Thu, October 28, 2010 2:50:13 AMshabbat shalom 28.10.10 ...
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| Linda Olsvig-Whittaker |
Hi everyone, Autumn has really come now; we are expecting rain tonight. Aside from a few sprinkles, we haven't any since last April, as is typical of the eastern Mediterranean. Right now it is "hamsin", hot and dry and dusty, but the weather is supposed to swing around tonight and get cold and wet.... It's been a long week. My family doctor put me on antibiotics a week ago for treatment of cellulitis. By then it was painful, like a sunburn. The antibiotics slowed me down a bit, with diarrhea as a side effect, so I cancelled my planned trip to Haifa to take part in a conference, and just stayed in the office working on a long report. Uff, a dreary week of writing and running to the bathroom, and going to bed early because it all left me rather tired. This is passing, however. Two more days on antibiotics and I'm done. I did go to a conference at Hebrew University to hear a student talk about his thesis work on biodiversity patterns. It was really nice to see a student, who is a student of a student of my late husband, using the mathematical tools we developed in the 1970's, as ordinary data analysis procedures. I introduced the ordination and numerical classification methods to Israel which are now widespread and commonplace; it has taken a couple decades but now these methods are used everywhere. If I did nothing else in this country, that was a contribution. So when I see Canoco or RDA or Twinspan in scientific use by students here, I just grin and make a mental tick on my life list. Usually they don't even know I was the one to introduce these methods here; too much time has gone by now. But I know. I also got to a peace activitists' workshop organized by IPCRI. That was just a little down the road from my home, in Talitha Kumi (Beit Jala). About 100 Israelis and Palestinians got together, including half a dozen from Gaza, only God knows how they managed to arrive. Lots of sessions. I was impressed by the use of the internet to keep in contact despite all political efforts to stop connections. Facebook, skype, blogging....all are incredibly subversive. The only way to block them is to block Internet altogether, and that isn't happening. However, our Gazan friends did beg us to not mention their names, not take pictures of them and not put them on the Internet because Hamas will check and then they could be killed. It is hard to imagine what they live under....and they really want to get rid of Hamas. They hate it. And they don't hate us. That alone made attendance at the workshop worthwhile. People at war tend to demonize and dehumanize the other side; when we are face to face and eating at the same table, that doesn't work any more. I've learned that over and over, in all kinds of different contexts and with many kinds of people. Meanwhile, I try to get my tired old brain to focus on synthesizing all the work my team has done in the last two years on the EBONE project, and make a coherent summary of it. We were rather busy; three students completed M.Sc. theses as part of our work, and we have two subcontracts on special aspects (remote sensing and data management) so the work is rather wide-ranging. I'm just on the factual reporting now, but I do need to make a synthesis of what we found. I guess it is good that I'm required to do this because I'd sure never do it voluntarily. With much grunting and groaning I've got 27 pages of text and God knows how many graphs, tables and figures, but at least it is roughed out now and I can start polishing and synthesizing. Other news items: my cats are doing rather okay at the moment, although I had to put a poor stray cat down. Renal failure, per usual. I have a house-cat with chronic renal failure as well, but he eats his special food and seems to be doing okay for now. Or at least he eats his food if I sit in front of him and watch him eat and talk to him; otherwise he doesn't eat. This is a new one for me but other cat lovers tell me they experienced finicky cats who only eat when they have company..... My friend Rebeka has a handful at the moment also. Her friend flew in from America in rather bad health, and hasn't stirred from her house in two days. Just gets up to eat a little and goes back to bed. Rebeka is getting worried. The woman flew in without travel health insurance, has diabetes and a stent in her heart, and and is over 70 years old. It's another one of those cases where a devout Christian has decided to visit the Holy Land and, unlike going to France or Italy, has failed to take the proper precautions for travel in a foreign land because "God will provide". Poor God, he has to substitute for Thomas Cook, the public health service, social security, and the police all at the same time. As might be expected, people who come here with that approach, especially if older and less robust, are often headed for a very hard fall on their noses. It's %%%%% because in other circumstances these are often intelligent, practical people. They just leave their brains at Ben Gurion Airport, and we residents of the Holy Land have to clean up the consequences. Why do they do that??? So, Rebeka has noted down the local ambulance number just in case, and is girding herself for a serious face to face talk with her old friend and house guest. I don't envy her. Messy business, especially if the old friend has a heart attack or diabetic coma on her watch, and no health insurance! Guess there isn't much more to mention here. We slide into the monotony of early winter, usually grateful for routine after all the disruptions of summer and the High Holy Days. I'm a little peeved because some thief made off with half my woodpile, but our local cop thinks she knows the culprit and is on the case. Fortunately I have an air conditioner this year (hurray) and am no longer dependent on my wood-stove to keep me warm. It will just be used for adding a bit of cheer on the weekends, but I'd still like my woodpile back. The joys of country living..... shabbat shalom, Linda |
http://shabbat-shalom-jerusalem.blogspot.com/
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