On His Last Morning...

Dad Last Letter
Originally uploaded by savtadotty

On his last morning, my father wrote this letter and my mother typed and mailed it, saving a carbon copy. Then they had lunch, watched JFK's inauguration on TV. He took a nap, and he never woke up.

January 21, 1960
Chief of Bureau of Naval Personnel,
Navy Department,
Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:

On Dec. 30 last, while motoring in Florida with my family, I was stranded because of car trouble on an isolated country road several miles from the nearest town. It was getting dark fast and I had visions of spending a miserable night in the car.

This certainly could have been our fate had not Lieut. Wesley Ingram, U. S. N., happened to be driving by. Mr. Ingram stopped, wheeled around (he was going in the opposite direction ) and immediately volunteered to drive me back several miles to Callahan, where he saw to it that I got the necessary help. He then drove back to notify my family.

Such willingness to help others in distress certainly indicates the gentleman that Mr. Ingram is, and I would feel ungrateful if I did not thank him in this manner, since I do not know where is stationed. Again, Sir, I thank you.

Very truly yours,

19 years for me in Israel

Today is my 19th anniversary here. I can't believe what an extraordinary experience it has been: exasperating, exhilirating, thrilling, horrifying, sublimely comfortable, maddeningly frustrating, and altogether deeply satisfying. And, as promised, never boring.

If you don't have the full five minutes, just watch for one or two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeVvMJdvEX8

Happy Seventh Birthday, Mermaid Girl!

Today is Mermaid Girl's seventh birthday, and she has told me the sweater fits. Moving on to untangling other knots...

Note: In case you're wondering, I suffered a mild bout of short-term-memory loss yesterday - it happens! - and posted the photo of the sweater here when I had already posted it earlier this month. My reaction to this kind of thing is: nobody died, onward...

Melting for Middle East Peace

Birds of Paradise
Originally uploaded by savtadotty

Because of poor planning on my part, I find myself in Tel Aviv in August. Despite having installed a second air conditioner, and made an exhaustive list of indoor projects, today I spent four hours outdoors in the blazing heat, all because I decided Middle East peace was more important than anything on my list. In fact I'm adding it to my list, just to give it some perspective.

The lovely folks at One Voice are making a promotional video for the Big Event on October 18, and they decided they needed to add the voice and face of a knitting grandma, so people will get the idea that One Voice is a movement for everyone, not only the (numerous, and beautiful) under-30's. In this day and age, the Internet has replaced Schwab's Drug store, and my doggie and I have finally been discovered via this blog!

Our fifteen minutes of fame will probably be less than one minute long, and the video has to be edited and then posted onto YouTube before I can give you the link, but the "shoot" is over, and it took quite a long time. I have new respect for moviemakers...it takes a lot of stamina to perform the same thing over and over, not to mention the patience of the director, the videographers, the sound guys, and the waiting around. They even supplied a lovely person who specialized in mopping my dripping face from time to time. Luckily I was encouraged to bring my knitting (cotton, not wool), so I made a lot of progress on the latest project: Birds of Paradise for Little Bear.

My compensation? Plenty of cold water and renewed hope.

OneVoice on NYTimes front page

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/world/middleeast/22mideast.html?hp

Well, the actual text reference is buried down in paragraph 9 in the Middle East section article, but the front page photo of the 86-year-old surfer/doctor is most eye-catching:

OneVoice, an Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution organization, helped bring the Palestinians across to receive the boards.

To read more about OneVoice, http://www.onevoicemovement.org/

A Dog's Life

Last month I ordered a pillow from the Ethiopian crafts shop, as a reward for all the house-clearing I've been doing, which included throwing out some final scraps of old rug that my dog liked to lie on. As expected, she sniffed at the pillow and haughtily walked away, lying down on the bare tiles instead. I hoped it was because of the heat, and now, voila!

A Letter to My Friends (Not Spam) (Really!)

Tonight I am optimistic. In fact, I'm in danger of becoming a groupie, a believer, a missionary, a fanatical activist! Which is a contradiction in terms, because what I'm optimistic about is a realistic way for thinking moderates to delegitimize extremists: the Silent Majority need be silent no longer! I quote [with my own edits in brackets like this] an email that my new-found friends supplied to send to more friends (I assume you qualify):

Dear You,

If you are distressed at the ongoing violence in the Mideast and have been wondering if there is anything concrete and constructive you could do to truly make a difference, you should check out the OneVoice initiative, http://www.onevoice.org. In particular, I [suggest] you [...] look at their "About Us" page.

OneVoice is a groundbreaking initiative to empower the people at the grassroots level to achieve a consensus for [Palestinian-Israeli] conflict resolution. It just launched a very creative platform that will amplify the voice of reason and create a broad-based movement for constructive and concrete negotiations to help fulfill the aspirations of both sides, while counteracting the inhumane and destructive violent extremism that has hijacked the lives of so many.

OneVoice is your chance to stand up and be counted. Your support and participation will be instrumental in its success. Please take a few minutes to learn more about this initiative and make a [...] difference: http://www.onevoicemovement.org/wps/portal.

Sincerely,

Savtadotty

The thing I like most about it is that they are consciously not playing up the celebrity angle, although they have some celebrity sponsors, but rather emphasizing the grass-roots aspect. And the grass can be anywhere in the world, so you don't have to be in the Middle East to share in this. They're We're (I joined up and got my pin!) planning a big Event on October 18. I'll write more about that later. Must get back to my knitting.

Ouch!

American Airport Immigration Official (AAIO) to Israeli visitor: What country are you from?
Israeli: Israel.
AAIO: Israel is a country that doesn't have a constitution, right?
Israeli: Yes.
AAIO: Well, take ours. We're not using it.

Birds for Little Bear

Here is an item I forgot to put on my list: knit sweater for Little Bear.

The baby Birds of Paradise along the border will also have a Mommy and a Daddy on the front.

Sweaters for three-year-olds do go faster than sweaters for seven-year-olds. (They are also outgrown faster.)

Positively the last post about teapot cleaning

Teapot Brush
Originally uploaded by savtadotty

This morning it was cool enough for me to go to Herzl Street and acquire the brush recommended by John and Chancy. Thanks, guys!

Item #6

Working my way through my list of domestic tasks, I reordered them by urgency and comfort (indoors tasks get priority during the hot months), and Item #6 popped up at the top, because Mermaid Girl's birthday comes up in a few weeks, and there's the International Postal Service to be endured. How it looked in June. Here's the finished product today.

Teapot Surgery

Teapot Surgery
Originally uploaded by savtadotty

The operation was a success and the patient survived. The nasty-looking thing coming out of the spout is simply a tea-sodden wad of cotton wool. Surgical instruments were Dunhill pipe cleaners, circa 1964. The surgical team was Nominally Challenged and Miriam, during today's soup salon. Thanks to all of you who offered suggestions!

Now we can concentrate on fixing the Middle East.