CHANNEL 27

Israel now has a cooking channel...channel 27. I love it. I love cooking. I love eating. There is something warm and toasty about sitting around a table filled with good food, surrounded by good friends and family.

So when we got the cooking channel, I signed up. Yahooooo. Some programs are yukky. Some are wonderful. And all make you hungry.

And if that isn't enough then we have the programs where all we do is watch people eat.

I don't like Paula's Party...she makes me nervous with her sexual innuendoes. I don't like the fat guy who lost a gazillion pounds and cooks without carbs. I don't like the lady with long fingernails. I don't like CeeCee Carmichael...she is so sweet in her little peter pan shirts and skirts.

I love David Gayle and his Bubbies. I met him the last time I was in Toronto. He's a childhood friend of a cousin of mine. He is as lovely in person as he is on TV.

I love Cooking with Floyd...but I wrote about that already.

But there is a down side to almost 24 hour food...it makes you really hungry. Especially when they are making something that looks beyond delicious...usually meat or chocolate.

And, horror of all horrors, they have taken off my Monkey World. That used to be my backup when I didn't have anything to watch. I loved Gordon and Arfur and Sally and Rodney and the gang. I wonder how they are? Maybe I'll have to go to England and visit.

So, my advice for today is this: when you go to the grocery store, go after you've eaten. And when you watch the cooking channel...good luck to you. Sigh.

Shavuah tov.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

FRIENDS

My Dad AH always said that if you could count your friends on two hands you should consider yourself luckyl

When I was young, I used to laugh. I had gazillions of friends. I had close friends-- my sisters-in-love, sorority sisters, business acquaintances, neighbours...you name it I had friends.

Then as I grew older I added another group--my support system. These were a group of women, who no matter what time of day or night could be counted on to lend a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on or an ear to listen.

Friends in Israel become family. They replace the loved ones we left behind. They are dear and precious and help fill a hole that physical distance has created.

Today, I have a small group of friends. Here and there. In Jerusaelm and back over the big water. The internet, and email and Skype and blogging have shrunk the miles so that even though we can't physically touch, we can emotionally share our lives once again.

How great is that!!!

Lately, I have felt the need to cross the water and visit people who I long to see. You know who you are. So, I am making plans to put this tush in a big plane and fly to the States and Canada.

The prices are outrageous!!! The stop-overs are ridiculous. But, who cares. I'm leaving on a Jet plane...lalalalalala.

I don't get the need very often. I hate being far away from my Jerusalem. And, usually after a week or so I get antsy to come back. That is good too.

Bubbie Chanah says I should go. And my kids and good friends will watch over her until I come back. Friends. What would I do without you??? I never want to know.

Some of my friends have disappeared. All are missed. Some friendships don't last forever. I mourn them. But some of you are coming with me for the entire journey. Why? Because it just wouldn't be the same without you...it wouldn't be fun without you there...and because I said so.

In the meantime, until I show up for coffee, if you feel a little draft around your tush don't get scared...it's just me popping in to say 'hello'.

Shabbat shalom and chag sameach.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

BACK TO THE COLISEUM

A couple of days ago my son, Joe College, told me that he was off to Ramat HaSharon to see the tennis match.

I said, 'That's nice.' Since my kid had never shown any interest in tennis I was curious as to why he would traipse off to spend an afternoon in the sun.

One of his dearest, childhood friends had VIP tickets as her father was one of the founding heads of the Israel Tennis Association and got them two tickets. Besides, they could have lunch in the VIP lounge. :)

That made sense to me. So, the kid wore light clothes; a baseball cap; took his old schoolbag full of water and stuff...and off they went.

An hour later he called me and told me to turn on channel 55 and look for him. Well, I wasn't really doing anything special, just writing on my new novel, so I took my laptop into my room, set it up on my breakfast tray, turned on the TV...and that was it...I was stuck for the next five hours.

FIVE HOURS!!!!!!!

Our guy, Dudi Sela, ranked at 105 was playing Fernando Gonzales from Chile, ranked at 6. One of these two players would be propelled into the World Group of the Davis Cup...an honour we haven't had in fourteen years.

I thought tennis was a boring dumb game...like soccer where they run and run and run and maybe after an hour and a half the dumb ball flies into the net...or golf, where they shlep all over the grass and hit the ball into a stream and then try to land it into a tiny, little hole somewhere over the rainbow...and my all time favourite, cricket, which I haven't been able to figure out to this day. A guy takes the ball and runs to Chicago...then he runs to Detroit and flings it at a guy with a funny bat and everyone has a sticky wicket. Don't ask.

I love watching sports. I love gymnastics...swimming...diving...ice skating...
basketball...billiards...BASEBALL...and have even been known to watch a football game or two.

My picture of tennis is nice ladies with long dresses and parasols...or the new kids with short skirts or pants and all in white knacking a ball back and forth over a net.

I am ashamed to tell you that if I wouldn't have been looking out for my kid, I would have turned the thing off after twenty minutes. But, as it was I was stuck.

This is not a friendly game! This is not a game for sissies!!! This is a killer sport. After watching these two men exhaust themselves non-stop for five hours, all I can say is that the gladiators are back.

I thought of the two of them as I watched and cheered on our guy. Both exhausted...both not giving up...both hanging in there...sweating and panting in the sun.

Oh! And jumping! How the hell they could still hop and jump is beyond me. It was pitiful. It reminded me of the marathon races in the olympics where, half-dead, a runner shows up dazed and lost a few feet away from the finish line. Honestly it was awful watching these two men.

They were like dance partners in a room full of strangers. Each knew his steps and timing. Each knew the other's weaknesses. Each applauded the other's strength. And each wanted that last point to be his.

You have to have a strong heart to watch tennis. God alone knows what you have to have to play the game.

Bravo Dudi Sela. The last ball of the last set of the last game was yours. You are on your way to the Davis Cup.

I think you are a hero! I hope you win.

Just thinking about it is making me tired.

Tonight is another holiday...Succot. So, let me take a moment to wish you all a chag sameach and a wonderful holiday.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

MY NEW THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Every once in awhile, I come across a saying that stops me and I think, 'I wish I had said that.'

And I think that one of the funniest women on the planet had to have been Dorothy Parker.

Here is my newest favouritest saying for now: Dorothy Parker.

I have never been a millionaire, but I just know I would be darling at it.

And here is another I came across by the same woman. (I wish I would have known her...wadda gal.)

Ducking for apples...if you change one letter you have the story of my life.

:)))

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Yom Kippur in Israel has to be experienced to be believed. Picture this. For almost twenty-six hours the entire country is silent.

No traffic what-so-ever is on the road. Perhaps an ambulance, here and there, but it has to have a very good reason before it can get safely to its destination.

No televison. No raidos. Silence.

The only sound to be heard is the sound of people praying in the various synagogues. Even people walking in the streets speak in hushed tones.

The food is all cooked and waiting for the final meal before the fast. A pice of cake is eaten. Another glass of sweet tea is drunk. A final cigarette is smoked.

Before lighting candles it is decided which lights will be left on in the house. A hallway? A bathroom?

Yorzeit candles, twenty-four hour candles used when in mourning or remembering the dead are lit. Shabbat candles are burning.

And then the silence takes over.

In the morning a new sound is added...the sound of the children playing in the street. The little ones are safe today to ride their bikes and skate boards. Up and down. They are too young to fast. They are free to ride the wind. What sins could these little ones possibly have to atone for?

The day passes. And with it the thoughts go through your mind. Asking forgiveness; remembering loved ones who no longer are with us; pleading that those you love be written up for another good and healthy year.

And on top of it all is the silence. An entire country is silent. The strength of that silence is awesome. It is binding. It is a link between family and strangers. All sharing the same space. All listening to the same quiet. All praying the same prayers. Watch over our soldiers, God. Keep Israel safe. Bring our boys back home safe and sound.

Whether you fast or not; whether you believe or not; no one is unaffected by the silence of Yom Kippur. Whether you pray all day or send out a quick plea to God, the air is filled with wishes and hopes and dreams. Clean air. Quiet air. Waiting to be filled with Israel's prayers.

I was a young wife and mother that Yom Kippur in 1973. Like this year, it fell on a shabbat. I was taking a little walk with my husband and another couple of friends of ours. Two o'clock in the afternoon we were standing in the middle of King George Street and Jaffa Road...where the big X is. The streets were empty. The silence amazing. And the sirens went off.

My husband grabbed me and pulled me into the archway of a closed shop. Egypt and Syria have gone to war!

I thought, 'What the hell do I care? Let them kill each other.' See, it never entered my mind that they were at war with US!

They made one mistake that year. Yom Kippur is the only day in the country of Israel where everyone knows where everyone is. And where every soldier can be reached in a matter of moments. They are all in their homes or at shul praying.

Today, after living in Israel for thirty-seven years, I know what war is. I know what intifada is and I know what sirens are peaceful and what aren't.

I stood in my window overlooking the neighbourhood as Yom Kippur was ending. Soon we could all drink and eat. Soon we would turn on the TV and pick up the phones to see how our loved ones came through the fast. We would take one more chance to wish each other a good year.

I looked at the sky. The required two stars were shining. Then I heard it...the shofar. From the shul up the street where my son davens when he is in the neighborhood. Two blocks away and it was so silent that I heard the shofar.

A sweet and good year to you all.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

There is a great Hebrew word...PROTEXIA...and it means more than just protection...or VIP treatment...it means you have a friend. A great friend. You know, the one who can get you those tickets you need; the introduction to a person who can maybe give your kid a summer job; who can smooth the way for you without making you feel uncomfortable. A friend.

Sometimes I have protexia and sometimes I am the one people come to for protexia.

Yesterday I spoke with my friend, John Little. He's the guy who set up my blog and got this whole thing rolling. Go check out his blog www.israeloutlook.com you won't be sorry!

Yesterday, John took time from his busy schedule and reset my clock so that it wouldn't make me crazy...I know, I know...God made me crazy! :)

And then he made me beautiful!!! He put my Jerusalem into Shalomfromjerusalem. Yahooooo John. And thanks is too small a word.

Aren't I gorgeous now???

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur. One of the holiest days in a Jewish person's life. We atone for our sins. We ask God to forgive us and to please inscribe us for another year of life.

Tomorrow at sundown we begin to fast.

Tomorrow morning I don't know if I'll have time to sit and write a blog. So, let me take a moment to wish you all Gmar Hatima Tova...may you all be inscribed for a good and healthy wonderful new year.

May all your prayers be answered.

Shanah tova my dear friends.

Have a wonderful day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

SO WHERE EXACTLY DID THE SUMMER GO?

I thought when you grow older that time weighs heavily on your shoulders. That only the young find it flying by so quickly that they fight to grab a handful before running off to a new adventure.

So, here we are after Rosh Ha Shanah already. We even turned our clocks back. I know, I know...but I don't know how to fix my clock here on the blog. I guess I'll have to wait until you all go back to regular time and then maybe it will change too. Another miracle in the Holy Land.

This past summer was the hottest I can remember. Weeks and weeks of mid nineties. And for a person who loves winter and snow and rain and everything, it was pitiful. I sometimes ask myself what a person like me is doing in a place like this. No, not Jerusalem...but the Middle East where we have five minutes of winter and eight months of hot and hotter. Vey!

Added to the heat was the problem with my teeth. Don't ask. The good news is that my wonderful dentist pulled the moth***; da**; irritating little thing and since then I am singing Sweet Sue! Yahoooooooooooooo.

I love that the weather is getting cooler. That fall is here and winter is on it's way. I love the freshness of a new year. I love the opportunities and dreams that a new beginning always brings with it.

Today I am off to the city to meet Bubbie Channah and two or three friends for lunch. Then I have a student to teach and then back home again. Nice day. Got a little crazy after being home for four days. It will be great to get out and wander my Jerusalem streets once again. After nearly forty years the magic is still there. And isn't that a blessing!?!

Hope your day is delicious, too.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

DONT'CHA JUST LOVE HOLIDAYS?

Shavuah tov!!! A good week and a sweet year. Thanks for all your kind messages and emails. Nice to have friends who care.

I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for holidays...mine...yours...well, I was going to say 'and theirs' but that isn't true. Mine and yours are just dandy...theirs??? nuh-huh.

So, after I ran around for two days helping my daughter-in-law with the kids while she cooked (we were at her place Wednesday night...more later) and although I LOVE being with the babies it does take a lot of energy keeping up with them and then Wednesday morning I cooked for the holiday at my place.

I made Moroccan fish (beyond gorgeous) and roast chicken and a roast beef and a mashed potato/fried onion/chopped meat macharaykeh that you roll up in dough like a big pinwheel and four different kinds of vegetables which are needed for the blessings and salad and and and...

Oh, if any of you want the recipes, just write.

Well, as I was about to collapse from exhaustion I heard a little voice call out 'Bubbie!'. My husband brought the babies home. Yahoooooooooo. There goes the afternoon nap.

But, I tricked them. After we ate and played a bit I put them into my bed and bribed them to fall asleep. Yes dear friends, I really did. I told them the first one to fall asleep would get ten shekels. Don't tell their father. Sweetsie Girl pooped out first, bless her and then Sweetsie Tootsie finally closed his eyes. I wanted to sleep too but they pushed me out of the bed so I sat there just looking at them. AHHHHHHHH.

We had a great evening. My four children (the three kids and my daughter-in-law), my two babies, Bubbie Channah, my husband, one of my brothers-in-law, and I sat around till nearly midnight. Brilliant!!!

Then the best part is that I still had three more days. Thursday I slept and read and ate some of the stuff and slept and read some more. Friday, I didn't have to cook as I had outdone myself Wednesday morning, so I had the day free and did a lot of writing on my new book 55 Jacob's Ladder. Saturday, I read and slept and wrote and to tell you the truth, I could really get used to that kind of a life. Sigh.

Today is a new day...the first day of a new week...the first Sunday of a New Year. May it be filled with joy and peace and good health and a little extra money in our pockets and a smidgen of mazal too.

Hope yours was as wonderful as mine was.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

SHANAH TOVA

I don't know where the summer disappeared. Gone. Vanished. Just like that.

And here we are again, days before Rosh HaShanah...the Jewish New Year.

Here is my New Year's Wish to you all:

Dear family and friends...
May your dreams come true this new year...
And may good health allow you to pursue them...
Shanah Tova U'Metukah...
A sweet...prosperous...good...and peaceful year...
Thank you for enriching my life so much...
From me and mine to you and yours...
Shanah Tova!!!
Love, marallyn

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in

PUN-ISHMENT

For the past few weeks all I have been is a tooth. Don't laugh. Have you ever had a tooth ache? Have you ever tried to save a tooth, by hook or by crook? If not, then you have no idea what I'm talking about...but, if yes, then you understand. I woke up waiting for the tooth to attack me. I went to sleep full of pills. But now that I am back to being just me...for those of you who don't know...that fjiez**rez tooth and I have parted ways. AHHHHHHHHHH.

So, today I thought we should have some fun. Pun fun. A different kind of 'ouch' :).

1) I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

2) Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting
a rest.

3) Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's
all right now.

4) The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.

5) To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

6) When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

7) The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium
at large.

8) A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

9) A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened
criminal.

10) Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.

11) We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.


12) When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U C L A.

13) The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on
it.

14) The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky
ground.

15) The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

16) If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.

17) A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

18) What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead giveaway)

19) A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

20) Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

21) A backward poet writes inverse.

22) In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your
Count that votes.

23) A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

24) If you don't pay your exorcist y ou can get repossessed.

25) With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

26) Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A flat
miner.

27) When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

28) The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

29) A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in Linoleum
Blownapart.

30) You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

31) He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

32) A calendar's days are numbered.

33) A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

34) A boiled egg is hard to beat.

35) He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

36) A plateau is a high form of flattery.

37) Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

38) When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

39) When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

40) Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

41) Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

42) Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Shabbat shalom.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

I'M BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

When my Dad AH was happy, he used to sing that song. 'I'm back in the saddle again.'Gene Autry.

I'm back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again'

Now don't get me wrong...my Dad wasn't a cowboy, and I don't think he was ever on a horse. But it is a nifty song with a happy melody.

Later on in life, my Dad got boxer shorts with saddles on them. Don't ask. We always knew when he was wearing them. Yup...he was back in the saddle again.

Those few words always make me smile and today after finally parting ways with that miserable tooth that had been attacking me for three weeks, I can proudly tell you that 'I'm back in the saddle again.' Back to being me. Back to living without medication and/or pain killers.

I wondered this morning what sort of a person I really am. I mean, that tooth and I have been sharing meals for a gazillion years and I didn't even wave it goodbye or wonder what was going to happen to it now.

Did it go to Tooth Heaven? I'm too old for the Tooth Fairy, and besides when it was extracted I got my wish. Sigh.

And I have the kindest, best dentist in the universe...Cousin Sheldon, the dentist. He filled me up with numbness and as I was bracing myself for pain and terror, he walked away. I opened my eyes to see where he was going and there was my miserable tooth in his hand!

Out, out damn tooth, I thought doing my own impression of Lady MacBeth. I am toothless in Jerusalem.

Now all I have to do is get the new bridges and then I can go back to eating like a real person. I mean I am in danger here of getting scurvy what without being able to chew for almost two months. No fruit/no vegetables...just cooked and mushy. You know, stuff like spagetti, bread, mashed potatoes, cream of wheat. A dieter's delight.

I look like a meatball already but who cares. Soon, I will be back to my old regime of salads and soups and counting carbs. But until then I am in Carb Heavan. Round is a shape, no?

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

OY, THE CHOICES, THE CHOICES

Last night when I got home from babysitting...ahhhhhhh...I found an email from my nephew.

When I opened it up, here is what it said:

I would like to have a moment of your time (or maybe more than a moment ).

What would your answer the following question be:

"If you could have dinner with one individual in the past, present, or future, who would it be and why?"

I am looking forward to your response.

Well, he got me. One person...who should it be?

Here are my choices:
Moses...I mean MOSES...now wouldn't that be something.
Jesus...I have a lot of questions for him.
Golda...that would be the best dinner ever.
Shakespeare...ahhhhhh
My Zaidi...too sad to say goodbye afterwards.

And then I figured it out! My choice would be Merlin! Of course it would.

OK. So who would you choose?

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

ALL THOSE OTHER THINGS

Shavuah tov...a good week. I hope your weekend was wonderful.

I was thinking this morning of all those other things that not only have I never done, but that I never wanted to do. Things like, rock climbing. Have you watched those crazy people hanging upside down like a bat trying to get to the top? My idea of getting to the top is either by some four-wheeled machine or a cable car. If not, then stay home.

I have also never wanted to sky dive or bungee jump. I figure living in Jerusalem is plenty enough excitement for me. And some days too much excitement.

I once rode a horse. Not a pretty sight.

I once went skiing. Very scary. The lodge was lovely, though.

I did, however dream of being an actress on broadway. Or a standup comic. I liked the idea of that.

I did realize after teaching school for a gazillion years that I should have gotten a second degree in law. I think I would have liked that a lot.

I love being a Mom...even when it means that I have to listen to the moments when my kids are miserable or scared. When they were young it was easy. A mom could always take care of little kids' problems. But, when they are big kids the problems they sometimes face are the same ones that you yourself are still struggling with. But still it is worth it.

I love being a Bubbie. Period. Let their folks take care of the scary parts. I get to pamper and hug and love. And the best part is they love me too!

I love being a daughter. Bubbie Channah is one in a million...no a gazillion and every day is a blessing.

I love writing. I love the silence of it...the creation of the invisible playmates who keep me company for a year or two. And I miss them when the book is done. But then new playmates are waiting to be discovered.

I love my brother Dovidle and my other brother Maeshey. They know why. And forever I will be grateful that they are in my life.

I love my friends. And am blessed with people around me who love me back.

What's all this about? Is that what you are thinking? Well, I just finished writing this week's astrology for the Jerusalem Post and Rosh Ha Shanah is only a week and a half away...oy! Already?

And I was thinking of all the things I have and don't have...want and don't want...love and don't love...and love again.

So, I decided to share. I hope your list is longer on the love side...fuller on the grateful side...thicker on the happy side...and that you still have an empty page that is waiting to be filled tomorrow.

Yahooooooooooo.

Have a great week...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.