I heard the Israel Philharmonic perform Mahler's Ninth Symphony tonight, and the first movement put me in mind of a boat trip, with waves both gentle and strong, and fish both small and huge. I decided to see whether I could take a ferry or a cruise from Haifa in May, but could not book anything, probably because of the War. The War has been going on for so long now that I can't remember what life was like before October 7, 2023. Just this afternoon, after several weeks of silence, an air raid siren sounded and I had to get out of my lovely reclining chair and shuffle into my bedroom, which is also my mamad for ten minutes. It turned out that a missile from Yemen had been intercepted at sea. There's a ceasefire in the North, hardly any rockets left in Gaza, Syris in transition, so now we only have activity from the West and from the East.
Tomorrow I host a mah jongg afternoon. There's nothing more relaxing that playing mah jongg with live people. I am completely focused and resentful of interruptions: chit chat, phone calls, doorbells, etc. Two weeks ago I had a TIA in the middle of a winning hand. It was so annoying that everyone insisted on calling an ambulance and then I was hospitalized for two days' worth of tests and observation, instead of just finishing the hand with a win. Everyone says it was the Right Thing To Do, but now I have to take aspirin every day, and because aspirin is tough on old stomachs such as mine, I have to take some kind of stomach-protection before breakfast.
It was such a pleasant evening that I walked home from the concert. This knee-specific physical therapy seems to be working.
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