israeli politics

Two kids and one grandchild are traveling in different countries as the Omicron variant of the virus is beginning to rage.  As I see it, there are two ways of looking at it:  1.  OMG – why have they left their safe homes?  2.  thank goodness they are in places where the variant hasn’t been discovered yet.   We seem to have been one of the first to have imported the variant because, allegedly, a woman who tested positive at the airport ignored the command to go into isolation and went down to Eilat.  Who knows how many people have been touch by this?  Even one who had been triply vaccinated.  So maybe it’s good that some of our kids are not here.  in the meantime I’m staying home and worrying.

november 27, 2021 – travel Read Post »

israeli politics

We had the proper overwhelming thanksgiving dinner yesterday and are suitably stuffed today.  But that’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen to us on Hannukah.   Unless the new variant keeps us away from the children we’ve got latkes and sufganiyot every night of the week, starting Sunday evening.  So for the moment we’ve got a little time to ourselves, and I managed to screw up the connections to this website.  Now I’ve got to find someone who knows something about wordpress so I don’t screw it up further. 

 

november 26, 2021 – between the holidays Read Post »

israeli politics

A few years ago we started celebrating thanksgiving – it is a great holiday because nothing is expected of you but food.   Turkey used to be more common than chicken, so it wasn’t a problem. Ground turkey, turkey shnitzel, turkey breasts –  it was cheap.  But in recent years I can’t find a turkey to save my life.  I wound up with a big chicken and I’m hoping I’ll be able to pass it off as turkey.  I’ll let you know.  Happy Thanksgiving.

november 24, 2021 – turkey Read Post »

israeli politics

Because my watch has been warning me that my heart suddenly speeds up for no reason – even in my sleep, I wrote my doctor this morning.  He wrote back that I should get a 24 hour halter to measure it properly and sent me the number.  I spent the rest of the morning trying to get to the right number and when I finally found the right place, they told me they’d call me back.  They didn’t.

When I saw it isn’t going to happen, I called the general number of the health clinic again and they said that the only thing they can do is give me an appointment for January.  “Should I go to the emergency ward?”  I asked.  “No, no!  Wait for us to get back to you.”  So if you don’t hear from me, know I’m still waiting.

Somewhere.

 

 

so it’s just me and my watch  

november 24, 2021 – my watch and health clinic Read Post »

israeli politics

I was sure no one would be there.  Elections of the board of the Writers’ Association in Hebrew couldn’t be terribly interesting, I thought.  So I promised I’d be five minutes and went in.  But I had to show my green pass, get checked off the list, go through a bunch of welcoming candidates, and then get in line for the registration and voting booths.  There was a lot of kissing on the way and promises to get back to the stage and screen.  But I kept thinking about the old days, about the enormous events we had, the amazing friday afternoons at the cafe, the interviews and conferences – above all, the respect given to literature and the development of a culture.  Now it’s all nostalgia.  Nostalgia and maybe hope 

november 23, 2021 – hebrew writers election Read Post »

israeli politics

i wanted to call this section “tiv tam and tomatoes” – because it’s only a detail of a short shopping trip.  But it was such a strange and funny detail.  

I noticed today when I dragged Ezi to Tiv Tam in search of a turkey for thanksgiving that the store was almost empty.   It seems that the times it is crowded are when most people think no one is shopping – nights and weekends.  So the fact that everyone was speaking only Arabic in a Russian supermarket was very obvious.  Anyway, we were picking out vegetables when a lady in a hijab complained in Arabic that the tomatoes were not the best quality.  Immediately the clerk began rolling the un-picked-over tomatoes from the unreachable top of the piled-high tray down to her.  Luckily we understood and waited until she’d picked her tomatoes.  Then we picked ours.  Bandoora.  Always good, as the cat said, to learn a foreign language….

 

november 22, 2021 – tiv tam Read Post »