fall/winter, birds, plants, starving, r's

When to blog?

When you have something interesting to say or show.

When you are bored and have nothing else to do.

When you are making a transition.

That's what today is. It's a transition from summer into fall/winter. No, it's actually too late to get ready for winter. It's here and I'm not ready. I knew this would happen, and I kept trying to put it out of my mind. But today I have to go downtown in the cold and it will probably rain and I don't know where my winter sweater is. And I'm not in the mood for tackling cold weather.

I feel rather like cleaning house. The kind of house cleaning where it gets worse before it gets better. The first day you take everything that's not in the right place and put it in the middle of the room. Then you clean everything that you have room to clean, and gradually you start sorting and putting things back, but that usually takes another day or two. As time goes on, your enthusiasm starts to wane, but you excuse yourself by saying, "It's x% better than it was. And that leaves only x% to do, which isn't much." Although actually the last 15% is harder than the first 85%, and at least half of that will never get done.

Fall/winter shows itself in not-terribly-obvious ways. The sycamore trees are shades of yellow, green and brown. Lots of other trees are their usual dull-green color. The neighbors' pomegranate tree is gold. The other neighbors' bougainvillea continues to bloom, as it almost always does, without any regard for other plants around it that would like to grow if given the chance. Bougainvilleas are like large furry dogs. They're quite lovable if kept in line. But if they aren't, they can be annoying. Licking you in the face, smacking you with their wagging tail. Doghair is nice on the dog, but not on the furniture. Magenta-colored bougainvillea blossoms aren't so nice when they're swallowing up apple trees and other useful plants.

In between the colorful or not-so-colorful trees are all the nice or not-so-nice apartment buildings. How can you get excited about an apartment building? The apartment buildings around here are well-designed and, for apartment buildings, nice to look at. The buildings are all similar enough to go well together, but there is some variety in shape, windows, balconies, and trim color. But still, a building is a building, and an apartment building gives you no indication as to the character or personality of the people that live in it. Maybe that's just as well, who knows.

Watching birds. A dozen or so birds fly to the sidewalk from the low branches of a sycamore tree. One second later a dozen fly from the sidewalk to the tree. This happens over and over again. I wish I could get close enough to see what they're doing.

A white-spectacled, yellow-vented Bulbul comes to my balcony now and then. He pecks the leaves off my Solanum. So far it hasn't hurt the Solanum too much. I need to plant more so as to maybe get more birds.

I have three different types of Haworthia. One for a long time was dark, nearly black and hardly growing. I brought it in from the sun for a day or two, as I often have to do with the other Haworthias, but it didn't recover. Finally I brought it in for about two weeks, and now it's starting to turn a little bit green.

There is no Thanksgiving-Christmas here. Which means there are no family gatherings. This seems wrong somehow. I was tempted to buy some toothpicks and some styrofoam balls and make a little Christmas tree, just for old times' sake. Really old, like more than 50 years. Yet I am not really interested in Christmas or Christmas trees. It's just the association of this particular craft with family and good times. When I was a little girl my father bought me some toothpicks and styrofoam and I made my first tree. The next year I/we did the same thing, with some improvements. Each year my tree got better. Toothpicks and styrofoam balls don't interest me now, but I remember doing crafts often, and it was fun to have my father interested in my crafts.

There is a little craft store near where I am going today, and I like to look at the little kits that are fun to do when you are a kid. I really crave something like that now, but I haven't seen anything I really want, and it seems kind of a waste of time. Painting something would be nice, but I don't know how to paint pictures, just walls. And I don't think I'm up to painting walls, especially since our ceilings are a bit high and I don't care to stand on a ladder. Using a long-handled roller would be a bit strenuous for me now, and you still have to get on a ladder to do a neat edge.

I think I am about starved for something creative. Do I dare start laying out scraps for a quilt? I have five quilts back in the U.S. I would like to bring over and finish. But meanwhile I am Starved. Starved. Starved. And Starved.

I guess I'll have to console myself by rolling my r's. This is my latest accomplishment. You never get too old to learn something new. The ability to roll r's is NOT HEREDITARY. I looked at a number of You-Tube videos and tried all kinds of things, and finally I found something that works. Brrrr is a bit difficult, but Drrrr works pretty well. I can even roll my r's while doing my do-mi-so exercise!!! So there!

Song of the Grasses

As usual, I can't decide which I like best, so here are two versions. This is not a New Year song, it's just a nice song. I can appreciate grass and shepherds, since we once raised sheep. There is no grass where we live now. We live in an apartment in a city in a very stony country. Will I ever find anything as nice as grass in this hard country?

The first, tenor voice, Hezy Levy, slow, with good guitar accompaniment.

The second, deeper voice, with piano and other instruments, nice grass pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ycmxzrHoooE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-6m6CKOdC4

"The Song of the Grasses" by Naomi Shemer

Know that each and every shepherd has his own tune.
Know that each and every grass has its own song.
And from the song of the grasses the tune of the shepherd is made.

How beautiful, how beautiful and pleasant to hear their song.
It's very good to pray among them and to serve Hashem in joy
And from the song of the grasses the heart is filled and yearns.

And when the the heart is filled by the song and yearns for the Land of Israel
A great light is drawn forth and goes from the Land's holiness unto it.
And from the song of the grasses the tune of the heart is made.

We Are Your People - Ki Anu Amecha

Another song for the upcoming season.
Translation is included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K05npNxa8lg

I love maps

You can search images online for "Peters map projection"and find a map of the world with countries sized according to land area. Even this map is a little misleading, though, because Russia and Canada are stretched out into narrow shapes that make them appear smaller than they are.

Another cool map is one that shows countries sized according to their population. Over a third of the word's people live in China and India. This one is from businessinsider.com

Another kind of map I can imagine making is a map of the world that preserved both shapes and sizes of countries by dividing up the oceans. You could make it out of some sort of cloth with pile, with higher or denser pile for the denser population areas. You could provide a blank globe and you could practice putting the pieces on in the right place (would need some way to make them stick).

Some old maps were not meant to be accurate, but were works of art. Like this one with Jerusalem as the center of the world.

 

 

And while we're on the subject of making maps to play with, how about a flat map with countries the right size, and some kind of tokens to put on each one to show population. The most densely populated country would have to have just enough space for the tokens.



 

Ben Adam Ma Lecha Nirdam

Another song for the season.

group singing, no instruments

http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nlis/he/Song/Pages/song.aspx?songid=296#1,13,480,11

Rough translation:

Son of man, why do you slumber? Come and present words of petition.
Pour out conversation, seek forgiveness, from the Lord of lords.
Wash and purify yourself, do not tarry, for the days will soon pass
And quickly run for help, before the One who dwells on high.
And from sin and evil flee, and fear those who may ensnare you.
Please listen to those who know Your name, Israel, your faithful.
For thine, O God, is the justice, and ours is shame of face.

Stand like a man, be valiant to confess your sins.
Seek the Lord God, with a bowed head, to atone for transgressions
Since forever, wonders will not cease from before our eyes-
And any word which may be uttered, before Him will be read
The Merciful one will have mercy, as a father has mercy on his children.
For thine, O God, is the justice, and ours is shame of face.

Adon haSelichot

Another song sung at this time of year.

This is an anacrostic piyut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GfsXUt-3Ns
With pictures and translation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0C8fb8eFDc
Simple

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4wg1xFUopg
Interesting music style.

Very rough translation:
א Lord of forgiveness,
ב Examiner of hearts,  
ג Who unveils the depths,
ד Speaker of justice,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
ה Glorious in wonders,
ו Great in consolations,
ז Remembering the covenant made with the forefathers,
ח Searching the reins,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
ט Good and kind to all the created,
י Knower of all that is hidden,
כ Conquering iniquity,
ל Clothed in righteousness,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
מ Full of merit,
נ Fearful in praises,
ס Forgiving iniquity,
ע Hearing in the time of trouble,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.
פ Working out salvations,
צ Seeing into the future,
ק Calling the generations,
ר Riding on the clouds,
ש Hearing prayers,
ת Perfect in knowledge,
We have sinned before you, have mercy on us.

Avinu Malkeinu

There are two songs by this name. This is the short and simple one. It is often sung around Rosh HaShana, which is Oct 3 and 4 this year. I couldn't decide which version I like best, so I'm listing all three.

One with organ and choir.

One as sung in a synagogue.

A lighter version, with the Hebrew words, Spanish transliteration, and Spanish translation, with accordion accompaniment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8y3jPuzV8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNJgL3fle0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMzYJMEiEE

Avinu Malkenu
Chanenu va'anenu
Avinu malkenu
Chanenu va'anenu
Ki ein banu ma'asim
Asseh imanu tsedaka vechesed
Asseh imanu tsedaka vechesed vehoshienu

Our father our king
Be gracious unto us and answer us
Our father our king
Be gracious unto us and answer us
For we have no good deeds of our own
Deal with us in justice and in kindness
Deal with us in justice and in kindness
And save us.

TODAY

Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.

German Feminine Nouns

Learning the gender of nouns is still annoying me. It annoys me because it's not terribly complex, like adjective cases and relative pronouns and dependent clauses, but it's still too hard.

My method is to start with the assumption that every noun is masculine unless there is some indication otherwise. If it ends in an "e" or an -in or a -heit or an -ung or a -shaft, it is probably feminine. But if it doesn't, you need some way of knowing.

I start with the assumption it's masculine till I find out it's not, and the minute I found out it's feminine, it immediately starts to stretch, spread, extend, or repeat. If you start with schlacht, a battle, it's surely masculine, is it not? But then I find out it's feminine and it spreads out into a field with many bodies falling, and many puffs of smoke in the air.

Botschaft, a message, ought to be masculine, brought by swift runner. But when I find out it's feminine, it turns into a multitude of dots and dashes as if being sent by Morse code.

Frist, a period of time or a deadline, as a masculine word looks like a single solid object or a definite boundary. But as soon as I learn it's feminine, it reminds me of the broken line at the center of the road whizzing by. Many, many stripes, many, many deadlines have flown by.

Die Luft, the air, spreads over the whole earth. Ader, vein, as feminine stretches out long. Schrift, writing, stretches across the page and contains multiple characters.

A city as a big, ugly polluted thing could be masculine, but as soon as it becomes feminine, it is a collection of rooftops. Auswahl, selection, involves several items to choose from. So you could say feminine is the closest thing to plural without being plural. Uhr, a clock, is feminine with that plural aspect because it wouldn't be a clock without more than one number on it. Ankunft, arrival, is when Aunt Mary appears on your doorstep for a visit. But wait, she came on a plane, where there are arrivals every minute. Again, a concept of pluralness.

This only works if you start with the idea of masculine, and not if you approach a word with the idea it could be either one. That way, the moment you find that it's feminine, your mind makes this shift into a different concept of the word, and that helps you remember.

Furcht, fear. Dark and dangerous, like a bad man. But no, it's not just a particular fear, but magor-misaviv, fear all around. See, it's spreading again, so it's feminine. Die Trommel, drum. A drum wouldn't be necessary for just a single thump. It's a multiplicity of beats.

And of course, there's still the method of connecting things. I learned night, die Nacht, which, like Luft, spreads calmly over everything. But Finsternis, darkness, surely is neuter, like a lot of -nis words. But since it turns out to be feminine, I connect it with die Nacht, and they are always together.

Rambling

There must be a large Ethiopian community in Jerusalem. And it seems they're always getting married. What size population would be necessary to have one wedding per month? Or so it seems. They do it big, with a professional cameraman and sometimes a big limousine.

But what really impresses me is how they dress. The men all look very smart in white shirts and black jeans. Or to really dress up, they wear all white, with a shiny colored vest and a matching colored strip on their trousers. The women, likewise, wear very nice clothes. Frequently they wear dresses of lightweight crinkled off-white muslin with strips of very colorful embroidery, with a shawl/head covering of the same light material.

I'm not clear on the differences between their Shabbat clothing, or wedding clothing, or everyday clothing, because I only see them on Shabbat, and there are a lot of weddings.

Elsewhere, anything goes. Well, not quite anything. In general women in Jerusalem are probably more modest than in the U.S. Especially in the more religious communities. Among the men, the word is "casual." Even in kehilot, men can be seen wearing shorts and T-shirts with writing on them. And of course, it's hot, and in hot weather you have to wear less. ?? Not me--I don't feel any cooler having the sun beat on my bear skin. Whoops, I mean bare skin. In some circles, they say we should honor the Sabbath by wearing nicer clothes than we wear during the week. In other places, they continually quote "God looks on the heart," so you are pre-emptively barred from saying anything about their shoddy appearance.

So, I try to be more concerned about what's really on people's hearts than what they look like. It's really important to do this, because Jerusalem is a very mixed environment. You can get into lively conversations about the Bible and religion. You find that people's experiences are so different from your own. It is a good exercise to not be around people who agree with you on everything. It makes you value what you have received, but also ready to examine everything in a new light. The body of Christ is one, and each member is necessary.

But really, black is black, and white is white, right? Not necessarily. Now I am going to ramble on about colors. What we consider pure white in America is not necessarily considered pure white somewhere else. Our "pure" is sort of cold, theirs is warm.

And they say that the colors you wear reflect your personality. If you wear bold, bright colors, you are outgoing, or positive, or confident, or something like that (and they imply also that you're supposed to be outgoing and postive and exuding confidence). If you like gray and brown, you are, well, not very interesting.

Disagree. Flat disagree. When I see someone dressed very plainly, which is not very often, I look twice. Because you have to look twice to determine what color you are seeing.

What I especially like are light neutrals. So light and so neutral that you can't quite define what the colors are. So I have a colorless personality. Don't think so. But if you want to pass colorless me by, that's okay, I appreciated your flash of blue or your red and orange stripes while you were here.

Let's  see, where was I going with this? Oh, I guess I didn't have any particular aim. Just wandering. That's a nice word. It means you aren't on a straight, pre-determined path, and don't particular care where you end up. However, after wandering aimlessly for a while, sometimes it's nice to go back home. Which reminds me, I need to hang my Andrew Wyeth.

Music is Magic

I looked and looked for the version that I originally listened to of Psalm 91 in Romanian, but it seems to have been taken down. There are other versions with the same words and different tunes, but they're not as good.

So here's the next best. Good words, good tune, acapella.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj84AKnaXhA
versificare: Traian DORZ
muzica: Nicolae Moldoveanu

It is odd how this song affects me, and I know only the tiniest bit of Romanian. Especially when they sing "Dumnezeul meu în care mă încred şi voi scăpa."

Quite amazing that there are so many of the Psalms in Romanian in verse form.

German oven racks

I thought all the case endings in German would be the hardest part. As it turns out, they're not that crucial. Because even if you make lots of mistakes with cases, you can still get the main meaning.

Another problem is all the rules for word order. But that's fairly logical, once you get used to it.

The hardest part is the verbs and all their separable and inseparable prefixes. I have a hard time seeing any connection between the base word and the resulting meanings you get after adding a prefix. It seems I will have to just memorize every single verb.

The next hurdle is learning the gender of nouns. This has turned out harder than I expected. There are several guidelines that give you a pretty good idea for many words, but there are many you just have to memorize. I memorize them by making pictures in my mind, and by associating similar words of the same gender.
If fluss, river, is masculine, then you know also that Bach, brook will also be masculine. Same with mountain and hill, Berg and Hügel. Many weather words are masculine. Thunder and lightning (der Donner, der Blitz) are both masculine, as well as rain, hail, snow, fog, wind and sunshine. (der Regen, der Hagel, der Schnee, der Nebel, der Wind and der Sonnenschein.

If Kuh, cow, is feminine, and she is, then you know that milch, milk, is, too. And also Ziege, goat, because she also gives milk. Die Kuh, die Milch, die Ziege.
Other things are feminine because they spread or reproduce or multiply or extend. Butter (die Butter) is feminine because it spreads. Die Fabrik, factory is feminine because it produces a million pencils. Die Bank -- Banks spread (they have branches). Die Flut, the flood, is when the water spreads.
Potatoes multiply. You plant one and in the fall after the leaves die down, you have no idea what is under the surface until you stick in your Shaufel, which is feminine, and you turn up all the Kartoffeln underneath. I hang a string of feminine glocken, bells, on my feminine shovel to celebrate the occasion.

Neuter nouns sometimes group together conveniently, such as house/Haus, window/Fenster, and table/Tisch. Glass and water, Glas und Wasser. The folk/das Volk in the village/das Dorf, plant grass/das Gras on the grave/das Grab.
Things that are unbearably cute, animals/Tieren, Babies/Babys, children/Kinder, and little girls/ Mädchen, are neuter, because their cuteness surpasses any idea of gender.
Basic shapes are neuter -- das Dreieck, das Viereck, and das Achteck.
Basic materials are neuter -- das Kupfer, das Gold, das Metall, das Holtz, das Papier, das Leder, das Garn, das Feuer, das Eis (copper, gold, metal, wood, paper, leather, yarn, fire, ice.)
Basic necessities are neuter -- egg, bread, book, bath, bed -- Ei, Brot, Buch, Bad, Bett. As well as life and light -- das Leben, das Licht. And if you like, auto, money and internet (Auto, Geld, Internet). For me, das Piano or das Klavier.

Parts of the body are all different, but it is not hard to group together eye, ear, and face, das Auge, das Ohr, and das Gesicht. For other neuters, think of sitting with your chin on your knee -- Kinn and Knie are both neuter. Also leg, das Bein.
For feminine it's hand, fist, and shoulder, die Hand, die Faust, and die Schulter. Put your fist on your nose to remember die Nase.
That leaves back, stomach, thumb, finger, head, which are masculine. Picture yourself pinching your belly with your thumb and finger (your Bauch with your Daumen and Finger), while you try to bend your head (der Kopf) to touch your back (der Rücken).
So you can see, if you know the gender of one word, with these pictures in your mind, you can remember the gender of several others.

You can associate masculine words to a man, feminine words to a woman. You have to do this with knife, fork and spoon because they are all different.
So you picture a huge knife (das Messer) on the wall of das Haus, which you already know is neuter.
Dad uses the spoon (der Löffel) to stir his coffee (der Kaffee). Mom holds the fork (die Gabel) because it's a tuning fork and she using it to tune her violin (die Geige).

By the way, did you know that oven racks are very musical?
Hang one on a string, ding the rack, and listen to the sound traveling from the string to your ear.
Amazing! I dare you to try it! Also set a ticking clock on the piano bench (or a wooden table) and put your ear to the table. Good for home-schooling moms to demonstrate how sound travels through a solid.

What's the Point

I'm not sure what the point of this post is, but I feel like posting it.

treptat - gradually (Romanian)
treppe - stairs (German)
trip - to step lightly (English)

And of course, Tripping up the Stairs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGin6mh6Rsg

An Experiment

I tried being normal once...

It was the Worst Day of my Life!!

Trouble Tuesday

First the smell. Bliyeckhhhh!!! And they call it "cleaning" the floor in the hallway. It seeps into my living room and into my kitchen and coats my eggs with rotting hyacinth smell. So I sit on the balcony to eat. The patio door is wide open, in order to let lots of fresh air into my apartment. But it also creates a current of air exiting the apartment, so I have to sit in just the right spot and keep my face in the right direction so as to not smell it.

And then the world situation and personal disappointments weigh heavily on me.
This is going to be a very bad day. I think I will run away. Actually, that's the most logical thing to do. Either that or I could bury myself in language study to avoid thinking. But that gets old after a while. So instead...

I'm going to take myself out for pizza!

So I will have to rush, rush, rush to do a ton of laundry and housework. And then, kosher pizza, here I come!

Summer Days and Nights

Old-fashioned refrigerators. You have to defrost them by hand.
Put a pan of boiling water in the freezer. Maybe two. Or three. Or four.
Oh, no wonder! I forgot to turn the fridge off! So that's why it was taking so long!

Today I spent a while helping someone with a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle.
It was slow going. It's still less than half finished.

I brushed my hand across my keyboard and my desktop rotated 90 degrees. I could undo it in Settings, but I wonder, what key combination caused it to do that?

Nights can be noisy. Traffic is noisy till after midnight.
And why are there people just under my window talking at two, or three, or four in the morning? Sometimes it's annoying. (What kind of noise annoys an oyster? A noisy noise annoys an oyster.)
Other times it's just a bit frustrating to think that people (everyone but me) have interesting things to do and to say to each other at three in the morning.
If I just could somehow manage to meander out the door and eavesdrop....

But the morning comes, and also the night.

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Something old. The Bible.

Something new. I have a new Bible! A Westminster Reference Bible. A big one.

Something borrowed. I have borrowed several books lately, including an old Lutheran hymnbook in German, and the book Bruchko in German. I also brought home several cast-off books found beside the road. . .why do I do this? WE DON'T NEED ANY MORE BOOKS. But I can't resist. You never know what you'll find in a book.

Something blue. Just enough blue to be called blue. The Meditteranean Sea.

 

New Word

I ran across a new word today, a German word, in a non-German article, and I knew instantly what it meant.

judenrein - free of Jews.

Other German (ha-ha) words I have learned, Projekt, Computer, Konzert, Feedback, das Problem, and of course, Klicken Sie Hier.

BLUE SKIES

Israel has a serious shortage of thunderstorms. Sort of like Dallas, Texas, but worse. The skies are so blue today it's boring! But the good thing about blue sky and nice temperatures is that you can get a lot done.

But getting a lot done can get boring, too. It would be nice to go somewhere and do some plain ol' Nuttin.

But there'd have to be a pleasant place to do it, or a pleasant person to do it with.

Maybe, after I get some errands done, I'll take myself out for coffee. Or maybe I'll write some boring poetry, just to get out of the rut of studying German.

I am not depressed

For a while I was a bit hesitant to say this, in case it should turn out not to be true, but I think I can now say truthfully, "I am not depressed." !!! How did that happen??!!

For about 40 years, it was off and on, or mostly a wintertime problem. I had coping strategies that helped somewhat. I wrote deliberately gloomy poetry, which sometimes turned out to be really funny, which drove away the gloom. (Wish I could find the poem about falling into a puddle and the fish in the puddle thought I was a weird fish with red hair.) Depression made me very unproductive at times, but in general I could carry on with my life, though sometimes in a very mediocre fashion.

Since being in Israel, being separated from my family and having increasing trouble with my feet, I have had more "reason" to be depressed (not that depression has anything to do with reason). I have tried to get by by simply working really hard (mostly study). I became increasingly determined to make life worth living, and not let anyone accuse me of being lazy or somehow bringing it on myself. So I did everything twice as fast and twice as hard, as if that would make up somehow for not having children and grandchildren nearby. (It doesn't, believe me.) So added to depression problems, there were panic attacks and palpitations and messed up sleep and RLS and RL-everything.

In prayer I thought about how Abraham prayed, how David prayed (and Asaph and Heman and Teman), and how Job prayed, and I prayed like that and I did some really good praying, you might say, but also some very bad praying, (like Job I should repent in dust and ashes) and once I even prayed that I would die, and once I thought I was dying, but I didn't, and other times I simply didn't pray.

And increasingly for eight years, it kept getting worse and worse, and I was starting to wonder, "What if something happens?" Not that I would "do" anything, but anything could "happen," and I wasn't sure what, except that it was obviously way over my head and out of my control. It got more and more impossible to hide it. So finally I mentioned the problem to a few people and asked them to pray and almost right away everything started turning around.

Put HALLELUJAH right here with colored lights and musical instruments.

There have been a few bad days since then, but nothing like before. This is unexplainable. There is only one way to explain it:

Psalm 18:
¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

Scottish metrical:
16 And from above the Lord sent down, and took me from below;
From many waters he me drew, which would me overflow.
17 He me relieved from my strong foes, and such as did me hate:
Because he saw that they for me too strong were, and too great.

Now I am trying to figure out how to cope with the NEW situation. Now it is not so much determination that I have, but enthusiasm. How to direct it I don't know. It is a new adventure.

Every day is a new day.

More Caesarea

Another nice view of Caesarea. I think some of the white froth is caused by waves hitting lots of eroded building material from the ancient city.

Statice.

One of many headstones lying around. Glad I wasn't there when the columns under it fell down.

Books: Cloudy with a Chance of Mulberries

Today has been cloudy and cool. And it's mulberry season. Mulberries come in purple and white. I've seen several people helping themselves to mulberries that grow wild here and there.

I found Jungle Book translated into Hebrew. I don't remember if I liked it in English or not. After reading the first chapter I decided to try something else.

So I tried Bambi. I really liked it in English. I read it when I was a child and cried myself sick when Gobo died. I read it again as an adult and it was even better (and not quite as sad). But after reading the first chapter in Hebrew, I decided to try something else.

So I tried The Prince and the Pauper. After one chapter, I think it's going to be good. It's about the right level for me, with only six words on the first page that I had to look up.

I have not yet mastered all the vocabulary in Little Princess, Doctor Doolittle, and Black Beauty. It's sad to realize I will never catch up in Hebrew to where I want to be, and I don't even really need to. I'm trying to let it go, with just a little time each day reading various things, including the manuals to appliances--do not use ladder as a bridge, do not connect cable with wet hands, do not eat the ice you take out of the freezer when you defrost it; or instructions on food and medicine--store in a cool, dark place, out of the reach of children, away from moisture; or recipes--bring to boil, cook over low heat. I hate trying to read utility bills or the news.

Caesarea

 

 

Pretty nice place to visit.

Summer, Passover, Easter, the Lord's Supper

Now I think you can call it summer. I got out the clothes I didn't wear during the winter because it was too cold, and now I can't wear them because it's too hot. Spring happened in there somewhere, but it wasn't much.

This week everyone is preparing for Passover. This includes both Jews and Christians. To keep Passover as the Jews do seems to me to be very complicated. To even briefly summarize what they do is so burdensome to the mind that I can't even begin. The way the Christians do it, it just means a Passover meal, where they serve some of the traditional foods, and make mention of Jewish traditions but explaining how Christians differ from it. Easter happens at a similar time of year, but calendars are complicated and I don't pay much attention to what day it is. People see similarities between Passover, Easter (for some, the Holy Week; for others, simply Resurrection Day) and the Lord's Supper.

I can't unravel all these. I try to understand how people think, but I don't really follow it. Some will tell you that Passover is the equivalent of Easter. Some say that Passover and the Lord's Supper are the same thing. Some Jewish Christians will go to both, others only to Passover.

Me, I celebrate the Lord's Supper when possible, and would be glad to do so every week if there were opportunity.

I have been to Christian Passover seders before, mainly for the social aspect of it, but it's a lot about food, which doesn't interest me, and it's usually crowded and noisy. So this year I am staying home, and not the least is that my conscience tells me to. Which makes it a lonely occasion, but what's new. I will enjoy the quiet.

Doves and Pigeons

You can read about acts of terror on the news (one yesterday), but on this blog today I choose to write about something not so terrible. I don't feel particularly terrorized or afraid, just disturbed. But it is not just an incident that is disturbing, but conditions in the world and church, which will not be remedied until...until Messiah comes back? That's what a lot of people say. Which leaves room for a sort of hopeless attitude, as if nothing we do now is going to do much good anyway. That is not how I see it. Look at all the promises Jesus gave us about the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit somehow weaker than or inferior to Jesus?

But today I am thinking about birds. Last night, all through the night, crows were squawking loudly.  And at daybreak many small birds were chirping, loud and shrill. I don't see a lot of birds from my window, but I hear them. (Not like in southern Indiana, where we saw many varieties every single day, just a few feet from the window--robins, juncos, nuthatches, brown creepers, cardinals, chickadees, blue jays, orioles, bluebirds, sparrows, doves, finches, starlings, wrens, and a woodpecker that always notified me when the feeder was empty. And there were hummingbirds at the hummingbird feeder. And down the street were indigo buntings, but they never came to my feeder. And warblers in the tops of trees. And a thrasher in the woods. And wood ducks on the pond, along with a green heron, a bittern, and sometimes visiting large herons. And swallows over the barn and in it, and red-wing blackbirds in the pasture. And owls hooting at night. Etc., etc., etc. Not to mention our own chickens and our neighbor's guinea hens.)

Here in Jerusalem I have seen only pigeons, crows, bulbuls, sparrows, hummingbirds (very iridescent black) -- [actually it's called Palestine sunbird, but it has a long curved beak and it hovers somewhat like a hummingbird], and bright green parrots. Flying overhead, at some distance, some kind of cranes. Maybe a couple others.

Lately doves have been hanging around, inspecting my balcony and my bedroom window, and trying to get through the lattice by the laundry room. They must be looking for nesting locations. One of the pigeons is gray and white-streaked, with purple and turquoise on its neck, and rusty-orange eyes. It is tempting to provide them with a nesting box or nesting materials. Or some kind of feeder, if there were a way to keep the crows out of it.

O that I had wings like a dove; I would fly away until I find rest.

 

O dass ich Flügel hätte

wie die Taube;

ich würde davonfliegen

bis ich Ruhe fände!

 

Terminology

Sunday, as usual, was a bit lonely (as are Fridays and most other days), but I listened to some pretty good sermons on-line.

There are some who are very particular about terminology. They don't like the term "church" or "Knesia," you have to say Kehila/assembly/congregation/body of Christ. Some don't say "Jesus", and don't like it when you do either (it's Yeshua). And you can't say Christian, you have to say Meshihi, (or maybe believer) and what is inferred by or from either depends on whom you are talking with.

The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Those were Jewish Christians. Greek speakers wouldn't have called them Meshihim. I speak English, but I read the New Testament, which was first written in Greek, and the Old Testament, which was first written in Hebrew. If I call myself Notsri, I might be taken for a Roman Catholic, so I prefer to say Protestant. But then Jesus was a Notsri, so I guess it doesn't really matter, except I wasn't born in Nazareth. If I say Protestant, they say, oh, you mean like Luther? who said some really bad things about Jews.

But the Roman Church is not wrong on every single point, neither was Luther. And if I say Reformed, all Reformed are not right on every single point, either.

So I guess I will just say I am a Christian, although that is a broad term.

I will not say I am proud of my Jewish heritage (I am not Jewish), neither will I say I am proud to be a Gentile. I am happy that God chose me, and it is all for the glory of Messiah/Jesus/Yeshua that he chooses both Gentiles and Jews. The word "proud" doesn't work here. To the extent that my ancestors/descendants were/are believers, I am happy for that, and for the promise "to you and your seed." But God works how he will, and he brings many from darkness into his marvelous light, and many of them are not from believing families.

Lord's Day

This is Saturday, looking forward to Sunday.

"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

There'll probably be just three of us, as usual. So that makes four.

What Next?

Nothing new, of course. The next is the same as the last, and identical to the one in the middle.

So to break the monotony--We knew a guy once who they said used to preach to his dog, which was a hyperactive Saint Bernard. I wonder what his text was. Maybe "be still." Or "what aileth thee?"

And if you get tired of the daily routine, you can just go out and see how many disappointments you can find. If a guy almost runs you over, you think, what an idiot (him, not me), but anyway I survived. But if a person of the more friendly type says we don't want you here, it's harder to take. And if you're the sensitive type, you think, what an idiot (me, not him), for presuming. And then you can watch someone else's cute kid and remember that you used to have such kids once, and cactus plants are a poor substitute.

So I bought frozen spinach, but it wasn't frozen in leaves, but in blocks of leaves. I think that was intentional, and not just a result of inconsistent freezer temperatures.

And then there are probably things to do, but if I die tomorrow, and they're not done, no one will notice. What is actually essential, anyway? At this very moment, there is probably some right thing to do. If I figure it out, I'll do it. If I can't figure it out, I'll just do something anyway. Is there anything that, if I don't do it today, I will regret tomorrow? I wish I had energy, ambition, wisdom, good health, imagination, or any of the above. The only thing I do have is determination, such as it is.

Not Quite Summer

I really thought I would be calling it summer by now. But now it's raining and it feels like 40 degrees F. So that means it's spring, which is the uncertain state between winter and summer. The other day we had a little bit of thunder.

Thunder. The moon. Didn't know that the lack of those would make a big empty space in my life. I thought I was a creative person. But how to create something refreshing in the middle of a city I've never figured out.

Somewhere I read a book of poems by a woman who had to work in a factory all day, when she would rather be home and doing regular home-making things. I guess I don't have it that bad. Although at the moment the idea of working in a factory sounds interesting.

It must be time to write a list. There will be 10 items on my list, which means I will have to make 10 decisions. 1) Shall I do this? Answer, yes. So I do it. Check it off. Next. 2) Shall I do this? Answer, yes. (the answer is always yes). Do it. Etc. These 10 items have to be things that can be done in a very short time, maybe 5 minutes or less. Usually before I get through seven or eight, I have regained my ability to make decisions, and after that I don't need my list because I'm rolling. You can call this procedure a sort of methodism. It works.

Old, old friends

Old friends are long-time friends, and the longer they are long-time friends, they more they become old friends as well.

There is a couple we hadn't seen for 32 years. Only once during that time I contacted L and we had a brief conversation. What an event it was when we met up after 32 years! I wouldn't necessarily look forward to such an event with some people, because you aren't sure how much they will have changed. But these people were exactly as we expected, and we had a great time.

As the high from this wonderful experience slowly wears off, I start feeling really lonely again. So I comfort myself by looking on You-tube to find nice stories of rescuing dogs. And then I water my plants--Jade, Sharpy Jade, Tophy, Zolla, and Aizo. They need me. Too bad they don't bark, purr or say Shalom.

Start Your Tour with Shawarma

Last week I took a tour through Jerusalem (with my own personal tour guide). It was a good route we took, because it was all downhill, starting at Damascus gate and ending at pool of Siloam, and that set in my mind better the topography.

And in addition to a tour I got some good shawarma--probably the best beef I've ever had in Israel. I can't wait to go to the same shop again. Since being in Israel I've been starved for sunlight, moonlight, and good beef.

Cats

Not having a child, or a dog, or even a cat in your life makes it really empty. So right now I'm just going to think about some of the cats we have had.

When I was about three, we had a cat that my parents named after a certain woman we knew, because its face reminded them of her. I heard my parents saying that if she were to come over for a visit, and she found out we had named a cat after her, she might take that as an insult.

Then there was the cat that strolled through the house at night. I loved the cat, but I found it frightening one night when I woke up and saw two eyes glowing in the dark. After that, whenever I woke up during the night, I was careful to keep my eyes closed.

Then there was the cat that got hit by a car not long after giving birth to five kittens. In spite of our attempts to feed the kittens with a doll bottle, one by one they died. The last one was Tommy, who cried loudly for a long time. My brother and I watched my mother bury them in the back yard.

Then there was Paint, who was a black and white cat that looked like he had run through some paint and splashed it on himself. He let us build a tower of blocks on top of him while he slept. When he finally woke up and moved, the blocks fell on his head, so he calmly got up and walked away.

Paint used to climb on the screen door and look in through the window in the inner door. We often saw him hanging there while we were eating supper. Even when it was dark out, you could see him because of his white spots.

After Paint died, we could still see him hanging on the screen. There just happened to be a spot of white paint in the same place where he used to hang.

Then there was Snoopy, who was a BLACK CAT, not a White Dog. She was named after a cat in the Bobbsey Twins. She lived more than 18 years. And there were Missie, who lived 12 years, Blackie, May-may, May-two, Caesar, Black Pirate, Emily, Tootsie, Tiny, Snowball, Mittens, Barney, Silas, Sylvia, Mittens, Doozy, Sam, Arthur, Timothy Smoke, Tiger, Pussy Willow, Calico, and Trouble, who was never any trouble and as far as I know never died. And lots more. I'll add to this list as I think of them.

Some people prefer dogs to cats. They like the close connection you can often have with a dog. But I admire cats because of their self-sufficiency and their wildness.

All the bad things they say about cats are also true of people. But do you ban such people from your life? No, you just learn to live with them, and you appreciate their good points, and don't worry too much about the bad points. You have to have a sort of skill in dealing with them, and any amount of success is very rewarding.

My cat (if I had one) doesn't especially need me, or at least not to the point where she can't live without me. But the very fact that my cat is patient with me and content to live with me makes me feel important.

Post-Purim, Laugh, Don't Laugh

Purim is over, and we're back to the humdrum. Especially today, since it's cloudy and the sink is backed up. A bottle of Drano made it worse.

Laundry is piling up and I don't want to wash clothes because the kitchen sink is clogged. No, I don't wash clothes in the kitchen sink. But I am suspicious that the main drain is clogged, and I don't want to risk flooding the floor when the washing machine empties, which has happened before.

When they talk about rain in Israel, that means the sky is cloudy and the pavement is wet. I look out my window time and again to see if it's actually raining, and it's not, but it must have been. I see wisps of clouds floating by that remind me of the really good skies, including clouds, that I have seen in Texas and Indiana. It's hard to get a good view of the sky or the moon when you're in a city. I can hardly remember when I last saw the moon.

For Purim I made myself a hat out of yellow and blue plastic bags. Only a couple people saw me wearing it, and they thought it was funny. I'm not sure why it was funny except maybe because of the bright colors, or maybe it was obvious it was made out of plastic bags. I thought it was actually a pretty nice hat. It was a nice shape, and what's wrong with wearing blue and yellow? Maybe because it was Purim they thought they were supposed to laugh. But what if I was serious?

In some instances I can understand why people laugh. Once I was with a friend who tried to teach me the alphabet in Malayalam. I repeated each letter after her, and sometimes we both laughed because I obviously couldn't make the sounds right.

But another time I was with some Africans and they tried to teach me the letters in some African language. I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but every so often they would laugh. Was I really saying them wrong? Or was it odd to hear African sounds coming out of a white woman's mouth? Or maybe I made a funny face when I said them?

So, ho-hum. What am I going to do today? There are a number of possibilities, but none of them stand out as being important. Maybe I'll just blog.

March

In some respects March is just the same in Israel as in Indiana. There is a feeling of spring in the air, but the reality is COLD. And bits of rain and wind, and it drags on and on, and you wonder if spring will ever come. Actually it's not quite as cold as Indiana, it's just that I have no patience with cold anymore.

Spring is not so dramatic here, but it is spring. Almond trees have been blooming, and sycamore trees are starting to leaf out. I start thinking ahead to all the things I will do as the weather gets better. This is the time of year when I used to like getting seed catalogs and planning a garden.

The wind was high enough one day to blow my three tiny jade plants off the balcony. I found two of them down below and rescued them. Other plants are growing well, except the four Mexican heathers, which I had thought would be easy to grow. They aren't called Mexican heather here, but they're identical to the ones I used to have in Texas.

Purim is this week, and it's a time when people are a bit crazy. You see people dressed in various costumes, which they do for a whole week, both children and adults. I don't ordinarily care for silly stuff; but when the rest of the year is a bit dreary, Purim seems like a good time to break out of the rut. Last year I kept my eyes open for something I could do to celebrate Purim which would be a little bit jolly but still within bounds. One day I saw a middle-age or older woman dressed conservatively, with plain dark colors and a long skirt--but she had a very conspicuous purple feather stuck in her hat! Ever since then I have been wondering where I might find a purple feather like that.

Today I rode my scooter here and there and tried going in stores where there isn't really room. Sometimes there isn't room to turn and I have to back out. Even riding on the sidewalk is tricky, because you never know when a car will be parked on the sidewalk. There are apparently no laws against it, although you have the right to be annoyed if they are in your way. Though actually I am not annoyed--it's just part of the adventure to either squeeze by with an inch on either side or find a new route.

I drove past a few marathon runners. A little girl was sitting on the curb cheering them on. Occasionally she would yell, "If Trump can run, so can you!," which always brought a smile from the runners.

Marathons. Brings back a memory of a nice summer night a few years ago when I ran 90 strides. I thought at the time I would add to it bit by bit until I could run _______. It never happened. I never even got to 91 strides. Today I can run about zero. Sometimes when my coffee doesn't taste quite right I have to debate with myself whether it's worth it to walk a few steps back to the kitchen to fix it, or just drink it as is.

Contranyms and Others

Why is it that when your alarm goes off you turn it off?

When you dust your cake pan you are putting dust on it, but when you dust your house, you are taking the dust off.

Sometimes the quiet person gets overlooked, but from an overlook you can see everything.

Buckling your belt won't keep your knees from buckling.

Brer Rabbit could no longer run fast when he was stuck fast to the tarbaby.

Flammable and inflammable more or less the same.

Are reckless drivers more apt to be wreckful?

This could go on, but I'd better refrain. Ee-eye-ee-eye-oh.

Wheels

I have wheels! I have a new scooter, a nice one. Not the clunky kind they have in grocery stores, but one with plenty of speed, and nice wheels that can go over bumps. I wanted a silver one, and I would have taken a blue one, but I ended up with a bright red one, which is actually pretty fun. It is a three-wheeler, so it turns in a small space. It occupies our space in the parking garage where my Ferrari used to be. :P

I can get to the vegetable market or the plant store in no time. That might be a bad idea. Do you know how many kinds of succulents they are selling? I want one of each! I managed to limit myself to only five, one of which is a Haworthia, with no zebra stripes and no spikes of any kind. The other ones have no names, poor things, so I will have to name them. That will take some thinking. What do you name a plant that has very fat, pointed leaves? Tophy? Zolla? I guess I'll have to browse through lots of pictures of succulents and see if I can find their real names. I think one of them is a Cheiridopsis.

I might name the silver one Sylvia, but that reminds me too much of a cat we had that caused us a lot of trouble. On the other hand, "Who is Sylvia, what is she, that all our swains commend her?" Seems like my mother showed me that poem when I was quite small. In light of that poem, it's not a bad name. But I need something more original.

Throughout the summer I will be taking various routes to various places to see where my scooter will go. Some places have no ramps onto/off the sidewalks. Driving in the street is bad during rush-hour. Places where I used to walk often had stairs. Sometimes there are ramps beside the stairs, but they're pretty steep.

Besides my five succulents, I picked up three jade leaves off the floor of the nursery. If I'm lucky, they'll sprout roots. I don't know why they sometimes do and sometimes don't.

Besides succulents, I broke a stem off a Solanum bush and stuck it in water, and now it has lots of roots. I didn't know it would be that easy, or I would have chosen a Solanum with better flowers. But my purpose is not really flowers, but greenery. Next best thing to a cat.

A New Year

I can't believe I haven't posted since October. This has to stop. I mean, stopping has to stop, and posting has to begin. It's not as if nothing ever happens.

Spring is on the way. I sat in the sun for a few minutes yesterday and felt normal for the first time in weeks. I hope it happens again.

After one week of really bad depression (Ha, had you fooled! I was outwardly cheerful and polite all the time, except I had to escape to my room every so often.), one week of terrible stress, and one week of total exhaustion--this week will have to be different. It's impossible to predict what kind of different it will be, but maybe I could apply this principle, Thank God for what he is about to do.

And you know that the stone cut out without hands is going to grow into a mountain that will fill the whole earth, so you know that praying along that line is valid.

They say not to despise the day of small things, or not to undervalue them. So even though they don't look like much, they are connected to the bigger picture, where Messiah saves to the uttermost those that come unto God by him, and he receives the nations for an inheritance. etc.

That said, it is possible to become more or less content with the present situation (which is not the same as having contentment in the present situation), and have some vague hope that things will get better eventually. It's true, they will, but they will also get worse, and in what way and in what order no one knows. And how will they get better if no one cares, no one prays, and no one works? Or how will we be effective if we propel ourselves with our own zeal and justify ourselves by our good intentions, and never stop to listen to what the Spirit is saying?

Asking for help is relatively easy, and you should definitely do that. But when you continue to focus on your own desperate condition, you can miss what God has already done, what He has promised, and what He is.

"All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"