Is anyone paying attention? There are dozens of fires near Gaza DAILY. Big Fires, that burn entire farms down, and we don't even report it in our news HERE much less there.
and now for something really serious. Ezi's follicular lymphoma became active and the PET scan a few weeks ago, but the hematologist postponed seeing him because we're going on vacation for a few weeks. so i made a date with our old doctor who has gone rogue and is into natural medicine. her advice was to give up all carbohydrates in addition to the sugar he had stopped and to limit all kinds of other foods. the food supplements are fine, but the diet depressed us both. me i went home and ate three candy bars - and i too had given up sugar half a year ago. i think we have to try a different track.
July 4, 2018
how could we not celebrate the fourth of july? it's not just because i'm sick and have a fever and slept half the day, it's because what i want to celebrate is not there at the moment. as much as i want to celebrate the values i remember from high school American Studies as if it were today, from the declaration of independence to deToqueville to Gettysburg address to Kennedy's inauguration speech, I believe in all of it. And the U.S. saved me and my family - gave us a home. There was some distant relative - Governor Abrahahm Ribicoff - who signed my naturalization papers and gave me a sense of freedom and hope and potential that I never will forget.
It is that sense of inclusion and the fact that everyone deserves that chance that remains with me.
Forgot for a moment i'm writing a Tel Aviv diary. maybe because i stayed home all day, didn't even leave my bed for company that came. and it is very difficult to be agarophobic in this country. people call, ring the bell, shout from the window. But tomorrow i'll be out for days. and there will be a lot about israel to tell.
July 5, 2018
Regards from Acre. My American daughter-in-law says that this place isn't on any tour map and no one she knows has been here. And we have dropped her in the middle of an Arab neighborhood where next door a terrible tragedy has just occurred. The next door neighbor, who was closing his booth in the market was washing down the counter and somehow hit an electric plug and was instantly electrified. We passed by an empty corridor as we entered and returned hours later /to find dozens of women in mourning. A young man with wife and family, and all his life before him.
And where were we? watching the divers dropping off the walls of Acre into the sea - in itself a dangerous thing to do even though one of them told us that he had been doing it since his brother pushed him of the walls when he was five.
And where are we - for the past days there have been a few earthquakes in Israel and environs - and in Acre there is one every four hundred years. and there was one four hundred years ago. so we're due for one. Great vacation so far.
July 6, 2018
I don't get the Bahai gardens. Maybe they are the most gorgeous gardens in the world but there's no shade, no benches, no comfort. inside it's all beautiful meditation and barefoot silence and respect and all that but no explanation, no discussion, nothing to "do" but walk through and not interrupt the pilgrims. okay, it is an incredibly hot day and everyone is tired and impatient, but what was I doing there?
July 7, 2018
Despite the heat, despite the exhaustion, despite what it does to my joints, my skin and my hair, this blistering hot day was exciting. I don't understand why there are few tourists in Acre, but it is full of opportunities to learn and enjoy. Amos Oz, who stayed in Arabesque earlier, had said it was like going abroad without the hassle of going abroad. In some ways I feel like I'm home there, comfortable enough to talk to strangers and feel intimate, but in the middle of a foreign country. I know nothing, but I understand it right away. Weird but I can't explain it when I'm so exhausted from the kiddies.
Arabesque, by the way, if you can get a room, is always worth the experience and we extract the maximum from it. The first night the neighbors made us a wonderful feast and on the second night our hosts feasted us on the leftovers. They filled us up in the morning with wonderful conversation and in the evenings with as much entertainment and guidance as we wanted. At my age I am a lover of luxury and yet all that was missing there for me was a masseur and a manicurist.
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