Morning

It's about one in the morning. I should make some effort to get onto a normal schedule, but it's so nice and quiet at night. I spent some time going through photos, which tend to pile up, and decided on a hollyhock skyline for my desktop background. I wish I could put something as nice on my living room wall. I bought a 9 x 12 print of Hokusai's Great Wave and put it up in the kitchen, but it has no frame. If I get up early enough, maybe I can make it down to the mall and see if there's a store that sells frames; or if nothing else, I could make a fake frame with strips of paper. But my last two efforts at shopping didn't go so well. Sigh.


Ben:

Israel to Texas and Back

The plane from Tel-Aviv to Amsterdam was almost comfortable. And there was free entertainment. I kept busy for the longest time just trying to figure out how to get through all the menus. Eventually I found a word unscramble game and some language lessons. I learned the numbers 1-10 in Tagalog, and dabbled with French and Russian. All I remember now is the number five in Tagalog, easy to remember because it is also the capital of Peru. Listening to music doesn't work on a plane, though I could have listened to a piano concerto played by Lang Lang. It's good to keep very busy, so I won't accidentally see someone else's movie, which might be pretty horrible.
I saw some nice cards and postcards at the Amsterdam airport by Dutch artists whose style I like, but they didn't say who they were, and they weren't big enough to put on my wall. Drawing squiggly designs occupied me for a while, and meals are always a help, not because the food is great, but it's something to do. Somehow we got from Amsterdam to Texas and it didn't seem to bother me too much that I didn't get a wink of sleep for two days. Other than being tired, of course. But at least day felt like day and night felt like night. Arriving  home in the east from the west is another matter. You feel like eating lunch and you look outside and for some reason it's pitch dark. And if it's light out, that means it's day. Strange.
Home (in Texas) is a little less home now than it used to be. I have another life now, and so does everybody else. I would like to settle in and be at home again, but realistically, I am now a visitor. I have only a few days of doing really special things and wishing it would last longer but of course it won't.
One highlight of this visit was telling stories to Elijah and Noah, (Jeshurun listens, too, ha-ha). I never have any plan for my stories, which is what makes it fun. You never know what will happen, or what will make the kids laugh.
Why is it that kids are always better than adults at a memory card game? Noah would have beat me every time, but he kept giving some of me some of his cards so as to be sure that I would win.
Playing chess with a five-year-old is a different sort of experience. You sort of make up the rules as you go, and break them whenever you please. Noah's acting out the characters gave it an entirely different flavor. Frequently I had to tell him, "you can't do that," and "you can't do that either," and other times I let him do it anyway. Every time I captured one of his men, he was thrilled. He was really thrilled when I started saying "Check! Check! Checkmate!"
Going from high-speed Dawkins's to regular speed Olivia and Charlotte was something. Are these sweet little girls a little lethargic? No, it's just the contrast that makes it seem so. Cuddling with Olivia when she first wakes up in the morning, drawing mazes for her to complete--wonderfully pleasant and normal things for a grandma to do--alas--valuable moments fading into the past.
I made one of the worst pie crusts I have ever made, but the pumpkin pie was good anyway. Then we had more pumpkin pie with perfect crust made by Mercy. Sharon and Mercy and Leah are all great cooks, and Ben will dry tons of dishes if you get him talking.
My failed shopping trip in Jerusalem is no matter now, because Sharon had several skirts to give me. I came with a light suitcase and went back with a very heavy one--a few more clothes, some quality shampoo, a quilt, and other useful odds and ends.
I saw much less of everybody than I would have liked, with various ones flitting off to Canada, or Indiana, or Mexico, or going to work long hours. It wasn't exactly a restful vacation, but it was a good change of pace, with a taste of luxury--comfortable couches, instant hot water, luxury baths, good cooking, and fresh air. Not to mention Christian fellowship. Now I'm good for a whole long beachless, family-less year. Why are there so many planes flying over? Probably so I won't get bored.

I like this funny picture of Elijah:

Restart

Finally, I'm about to pick up where I left off. I was sick all week and did mostly nothing except sleep or wish I could do something besides sleep. Being sick is boring.
Next week I hope to put up pictures and notes of my trip, if I decide it's still relevant. Maybe something else will be happening by then.
Anyway here's Amsterdam:

SCREAM

I wish I could scream. I wish I were allowed to scream. I wish screaming were a solution for impossible computers. What else can you do when your computer takes a mind of its own and starts messing up. And there's no way to fix it, and no one can help you, or no one cares to, and it's like an alien who's smarter than you trying to destroy your life's work, or put you in fear that it will. Of course I am careful to back everything up and yes I have virus software, although I am more and more suspicious that AVG isn't worth a dime.

It all started back in February. One suspicious thing after another. I de-installed and deleted everything that might be a problem, including several things that most assuredly weren't. One of these days I expect to turn on my computer and see nothing but a big purple blob sticking it's tongue out at me.

Take a Break

My shopping day was pretty horrible. It was horribly strenuous and I couldn't find what I was looking for. Wrong part of the season, I guess. Salads have gone way up since last year, or their size has gone way down. I happened to sit down to eat near a loud radio and a loud live band. Fortunately they were equally loud, which sort of cancelled out the ugliness, leaving just a noisy confusion. I was gone for hours and have almost nothing to show for it. But I got through the day anyway.

Now it's only two hours until we leave for the airport. It took me all day to finish laundry, organize a bit, and pack. It was a pretty nice day, really, winding down, wrapping it up, and getting into a different gear.

Excellent news has come--an African man is going to be able to get the help he needs.

We are still praying for a better situation for our dear friend Lizy.

Church services have been attended by all sorts of interesting people, some students, some tourists, and many of those from the Netherlands.

It's the same temperature here as in Houston, except that Houston is more humid. I often think of Jerusalem weather as being comparable to Dallas, and Tel Aviv weather comparable to Houston.

The Last Minute

I'm trying to wrap up a few loose ends here to get ready for our trip next week. That means going through stacks of papers, cleaning house, and going shopping. I've been planning to go shopping for several months now, but it never works out. I've never figured out how a person with bad feet is supposed to go shopping. I look at all the people shopping, and it seems to be a rather simple process. You just walk. You go down the sidewalk, turn into a little shop, browse for a minute, come out and go to the next one, pass up several that don't look worthwhile, try another one, and another one, and eventually come out with several small packages and then you get on the bus and go home. If you're old or weak or tired, you can stop and rest, but you still cover a fairly good amount of ground.
     If you're really in bad shape, you get someone to push you in a wheel chair, which you usually don't take into a shop because there isn't room. Just walking around in several smalls stores adds up to a fairly good amount of walking. If that someone is your husband, and he is willing and strong and patient, it can sort of work, but it isn't the same as shopping by yourself, and I worry about wasting too much of his time.
     It will be fun to shop in Texas, where I can park close to the front door of several stores, and many places have scooters--at least the grocery stores, the hardware store, and one fabric store. But there are a few things I want to get here.
     Maybe, just maybe, I will manage to go shopping tomorrow. Too bad I've waited till the last possible minute, and it's really hot out. I'll have to leave early, and drink lots of water -- oh, wait -- here's another problem--there aren't too many public restrooms in Jerusalem. (Some people aren't fazed by that--I won't tell you what they do.) So I'll have to figure my route and judge the distances carefully.  It'll be a long day and I'll be exhausted. But I can stop and buy a huge, wonderful salad. If I can't find what I'm looking for, I'll comfort myself by buying a scarf. Wait a minute, get totally exhausted over a scarf worth not much more than a dollar? Sure! After all, I've waited several months for it. And I haven't had a chocolate bar for several weeks, either.

"If it weren't for the last minute, a lot of things would never get done."

Last week I was trying to book plane tickets. I wanted to get the lowest price possible, but that meant a twelve-hour layover on the way over, and a twelve-hour layover on the way back. I argued with myself for three hours. Every time I thought of how much it would cost to get a better flight, I felt sort of sick. But every time I thought about twelve-hour layovers, I felt sick, too. Twelve hours in a bright shiny airport, bored, nothing to do. Nothing except feel miserable, be bored, take naps on hard chairs, stare at boring expensive stuff in stores and be bored. So finally I decided I'm not going to order tickets today and I went outside and took a walk.

After a few minutes it became very clear to me: spend what it takes to get a comfortable (more or less) flight. So I came back, turned on my computer again, and the first flight I came to was the cheapest one I'd seen yet, and there was only one twelve-hour layover, and that on the way back, which isn't so bad.

So that much is settled, anyway. Now if I can just figure out how not to be bored on the plane. Read-- sure, on a plane? Maybe for 20 minutes here, another 15 minutes there. Get some markers and make designs. That would work for about 10 minutes. Write some poems about boredom. Another 10 minutes. Play Sudoku, another 10. Listen to music, no, can't do that on a plane, with the roaring air all around. Eat, drink, walk up and down the aisle a few times. 18 hours to go. Sleep--well--if you call it sleeping. You feel less pain when you're asleep.

If they'd just let me stretch out on the floor for 20 minutes, I'd feel 1000% better. But no, I have to keep my seat-belt fastened, and I can't do anything weird or annoying.

But that's several weeks away, so why am I even thinking about it.