Is my gift for planning cool weekend getaways gone?
It has been just a little over a year and a half since we made aliyah and following on the footsteps of my good friend Lisa and her #camplisa initiative, we made it a mission during our first year in Israel to visit different places each weekend. We did some great stuff. We went north, south, we hiked, we went to different beaches, museums, parks, small towns, smaller towns... We did so much stuff that I even started a “cool things to do in Israel” list, which I began to proudly share with others. Mostly I was in charge of coming up with plans and everyone was happy with the results. Up until a few weeks ago that is.
After reading so much about the Darom Adom festival and how the fields are covered with beautiful red kalaniyot (flower-anemone coronaria) and seeing picture after picture of red fields, I planned our weekend outing to Shokeda. THE place to go see kalaniyot according to the many facebook groups of which I am a member. If it’s on the internet it must be accurate I thought, and so armed with my DSLR camera, pretty dressed children in almost matching but non-cheesy outfits, a cooperative husband and a bag full of snacks, we took on the road southward bound.
As we got off kvish 6 we realized we were getting closer. Lines and lines of cars were parked on the side of the road next to a forest and hundreds of Israelis with their wicker mats under their arms were walking towards the entrance to the forest (did I ever mention how every Israeli has a wicker mat for picnicking? Apparently its the kind of thing they can revoke your Teudat Zehut if you don’t have one… Anyways, that might be material for another article). We parked our car and joined the wave of Israelis as they entered the forest in search for the beautiful red fields. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked some more and suddenly we started hearing others say what we had only been so brave as to admit inside our own heads: “where are all the kalaniyot?”. After having driven an hour from home I wasn’t about to get my plans ruined, so I told my husband, “let’s find another field”. So we got back in our car and drove a bit more until we saw another wave of Israelis making their way into the forest and we parked on the side of the road. The kalaniyot were beautiful! All 5 of them! I strategically positioned my kids for a picture that anyone who saw would think “wow” of, clicked on the shutter button and snapped a few photos before making our way back into the car and driving all 120km back home. Upon our return, we discovered there were more kalaniyot in the field behind our son’s school than there were in Shokeda. After a year of planning great activities, it isn’t a big deal to have one disappointment, is it?
A couple of weeks later, after having heard from my friend and coworker about an incredible place called Maskeret Batya, we made a plan to visit. Maskeret Batya is one of the oldest towns in Israel and according to my friend and her pictures, a town full of charm and plenty to do for everyone in the family. We woke up on Saturday morning and headed out to this enchanting town, only to find out that it’s a ‘religiousy’ town and EVERYTHING is closed on shabbat. My husband and my son wanted to kill me, no, I’m not exaggerating, they really wanted to take my life away. They were hungry and there wasn’t even a convenience store open. My daughter is the only one who had my back, but only because she is two and she had no idea what was happening. She wasn’t exactly vocal in her support, but I sensed it was there.That day, I was banned from making further plans without the prior consent of, and further investigation by my husband.
My busted plans must have frustrated my husband so much that the last two weekends, his usual lazy-let’s-stay-in-bed-all-day personality has been completely reversed to a 9 o’clock get up and let’s go attitude for which he has been making the plans. We went to Caesarea one weekend, walked along the beach, saw ruins, spent time with friends, ate a great italian place and came back home happy. Last weekend, we went to Utopia, a tropical rain forest with orchids, animals, musical fountains and plant mazes near Netanya. We then went to Rishon Lezion for lunch and got home in perfect timing for kid’s bath and bed.
I must say, I’m liking this no-pressure-to-come-up-with-activities thing. While I might relinquish my baton to hubby for a while, it’s not easy with my OCD personality. It has been a total struggle to relinquish, so I have committed to this change of hands just until after we go to Banyas, a gorgeous hike in the north and this fantastic beach festival in Dor beach that will require complete and utter dedicated planning over the next two weekends.
Credit to my editor in chief, Adinah Brown
