133

Thursday

As I was passing by the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art / I noticed / out of the corner of my eye / the title of a new exhibition / "…And Europe Will Be Stunned…" / on the museum wall. / It was the work / by the Israeli artist / Yael Bartana / who represented Poland at the Venice Biennale. / It consisted of a video trilogy / "Nightmare" / "Wall and Tower" / "Assassination" / and a manifesto / by a Polish group called / the "Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland" / demanding the return to Poland / of 3,300,000 Polish Jews / most of whom were murdered in the Holocaust. / I brought home a copy of the manifesto / for Roni / whose family was originally from Poland. /

134

Wednesday

Diane is flying back tonight. / Her last evening she is spending at our house / and everyone is dropping in to say goodbye. / The countdown begins / till her return in May next year. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

135

Tuesday

Some mornings I wake up knowing / that what awaits me isn't very appealing. / Today it was / cleaning / laundry / cooking / and shopping. / To brighten my day / I took a break / and went and had coffee with my friend and neighbor / Annicka. /

136

Monday

Marmite / love it or hate it! / Mamouchka brought the "marmite culture" / on toast with butter / with her / from South Africa. / Our family there / sent us supplies / before it became readily available in Israel. / For years papouchka / Swiss born and bred / maintained that Swiss cenovis / was just as good. / Today I received Australian vegemite / which always brings / Men at Work's / "Land Down Under" / to mind / and the line Julie / a fellow marmite fan / and I / always waited for: / "...he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich..." /


Thank you Yarden / you’re the best! /

137

Sunday

Diane and I decided / to spend the Shavu'ot holiday together. / Only when we arrived at café Tatti / could we finally get down to a good tête-à-tête. / We discussed / parenting / parents / and everything in between. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

138

Saturday

Being invited to Ephrat and Judith's / is always an adventure / which is why / over the years / all the children in the family / love visiting them. / Today we celebrated / my cousin Ephrat's birthday. / I chose / from a huge variety / to focus on Judith papier-mâché's sculptures. /

Happy Birthday 'Phruti. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

139

Friday

An extended family dinner / at my sister / Karen's. / Everything was excellent / but for me / the highlight was / the forest berry salad / Esti prepared / for dessert. / It reminded me / of a night when I was 17. / My boyfriend / woke me up / and said / come with me / where to? / I asked / it's a surprise / he answered / and took me / to a mulberry tree / not far from his house. / There / in the middle of the night we feasted on Mulberries. /

Karen and Tsachi you are perfect hosts! / Thanks for a wonderful evening! / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

140

Thursday

The first time I ate off Jackie Shapiro's "French Bull" plates / was when Miri invited me to café Zorik. / Inquiring / where the plates were from / I was told / "Soho" / a designer emporium in Tel Aviv. / Today / being close by / I used credit I had there / to add ten gorgeous melamine plates / to our kitchen. / OK / the credit didn't exactly cover the cost / and though the plates aren't microwave safe / they are dishwashable. /

At "Zorik" in this post.

141

Wednesday
Gradually / the house filled up / this evening / with family and friends. / Papouchka / and my sister Diane / were the first to arrive / then my friend Orit / and finally / straight from a flamenco performance / mamouchka / and my sister Karen. / I received a splendid book of handmade dolls / from my parents. /

142

Tuesday

Today / a process / started last October / with two new classes / ended. / Each class / had a different pattern design reference source / shells / and stones. / Together / we enjoyed the venture / and the spectacular results. / It is also a sad moment / as I'd have liked to see them develop further / but other teachers / will take over / from where I left off. /

Images from this process are in the following posts: 352 / 331 / 324 / 317 / 275 / 270 / 254 / 198 / 191 / 173  /

143

Monday

Nana has fleas! / my son announced. / Equipped with flea deterrent / and a plastic bag / I gave / our four months old puppy / a thorough scrub. / Mission accomplished! /

144

Sunday

This evening / Ha'Tahtit café / with Eli / a friend from my student days / catching up / with a beer / and another beer / and for desert a beer / and a promise to meet again. /

145

Saturday

I love parties / I love dancing / I love Rona. / When these three things / are united / the result is a perfect / 40th birthday / celebration. / I got home / in the wee hours of the morning / tired and happy. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

After Party # 1

Visiting my daughter / on base / this afternoon / along with good friends of hers / we were joined / by Tahel's family / and new military friends / it was delightful. / All I could do / was look at my daughter / in the bloom of her youth. / I am filled with joy.  / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

After Party # 2

A gathering of Diane's friends and family / at Ziggy and Pasi's. / You had to have been there to believe their warmhearted hospitality. /

146

Friday

It's "closed shabbat" on base / meaning / that my daughter won't be coming home for the weekend / but that we can visit her. / So for the past week / I've been receiving / ongoing / lists of things to bring her / consisting of daily necessities / and a constantly changing menu / finally settling on: / jakhnun / lettuce / vegetables / fruit / and cake. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

147

Thursday

Now / I consider it a ritual. / Once every two months / Ora and I / treat ourselves to / a manicure / followed by coffee. / This time I chose / a very sober color. /

148

Wednesday

Roni told me / he received an SMS / from the cable company / informing us / that we're entitled to a free movie. / A nice end to four particularly intense days. / I took over the living room / made myself an aperitif / and lit candles. / The atmosphere was perfect... / but oh! / the movie... / "Larry Crowne" was pure fluff. / Of course / I watched it to the bitter end. /

149

Tuesday

In my third year of design study / my teacher / Eliezer Frenkel / introduced us to the Polish sculptor / Magdalena Abakanowicz / in an effort to evoke us to design textile three-dimensionally. / In those early days / books were my main resource. / I spent countless hours at the library / paging through Abakanowicz's book. / Today this book / was waiting for me at college. / A gift from Miri / Eliezer's daughter / and my friend. / As the executor of her father's estate / she had set the book aside for me. / I was deeply moved to hold it again / it will hold a place of honor on my bookshelves. /

My eulogy to Eliezer Frenkel appears in this post /

150

Monday

Everyone really should have someone / to take care of their computer's maintenance. / I have Judith. / Today she / installed a new external drive / updated programs / and got rid of expired ones. / She's the only person I trust / to drink / or put their feet up / while working on my computer. / I know all will be well. /

151

Sunday

For all the experience I have / there are times / I have no idea why / when things just don't work out. / Today / only four of my students / finished their pattern project on time / the others / I will now have to tutor / in my spare time.... / I'm not sure I know what / spare time / is. /

152

Saturday

All day today / I planned to delve into in the two last editions of "UPPERCASE" / my sister Diane / brought for me. / It is a wonderful magazine / the paper it's printed on / the layout / the contents / with design fields that interest me. / The problem is / that it's extremely expensive to ship to Israel. / I discovered that it's published in Canada / so I have it sent to Diane / and whenever / she or someone comes over from Canada / they bring it over for me. / This time I got the last two issues. / Pure pleasure. /

153

Friday

Every first Friday of the month / we have a "Kusinot" (cousins) get-together / but this time / we met a week later / in honor of Diane's being in Israel / at "Café Nimrod" / in the Tel Aviv Port arena. /

154

Thursday

Laura? Laura? Can you hear me? /

Being the youngest of three daughters / I inherited the best / of the fine array / of both my older sisters' friends. / And now it seems / I have a new friend / Laura / Diane's friend from Canada / a very talented and colorfully ebullient designer. / Diane gave me a gift / and said / this is from Laura. / All I could say was / wow! / astonishing! / charming! / A huge thanks Laura / this necklace made me very very happy. /

More of Laura's works can be seen here /

155

Wednesday

It's all in the timing! / My sister Diane / AKA / "Anonymous" / arrived today / from overseas / for a visit / just in time for papouchka's birthday. / We gathered / most of the family / to celebrate / at "Shuri Buri". / Happy birthday papouchka / and welcome Diane. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

156

Tuesday

Private Weinstein finished Basic Training / with honors! / We were invited to visit her base for the first time. / The event started as Parents' Day / followed by a picnic / and ended with the passing out ceremony. / I held up pretty well / until my sweet child / started crying from happiness / which / as usual / caused me to start crying too. / I'm so proud of you / beloved / wonderful / daughter. / ♥ ♥ ♥ /

Invitation to the Passing Out Ceremony

A special Thank You to David Berdah for these photos

157

Monday

"One man's trash is another man's treasure"

A while back / an acquaintance / moving to a new studio / called / and said that / my daughter / who loved beading / could have the beads left in the old studio. / My daughter has since lost interest / but I haven't. / The sight of the beads / scattered on the floor amongst the debris / of the abandoned studio wasn't very appealing / but the beads were! / We have since / in stops and starts / sorted them by / type / color / size. / Today my son surprised me / when he agreed to join me / in another sorting session. /

158

Sunday

I went to the French consulate / to vote / again / as I did two weeks ago. / This time though / it went quickly / and I inserted the correct ballot. / Now all that remains is to wait for / the survey results / at eight o'clock this evening. / Will the Socialists return to "Palais de l'Élysée"? /

159

Saturday

I went to a bookstore hoping to find / "Luka and the Fire of Life" / the sequel to Rushdie's / "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" / but they didn't have it. / I found instead / "Midnight's Children". / Ofir Touche Gafla / an Israeli author I love in particular / refers to this book / in his novel / "End's World". / A surprise awaited me at the checkout counter: / three books for the price of one. /

160

Friday

Yesterday my daughter phoned me / from her base / and announced / that she'd be home for the weekend / and that her boyfriend would be joining us for Shabbat dinner. / So / once again I find myself in the kitchen / kneading / rolling out / peeling / slicing / dicing / frying / grating / and washing dishes. /

161

Thursday

What a sweet ending to a hectic week. / A visit to my parents / with my sister Karen and my niece Naama. / Pampering gifts from Karen / along with wine and fine goat's cheese / Thank God it's Friday! /

162

Wednesday

There is nothing like coming home / after four days of intensive work / and having to clean the house. / All I could think about / was going to bed / but tomorrow J / my house help / is coming / so I did my part / in our long-standing arrangement. / Now all that remains / is sleep. /

163

Tuesday

Back to Pétanque / in avenue again / after the winter break. / The vodka is excellent / my score much less so.... / But what does it matter / when the company is good / and the mood is right? /