Olive Trees + More
Ever since I moved to Israel, I've been bewitched by all the exotic and new-to-me trees: tall date palms bursting with bright yellow strings of fruit, the sparse branches (and lavish blossoms) of the plumeria trees, even the orange tree that shades the northwest corner of our apartment. But nothing captures me quite like the gnarled and silver-leafed olive trees on every corner here. (I have a whole photo album on my folder just for my olive tree pictures .. haha!)
(Don't believe me? I drove 45 minutes just to sit in this olive grove and paint the trees - !)
Olive Tree #1
I had a rare week to myself back in April of 2022. Ido was competing in a backgammon tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, and I decided to hike a short trail on the Carmel Mountains. Mostly because I knew this one spot that had a *beautiful* grove of olive trees - small, big, twisty, full, you name it.
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So, while Ido placed himself in the top 50 best backgammon players in the world (can you tell I'm proud of him??), I laced up my hiking books and took my travel paints to the woods.
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The olive tree I used for reference is in the Karen HaCarmel Forest, and I found this grove of olive trees while hiking the Ancient Burial Cave Trail.
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This piece is painted with water from the Sea of Galilee.
Olive Tree #2
I had a rare week to myself back in April of 2022. Ido was competing in a backgammon tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, and I decided to hike a short trail on the Carmel Mountains. Mostly because I knew this one spot that had a *beautiful* grove of olive trees - small, big, twisty, full, you name it.
​
So, while Ido placed himself in the top 50 best backgammon players in the world (can you tell I'm proud of him??), I laced up my hiking books and took my travel paints to the woods.
​
The olive tree I used for reference is in the Karen HaCarmel Forest, and I found this grove of olive trees while hiking the Ancient Burial Cave Trail.
​
This piece is painted with water from the Sea of Galilee.
Pine Trees in the
Forest of Karen HaCarmel
I love living in a Mediterranean country, and the beautiful colors and Mars-like landscape of the deserts in the south ... but sometimes, I miss the familiar oak trees and pine-needle carpeted forests of the Midwest.
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Thankfully, like most Israelis, I live in the very-green northern half of Israel. Which has a surprising amount of forested trails that can easily soothe my homesickness There, I can fill my ears with the sound of winds blowing through the leaves, and the hush of a pine-needle covered trail, .
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These pine trees are in the Karen HaCarmel Forest, along the Ancient Burial Cave Trail. And, because I didn't expect this piece to turn out so well, this piece is painted with your run-of-the-mill tap water