September 14, 2016
My friend says her husband went to the Haj for the Eid, so she took the kids and went to Eilat, and is doing a lot of shopping. She always laughs about how much her life has been influenced by her Jewish neighbors and I am always amazed by it.
Where did we get this kind of holiday spirit? People have been asking me for weeks what we're doing for the new year holidays. And we have indeed booked a place for a weekend family holiday in the north. I understand that this is less than what most people are doing. One friend is going with her family to Croatia for a week, another is doing the holidays in Bulgaria. It seems like people are very involved in it.
Shimon Peres seems to be improving - but I don't trust it - i listen to the news every hour, try hard to let go but I have always felt that he was something like my father, and now seem to be reliving the terror of his stroke, a terror i never allowed myself to really feel..
September 15, 2016
News is quiet about Peres, so I checked a poem series i wrote about the first days of my father's stroke. there was the moment of cautious optimism, but it passed.
Anyway there are worse things to talk about - the deal Netanyahu signed with Obama that shows how absolutely untrustworthy the US considers him. Which means of course that we're totally handcuffed to the Americans when it comes to future military plans.
But I'm just tired because I had a late night writing texts for Panic Ensemble (it's so much harder to write lyrics than poems). And then my sick granddaughter came for the day so I watched Disney movies all morning instead of working. In my youth I could do both together but I lack the concentration now. And the movies are getting better.
September 16, 2016
Everyone is late for dinner - giving us time to rest for a moment. The little girl spent the night in the hospital and shouldn't expect to be here on time. She's okay now but she seems to have inherited my lungs and her father's asthma.
No news about Shimon so I check my poem about the progress of my father's stroke. I'll put it online soon, but first I will reheat the chicken.
September 17, 2016
Here is the account of my father:
And so far Peres seems to be following the same path.
An afternoon of poets and critics from my generation - most of them just a bit forgotten but highly respected. There were hundreds of books produced from the 20 people at this luncheon - all important to Israeli culture - most forgotten. One of the topics of conversation is the lack of continuity in Hebrew culture. At least that was what i felt. Ziva Shamir, who has written 30 books, mostly on Bialik, pointed out that both Bialik and Agnon were careful to destroy the competition. I wonder if all writers are like that. It certainly feels that way.
And now that Syria is freeing up a bit from their massive massacres they are beginning to turn their attention to us. I don't like the fact that we have been getting rockets all over the place up north. I don't think it was a mistake that the Russians sent a couple of drones over the border a few weeks ago to see if we were paying attention. I smell trouble.
September 18, 2016
Took a test that said I was OCD. Another test that said i was ADHD. I'm both!
Naim Araidi - let's see how I can organize an evening in his memory. October 5th. Mughrar.5-6 p.m.
September 19, 2016
It's happening, the memorial event for Naim Araidi - October 5 at Mughrar in the auditorium. 5 p.m. i'm thriller.
And while we're on the subject - I'm going to read a poem of Naim's on this Saturday night at The Little Prince on King George Street in Tel Aviv, for the 100,000 poets for change. You can join the evening: here. In fact, please DO join and come.
Today was girl's day out - we went to Jaffa, puttered through the market, bought shoes for my enormous feet, had lunch at Akbar, and in general had a wonderful time. And this even though I had the feeling that something bad was going to happen in the way of a terrorist attack. But it happened in Jerusalem.
It is happening all over, and my blood pressure is up again.