This week went by really fast! This was partly because there was a "weekend" in the middle, as Tuesday and Wednesday were Memorial Day and Independence Day here in Israel respectively. This meant a low-key flypast above various hospitals (we saw the four training planes go by from our balcony, but the actual aerobatics, and drawing a heart over the local hospital with the jet streams was in a blind spot) and lot of Israeli movies - Waltz with Bashir (about the 1982 Lebanon War) on Tuesday night, The Unofficial Ones (הבלתי רשמיים - a fictionalised retelling of the founding of Shas, the political party of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Jews) on Wednesday night and Aviya's Summer (הקיץ של אביה - a classic from the 80s, about a little girl in 1950s Israel who comes home from school for the summer, while her Holocaust-survivor mother is between nervous breakdowns. It is based on the autobiography of the actress who plays the mother, Gila Almagor, who is mostly seen these days advertising very upmarket old age homes. It was odd to see her as she was 30 years ago). S watched the first and last movies with us (he skipped the second to work on a home exam in history) and found them both interesting. Each movie sparked a discussion about its subject - the Lebanon War seems so long ago now. Operation Peace for Galilee started the summer after we came to Israel, and I remember coming back from our first family trip to the Kinneret, and noticing the tank carriers rolling north, but not understanding the significance at all. What a mess it was, truly Israel's Vietnam, and in retrospect the beginning of the loss of faith of ordinary people that the "high ups" meant well, even if things didn't always work out.
Knitting continues apace - I've completed one and three-quarters of the dragon leggings for G - the leggings were done last week, and I've done 6 out of 8 spikes. Extremely fiddly work, those spikes - each one takes half an hour and I can't do anything else while working on them, as they require extreme concentration. But they'll be done by Friday, G's 4th birthday (definitely the reason for 4 spike, why do you ask?). LR's top is going well, I've finished a sleeve and started the second one. The body will probably only be completed after we're allowed to meet again, as she'll need to try it on to decide on the length.
The continuing adventures of getting vegetables: we are having a very hard time with the price and quality of fruit and vegetables available in our neighbourhood. We ordered a box direct from growers, but the choice was either organic or extra kosher certification - so the prices were still quite high and the selection was limited, as its a single farm (although the quality was good). That was on Monday. On Tuesday ADC decided that he wanted to check whether shops along Jaffa Road in the market area had reopened. He triumphantly bought a variety of spices, herbs and loose teas - and discovered that one of the greengrocers whose regulars we are was open, too, despite being in the market proper. He came home with extra loquats and somewhat squishy peaches, all he could carry by bike - and KH's brother came round later with a wreath of green garlic. This made us very happy. By then we had also heard about a company that sells directly to consumers from the wholesalers who normally sell to the market stalls. We took a look at the website and were impressed. We ordered on Wednesday and got a large quantity of fruit and vegetables on Thursday, including our first broccolis and cauliflowers in a month. Much rejoicing here!
Staying with the food theme, on Thursday S's class made Death by Chocolate cookies. They came out very well, considering his lack of experience, and on Friday I met M in the line for the supermarket and gave her 2. We actually saw her again on the weekend, all of us, as we went to the far recycling, that includes cans, and we have to go by her house for that. S came with on the walk, to return comics. On our way, most people were wearing masks, but one elderly woman was sitting in her yard with the mask around her chin, and two younger people (adult grandchildren?) were sitting with her without any masks at all. On our way back we saw them get into a car and rive off, so they probably don't live with her. This kind of thing makes me worry about a second wave ...
Fittingly for the times, the movies on the weekend were The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeouisie, which is officially surreal, and the 1966 Batman movie with Adam West.
That's it for this week. Stay safe, healthy and serene!
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