I'm grateful for: a full night's sleep; getting caught up on the laundry; twelve year old girls.

We've had a couple of booms, but otherwise it's very quiet. There are a couple of really big ag. trucks (mostly hauling potatoes) which make a boom going over the speed bumps that sound a lot like the bombs going off.

A little bit of excitement was that a couple of days ago our community was actually mentioned by name, as in 'a kassam landed in the fields outside moshav ______.' Our fifteen seconds of fame. ;-) Not that anyone noticed.

Actually, yesterday I got my Very First phone call from someone calling to see if we were all right. She said she knew that we'd be okay, but after hearing about the bombs she just wanted to check up. So, that was kind of nice. I mean, that someone thought and cared enough to phone.

There went another boom, much more distant. It's frustrating in a way. If it wasn't shabbos I'd say that one was most likely a potato truck. It being shabbos it seems more likely that it's a kassam, but it could be an even more distant boom (we hear those, too) of the IDF firing into Gaza. Shabbos is so quiet the sounds travel a long way.

I have a very friendly tree pressing against my window. It is a lovely tree, but we're going to have hack it back somewhat. Not only is it pressing into my window, but it is covering up some of the solar panel. All houses in Israel built since some date (before we came here, I don't know more than that) have to have a solar hot water heater. It makes a lot of sense, you know? You could just do passive solar here for nine months of the year, although almost no one does.

Anyway, (I'm so good at going off on tangents), it makes me sad to think about cutting bits off the tree. It's not like pruning for the tree's benefit. We have ugly palm trees up front and a huge mess of an olive tree I'd be happy to see hacked back. I am not a big fan of palm trees, and the olive is just a mess. But this tree is pretty, and, I don't know if it sounds stupid, but it is friendly. *sigh* But after all we must have hot water. Spoiled humans of this century.

I always say about people who talk about how much better it used to be 'way back when' that I wouldn't want to live before indoor plumbing (flush toilets!) and antibiotics. Actually anesthetics is another thing I'd really hate to pre-date. I'd be perfectly happy to dispense with an awful lot of what makes up 'modern medicine,' but safe anesthetics and antibiotics properly applied, no. Those are must haves.

Since my home in Vermont lacks indoor plumbing (but has a state-of-the-art composting toilet), I'm not entirely sure I require a flush toilet. :-)

Mind you, I like being spoiled. Much better than not, you know?

I'm having those fantasy conversations in my head that I have from time to time - I keep wanting to explain myself. I want to have someone to explain myself to. I want someone to know and understand me, where I'm coming from, where I came from, who I am. I don't know what it means besides that I'm feeling disconnected and lonely. Only I'm not aware of feeling disconnected or lonely. I want to ring someone up and just talk, and have them know what I'm feeling without my having to explain, go into the huge backstory, or justify, or interpret or, ...

I'm sure enough people know what I am talking about. At least, I hope you do. Because otherwise I really am all alone. ;-/

I phoned Jessica's yesterday, I got to talk to her and Chris (or was it Ben?) briefly, and also to talk with Havva and Zechy. They sound fine other than being caught at the whims of my sister again. I just hope they made it up to Vermont in time for sundown. Not just to Vermont, but to Nick and Miriam's in the NE Kingdom. When my sister is being unreliable it is not a good thing.

On the other hand, she did finally send the stuff she's had for me, some of it for almost a year. I hope it's all still good. Very frustrating, because you order stuff online and if you don't receive it for a year because your sister is being impossible, you can't return or exchange any of it if it is broken or wrong. *sigh*

Still no word from or about Hans. It's as if he vanished off the U.S. Army planet. John was planning on phoning the base to see if he could find out anything, but so far that hasn't happened. Maybe he can try on Sunday, if anyone is actually working there on Sunday. We can but hope.

I'm cleaning out my inbox of things people have sent me to read over the last month. Sometimes I wonder if these people have lives? I don't have time to sit down and read every single article everyone I know happened to find interesting at a given moment. Even crippled I have more of a life than that (okay, there have been times, but this is not one of them). Someone sent me some Dylan Thomas poems, another person sent me the BBC's 100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year, as a couple of exciting examples. My real mail can be hard enough to keep up with.

Now Simcha is in here chattering at me (again) so I'd better stop for now. Be well, all, and Gd bless.

I'm listening to Simcha chattering about Chamudah

:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06