Above is one of the most beautiful bouquet of roses that I have ever seen. Whenever friends visit, I take them on a tour of Kfar Rut – the greenhouses, rows of flowers and trees, and tranquil atmosphere. It’s like a free distributed botanical garden with fruit stand, cafe, and Zen spaces with water fountains.

I’ve toured Kfar Rut about half a dozen times and on my most recent visit, I found this flower store by accident, nearly in the back of someone’s house:

While I debated with myself whether to mess with gestalt of the article, the extremes that you can find in close proximity, in the same community, include art such as this which I call ‘Chair in the Skasm’:

What’s Important to Us?

You can tell something about a culture based on what is most prominent – Joseph Campell observes that the highest buildings used to be cathedrals. Now they are office buildings. Work is the primary religion of the day.

I purchased some roses for our window ledge and then needed to buy two pots. As I went up and down the rows and aisles looking for the perfect pot. So many verities and choices to view, analyze, and dissect … color, weight, density, material, thickness, size, feel, hole placement …

Then I remembered where I felt this before. Shopping for the perfect notepad and pen combination at Staples.

An aisle of notebooks at Staples

An aisle of pots at a garden center in Israel

There are as many choices of color, weight, density, material, thickness, size, feel, hole placement … for flowerpots in Israel as there are for personal notebooks in America.

On my windowsill, here are the roses in the pots I chose for their matching color, rough texture, weight, thickness, and size:

Here’s a slide show of some of the pot choices available:

… and more in the other area where I neglected to take pictures.

Top-Down Photos of Flowers in Kfar Rut

Use the left and right arrows to scroll the pictures …

Cacti and Other Plants of Kfar Rut

Use the left and right arrows to scroll the pictures …

Fountains and Stone Gardens of Kfar Rut

Use the left and right arrows to scroll the pictures …

My Merpeset

A “merpeset” is a balcony. Highly recommended. Even when it’s 80+, it’s still comfortable in the shade. It’s like being on vacation.

My latest hobby is to sit on the swinging chairs and read “The Little Prince” in Hebrew with help from the English version at the same time. It’s interesting to see some of the translations … “Franc” (French unit of currency) is left as such in the Hebrew version yet translated to “Dollars” in the English version. “Thousands of kilometers” is left as such in Hebrew, yet translated to “thousands of miles” in the English version.

Weed Killer

You can’t just buy a bottle of pre-mixed weed killer to spray. You must buy a concentrated form and separate spray bottle … I’ve looked in at least five places.

I left my accumulated chemical / blow torch / junk collection back in the old country where I hear they’re having the coldest, wettest May they can remember. My collection is only just beginning in Israel:

Nine months here and I have soil, weed killer, WD-40, and spray paint. My goal is not to keep any given thing longer than 20 years … have to keep the place clean.

Here’s a picture that just didn’t fit above – roses in Modiin, the city with parks running along the center of most roads. Parks and parks and parks. I don’t want to live anywhere else in the world.

The Entire Aliyah Diary

Arrival

01. Aug 19, 2024: Preparation In America
02. Aug 25, 2024: First Few Days
03. Aug 29, 2024: Moving In
62. July 17, 2025: I MADE IT

Cultural Adjustment Fun

Cultural Adjustment Difficulties

On The Roads

Shopping

11. Oct 13, 2024: Packages. (חבילות.)
34. Feb 17, 2025: Finding Obscure Things
41. Mar 23, 2025: New Shopping Habits
44. Apr 6, 2025: Pesach Shopping & Osher Ad

Government and Bureaucracy

Politics and Thought

Travel: South Israel

Travel: Central/North Israel

Travel: From Israel to …

54. June 4, 2025: Marseille and Avignon