Our Fish Get Seen!

My Favorite Species. The Danio

This is my favorite species of aquarium fish. Athough known as the "Giant Danio," I have only once seen one over 3 inches long.

This picture was taken in the pet store in the Malcha shopping mall in Southern Jerusalem.

Our Danio

This guy is hard to photograph. You see his tail there just behind Oscar White? Oh by the way, meet Oscar White. He's the newest addition to our aquatic display.


Here's the Danio hiding behind Mr. White again.

Oscar Black

Here's the old man of the tank. He's been around for years. The recent arrival of another Oscar fish has necesitated the appendage of the sir name "Black" for distinction from Oscar White. Amazing fish, this old Oscar. We feed him on dry dog food. You can hear the stuff crunching in his powerful jaws from across the room.


Oscar Black Again...

All those years in the kitchen and not once did this Oscar offer to do the dishes!

And that, my dear readers, is the difference between him and me!

An Inside Joke

One morning this week I was standing by the side of the road waiting for a bus to the city. A minibus taxi filled with local villagers pulls up about three meters in front of me to let someone out the front passenger seat. As it pulled up I took a step back thinking, "Is he pulling up to let someone out to kill me?" Then, as I was backing up, I looked a little more inquisitively at the people inside and thought I saw clearly that these people just want to get to work.

The driver looked at me looking at (and seeing?) him and his passengers. He must have "seen" the positive direction of my thoughts. He smiled at me and as he let his passenger out, put up one finger (not THAT finger) to indicate that he has "one" seat free.

I smiled back at him because I got the joke.

It was an inside joke between us. It was funny because the inconceivability of my entering that vehicle was so obvious. It was funny because it was so unexpected that two people who could not possibly know each other would understand each other well enough to exchange smiles and share an unspoken inside joke.

the question remains, what was so funny and what was so true to him?

What did he think I was doing when I stepped back? What did he think I was thinking when I eyed his passengers? What was he really thinking when he smiled at me and put up one finger? And what was he thinking when he saw me smile back?

Now if anyone suggest that I just stop him tomorrow to ask, that would really be a joke, funny in its own way too.

Hobbit Soccer

One evening a few weeks ago, I decided to do something nice for myself. On the way home from work, I got myself a bottle of Guiness in one of those bottle stores by the shuk and headed off into one of the most charming little old-new neighborhoods of Jerusalem. I thought it was called Nachla'ot. But according to this sign, the name's Mazkeret Moshe.



This neighborhood's got these teeny little hovel-like homes some of which have very short doors giving the impression that hobbits live in them, thus the heading of this post.

So right in the middle of this neighborhood there is the tiniest little asphalt soccer court with a really tall fence to keep the ball in.


A small group of 17-21 year-old-guys with long hair and street clothes was playing, having the time of their lives. One guy tried to make a move, tripped over himself and fell to the groud. His whole body throbbed and jiggled for quite a while from.... laughter. He finally pulled himself out of it and stood up with the biggest smile on his face. What was so funy? Well, lets say you hadda be there. Actually, it wasn't enough to be there, you hadda to be him, or at least able to see inside him which I'm not so good at yet! Anyway, he was laughing and enjoying himself. And I was happy for him.

Meanwhile, a group of tourists came by. Not your typical tourists. These were IDF soldiers appearantly on an educational activity. One soldier made sure they were in the right place and pulled out a fact sheet about the area. "This used to be a Roman theater, the British used to torture prisoners in that building, Monteffiores' horse coughed over on that street...ect, ect..."

The contrast between the two groups was amazing. These guys were falling all over themselves and throbbing with joy. While these guys (and girls) stood in the same place but were following a controlled and controlling script for recreation. Go to the specified location. Read the specified text for a certain length of time and on an on and on until someone in charge decides that the task has been completed enough to say, "lets eat," which eventually someone did.

And there I was with my Guiness, wondering why they put that stupid plastic ball inside the bottle and considering how I might share this sight with others.

At the time, I thought, "too bad I don't have my camera with me." So I came back another day to take these pictures. That day was a very different kind of day - cold, rainy, no soldiers, no hobbit soccer, no Guiness...

Saturday Night Pizza!

Judging from the lack of response to my last post "weighing in" on current events is not as interesting as what happens at our dinner table. So I'm going back to family pictures. Enjoy!

Here's how SP joins us at the dinner table.

Clockwise from dog: SP, Moshey, Roochie, Evey, Adiella, Avi Katz (neighbor)

Here's another angle. Still no chance of even a morsel of table scraps for SP.


Evey and Adiella

Coffee Anyone?

The Tear-Jerker of the day.

The two links to "other voices from my neck of the woods" are the only two local blogs I read regularly. I would probably read more if I had time. These two blogs give expression to a lot of the same feelings I have about many topics including how wonderful this country is.

I really recommend Treppenwitz's post today. It's about the holocaust. Its about survival. Its about Israel. And it's about Zichron Yaakov, where we went when my mother came to visit us last summer.


He calls it not my story.

Read it and weep, and smile, and believe!

Here's the tooth!

This is SP's tooth. Remember Sweetie Pie and the debate on neutering?

Minnie's 85th keneina hara!

Minnie Feldman celebrates her 85th birthday.

This is Minnie. That's Roochie's sister's mother-in-law and our resident family dignitary here in Efrat. I can't say I remember much of her speech, except that I almost cried when she thanked G-d for the gift of life and health.

Thank you Minnie for delaying your speech until we got there!



Roochie with Chedvah!

I know Nettie... That's Ched-VAH not CHED-vah!