Not much to report today. With all the family here the past two days, it has been hectic and noisy. Peleg had a rough night last night and seems to have some sort of a virus. He was fussy this morning. Sivan and Orrie left last night and Danit was off to Tel Aviv to work this morning. Eron, Dana and family live here on the kibbutz so they are at home with their 3 girls. The remaining family went to the dining room for breakfast. Gadi, Shira, Eitan and Peleg will be leaving later today.
Carol and David are great at being grandparents. They are both so good with the kids, Carol especially. I was in awe of her bag of tricks of activities for the kids. She has them doing something all the time.
Then David put us to work. Remember all those almonds we picked yesterday? Well, they needed to be shelled. David set us up with a bunch of buckets and bowls, one for the hulls/shells, one for the green nuts that are not yet open, and one for the shelled almonds. The outer hulls are oddly shaped and kind of dark in color. Some have openings that are relatively easy to break apart. Then inside is the almond, known as the kernel, in its shell, a light brown. Getting the kernel out of the shell is the hard part. Most of the shells do not have an opening. You can try to twist the shell to get it open or sometimes use a thumbnail to pry it open. It’s really difficult. David said we didn’t have to get the shell off, just the husk, but of course, it’s much more satisfying to remove the kernel. Christine was always hoping to open a double kernel, what Amalia called twins. After about a half hour of shelling, David said, you know when to stop when the skin of your fingers comes off. And that’s exactly what it does. I ended up with blisters on both hands from rubbing the husks and shells. It’s hard work!
David roasted some of the husked and shelled almonds and we had them after dinner. They were delicious!
Gadi and family left after lunch, leaving just Ruth and Amalia at the Gilad’s. Carol and David took the girls to the pool for part of the afternoon, leaving Christine and me at home in the quiet.
Eron and Dana came for dinner and Danit got home from work. It’s very nice to be with this family. They are lovely together. Tomorrow, Carol, Christine and I will go to Tel Aviv for a couple of days.