(sorry, that didn't look so good. I'll try again) Hi everyone, Summer draws to a close here in Israel. After a week of Saharan heat, we have the first days of autumn, with mist and fog in the morning and decidedly cooler weather. Something shifts; maybe it is the quality of the light. Visitors can't tell the difference but residents all sense it. The squill will bloom soon, a tall stalk of plain white flowers from a big fleshy rosette, the first flowers of autumn. Madonna lily and Sternbergia (a big crocus-type flower) soon after. My Dutch graduate student is finishing up his work and preparing to return to Holland after four months here in Israel. It's been quite an adventure for him, mapping a nature reserve in Galilee, sharing accommodations with a prostitute while in the field, and then living with the Bedouin in a tent when he couldn't take the @@*!%@ any more, and developing a serious leg infection. His two months in Jerusalem with me were luxury after the field work. Right now he is sleeping somewhere on the beach of the Sea of Galilee, a short holiday before he goes home. My quiet, almost boring month of slogging away on work comes to an end also. I go to the Negev for an international conference on ecological research, give a paper, come back and start preparing for a long trip to Europe, including Sweden, Holland and Belgium. I fly 24 September and return 15 October. It's been years since I have been away from home for so long, and I'm not entirely happy about it, but it can't be changed. Worries at home. One of my favorite cats, and old ginger male, is beginning to experience kidney failure. It's what usually kills the old cats, and he has had health problems for years. He's a beautiful, mellow old cat I've raised since I found him a half-blind kitten in my garden, and it will be hard to lose him. I'm trying to get him to eat the special cat food for renal problems, but he doesn't have much appetite, and I doubt he will live until I go to Europe. Well, it is the nature of having cats; few live beyond a dozen years, especially the sick and handicapped ones I tend to adopt. I try to keep them happy while they are alive.....This one is spending most of his time sleeping in a basket, and so he will end his days. My laptop died as well, after six years. This time I approached my workplace about providing me with one, since data management is after all my job. I've been subsidizing them for years by using my own laptop, car, phone, etc. when most people of my rank have all this provided. Well, my boss was embarrassed enough to push for it, and hopefully next week I have a new laptop from work. Otherwise I will have to get a cheap one on installment payments. Beyond these normal experiences of living, things are very good. Our EBONE project has taken fire, and the various members of my team are very involved and excited about it now. We have taken the lead in most modules in which we are involved. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems like we come up with ideas and pursue them fairly unhindered, while the Europeans have a mountain of regulations to slow them down. I've gotten my head into developing indices of biodiversity, and writing up the last two years of work in the Negev site where we have done both mapping and biodiversity work. It's time for another article, and this beats just writing reports. My summer of dieting has paid off, losing 3 kilo (still seven to go). While it's nice to find all my clothing is loose on me now, it is better to feel more alert again. I was getting quite sluggish, and needed to exercise after neglecting this for nearly a year. Slim and sexy is way beyond me, but I'll happily settle for sturdy and healthy. Not much more to mention here. Israel empties out during August and the flap about the Turkish flotilla died down, as we knew it would. Back to interminable peace talks. Meanwhile I do it my own way; tomorrow I go down to the Christian Arab Hope School with a load of donated medicines for the Greek Orthodox pharmacy, which provides free medicines for the poor in Bethlehem. The headmaster is a friend of mine and also on the board for the pharmacy, which is a kind of charity. These are small things but they add up. shabbat shalom, Linda |
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://shabbat-shalom-jerusalem.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment