More than Jerusalem Heat

Everyone is talking about the weather,

the hot, hot weather.

It has been beastly,

outside of science museum

like this monster perched outside the Bloomfield Science Museum

even before the intense heat arrived.

science museum

On Monday, there was a special event for children

who had no school on the day after Shavuot.

special riding bikes

These unusual riding machines are outside the museum.

Science and motion can be fascinating,

and while for some it is a learning experience,

for others,

it is a living experience.

ALEH is a very special school for children with severe disabilities.

The annual ALEH March was Monday afternoon.

I love Aleh

Teachers, students, volunteers and ALEH families

all walked across the Jerusalem String Bridge.

Aleh school releases balloons on Chord bridge

In the middle of the walk the group released green and purple balloons,

made noise and held banners for cars to honk.

march aleh school

Walkers, special wheel chairs and flags,

all marching forward – to make each day count.

And as with most Jerusalem facilities,

Arab women

ALEH serves both Muslim and Jewish children, religious and secular.

The holidays are over,

but things are not quieting down,

and even in the mid-day sun tourists were out.

New signs have been posted,

festival Jerusalem

for the Israel Festival’s

sign in Hebrew

varied programs.

Festival season has begun.

sign in Jerusalem

For other new events

sign for festival Jerusalem

and festivals we will have to wait and see.

But next week is the Jerusalem Light Festival,

Jerusalem light festival

and this big ad was up in Gan Sacher, Sacher Park.

I sure hope it cools off when we walk around the Old City.

It will be interesting to see what new light pieces

the international festival can come up with this year,

 and how many thousands of people will attend.

Jerusalem Getting Back to Normal

This summer was not normal.

Rockets were falling and tourism was way down

But those tourists who did come had a great time.

The Tourism Ministry recorded 218,000 visitor entries in Israel in July 2014.

Groups from southern Israel were brought to Jerusalem for fun days.

President Reuven Rivlin and his wife hosted more children this week.

Slowly we are returning to “normal.”

The last two weeks in August there is no regular child day care,

which makes some workplaces look like day care centers.

 Grandparents, cousins,

 or any family member or friend can be called to help out.

 A popular summer activity was the view from Big Bambu at the Israel Museum.

image Big Bambu

Some ‘seniors’ finding out they had to go up with their young children,

were not so thrilled about having to make the climb.

image children play ground

The new play area at the Israel Museum was much easier to experience.

 The Bloomfield Science Museum, an  old favorite, is always great for a day outing.

image science museum water

The water activities on a hot day are always a winner.

image sand play area

The new sand area is usually a busy place,

but not this early morning in July,

image children playing

though learning activities led by staff were well under way.

image hand meat grinder

I wonder how many of the children ever saw a meat grinder like this,

or would have any idea what it is?

It was seen on my way to a new building for a special exhibition:

The Machine Within: Bio-mechanics,

image science museum

the machine inside is built to survive.

image science museum

Using small screens

image science museum

and large ones,

image child and grandmother in museum

and animals to attract attention and teach.

image Jerusalem science museum

This shows the outside of a pouncing animal,

but walk around it,

image Jerusalem science museum

and the exhibit shows how it works inside.

image child in science museum

One of my favorite scenes was this boy,

image child at science museum

who figured out how to interact

image child in science meusm

with all the right moves.

image Arab girl Jerusalem,

During the month of July with all the troubles and tensions you heard about,

at places like the Science Museum, where this Muslim girl is on staff,

image Muslim men Jerusalem

and in the Israel Museum where Muslim men worked and rested on Ramadan,

life went on as “normal.”

That was the real Jerusalem, Israel streets.

Will the cease fire and quiet hold?

We will all have to see what happens next.