Instead of Packing - Updated*

Instead of packing for tomorrow's departure on my three-and-a-half week trip to three corners of the USA (only the Pacific Northwest is omitted from this swing), I am thinking about what and who I'm leaving behind and having a mini-mourning hour. My beloved Tel Aviv Soup Salonistas will be celebrating Seder mostly together and definitely without me. And every Friday in April? No soup?! No hair-raising tales of workplace outrages and social shenanigans. Shuki will be whisked off to the dascha to deal with the Professor, the teenager, the 10-year-old and the three cats, consoled only by continuous indoor-outdoor privileges, air relatively free of carbon-monoxide, and country walks.

And then to cheer myself up, my thoughts turn to what and who I'll be seeing: children, grandchildren, brother, cousins, dear old friends. (Big sigh). And wondering how many more trips there are in my future.

Better start to wrangle with those suitcases now.

*Update Update Update
Liza reminded me in her comment below that I'll be seeing dear new friends and potential family members this coming Shabbat. Now that the bags are packed, I am able to devote myself to being excited about the shiddach between her son and my granddaughter (they are not yet three years old, so there's ample time for wedding plans)!

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?

Israel goes on and off Summer time in such a secret way that you usually don't know it's happened until you show up an hour late or early for some important appointment, or you miss a plane. I seem to remember the "Spring forward" happening here in recent years just before Passover, and because our time changes have in recent years taken place on a Thursday night, and Passover eve is coming up on Monday, I kind of suspect it's going to happen tonight. But I don't know for sure. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow morning and listen to the 10 o'clock news and maybe they'll know. Then again, they don't always know either.

Why do I love this place so much? The daily mysteries, I guess.

An Excursion into Electronic Limbo

That's where I was since last Thursday. My screen kept flickering off whenever I turned it on. My trusty computer guy took both it and my computer to his lab to check things out. Happily (?) the computer was fine, but the screen was dead. I cheerfully trotted down to my friendly Internet grocery store, only to discover it had lost its connection. So until last night - that is for four whole days - when computer guy arrived with new monitor (and old computer), I was reduced to scrounging Internets from my friends. It was a very weird sensation, like being set adrift on a little raft with food, drinks, and books, occasionally docking at friends' marinas. It is clear I have truly become addicted to living in the blogosphere, not to mention the SkypeIn and SkypOut contacts with my family.

I found myself agitated. Tried listening to the radio and to old audio tapes. Luckily I am in the last pre-trip week (heading for the USA on Sunday) and have many errands to take me out of the house. I know you'll be happy to know that my teeth are in good condition according to professionals, my prescriptions have been refilled, my knitting projects are complete and delivered or mailed, most gifts have been purchased, arrangements for the dog have been made, dog-sitting instructions have been updated, most bills have been paid, hems have been sewn, and the refrigerator is almost empty! It looks like I'll spend the next five days eating corn flakes and charging all my rechargeable batteries for cellphones, PalmPilot, and digital camera.

And by the way, for any Geek readers who have gotten this far, do you have anything to say about ColdFusion? I think I'm going to be using it for my work project when I get back, and I'll need to become an overnight expert.

Global Warming?

My Hyundai CD/DVD player, aged 1 1/2 years, has been stuck at "Loading" for over a week, and nothing seems to get it unstuck. Unplugging and replugging, changing from CD to DVD, pressing all combinations of buttons. Open/Close works, but nothing else. My unusually honest electronic equipment guy says nobody repairs these things because it's cheaper to buy a new one. Why is this wrong? Discuss.

Visual DNA

I'm a copycat. First I saw it at Noorster's, who first saw it at Udge's. Then I saw it at Stefanella's. Then I caved to the social pressure.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

What a Mitt's Fa!

Grownup league baseball is coming to Israel in June! Check out the website of the Israel Baseball League for lots of fun, especially the history of Biblical baseball. It also has a useful English/Hebrew glossary of baseball terms, and some of the players have BLOGS!

They've taken down the poll about refreshments. I can't wait to find out whether they'll be selling hot dogs or falafel at the games!

Lena Was the Queen o' Palesteena

"Lena from Palesteena", written by J. Russel Robinson and Con Conrad. It was originally recorded by Eddie Cantor in 1920 (released by Emerson Records, record number Emerson 10292). The socio-political background is concisely documented here by Prof. Charles A. Kennedy.

My family had the Eddie Cantor recording and I remember the tune (I think this was the first thing I ever heard about the Middle East). I have not been successful playing the midi file on my computer, but maybe you'll have better luck. You can download the sheetmusic as .jpg files from http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/otcgi/llscgi60

The lyrics are:

In the Bronx of New York City
Lived a girl, she's not so pretty
Lena is her name.
Such a clever girl is Lena
How she played her concertina
Really, it's a shame.
She's such a good musician
She got a swell position
To go across the sea to entertain.
And so they shipped poor Lena
Way out to Palesteena
From what they tell me, she don't look the same.
They say that Lena is the Queen o' Palesteena
Just because she plays the concertina.
She only knows one song,
She plays it all day long
Sometimes she plays it wrong,
But still they love it
What more of it
I heard her play once or twice.
Oh! Murder! Still, it was nice.
All the girls, they dress like Lena
Some wear oatmeal, some Farina
Down old Palesteena way.

Lena's girlfriend Arabella
Let her meet an Arab fella
Who she thought was grand.
On a camel's back a-swaying
You could hear Miss Lena playing
Over the desert sand.
She didn't know the new ones
All she knew were blue ones
And Yusef sat and listened all day long
(or: Till Yusef sat and listened in his tent)
And as he tried to kiss her
You heard that Arab whisper,
"Oh Lena, how I love to hear your song!"
(or: "Oh Lena, how I love your instrument!")

They say that Lena is the Queen o' Palesteena
'Cause she shakes a wicked concertina.
She plays it day and night
She plays with all her might
She never gets it right,
You think it's funny,
Gets her money.
There's nothin' sounds like it should.
So rotten, it's really good.
While the Arabs danced so gaily
She would practice aily-aily
Down old Palesteena way.

Lena, she's the Queen o' Palesteena
Goodness, how they love her concertina.
Each movement of her wrist
Just makes them shake and twist
They simply can't resist
How they love it
Want more of it.
When she squeeks
That squeeze-box stuff
All those sheiks
Just can't get enough.
She got fat as he got Lena
Pushing on her concertina
Down old Palesteena way.

Bumptop

Why would I rather spend my time playing with this instead of throwing stuff away? What's with "lassu" and "drayg"? is that the way they talk in Canadian?

Now That's More Like It

For those of you who have never been to Israel and get your impressions from the mainstream media, I offer you the following video, which is much more typical of the Tel Aviv I see on my strolls. It was made by Carmel, who blogs in Hebrew at http://www.notes.co.il/carmel/. English-language Israeli bloggers Tif and Idan star as themselves at the end. What Carmel doesn't even mention, although at least Utube does, is that this video was made in February.



And now Commentary magazine weighs in with The First Hebrew City, an article about Tel Aviv by Hillel Halkin. I'm not posting a link to the article, because it's for subscribers only, but you can read a nice selection of excerpts here.