My epiphany came on a winter day when I was feeling sorry for myself. I call those kinds of days "fat slug days" because during the cold weather, I slowly slither along in my sun-deprived paleness, lugging around extra pounds from eating too much comfort food. On that particular day, I focused on the aging …
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Israel-The Kindness of Strangers
"Those who wander are never lost." Our tour bus stopped in the Golan Heights near the Lebanon and Syria borders. I took a picture of the UN jeep and wished I had the opportunity to take pictures of the military equipment being transported along the highway. I never made it to Jerusalem. I honestly believe …
Israel-An Art Colony
An air raid shelter among the sculptures. Copyright 2020 @ The Autonomous Traveler All rights reserved.
Perspective
My last post was on New Year's Day, a symbolic day of fresh starts and hope. I wrote about fractals and taking one step at a time as I looked forward to marching into the new year with energy and focus. On my first day at PT, I graduated from using my knee bike to …
Israel-A Kibbutz (Not What I Expected)
I'm from Upstate New York, way upstate near the Canadian border. Growing up in a rural area dotted with orchards and dairy farms, I never had the opportunity to meet many Jewish people. Somewhere, somehow, I had heard the word "kibbutz", maybe on TV, maybe in school. I grew up in a kind of diversity …
Israel-Maybe Life is Like Broccoli
Picture Courtesy of wiseGEEK.com I haven't written in days; I have been putting off trying to explain the dilemma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have both Jewish and Muslim friends and acquaintances now. I want to learn about the world and its people, but I want to stay neutral. The conflict in Israel is not …
Israel-Finding Meaning in Hard Times
If I hadn't had my accident in Israel, I would have never met the Muslim man who directed me to a deeper understanding of Judaism. I met him in Syracuse, New York, and because of my injuries, he knew I had gone to Israel. I sensed that he was a traveler, too, and asked where …
Israel-The Iron Dome
Picture courtesy of wisemoneyisrael.com The Iron Dome is a mobile missile launching system that uses a specific algorithm to calculate if an enemy missile is about to strike a populated area. With 90% accuracy, the launcher sends out its own missiles to explode the enemy missiles in the air. Israel is a country surrounded by …
Israel-Remembering The Holocaust
I was raised in the rural part of Western New York State and never knew any Jewish people. But growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my teenage imagination and heart were pierced by the life and death of a Jewish girl named Anne Frank. During my childhood, the impact of WWII was still very …
Tel Aviv, Israel
I've never been so excited about going on a trip as I was about going to Israel. Friends on Facebook were looking forward to my posts and pictures, but many cautioned me to stay safe and be careful. One friend even asked why I wanted to go to a place "so, so dangerous". The morning …
