridge Fereration.
January 2014 - Zumba Gold
January 2014 - Vered skiing in Austria.
Daughter Vered has taken a few
days break from work and is skiing in Austria with old
friend Keren and new friend Anat