on a rainy day

it's raining today. right now it feels good and cozy. haven't had cold, rainy weather for so very long. i do hope it's only a short break, though. not sure for how long the sound of the rain on the window, rubber boots and and hot drinks will feel as exotic as it does right now. and if this weather lasts for days we might have to figure out something slightly more entertaining than watching the snails escape the little yellow bowl.

just perfect

i took the boys to visit friends staying in a summer house in northern zealand. they are visiting from hong kong. it was amazing to see how the boys just connected so instantly. they were best friends back in tel aviv a couple of years back.

they said it was a shame with all the sea weed that had washed ashore in the previous days. i said it was absolutely perfect. the beautyful shades and shapes, the smell of the sea, so different from our beach back home. what an amazing day.

denmark - first week

in the garden, beautiful weather, not doing much, but still feeling very full. and not only because we have been eating and drinking all the time. rye bread and cheese, elderflower drink and wine. and strawberry pie.

good evening, good morning

fire just never gets old and boring, does it? and see, those blankets came in handy. not that he needed one. it's still hot. but it feels good to wrap up in one anyway, doesn't it?

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i did this post before leaving israel, but never posted it. so here it is. we're enjoying ourselves in denmark. will get back to you soon on that. wishing you a wonderful new week.

part of the plan

we're in denmark now. cannot get photos out of the camera yet, so just popping by to say hello. and to share these photos i uploaded before leaving.

when i went to the danish embassy back in tel aviv to pick up the new passports of the boys, i shot these. when we'd been there a few weeks before to order the passports the boys had lots of fun looking at this art work in the lobby of the building. it is called "meal", but unfortuntaley i forgot to get the name of the artist.

it reminded me that i need to take the kids more to art museums and exhibitions. cause they loved this, to look at the characters and all the detailed food and table ware. especially that woman in the first photo starring at the fish. and the lonely woman in the corner. they were absolutely stunned.

so that is a part of my holiday plans, to take them to see some art. among many many other things. for now we're still settling in the house and in the garden, though, and that is absolutely wonderful.

oh no, numbers

the word of the week is numbers. i must admit numbers tend to scare me. i was ok at math back in the days, but today i prefer to avoid them whenever possible. numbers are so serious and not negotiable, numbers are bills, dates, deadlines.

but then i was looking at some of my little treasures from nature. i have way too many scattered all over the house and garden. to my defense i must say i really do enjoy them, to look at them, hold them. anyway,  i realized that one of the things that attracts me to them are the repetition, all the little hundreds of hairs making up a feather, the fine lines showing the growth of a sea shell or a snail, and the seeds inside the fruit. it's there all the time, the repetition, the same tiny feature in great, sometimes endless, impossible-to-count numbers. that kind of numbers i like. they are more...organic.

i might have stretched the word too far. find more interpretations of the word numbers via peggy of peggy fussel illustration. and then have a wonderful weekend.

hot summer days

it's so so hot around here. really bad. and we didn't get to the beach the other day, since the car made problems. we went to the pool instead. we live in a moshav, that is, a little community, used to be a farm village. there's a little farming left, but mainly the hobby, small time kind. but it's countryside and besides the kikdergartens (one for the little ones and one for the bigger ones - i have kids in both), there is a moadon (which is a community building), a football field, a synagoge, a playground and even a little library for the kids. and then there is the pool. open from may to october. last year we didn't go at all (both D and i are beach people), but this year we did. i must admit that the boys tend to prefer it from the beach many days. which i kind of understand, because most of their friends are there, and there's a lot of jumping, playing, ice creams and table football. good fun. the good thing about it, from my point of view, is that they are really becoming good swimmers. it's much easier to learn to swim in a pool than it is at the beach. and it's just 5 minutes down the road.

no photos though. i don't have time for cameras when i'm there. at all. they are all over the place, and even if they are pretty responsible in the water, then they are still just little ones. so i'm all alert.

instead some photos from the hot hot garden. and of two blankets i made. yes, it's crazy hot and insane to even think about blankets, but i wanted to do these for a long time. and now was the time, apparently. i think i might subconsciously be dreaming of colder evenings wrapped in blankets on the couch. well, that will not be anytime soon. not here at least, maybe in denmark next week...

just like magic

thank you so much for all your thoughts and wishes for light and ease. it always amazes me how much kindness and sympathy there is in this blog world. and even magic. see, right at this time i got a package from jane of spain daily. isn't that just the sweetest coincidence?

jane once wrote about a visit to bilbao. and i mentioned that i would love to go there, see the guggenheim one day. i wrote a paper on this museum, the architecture, the art, the placement back in the days of university of copenhagen. but i never saw it live.

so, she sent me these spectacular photos from another visit to guggenheim bilbao. with a note that she had thought about me while there. seriously. how awesome and sweet is that? it's almost as good as being there myself. or maybe not, but it made me feel good. i had to break open a cold beer yesterday and make a cheer for the awesomeness of blogging and jane and you. cheers.

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and about my blues. i'm better. taking your advice, treating myself easy and nicely. it's ok. it's part of life, the way i work.

i think, i will take the kids to the beach today. it's so so hot here. i cannot stand the way the air condition makes me feel all closed up, unable to hear the world outside. so instead i break a sweat. or rather i broke it days ago and didn't stop since. good thing about it is that it gives an excellent excuse to end the day with an ice cold beer. i might have to do that again tonight. but first, the beach. to see the horizon and listen to waves.

the trick

as i said, sundays are mondays around here. a new week began. it was a quiet weekend. i wish i could say in the good way quiet. well, it was in a way. but i had my own private blues going on. i know. it's not the time. i have vacation and soon i am leaving for denmark to see friends a family. and still i felt down. cannot say exactly why. a mix of things, decisions to make, a stupid fight blown out of proportions. over time the things that were ignored. and those other things that were said and done, still echoing, leaving shadows.

sometimes i am not too fond of myself. i fall deep into a feeling and then it is like everything that was and still is leaks through every little opening, like a word or a thought. it makes me so heavy i cannot move.

i was lying on the bed, starring at the buzzing fan. it's fascinating how hard it is to focus on the moving blades. it's all a blur. but the moment you actually manage to catch a blade with the eye, it is so easy. round and round. the trick is to block out the rest. just keep going. i am still trying to figure out that trick.

in the meanwhile i will get started on a new week. sometimes a new beginning can do wonders. even if it is just another day.

corner view - saturday

a saturday, like any other, and still never the same. at home getting dirty in the garden (digging through the ash of the fireplace), feeding the whale (yes, it eats pearls) or turning the world upside down (just because).

here in israel saturdays are sundays, and sundays are mondays, the first day of the week. for some reason i still don't really like that. silly old habits die hard.

there are plenty more saturdays via jane of spain daily

quiet. and other important things

i am so excited, summer is officially here for me. for the next two weeks i have all day to myself. kids are still in kindergarten (yes, i am not keeping them home just yet, this is me me me time :), so the house is empty all day. except it isn't because one woke up today with a cold and a bit of fever. so he's been here, keeping me company.

in this vacuum of time i have so far realized that i still really love that bit of light that finds its way to our bedroom, that my basil plants are finally recovering from an attack of slugs, and that doves have made a nest outside my bedroom window. right where a piece of wood meets the wall, placed randomly not long ago. there is something so crazy about this. these little fine eggs, just lying there, on such a fragile construction. the doves don't know, or don't care. just like us. i guess that unless something profound and tragic happens we never realize how fragile a construction life and existence really is. we don't have to.

so for the next two weeks i have an insane amount of plans. all the practical stuff that was postponed till this day (like cleaning bathrooms. because they all started to look like street toilets in calcutta. if there is such a thing...i was there, but cannot remember, probably because the city was all flooded). besides those cleaning details, i am so planning to get some sewing done. among a few hundred other creative things i'd like to do.

and then we will be off to denmark for 5 weeks. which i look very much forward to, especially after my mom told me over the phone today that she has been making a truckload of elderberry flower drink. love it.