United by Tangles

As I mentioned below our photograph in the IAST #294 Tiles post, Lou and I are just home from an incredible trip -  to Israel. 
That photograph of us was taken on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in the city of Jaffa.  The larger metropolitan area in the distance is the city of Tel Aviv.

My brother Matt and his wife Diana invited us to go as part of a pilgrimage they had arranged through Diana's brother, Richie.  It turned out to be a life changing, very prayerful journey.  We walked the paths of the prophets of old and the precious places Christ Himself traversed.

We covered more material than I could ever take in, with visits to Tiberius, the Sea of Galilee,  Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and points in between.

To top off our travels, we had the pleasure of meeting up with Gill Green who has been on our Tangled Map since IAST #274.  Looking back, I still can't believe we had the chance to meet.

When we first arrived in Israel, I contacted Gill via email.  She responded so warmly and very determined to meet if at all possible.
Because we were traveling with a tour group, coordinating our whereabouts and available times proved to be challenging. 
Fortunately, on the very last day of our trip, we visited the city of Jaffa, just outside of Tel Aviv, very close to where Gill worked. (More about that below.)

Gill patiently waited for news of our location and then caught a cab to the cafe where we were finishing up our lunch. 

We exchanged hugs and gifts ~

And then she walked with me to meet up with the bus taking our group back to Jerusalem.

I was delighted to find out that Gill and her husband have a paper store in Tel-Aviv and equally as disappointed not to have the chance to visit it.  It is called Papier (click here for their FB page) and it looks like a place I would get happily lost in. 
She did bring a piece of it though - a paper cube - and square of course!  The cube is comprised of hand selected and stacked papers, leftovers that otherwise would have been discarded and each is finer that the next. 

Back home, Gill sent this message when I asked permission to post our story and photos ~

I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Adele and her husband, albeit much too briefly, on their recent trip to Israel. It was wonderful to see the person who puts so much time and effort into the IAST blog that so many of us enjoy, not just for the challenges that Adele inspires us with but for her encouraging and uplifting words. Adele and I exchanged gifts, and I was thrilled to receive this beautiful Zendala that I will treasure, and wanted to share with everybody. 

Half the globe apart, united by our love for tangles, Gill and I had the chance to meet in a city by the sea.  Sounds like a movie, doesn't it?