Happiness be at your door
May it knock early
Stay late & leave the gift of Allah's
Peace,love,joy & good health behind
Monday, August 29, 2011
Happy Holiday to our Muslim Friends
Happiness be at your door
May it knock early
Stay late & leave the gift of Allah's
Peace,love,joy & good health behind
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Boaz’ July barmitzva – or Singing (Tora) in the rain
Y: It was to be a small affair, to mark Boaz’ thirteenth birthday just before they are due to return to Israel. But being his thirteenth, something special had to be made of it, one way or the other. It was Boaz who decided to have an Aliya la’Tora rather than any other form of marking the formal coming-of-age that even non-observant Jews like us consider important. So here we were in Berlin, complete with formal dress (even down to Gabi’s formal underwear),
ready to present ourselves at the Reform synagogue on Shabbat morning. Incongruously, Boaz and Shaul rode off by bicycle, the rest of us traipsed in by underground train…
Even worse, we really hadn't believed the weather forecast for pouring rain, after leaving Israel sweltering under 30 degree heat! But umbrellas were in plentiful supply and dress shoes were only changed into at the entrance to the synagogue, so all was well.
ready to present ourselves at the Reform synagogue on Shabbat morning. Incongruously, Boaz and Shaul rode off by bicycle, the rest of us traipsed in by underground train…
Even worse, we really hadn't believed the weather forecast for pouring rain, after leaving Israel sweltering under 30 degree heat! But umbrellas were in plentiful supply and dress shoes were only changed into at the entrance to the synagogue, so all was well.
The synagogue is a community hall in an ecumenical building donated by the US Army and dedicated to several religious denominations. The Reform movement obtained the use of this facility when the community became large enough: it now numbers some 120 members. About 30 of them were present, several were Hebrew speakers and welcomed us warmly, friends of Galia and Shaul also came to the service. Grandpa Menahem,
Shaul,
Galia
and honorary Grandpa Arkee
took Aliyot. Then Boaz, complete with his grandfather's kipa and a talit from the other grandfather, performed with perfect aplomb, obviously enjoying his role and doing it very well.
The Rabbi and the Hazanit and the Gabait all had their good wishes to express to him (in German, unfortunately for us, although the Gabait also said some words in Hebrew )
and there was Kiddush with all the children
around the Kiddush table and a light buffet which everyone enjoyed.
Shaul,
Galia
and honorary Grandpa Arkee
took Aliyot. Then Boaz, complete with his grandfather's kipa and a talit from the other grandfather, performed with perfect aplomb, obviously enjoying his role and doing it very well.
The Rabbi and the Hazanit and the Gabait all had their good wishes to express to him (in German, unfortunately for us, although the Gabait also said some words in Hebrew )
and there was Kiddush with all the children
around the Kiddush table and a light buffet which everyone enjoyed.
We had a family lunch at a very pleasant restaurant in a room to ourselves. The little ones took advantage of the space and relatively relaxed mood to run around and enjoy one another’s company and a good time was had by all.
Any thoughts of going off down town after that were shelved by the need to get out of our glad rags and (for us at least) to move from the apartment we had been borrowing to the hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights. This took us the rest of the afternoon. Galia and Shaul hosted some friends for a farewell party at the club-house of their lodging-house and so were occupied for the rest of the day.
Any thoughts of going off down town after that were shelved by the need to get out of our glad rags and (for us at least) to move from the apartment we had been borrowing to the hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights. This took us the rest of the afternoon. Galia and Shaul hosted some friends for a farewell party at the club-house of their lodging-house and so were occupied for the rest of the day.
The next day we decided to part forces. Arkee was interested in going to a museum of modern art. Had I not been with my grandchildren, I would have done the same, but I did not want to regret not being with them. The rain let up somewhat and we went to explore a large and interesting flea-market.
Dina has an eye for bargains and picked up several for herself and the children and the day would have been completely enjoyable if Hillel, aged four, standing off at the side for a moment, had not been picked up by a well-meaning woman who could not speak to him. Presuming he was lost, she carried him off to the information booth at the gate. Several long and horrible minutes were spent looking for him until Dina went to call the police and found him there. The experience was worse for her than for him, I think, as someone was found to speak Hebrew to him, but such events can be terrifying, if nothing worse.
We recovered sufficiently from this adventure to make a few more purchases and have a snack lunch under umbrellas, and finally left the market under increasingly heavy rain, drained out.
A: The modern art museum was excellent. It contains the Marx collection of Warhols, Rauchenbergs and others of the mid century. There was a special exhibit of a British artist Richard Long, described by the museum as follows: The exhibition entitled “ Richard Long: Berlin Circle” is the first solo show in Germany of works by Richard Long in a major museum in almost ten years. The title of the exhibition refers to the eponymous work “Berlin Circle”, dating from 1996, which features in the Sammlung Marx. The works on display are “Sandstone Circle, 1977″; “Black and White Circle, 1988″; “Turf Line, 1990″; Berlin Circle, 1996″; “Autumn Turf Circle, 1998″; “Basalt Ellipse, 2000″; and the wall work “River Avon Mud Circle, 2011″
There were films on "Land Art" and a strange exhibition called Secret Universe by a weirdo named Horst Ademeit. He believed that he was being irradiated by "cold rays" and took thousands of Polaroid pictures over decades. Some are interesting, some are junk. In the complex reference systems developed by Ademeit, certain motifs play a constant role: electricity meters, peepholes, building sites, electric cables, collections of bulky trash or bikes. Ademit began to cast the flood of images he produced in a concrete form in October 1990: he arranged measuring instruments and a compass on a newspaper and photographed them with a Polaroid camera. Over the course of 14 years, he made 6006 numbered Polaroid pictures.
There were films on "Land Art" and a strange exhibition called Secret Universe by a weirdo named Horst Ademeit. He believed that he was being irradiated by "cold rays" and took thousands of Polaroid pictures over decades. Some are interesting, some are junk. In the complex reference systems developed by Ademeit, certain motifs play a constant role: electricity meters, peepholes, building sites, electric cables, collections of bulky trash or bikes. Ademit began to cast the flood of images he produced in a concrete form in October 1990: he arranged measuring instruments and a compass on a newspaper and photographed them with a Polaroid camera. Over the course of 14 years, he made 6006 numbered Polaroid pictures.
Y again: On our last day we decided to go with the children to the zoo.
This was thoroughly enjoyable and interesting, the animals in the dark included some I had never seen alive (an aardvark for instance) and the big cats deigned to play to the audience and not just lie around. After avoiding the wasps at the lunch tables we went to look for the seals and the bears. Even little David was enjoying crawling along the paths and barking back at the sea-lions! A pity we had to leave them there as we had a plane to catch.
This was thoroughly enjoyable and interesting, the animals in the dark included some I had never seen alive (an aardvark for instance) and the big cats deigned to play to the audience and not just lie around. After avoiding the wasps at the lunch tables we went to look for the seals and the bears. Even little David was enjoying crawling along the paths and barking back at the sea-lions! A pity we had to leave them there as we had a plane to catch.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
YandA Homeward Bound December 22, 2010
All good things come to an end including our trip to the West Coast. We packed on Monday morning, said our farewells and thanks and went off to the airport with Maya. We checked in at Lufthansa and she went off to United to return to Eugene. We expect to hear from her in the blogosphere.
We found the airport in a bit of chaos. Snow in Europe had disrupted flights and people were sleeping on the floor in London and Frankfurt while San Francisco was full of rebooked travelers. We found our friend and colleague Karoly from Budapest, who should have gone home on Friday, waiting for our flight since his BA flight was cancelled. We got off about an hour or more late because the automatic fueling system at the airport had broken down and planes were being fueled manually. We visualized little fuel elves as a bucket brigade on the wings...
We eventually boarded the plane and arrived in Kiryat Ono at 0500 to sleep, perchance to dream and now back to the real world.
We found the airport in a bit of chaos. Snow in Europe had disrupted flights and people were sleeping on the floor in London and Frankfurt while San Francisco was full of rebooked travelers. We found our friend and colleague Karoly from Budapest, who should have gone home on Friday, waiting for our flight since his BA flight was cancelled. We got off about an hour or more late because the automatic fueling system at the airport had broken down and planes were being fueled manually. We visualized little fuel elves as a bucket brigade on the wings...
Eventually we arrived in Frankfurt with several hours on our hands before our flight to Tel Aviv late at night. There. too, stranded trravelers were sleeping on the floor awaiting news of their fate.. We took the S Bahn into town and walked from the station to the Stadel Museum through the snow. Note YandA at war.
The exhibition now on display is very interesting. It is called Chronology of Painting and has two large galleries in which paintings from the collection are arranged in chronological order with events of the relevant era listed above on the wall. The first gallery ran from 1300 to 1830 and the second from mid 19th century to the present. Well worth seeing if any of you get to Frankfurt.
We then returned to the airport where it was A's turn to get an exotic serving of dinner, this time a swan bearing a baked potato.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sn Mateo December 19, 2010
Friday we packed up and left San Franciso under black skies and heavy rain. We took the BART to the airport, expecting to meet Maya (coming from Oregon) and be picked up by Fred. However, fog had canceled Maya’s plane, fortunately only temporarily, but this we did not know until we reached the airport. We presumed she had informed Fred and Mariel and tried to phone them but they were not answering the phone, and after a couple of futile, money-wasting efforts, came to the correct conclusion that they were on their way to pick us up anyway. However (see previous YandA’s) these are people who do not use a cellphone, in the event it was in the other car.. and Maya was also unavailable. We waited by the payphone in case they should call us back... Arkee sent me outside to look for a brown Toyota station-wagon, but Fred was driving a brown Accura sedan (and the station-wagon, when finally viewed, was a white Subaru!) Fred saw me walking up and down and tried to call me but the car windows were closed due to the weather and Fred is not as mobile as he used to be. So we waited, Fred at the kerb in the car, Mariel upstairs at one gate, and us downstairs with all our belongings at the other for about forty minutes until Mariel paged Arkee over the PA system and we finally got together.
And of course as we got to the house we found Maya’s message that she was just about due to land and off went Arkee and Fred back to the airport again. A good time was had by all.
The weather is not conducive to great initiatives, so yesterday was shopping and football and catching-up day. In the evening we met our friend Mike at an Afghan restaurant and enjoyed an ethnic meal together. Today is Sunday, we hope to get into the city for a cultural visit with a family party at the end of the day.
And of course as we got to the house we found Maya’s message that she was just about due to land and off went Arkee and Fred back to the airport again. A good time was had by all.
The weather is not conducive to great initiatives, so yesterday was shopping and football and catching-up day. In the evening we met our friend Mike at an Afghan restaurant and enjoyed an ethnic meal together. Today is Sunday, we hope to get into the city for a cultural visit with a family party at the end of the day.
Friday, December 17, 2010
San Francisco III
ThursdayAnother fine but cold day with lectures for A and wrestling with wifi for Y. The internet connections either at the hotel or the convention centre give some illusion of normalcy, but sites come up very slowly and most tasks have to be postponed for better days. However, I took the Acer with me to wait out Arkee's engagements and managed to talk to Ella on skype with the aid of ear phones to cover the noisy background. We met with Margy for an intimate lunch at another exotic place which serves teas and food in various peculiar combinations – mine was called English service and included a quiche, a scone with jam and clotted cream and English tea on a three-tiered tower – see pic. (blog of Y's exotic lunches-A)
Arkee and I went to investigate the Contemporary Jewish museum. Two exhibits were very interesting: one of a scribe – female – writing a sefer torah – with a complete explanation of how it is done, samples of the tools needed and a video demonstration. The other was a collection of art that had been stolen by the Nazis from a Dutch collector and returned to the Dutch government. Finally, after forty years, 200 pieces - out of a thousand - had been returned to the family and a sample was being exhibited here. They were mostly Dutch masters of the 15th to 17th centuries and very lovely. We hope to go to another during the weekend when Maya is here.. It seems the Orsay is being refurbished and a huge collection of impressionists is being loaned around the world meanwhile, so we are in luck. This evening – yet another dinner with good friends. After all, someone has to take on these onerous tasks for the common good…
Friday AM Lovely dinner last night at The Stinking Rose with Barbara and Leo Stanger. Tonight we start the weekend with Fred and Mariel and Maya.
Tough life.
Love,
YandA
Thursday, December 16, 2010
San Francisco II
San Francisco December 15, 2010
The meeting is going along well. Yesterday A stood by the poster and had a few nice discussions. In the evening we went to dinner with dear friends, Ray Goldstein and his wife Jane from San Antonio and Daniel Winterhalter from Pasadena. We went to John's Grill, a San Francisco landmark that is on the register of historical places in American literature. Dashiel Hammett is said to have written The Maltese Falcon there and the place figures significantly in the adventures of Sam Spade, his detective. Excellent company, fine food and enjoyable conversation. It wss Ray's birthday which made it even nicer.
Today I heard some interesting talks about the dynamic systems of Saturn followed by lunch with Mike Schulz and another friends. I mention the lunch because Y had something unique stuffed fried pear wontons. Here they are:
Nice variation.
The streets and shops are full of Xmas shoppers and the town is lively. Nonetheless you see "retail space for lease" signs and beggars in the streets. One of them is quite creative and has a sign saying "my wife has been kidnapped and I am short $0.99 for the ransom"
The weather has been cooperative, but rain is forecast to begin on Friday and to continue through the weekend just when Maya will be with us, alas. We still hope to have some fun with her.
This evening we will attend the ceremony in which a friend from APL will be installed as a Fellow of the AGU in recognition of his contributions to science. We will then go to dinner with Barry, Ralph and other friends from the East Coast. Tomorrow night we are meeting Barbara and Leo Stanger who are in California to visit their daughter Debra and her family who live in Ukiah.
Love,
YandA
The meeting is going along well. Yesterday A stood by the poster and had a few nice discussions. In the evening we went to dinner with dear friends, Ray Goldstein and his wife Jane from San Antonio and Daniel Winterhalter from Pasadena. We went to John's Grill, a San Francisco landmark that is on the register of historical places in American literature. Dashiel Hammett is said to have written The Maltese Falcon there and the place figures significantly in the adventures of Sam Spade, his detective. Excellent company, fine food and enjoyable conversation. It wss Ray's birthday which made it even nicer.
Today I heard some interesting talks about the dynamic systems of Saturn followed by lunch with Mike Schulz and another friends. I mention the lunch because Y had something unique stuffed fried pear wontons. Here they are:
The streets and shops are full of Xmas shoppers and the town is lively. Nonetheless you see "retail space for lease" signs and beggars in the streets. One of them is quite creative and has a sign saying "my wife has been kidnapped and I am short $0.99 for the ransom"
The weather has been cooperative, but rain is forecast to begin on Friday and to continue through the weekend just when Maya will be with us, alas. We still hope to have some fun with her.
This evening we will attend the ceremony in which a friend from APL will be installed as a Fellow of the AGU in recognition of his contributions to science. We will then go to dinner with Barry, Ralph and other friends from the East Coast. Tomorrow night we are meeting Barbara and Leo Stanger who are in California to visit their daughter Debra and her family who live in Ukiah.
Love,
YandA
Thursday, July 22, 2010
YandA in Manitoba IV homeward bound
Tues. 20/7
A nice warm day started with a nice warm walk to the marina and back along the summer houses on the shore. We had planned to connect to the internet today in order to catch up with mail and hopefully talk to Hillel on skype before his bedtime, so got through breakfast and returned to our cabin while the rest went to the pool.
Getting connected took some bureaucratic efforts including an extra expedition sortie to the office for additional explanations, but eventually all was well and two hours were bought for 3 dollars. Only Hillel was not in evidence and messages were left. Arkee put out the previous blog, sans pictures despite inhuman efforts the application is still not working, much to our (and our readers'?) disappointment.
Finally he went off with camera and book to the pool and I waited hopefully till the end of the session. But when the time was up and I got into my costume, the weather had changed. Clouds and a breeze came up and rain threatened. I got in a few splashes but the children had already retired and over a late lunch we discussed whether it was worthwhile risking a round of mini-golf. The decision was that it was, but the rain caught us in the middle of the round, we retired to the office temporarily and waited it out. We finished up on the soggy tees, splashing our way on the paths without too much difficulty despite the drips from the trees, great fun was had by all.
The real storm broke while we were having dinner at the restaurant overlooking the golf course. Flashes of lightning accompanied pouring rain and made for a dramatic show. The manager of the course had to enforce regulations in order to call in the last insistent golfers who saw no reason to take shelter from the lightning and the rain..
Thursday 22.7
Yesterday was travel day. We managed to walk around the campsite before packing up and leaving with some regrets. Our account was credited for the lack of hot water
in our cabin which all the king's trucks and all the king's technicians had not managed to fix before we left. Traveling route 2, we were going through farms and very small locations with hardly a gas station to be called by a name. About a quarter of the way to Winnipeg we stopped for lunch in a tiny town called Carberry and then started looking for a famous site of sand-dunes left behind by the delta of the Assiniboine river when it flowed out under the 2km high ice cap in the area. The area is well-known for its peculiar formations and vegetation and sandy paths. The shortest walk to view the dunes is 1.5 km each way, it was quite hot and the younger children found it tough. We took a small bottle of water with us and continued with David and Rafi up the sand-dune ladders to the top and slid down the other side - fun if you don't slide into the bushes by mistake..
Quite a hike for septuagenarians, after which we insisted on ice-cream as a reward, but had to make do with the local supply from the refrigerator in another tiny town. When we needed to fill up with petrol the only station for miles belonged to a local supermarket and was closed. It had to be activated by a membership card, luckily a friendly member was there and accepted 10 dollars from us to give us the equivalent from his card.
Everyone was happy to be home, chaos was soon more or less organised and after supper we returned the car with ease and compliments. We slept well on the sofa....
Thursday in Winnipeg
This was our last day in Canada and it rained most of the time. We spent some time in a mall shopping. I turned the town upside down but did not find the exotic Lego that Ma'ayan requested. It will have to be ordered on line. We did do the Saba trip to the electronic games shop and we picked up a few other things. The rest of the day the children played with their new possessions. Tomorrow we are on an early flight to Toronto and will be back in Israel on Saturday and back to the real world.
A nice warm day started with a nice warm walk to the marina and back along the summer houses on the shore. We had planned to connect to the internet today in order to catch up with mail and hopefully talk to Hillel on skype before his bedtime, so got through breakfast and returned to our cabin while the rest went to the pool.
Getting connected took some bureaucratic efforts including an extra expedition sortie to the office for additional explanations, but eventually all was well and two hours were bought for 3 dollars. Only Hillel was not in evidence and messages were left. Arkee put out the previous blog, sans pictures despite inhuman efforts the application is still not working, much to our (and our readers'?) disappointment.
Finally he went off with camera and book to the pool and I waited hopefully till the end of the session. But when the time was up and I got into my costume, the weather had changed. Clouds and a breeze came up and rain threatened. I got in a few splashes but the children had already retired and over a late lunch we discussed whether it was worthwhile risking a round of mini-golf. The decision was that it was, but the rain caught us in the middle of the round, we retired to the office temporarily and waited it out. We finished up on the soggy tees, splashing our way on the paths without too much difficulty despite the drips from the trees, great fun was had by all.
The real storm broke while we were having dinner at the restaurant overlooking the golf course. Flashes of lightning accompanied pouring rain and made for a dramatic show. The manager of the course had to enforce regulations in order to call in the last insistent golfers who saw no reason to take shelter from the lightning and the rain..
Thursday 22.7
Yesterday was travel day. We managed to walk around the campsite before packing up and leaving with some regrets. Our account was credited for the lack of hot water
in our cabin which all the king's trucks and all the king's technicians had not managed to fix before we left. Traveling route 2, we were going through farms and very small locations with hardly a gas station to be called by a name. About a quarter of the way to Winnipeg we stopped for lunch in a tiny town called Carberry and then started looking for a famous site of sand-dunes left behind by the delta of the Assiniboine river when it flowed out under the 2km high ice cap in the area. The area is well-known for its peculiar formations and vegetation and sandy paths. The shortest walk to view the dunes is 1.5 km each way, it was quite hot and the younger children found it tough. We took a small bottle of water with us and continued with David and Rafi up the sand-dune ladders to the top and slid down the other side - fun if you don't slide into the bushes by mistake..
Quite a hike for septuagenarians, after which we insisted on ice-cream as a reward, but had to make do with the local supply from the refrigerator in another tiny town. When we needed to fill up with petrol the only station for miles belonged to a local supermarket and was closed. It had to be activated by a membership card, luckily a friendly member was there and accepted 10 dollars from us to give us the equivalent from his card.
Everyone was happy to be home, chaos was soon more or less organised and after supper we returned the car with ease and compliments. We slept well on the sofa....
Thursday in Winnipeg
This was our last day in Canada and it rained most of the time. We spent some time in a mall shopping. I turned the town upside down but did not find the exotic Lego that Ma'ayan requested. It will have to be ordered on line. We did do the Saba trip to the electronic games shop and we picked up a few other things. The rest of the day the children played with their new possessions. Tomorrow we are on an early flight to Toronto and will be back in Israel on Saturday and back to the real world.
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