I've been working in Israel for a week now, and everything has been fantastic. We're staying in a lovely guest house with gorgeous gardens and a beautiful view of the valley below:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-BpNI8EBbNOD0LnyckWKWYymVQF_61JqSRFWlAlq3dIjUHxYh-vExMjMH6d8RMAYMiZ6U4-pJGU0XffqwC-WNpxFF7mGycTCSpIV4cSjenEek6l_Xh2Blqg3ksFlIK152jg08JKBPV4cn/s400/mountainview.jpg)
Miriam Avitan, who runs the guest house with her husband, makes us 3 fantastic meals a day. Last week for lunch we had homemade falafel:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Db4joa5_qJ4z7nEHUZC90AN1njcO-oddb1CWO9nmO49hjOnwLyCKRUh9OKWSSVph3X21lM1zH9cwUbw4N24HJHkjfZ2tunY6h99JHUD8aP3woe8ijkWS4wRV8Dj-yXthC6mvN7SG82bc/s400/falafel.jpg)
I do my conservation work in a covered shed at the guest house, while most of the team works at the dig site in the mornings. I was able to visit it for the first time last week to see how things were going. They have a gorgeous view from up there of vineyards, and you can even see the Lebanese border on nearby hills.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0YDzFPeB8vRUMAT2f26K1EWbrSayTyyASLdw0mHIQisIEO-Lw7ic3JNo3403q6lkP6GzCF6dcZmgI6x74RTST2GBMZE3X5c6j4bI22LOnPx1GseLMycvczJiuiQLtv80vXFARfGFbIJk/s400/dig.jpg)
This summer I will be repairing a whole lot of pottery. Although I do something very similar in the museum setting, here I have added challenges. For example, even though the ceramic fragments are sorted into groups before they come to me, there are usually a few sherds that don't belong. The two pots below were found in the same bag. I also don't have any idea of what the pot will look like when it's completed--or if I have all the pieces. It's like doing a difficult jig saw puzzle without the box, and with a handful of pieces missing.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGfpMrcNkjD1ziNuWq3C0ZOxH4ESFPvAZi8XMjHJULjOJO_GWqp187wNkF7-mo7hLKjYPsHJauD3d2bcxf2rIRwSMaDdJWlTr0sGcUGCEWzHwNKXJS6gCItrNPKPI_NWdrU3nS2hV20YB/s400/pot2.jpg)
The cool part about it is that I am the very first person to work on these objects, and the first to see them complete! The pot below was really challenging to put together--if you look closely you'll see that it was actually thrown in two pieces and put together so that the wheel marks run in a different direction than you'd normally expect. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qgnM82-EphZlMOu0JkOaSz4necSGwzBpFoWkfABhPzDmDbJN8z936p4mLWTKoZV8cjbYiVSjFl5J9mruv7uD2pajvgJcLJYoKXxDjPVoIyqeNo93eohU7-JO1OUlLnQtP1JcogiDOweo/s400/pot1.jpg)
I hope everyone is enjoying a great summer. Although my internet connection is super slow, I'll try to add some pictures to the blog on occasion.