Monday, 31 August 2015

This morning after breakfast I headed back home from Nahariya. I only stopped 3 times on the way home: at the southern highway 6 rest stop to pee, at Avdat to pee and buy a bottle of cold water, and at Uvda to pee again. I made it back home in about five and quarter hours.

In the evening, I did my grocery shopping at Shufersal, so I'm all stocked up again now.

Sunday, 30 August 2015

After breakfast this morning, I checked out the new mall here in Nahariya and then headed south to Haifa. I went downtown and then to the lower end of the famous Baha'i shrine. After taking a few photos, I drove on up to the top and took several more pics. Then I continued on to the University of Haifa. I had hoped to go up in Migdalia Eshkalon, the very tall building on campus that can be seen for miles in every direction, but the whole main building was closed since the Fall term has not yet started. I went down from Har Carmel on a small road that goes through a beautiful natural area and ends in Nesher. Then I drove back to Nahariya on highway 70.

I spent the rest of the day just relaxing at the Loberants.

Shabbat, 29 August 2015

This morning I drove all the way to Manara on the Northern Road, never more than a few kilometers from Lebanon and sometimes right next to the border.

Then I drove to Rosh Pinna and ate lunch there. Afterwards, I drove back to Nahariya. In the evening, I went to a short discussion followed by havdala (a ceremony marking the end of Shabbat) at Emet v'Shalom, our old synagogue in Nahariya.

Friday, 28 August 2015

After saying goodbye to Shimon and Patricia and leaving Tsfat this morning, I drove over to the Golan and up Har Bental. The views from up there are amazing, including into Syria. Then I visited a new volcanic park near there. After that, I drove on the furthest east road all the way to the southern end of the Golan, back north on the eastern shore of the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), across the Jordan River at the northern end of the Kinneret, and over to Karmiel, where I had spinach lasagna for lunch at Art de Coco.

After lunch, I drove up the Mediterranean coast all the way to Rosh HaNikra, right next to Lebanon. Finally I drove back down to Nahariya, where I'm staying with my friends, the Loberants. In the evening, we drove to a wonderful Kabbalat Shabbat on the beach a little south of Nahariya. The sun sank into the sea just as we were singing L'cha Dodi!

Thursday, 27 August 2015

Shimon (the former neighbor I'm staying with) and I enjoyed a lovely trip and visit to Tel Dan today. We came back the scenic route, down the east side of the Hula Valley, and then Shimon treated me to lunch at Café Café in Rosh Pinna.

This evening I laughed myself silly reading a bit from one of Shimon's books.. Very funny!

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

I mostly relaxed today, enjoying the lovely summer weather in Tsfat and visiting with my old neighbors.

In the afternoon I drove all the way down to the Golani Junction, just to see the progress they are making upgrading highways 85 and 65 to a freeway through hilly terrain. It's not an easy task, but they're getting it done, bit by bit.

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

I woke up very early this morning and got in a nice walk.

Just after 8:00 in the morning, I left the house and started my vacation by driving to the southern-most point in Israel (the border crossing to Egypt) and proceeding to drive the entire length of highway 90 all the way up to Metula, right next to the Lebanon border, taking a number of pictures along the way. Now I'm staying with my former next-door neighbors in Tsfat until Friday.

Monday, 24 August 2015

I woke up early this morning but with a bad headache. I took some Optalgin (an over-the-counter pain medicine that's not even available in the U.S.), and it eventually worked, but I didn't go out for a walk. In fact, I actually went back to bed a bit later and slept a little more.

I went over to Me'ir's place 3 times today because he's not been feeling well at all. I didn't do anything, though, other than take his dogs outside to do their business and just lend him a bit of moral support. He showed me an article about him that's in this week's Erev Erev, the local newspaper. I read it, and it's quite nice. Maybe I'll take time to translate it later on and post it in English.

I ate a green salad with chopped red bell pepper, cheese, chips and salsa, and a couple of Reese's Peanut Butter cups for lunch at home today.

Sunday, 23 August 2015

I got up very early this morning, walked to the outdoor gym, went on several of the machines, and walked back home, stopping along the way to do a few stretches.

A friend came over in the morning for a nice chat.

Other than that, I did very little today -- played games and read some from a book I'm reading.

Shabbat, 22 August 2015

I got up early this morning and went for an even slightly longer than normal walk. I petted not one but TWO cats! The first was a beautiful calico that was sitting on a wall. I approached slowly and put out my hand, and she (calicos are ALWAYS female, you know) let me pet her and, of course, enjoyed it. Then, along came a young, solid black cat that I had petted before. I reached down and petted him, too, and then he jumped up on the wall. For a few seconds, I was petting both of them on the wall, but the calico go a little freaked by the black cat, who is probably male, so she ran further down the wall. When I walked away, the black cat followed me until some people were approaching from the opposite direction. I always enjoy meeting feline friends on my walks!

I did the laundry today (2 loads) and got a few other miscellaneous chores done, as well. For lunch, I went to the Gulf Restaurant and had a Greek salad (plus all the FREE little salads and pita that they bring as soon as you arrive there).

Friday, 21 August 2015

I got up a little late this morning, so I took a shorter walk (only about 38 minutes). Later, though, I did walk down to recycle cardboard and buy challah for Shabbat.

I was scheduled to teach two 2-unit Berlitz lessons today, but the first was a late cancellation: 9:00-10:30 and 11:30-1:00.

I had my traditional lunch of whole-wheat spaghetti with Palermo sauce at Il Pentolino today.

As the light was about to fade from our peaceful valley, I lit candles, drank a little sweet red wine, and ate a bite of challah to welcome another Shabbat, the first in the month of Elul. This is the month of turning back towards the Divine and preparing ourselves mentally and spiritually for the new year and the Day of Atonement. Here's a verse of Psalm 27 (verse 4), a psalm that is recited this month:

אַחַת שָׁאַֽלְתִּי מֵאֵת יְיָ, אוֹתָהּ אֲבַקֵּשׁ

שִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית יְיָ כָּל יְמֵי חַיַּי
לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹֽעַם יְיָ וּלְבַקֵּר בְּהֵיכָלוֹ

One thing have I asked of the Eternal, this will I request:

To dwell in the house of the Eternal all the days of my life,

To envision the pleasantness of the Divine One and to visit God's temple.

     [my own translation]

Thursday, 20 August 2015

I slept well last night but woke up feeling a bit panicky. I managed to calm myself down after a few minutes, though, and went out for a lovely walk.

I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00 and 12:00-1:30.

My friend, Moshe, treated me to lunch today at the Gulf Restaurant. So, I had not only a delicious lunch but also an enjoyable conversation with him.

In the afternoon, I felt a little down, but not as depressed as yesterday. Me'ir, though, texted me that he is feeling very depressed and very sick. Unfortunately, there's really nothing I can do to help him at this point.

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

I got up very early this morning and had a nice walk.

I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-9:45, 4:00-5:30, and 6:00-6:45.

I spent much of the morning trying to get them to transfer my monthly payments for cell phone service a U.S. Visa card, but, in the end, it turns out they can't do that even though they assured me when I signed up for the new plan that they could. Oh well.

I had onion quiche, a small side salad, and olives for lunch today at Rachel Café.

For reasons I only partly understand, I felt quite blue and depressed for much of the day today.

קמתי מוקדם מאוד בבוקר והיה לי טיול נחמד.

אני לימדתי רק 4 יחידות של שיעורים ברליץ היום.

ביליתי הרבה של הבוקר מנסה לגרום להם להעביר את התשלומים החודשיים שלי לשירות טלפון נייד לכרטיס ויזה מארה"ב, אבל, בסופו של הדבר, מתברר שהם לא יכולים לעשות את זה למרות . שהם הבטיחו לי כשנרשמתי לתכנית החדשה, שהם יכולים

הייתה לי קיש בצל, סלט צד קטן, וזיתים לארוחת צהריים היום ברחל בית הקפה.

מסיבות שאני מבין רק בחלקו, הרגשתי די כחול ומדוכא במשך רוב היום היום.

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

I got to sleep early last night, woke up early this morning, and went out for a great walk.

As ever, I enjoyed the weekly English speakers' meeting at WIZO today. We did a little "ice breaker" exercise led by Fay. Our favorite topic of all was telling our "only in Israel!" moments -- very nice!

I ate a green salad with tomato and vegetarian weenies wrapped in a tortilla for lunch at home today.

I taught only 2 units of Berlitz lessons: 5:30-7:00.

Monday, 17 August 2015

I got to sleep late last night and so got up late this morning and didn't go out for a walk.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00 and 3:00-5:15.

For lunch, I went to Togarashi at Mercaz Big and picked up pad thai lunches for both me and Me'ir.

Sunday, 16 August 2015

I woke up very early this morning after sleeping well (I got to bed early last night), but I waited until after 5:00 to go out for my lovely walk.

Other than a quick trip out first thing in the morning to run a couple of errands, including the weekly grocery shopping, I stayed home the rest of the day. The predicted high temperature here for today was 46ºC (that's 115ºF for you Americans), and so it was a good day NOT to be out much, I think. When I went out on my mirpeset to stretch for a few minutes in the sun at about 6:00 p.m., it really did feel like a dry sauna out there. That was great for that short time!

Shabbat, 15 August 2015

I slept well last night, got up quite early, and went for a nice walk to the gym. I went on the rowing machine and the cross-trainer briefly while I was there.

I spent most of the rest of the day just relaxing at home, playing games on my iPad, coloring mandalas, and listening to music (Jane Child). I ate a simple lunch at home.

For about 3 weeks now, I've been listening to one lesson of Pimsleur Hebrew Level 2 (about half an hour) every day. There's a lot of repetition and drill, which is exactly what I need. I've only encountered a very small amount of new vocabulary, but that's okay. I also have Level 3, so I have plenty more to do. They recommend only doing one lesson a day for best results because they have scientifically structured the lessons according to the way our mind learns things and when they need to be reinforced for optimal retention.

Friday, 14 August 2015

I slept pretty well last night but weirdly. I woke up briefly just about every hour. Luckily, I was able to fall back asleep again quite quickly, but it was strange. I still got up early and went for a lovely morning walk, to the south of here.

Later, I went down and bought challah for Shabbat.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.

I took Me'ir and a friend of his to a very late lunch at the Gulf Restaurant today. I was a little upset that I had to wait so long to eat, but I was glad to see that Me'ir was able to eat quite well and felt a bit better, since he's been quite sick this week. Perhaps the antibiotics the doctor gave him (and I paid for) are beginning to work.

As the sun was about to fade from our beautiful, HOT valley, I lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat Bride.

A little love song, for Shabbat (from the Song of Songs, chapter 2, verses 8 and 9):

קול דודי הנה-זה בא מדלג על-ההרים מקפץ על-הגבעות:

דומה דודי לצבי או לעפר האילים

הנה-זה עומד אחר כתלנו משגיח מן-החלונות מציץ מן-החרכים:

The voice of my beloved, here it comes, skipping on the mountains, jumping on the hills.

Like a gazelle is my beloved or the fawn of a deer;

Here he stands behind our wall, watching from the windows, peeking from the slits.

[English, my translation]

¡Ya viene mi amado!

¡Ya escucho su voz!

Viene saltando sobre los montes,

viene saltando por las colinas.

Mi amado es como un corzo,

como un cervatillo.

¡Aquí está ya, tras la puerta,

asomándose a la ventana,

espiando a través de la reja!

[Español de La Biblia de Estudio]

Ho, jen estas la voĉo de mia amato! Ho, jen li venas,

Rapidante sur la montoj, saltante sur la altaĵoj.

Mia amato similas al gazelo aŭ al cervo.

Ho, jen li staras post nia muro,

Rigardante tra la fenestro,

Sin montrante ĉe la krado.

[Esperanto de Zamenhof]

Thursday, 13 August 2015

I slept very well last night but still got up a little late and didn't go out for a walk this morning.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, and 5:00-6:30.

I ate lunch at home today.

Wednesday, 12 August 2015

I slept well at first last night, but after I woke up around 3:30, I couldn't get back to sleep and finally got up. Despite that, I didn't go out for a walk.

I picked my car up from the garage first thing this morning. They had checked the cooling system thoroughly and found no major problems, so it only cost me 100 shekels, which is very reasonable. On my way back, I picked up my monthly supply of meds at the pharmacy.

I taught only 1 unit of Berlitz lesson today: 9:00-9:45.

Me'ir was not feeling good at all today. I took him to lunch very late, and then to the nurses and the ear-nose-and-throat doctor. Hopefully, the antibiotics and other meds she prescribed will help him feel better.

Other than those things, I just tried to relax today.

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

I got up early again, but this time I walked south of here. I was out for a little over 45 minutes.

My car was still in the garage today until just before my first lesson, so I didn't go to WIZO this morning. I'll have to pick the car up tomorrow because I didn't have time before they closed today.

I finished sorting through all the clothes today, and now half of my bed is piled quite high with all kinds of clothing to give away, mostly mine but some David's, too, of course.

I ate a nice salad (greens, a tomato, and a quarter of a red bell pepper), cheese, and whole-wheat tortillas with carob-peanut spread for lunch at home.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 3:00-4:30 and 5:00-6:30.

Monday, 10 August 2015

I again got up fairly early and walk to the gym for a short work-out and back.

After breakfast, I took my car to the garage to have the cooling system checked. It has been working most of the time, but, when it's very hot out and the car is either stopped (with the engine running) or moving slowly, especially with the engine at low RPMs, the engine temperature begins to rise. I think perhaps the radiator needs to be flushed or maybe some other thing fixed. Anyway, they've had the car all day today, so I'll call them tomorrow morning to see what they may have found.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00 and 2:30-4:45.

I had weenies wrapped in whole-wheat tortillas and a tomato for lunch at home today.

Sunday, 9 August 2015

I got up early this morning and again walked to the gym for a short work-out and back. It was hot, but there was a bit of a breeze, so it was quite pleasant.

I continued sorting clothes this morning, working on the button shirts (the only clothes that actually get to hang in the closet (because that's all there's room for). I'm keeping most of them, including a number that were David's, because they fit me so well and look nice on me. Some I'm giving away, though.

I took Me'ir to Togarashi for lunch today. I had pad thai and a sour Japanese salad. Yum!

Shabbat, 8 August 2015

I got up early again, walked to the outdoor gym, worked out briefly there, and walked back home. It was nice even though it was a bit hot this morning with little breeze.

Most of the rest of the day, I stayed inside at home because the temperature went up to 44ºC (111ºF) outside today. I did take Me'ir and a friend of his, Amir, to lunch at the Gulf Restaurant, though.

I spent quite a bit of time sorting through clothes today, both David's and many of my old ones. I've lost a little weight so that I can now get back into some pants that had become too tight, but many of my really old ones are so small that I'll NEVER get back into them. Also, some were never that comfortable anyway because of their cut. So, now the bed is half covered with piles of clothes to be given away. I think I've gone through most, if not all, of the pants (short and long) now, and some of the shirts, but there are still the button shirts and the various jackets, sweaters, and other wraps that I need to check out.

Friday, 7 August 2015

I got up very early this morning and walked to the gym and back, and worked out there a bit, as well. Later, I also walked down to recycle cardboard and buy challah. In recent weeks, there's been a nice peaches-and-cream cat who comes excitedly to greet me and enjoy some petting, near the cardboard recycling shed. He's totally a feral, dumpster diving cat, but he has learned to like me and not be afraid.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.

At 12:50, I had a short appointment with the psychiatrist. He hadn't had any available this week, but when I called him yesterday morning, he agreed to squeeze me in. He was David's psychiatrist. This is the first time that I have been the patient, but I know him from the many times I took David to see him. The doctor and I both agreed that I'm not having any serious psychiatric problems and don't need any medicine (other than the St. John's wart that I've been taking for years), just a bit of talk to work a few things out. I'll go next month to see him with a full appointment in order to talk a bit more at length.

After that, I took Me'ir to lunch at Rachel Café.

In the evening, as the sunlight was about to fade from our VERY hot valley (43ºC = 109ºF), I lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate some challah to welcome Shabbat.

הללו יה

הללו-אל בקדשו הללוהו ברקיע עזו:

הללוהו בגבורתיו הללוהו כרב גדלו:

הללוהו בתקע שופר הללוהו בנבל וכנור:

הללוהו בתף ומחול הללוהו במנים ועוגב:

הללוהו בצלצלי-שמע הללוהו בצלצלי תרועה:

כל הנשמה תהלל יה הללו-יה:

Praise Yah!

Praise God in His holiness; praise Him in the firmament of His power.

Praise Him for his heroic acts; praise Him according to His greatness.

Praise Him with a blast of the shofar; praise Him with lyre and violin.

Praise Him with drum and dance; praise Him with the lyre and the organ.

Praise Him with clanging cymbals; praise Him with the resounding trumpet.

Let all the soul praise Yah; praise Yah.

[Psalm 150]

Thursday, 6 August 2015

I slept well last night, got up early, and got in a lovely walk before the sun even came up over the Jordanian mountains.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, 3:30-5:00, and 5:00-6:30.

I ate a salad, a little cheddar cheese, and some corn chips for lunch at home today.

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

I had a little trouble sleeping in the earlier part of last night (a bit of an anxiety attack, I guess), but I slept the rest of the night pretty well. I woke up late and tired, though, and so didn't go out for a walk. As usually happens, I felt quit a bit LESS tired after being up for a while.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-9:45, 12:00-1:30, and 2:30-4:45. Because the lunch break was only an hour today, I ate at home. I had lentil cutlets, a delicious mango, and tomato juice.

In the evening, I went over to Me'ir's place for a little while. He's not been feeling well lately -- either a summer flu or a summer cold, it seems.

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

I got to bed fairly early and slept well last night, but I also slept until late and so didn't get out for a walk.

I enjoyed the weekly English speakers' meeting at WIZO today, as usual.

I took Me'ir, a young lesbian friend of his, and her brother to lunch at Rachel today. Her friend (and, I think, partner) is in intensive care at the hospital fighting for her life, and apparently they don't know exactly what's wrong with her. She's only in her 20's! After eating, we went to the hospital and spent much of the rest of the day there. Of course, we could NOT go into intensive care to visit.

There were several young women at the hospital, friends of the sick girl, and Me'ir told me they were all lesbians. I would not have guessed it about ANY of them (including the lovely young woman we took to lunch). The women here in Israel who DO look like stereotypical dykes are much more likely to be very straight kibbutznik-type women. Go figure!

I taught just one 2-unit Berlitz lesson today: 5:00-6:30.

Monday, 3 August 2015

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night and got up very late, so no walk.

I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 2:30-4:45, and 5:00-6:30.

I had a can of Heinz beans, a salad, and tomato juice for lunch at home today.

I was happy to stay inside since the predicted high temperature for today was 44ºC (111ºF)!

Sunday, 2 August 2015

I got up a little late but still went out for a full walk. Even though we're having a pretty heavy heat wave all over the region, it was quite nice out at between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.

I filled the tank with gas and did the weekly grocery shopping, and then I just stayed home in the A/C the rest of the day. I did several different colorings of the same mandala, using various color schemes, and posted them to Facebook.

Shabbat, 1 August 2015

Of course I got up late this morning, having not gotten to bed until very late last night (because of the Tu B'Av party at Me'ir's).

It was VERY hot out today; the predicted high was 45ºC (113ºF), so I just stayed inside the whole day, except for taking the trash out fairly early in the morning.

For lunch, I ate food that I had brought home from Il Pentolino yesterday.

The coming days are expected to be even hotter (46ºC was predicted for tomorrow and Monday, at least as of this morning). That's hot, even for Eilat!

Friday, 31 July 2015

I slept well and long last night and got up too late to go for a walk. I did walk down to recycle cardboard and buy challah, though.

I taught 3 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-9:45 and 10:00-11:30.

I took Me'ir to lunch at Il Pentolino today.

In the evening, I went over to a party that Me'ir hosted for the gay community in honor of Tu B'Av (the 15th of the month of Av), a minor holiday in honor of "love". It was nice, but, unfortunately, not many people showed up. I finally left at about midnight.

אב הרחמים, אנא משך חסדך עלינו ועל קרובינו האהובים. וזכנו ללכת בדרכי ישרים לפניך, דבקים בתורה ובמעשים טובים

Source of mercy, please continue Your loving care for us and for those close to us whom we love. And may we have the right to walk in honest ways before You, clinging to Torah and good deeds.