Dances with DS

I have itchy feet today. The old travel wind is blowing through me yet again but I will have to curb it if I am to do all the things I want to do yet. Still I am restless. Well, we shall see what the travel gods do next year.

An easy food day - good eating - it comes and goes. I need to just accept it and not go into mild panic sessions. One would think by now my head would get it - but I am a slow learner.

Spent a lot of time today researching felting - some stunning artists out there and I am inspired. This is going to be fun Only problem is I am running before I can even walk - I see things I want to create and have to remind myself to slow down & master what I have before me. But all those gorgeous felt clothes make me want to go BIG lol.

The triops have exploded into life. The tank is writhing with white specks of varying sizes. Matt and I pore over them with magnifying glasses congratulating ourselves on the great success! I am afraid the light will boil them - it’s tricky to get temperatures right with a bedside light but so far so good.

Basically a very quiet day just itching and pondering -lol.

A quiet chilled out pondering kinda day. Lovely:-D Had a great chat with my mum - she sounds very well fullof the joys of the coming year!

I got stuck into the feltmaking - great learning process going on - but I am pleased with my first attempt. I have the cleanest hands in the world, feltmaking is a soap & water process. My nails are transluscent -lol! First lesson - bring on the latex gloves. Second lesson - use armature wires to get shape into the piece. No shops open so it will have to wait. Meantime felting needles are ordered and I am thinking of an experimental cinch belt. Enjoying this! My piece is looking cool - big chunks of turquoise and coral and a lovely olive green felt to set the stones off …it is working visually and I have hope that maybe there is a place for utter madness in the world after all.

Foodwise a bum day with no appetite at all. It may be a Christmas dinner hangover. I am just doing protein drinks today and will try some chicken for dinner. Hot milk drinks save me and I am going to have one now - vanilla with melted marshmellows on top - I can do with the cals!

Matt’s triops have hatched - they are quite cute, he is like a proud father watching over his brood…makes me laff, all the light adjusting and crushing of food for the prehistoric monsters. I admit extreme fascination myself - kid at heart…lol.

Pete installed a cool music system on my pc. Picks up radio too so I feel hi tech even if it is all a sham. I must try to work the darned thing out better. Still much fiddling to do. Enjoying a tad of Bob Marley right now and every now and then shaking my skinny booty ;-). Love this DS - no ….LOVE IT!

We are awakened by Luke jumping onto our bed. Now that brought back memories of when they were littlies but Luke is a huge 6ft rugby build of a lad 23 years old (going on 6years old) - lol! I ate several mince pies in succession to try to get a grip on reality - I know later I will most likely regret this diversion from my regular eggs brekkie. It’ll serve me right - I don’t have a ‘learn’ button -lol! But what the heck it is Christmas!

We made family phone calls to South Africa. Everyone is well - Oh god how I miss them all! But good to hear they are enjoying and no major probs.

We opened our pressies - amid much laughter. Zen sat beside me looking glum. Then I remembered his present - we gave it to him and he was soooo funnny - trying to scratch his wrapping open & oh his joy when he finally pulled the jingly toy mouse out ! He is a child not a dog!

I have such a good time with my family :-D. Kate and Matt bought each other poker sets so there will be much gaming going on. The boys bought guns that give the other a shock - I laughed hearing Luke beg Matt for mercy. Matt is one big gamer, stealthy and brilliant at chess and tactic games - Luke never stood a chance, bless the child! Matt was delighted with the prehistoric creatures set I bought him - you grow the living ‘triops’ from eggs and I admit I bought it for me as much as him! Pete bought me a subscription to Ornament magazine & I am over the moon. I sometimes find these and snap them up but to get a years subscription is bliss. I love this mag it is full of great articles right up my street : Ornament magazine
My ma sent me a wonderful book on Ottoman Embroideries. Kate gave me a pair of gorgeous embroidered slippers and Luke gave me a lovely photo frame with a photo in it of a dog that is Zenni’s twin. Matt spoilt me with a box of delicious Thorntons chocs. I am spoilt.

We had after the great cook up last night a wonderful happy meal together with much warmth and enjoyment of each other and I feel strangely complete in myself & very relaxed today.

Aside from Christmas I am fermenting a completely mad idea. Time is short to implement it but Pete is game! I will write more about it if I can lift the idea into reality but it’s about celebrating Life & Love - in a BIG way -lol!
I dunno - I am rather mad but I think we spend way too much time not doing this. It’s like we are afraid or something to act on our hearts - to extend Love to the people that matter to us in a broad way. So I want to celebrate it - really CELEBRATE it’s existence. So to the drawing board I go if not this year maybe next year!

I am also branching into feltmaking. Again I think the old marbles are somewhat loose - but I envision a range of jewellery incorporating felted pieces in an interesting synergy of wool and stone. I have always had a great interest in textiles and this media can allow me to indulge myself. In my minds eye I see felted shapes as a back drop to the stones and beads. Silver, felt, stone. Nature in this. The wool is malleable and highly organic and I think the jewellery should reflect this. The beauty is that I can go more 3 dimensional in the jewellery. I really need to push the perimeters now & step out into uncharted waters.

The thing is everyone is now creating the sort of stuff I was once alone in doing, so I know that I must peak my work to take it back into being wholly original & unique. What’s the darned bet I will do it and in a years time it will be everywhere … ah well! Kate reckons I should go in for trendspotting - if only one could make a bob or so - I would be rich -lol!

The wool is waiting - beautiful rich colours of the earth - funny how materials one use can so embody qualities. Just pushing it around in my hands I see things from it - I feel urged to translate this earthiness and colour into something beautiful. All creation in a ball of soft unspun wool! So today I will attempt my first piece. It’s such tactile stuff.

In Istanbul I came across a man felting the most wonderful hats - full of character and fun. We spent hours together - it is strange how a common bond opens the human heart. I think my inspiration starts there. I took many photo’s so I will sit again and look and feel out the way of the wool -lol!
Experimental but exciting stuff for me.

I said to Pete that my life feels so very full. I think because I live a rich internal life full of ideas and possibilities. It perplexes some because much of the time the bloody things don’t materialise into reality but I go on dreaming. I have learnt that my life is not one foccussed on goals - for me it is about deep learning continously and process. In this way I am an odd bod. But reality is multilayered and has subtle places and I like residing in them even if only temporarily. The shadow side of this head-life is that I do sabotage myself - rather often if I am honest. So this year I hope to see one or two of em materialise into the world. In a way that is an art in itself. Getting a balance between reality & mind would be good. Maybe the world was made for one to bring things forth - and I have not yet mastered the art of being able to do this. Mmmmm.
I think I am getting too introspective now. Back to the day. It’s a blue sky christmas here today, chilly but still a jewel. The lounge is still littered with happy unwrappings & good vibes. I shall just chillout today. Potter and play and be…sounds good to me! Long may we celebrate Life & Love - it ain’t just for Christmas!

I am writing with sticky fingers between the marathon cook up. I am holding up thinking of the childrens happy faces when they taste the lemon merangue. My kitchen is a nightmare of unwashed things and I discovered I only have two small mixing bowls - a bit late so a pot is sufficing for the mound of merangue for the lemon merangue. Nightmare. It is finally clear to me that I don’t bake.
The lemon squeezer top part is missing. I unpack the entire kitchen - no luck. Did a child use it for constructing something? Suddenly I am not seeing their smiling faces I want to wring necks. My mood is as sour as the lemons I need to squeeze. I search the office area and even look in the garage. Then I find it - in the dishwasher. Joy fast followed by guilt for even thinking my angels would destroy it.

Between all the mayham of soaking ham and condensed milk on the floor I am reminiscing about past Christmas fiascos. This makes me laugh suddenly and loudly in spurts - the children will think I am going to pieces and maybe I am. Zen looked at me ears pricked on one such outburst and promptly left - lol.

One disaster we had years ago when a new friend I had invited for the Christmas family dinner got decidedly pissed and managed to make all the woman at our table cry and all the men defensive. I spent time trying desperately to maintain peace and goodwill to no avail…it was awful though I laugh about it now. In the end several people were out in the moonlit garden weeping. I swore never again to try to be charitable.

Roll on a few years later and we are in the UK for the first Chrimbo. Oh the glitz of it all. We go to Harrods to look not buy as we are piss poor. It’s magic. The lights. The throngs of Christmas shoppers. The funky carols and tinsel! I am in christmas heaven. It is even icy cold a grand novelty then - nowadays not so - but then I was dreaming of snow not knowing the South seldom gets it.

Later in the week mum spots a 24 pound turkey in the butchers shop at Egham and in Christmas fever buys it. I was not present I swear. She meets us at the car the hybrid Turkey from hell clutched in both arms and perspiring profusely. Muttering that the stuffing was free. Her back is out of joint. She is in dire pain. I spend the day trying to source an available chiropracter. Eureaka! Late afternoon we have found our man. Bundle mum in the car and off to him for sure salvation. An hour later she comes out still slightly hobbling looking like she saw a ghost her hair all mucked up and her face pale. Her eyes look glassy and rather round. She bursts out that the man actually literally jumped on her. Several times. She is freaked like a wild thing. At home she knocks back several brandy neat and trys to be brave about the ordeal little knowing the worst is yet to come. We get down to the turkey stuffing and cooking marathon. Omg omg the hole - the deep bloodied hole ringed by fatty skin - I get spooked thinking about how my arm got swallowed up alive almost to the shoulder as I densely packed the ghastly ragged hole with pork & sage stuffing. My turn to be freaked and ma, if you are reading this, just know I am scarred for life okay. Thank you for the generosity, but just know it had a price I still pay every Christmas as I shake and quiver pathetically before the butchers avoiding even sideways glances at the turkeys - to buy my BEEF.

The monster just squeezes into the oven. We invent the new turkey turning device from an old broomstick and sweat together to turn it every long hour. I think it took 8 hours to cook but maybe it just felt like that. There was enough dripping to provide calories to the entire 3rd world.
For weeks after we ate the bird. Turkey frittatta. Turkey with ham & white sauce, Turkey soup, Turkey on sarmies, Turkey in soy sauce. Curried Turkey. Do I hear you cry curried Turkey - eeeeuuuwww! I agree.

To come back to the now - my sense of order is up the frikking pole. I don’t know what exactly to cook first so I am just muddling along in the faith that we SHALL eat. Tonight with any luck. I need a drink and it is only 11.13 am. I will have a coffee instead…tbc… provided I don’t fragment….

continued:
Lemon merangue in oven
Ham boiling steadily in pineapple
kitchen a disaster zone
table semi set
where the heck is the brandy???

further continued…somewhat shakily

Lemon merangue out the oven
kitchen a disaster zone
table semi set but added candles and flowers
1 ham ready for glazing
1 beef fillet ready to sear and roast
all xmas prezzi’s wrapped
and still no brandy to be found for self medicating…

and on we soldier bravely …

Kate & Chris sorting the roast veggies
Brie battered/cranberry sauce sorted
Matt doing last minute christmas card delivery to neighbours
Wine chilling in Fridge (will do instead of Brandy I suppose)
Table set at last, crackers & candles on the ready

….WOOOHOOO we have liftoff ….

Yesterday while I was in queue at the M&S checkout a lady collapsed into my trolley. It was shocking - so sudden - but her falling seemed to me to be in slow motion. Seeing her family so distraught affected me and I thought on how firstly we do affect each other - even a complete stranger suffering affected me. We are all one. Even one ripple in the ocean affects the entire ocean. And I thought too on how grateful I am that this Christmas my family is blessed to be together. Life is a fragile bubble and in the blink of the eye things can happen beyond our control that can affect our lives forever. Big reminders for me who has recently become somewhat blase, I ‘m afraid.

On a very practical note the chrimbo shopping is done - the fillet awaits a roasting with plump garlic cloves and gravy, there is a huge hock of ham that I will do in a pineapple glaze and fresh veggies to roast med syle. Parsnips, peppers and potatoes. Peas for the traditionalists at my family table. There is salep for dessert - I will make it with cream & pistacios. And Pete shall have his lemon merangue pie too! We have our dinner traditionally on Christmas eve and this year shall be the same.
Prezzies are bought - and Zenni shall have a toy cat mouse in his stocking too! We are sad - we buy the animals christmas presents.

I want to decorate the house with ivy and beautiful grey sprays of eucalyptus that grows in my garden but will do so tomorrow. It’s so dark now the ivy can’t be seen - ok the truth is it is cold out there -lol! I have a bunch of full blown huge pink peonies in the diningroom - I stare at these luscious flowers - they are not of this earth I swear it! I do so love flowers. Even when we are flat broke somehow they find their way to me. This year I want to pot up some cheerful violets too - I love the happy faces they have and how they splash colour onto a grey day. I was looking at my fruit trees and thinking they need a good pruning but I might be a bit late for this - will have to ask them ;-).

Today I rushed to Ayshas shop to buy Salep and some other interesting things - one of which is pomegranate paste - did I lose my head? What on earth to do with it - it was the ruby rich colour that caught my eye I confess - perhaps it will work well with deep fried brie for starters - I shall experiment! Then my eye caught the rose flower jam - and then I spotted some Turkish cologne and so it went till I had to get out of there! While there I spoke to a delightful woman from Iran who speaks passionately of her country - such a fiesty strong soul. She said she bashes the stereotypes on the head and she gave me a swift demo too. I could deeply identify with her because my country too is fraught with stereotypical thinking - I laughed when she said - ‘of course you know we are all muslim extrememists.’ I replyed - ‘of course you are and we South Africans are all pig headed arrogant racists!’ Instant friendship between us!
She convinced me to buy the french soap she stocks in the shop! Aysha the wicked devil she is just laughs at my antics in her shop!
Oh but my heart is glad for such women - strong women - proud women. I take courage that one day her world will change for the better just as surely as mine must.

My life is peppered with diamond people. I don’t know if I ever did anything to deserve such richness. I have recieved such joy from people this week - old DS mates suddenly reconnecting and they shine - they just shine for me. Firm mates - my Ken & Nellie whom I just love bottomlessly…I thought on how we have always held the love together - through thick & thin literally…what journeys we have been through together. Oh god - I am turning soppy in my middle age - when I am old it will be even more awful!!! BEWARE!
It’s been a time of reconnecting with people I care about deeply but had lost contact with. I heard from TJ who is now a sleek striking young woman - oh goodstuff to connect with her - all that inner beauty is there outside too. Pieter (fresh out of school) who came to work & live for me for 6 exhausting months (on his part ) and whom I hammered at times bless him - and who has shaped up into being a lovely young lad with so much going for him. Den - my darling Den who always makes me smile on the phone till my jaw aches!
Dee who wrote me a treasurable e-mail and who was my first sleepless night as she had her surgery! My first DS sister. Kaybee who took the time out to connect with me and make me feel on top of the world with her kind words - like hey - I done some good in the world & her pm reminded me to keep plugging at it. I had a lovely chat with Mary who is doing well with her sleeve now…thank heavens - she gave me a right scare earlier in the year! Many others I can’t name made my year terrific and exceptional just by their presences (you know who you are my dear friends). I have memories of time spent with some of you that still warms my cockles just thinking of it! Special hug and Thanks to Margaret who makes me want to keep blogging and Fiona for wise words. Thanks to all at WLSinfo…and all my other friends. And my & Pete’s family. You are all for me what the spirit of Christmas is all about. On my tree of life you all are the sparkling lights. My blessings are many :-).

I wish all of you a very Blessed Happy Christmas. May whatever you need right now be given to you in Abundance. May Peace shine on you. XXX

We are home. It is lovely to see my children again and the animals are in good nick. I can’t believe we are so close to christmas - I have done nowt this year I’m afraid to say. I predict a bit of a rush about this week at least to tie up a few loose ends and give the kids each a little something at least. I will cook a dinner for us but keep it small and intimate I think - just immeadiate family.

I had a wretched night with really foul diahorrea on the hour so I am out of sorts today. It might be a bug - it has that sort of urgency that makes me think this is possible. On the other hand there is a lot of bile (stingy ringy as my mate JK used to say!)…could be equally that the airport lounge does not know the word protein. It was full of tempting pastries and I was hungry so I ate freely…I have a carb threshhold - I can eat within moderation but when it makes up an entire meal it is decidely risky. I think I might have pushed the risk factor. Time will tell. A carb dilemma usually rights itself within 24 hrs - leaving me much better but a bug persists and usually there is no change in the runs - it just runs!. So will see. Hoping it is just a reaction to carbs.

I’m slightly disoreintated as usual lol - I thought it was Sun today! I know it’ll take a few days to slot into life here again. For now I am tired again though and so off to bed to rest out this tum thing.

We went out to the local Irish pub tonight where we met up with our friend Hanoch and his two delightful children. I was particularly taken with 12 year old Noam. A budding poet we instantly connected. Around her neck hung an amulet which I commented on. ‘It’s for courage ‘ she said ’so that I have the courage to share my poems.’ She told me she was afraid to read her poems to the class as some of the kids might tease her. She told me her poems were very much about being all alone - ‘it might be a bad thing to feel alone?’ she mused. I told her every poet must know aloneness to be an extraordinary poet. I was smitten by the kids insight. I soaked up her wonderful innocence and yet this wisdom coming from such a babe was pretty awesome.
Tonight sitting on our balcony looking at the ocean at night I thought about these still internal spaces that poets possess. Yes, alone - very very alone. But necessarily so. I hope I could convey this to her - I think I did. I thought on how it must seem vastly strange and big to a young child to find herself in this space. Sometimes it even overwhelms old sods like me.

Hanoch dropped us off at a great french seafood restaurant where I ate huge prawns in a ravishing garlic sauce - much enjoyed. Pete went for the lamb kebab in yogurt . Interesting how my appetite has returned - I suspect it is a combo of things really. Much walking coupled with not having to cook myself. Probably in the UK it will subside but for now I am enjoying the wave while it lasts.

Later we walked down Rothschild street. In the centre walkway there is an exhibition of bulls to represent a bullish stock market and commissioned by it - artists all received a large plastic bull which they have painted. There are over a hundred of these sculptures each differently decorated - quite a sight! One is covered in flags of the world, another is covered in banknotes, there is a silver flying bull and one covered in grass. Some are bold and bright - others are calm and full of diy philosophy - all are fun!

Overhead in the old trees large bats circled their wings translucent in the night lights. It was so peaceful and beautiful to walk there. I love this about Tel Aviv - the broad pedestrian walkways that run up the middle of the streets - they are much more park than pavement and everyone uses them. They have rows of magnificent old trees and benches where one can just sit and take in life.

We ended in a cafe and I had a hot choc & a positively sickly sweet doughnut topped with synthetic deepest pink strawberry icing & Pete had a latte. Then caught a taxi back to the hotel. And now I am going to take my last dose of vitamins for the day and fall into my comfy bed - sweet dreams to you too my friend. xx

Woke up early and slightly groggily present my self for brekki. Omellette with the works, tuna salad,creamed tato’s and fresh fruit - I love these buffet breakfasts and I love my DS for being accommodating at times like this :-). Then I went up Ben Yehuda Street again and bought a few xmas pressies I had been eyeing and then off to the Gem shop again. I had come home the day before and made a necklace of turquoise which I liked so much I thought it would not hurt to buy more while I am here. Quality turquiose is getting scarce now and this one has a very beautiful natural feel to it - it is not harshly died like so much of the stuff currently out there - instead it is a soft patina and lovely colour.

In a nearby antique shop I met an Iranian gentleman who showered me with huge encyclopedic type books of yemeni jewellery and we ooohed and ahhhed together. He asked me to be a buyer for him and supply him with antique amber and I might just. Second bite for amber in the time I have been here. I bought from him a very antique yemeni brooch - filigree, firegilded and set with turquoise. Sadly a stone was missing - but no problem , he told me to go have a coffee which I duly did and when I got back - it had been beautifully repaired and one would never have known a stone was originally amiss.

Then back to the hotel to awake a sleeping lying in Pete. Suddenly the wind started and it rained down from the heavens in great drops of water. Pavements flooded, people rushed for cover and I was drenched to the bones!

We amused taxi drivers no end by telling them we came here for the weather but it’s as bad as England!

The pissing rain did not deter Pete and I from going to Neve Tzedek. It’s a wonderful little village in the city - narrow streets are flanked with fairy tale buildings, artists studios and chic shops side by side. It’s wonderful - the kind of place one can potter in and look at beautiful handiworks. People smile and are good tempered, it goes with the atmosphere here. We had a delicious lunch at Suzannes…huge enchiladas stuffed with meat and yummy avocados and topped with cheese. Outside it continued to pour water - at one point I thought we might see a flood. We braved the weather with a ridiculously small umbrella but we still had a great time. We decided to skip the market but I hope we will be able to go on Sunday to buy the fruit that hopefully won’t cause us misery when we declare it at customs.

So far a day well lived - and a lovely pm too from a special mate of mine bearing happy news borne of planet Venus so I am made up!

A wonderful evening in the city. Pete and I decided to walk for our supper and found a wonderful steakhouse not too far from our hotel. Enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken livers done with baked apples and cider - sounds odd but tasted heavenly. I am on the liver roll call still - it seems to be a food I choose again & again - and I think this is because my body is conspiring to turn me into a chicken. - seriously though I suspect it’s the low iron levels talking. Funny how this liver obbsession has been going on for a while now - but I am happy nonetheless - just learning yet again that the body rules the mind in my case. We had a good time then wandered over to the best ice cream place I have ever been to and bought a huge carton of halva, toffee, mango and strawberries and cream ice cream. Oooooo I am stuffed stuffed and too stuffed - but not in pain …yet!

We passed a grocery shop and there it was - an ‘annona’ (or Guanabana in South America) - this is the name of the delicious fruit I was going on about earlier. Two jam doughnuts (it’s a food associated with Hannukka here) and a large annona later we happily walked on. At another store we bought guava juice - more like a nectar than juice and so we are equipped now but the good lord only knows how I will be able to eat this stuff - lol. Tomorrow is another day!

I am loving every moment of being here. I think (the rather crap) poet in me thrives on the fascination of tumbledown cities - decay fascinates me. It has that unexpected edge to it and a kind of excitement that touches the old crumbling buildings. I like the chaos of it - I am not a person who likes order really. I like things haphazard and leaning. I like how people come back to their values in cities like this because it is all they have that is lasting and meaningful. How they still acknowledge you are here among them and say warmly ‘Shalom’.

I have quickly twigged that ‘Shalom’ is a great word to know. You just say it at any given opportunity and beam broad smiles and the response is magic. It means hello, goodbye, peace to you, welcome, thank you….shalom shalom shalom!

Yesterday sitting on the pavilion overlooking the beach and just enjoying - Moshe introduced himself to me. He was moaning and flexing his arm and when he saw my anxious looks he proffered up his deeply swollen scarred elbow my way explaining he had a motorbike accident. Moshe told me right then he became enlightened and understood the meaning of life completely - so even though he had pain he had gained a lot more than a broken elbow. We became engrossed in philosophical discussion. He told me he worked as an animation artist but the bucks were not great and since the accident several weeks before - he was eeking out a living. ‘You need protein’ said I sagely - ‘to heal!’ (in my book protein is the universe and everything!) ‘ Come on lets get lunch.’ We found a small restaurant in a side street that he swore was the biz and ate huge entrecote steaks. I realised the man was really hungry when he ate all my chips and salad too that I offered him, as if he had not seen a good plate of food in years. We conversed like old mates. Moshe shared his dreams with me and I told him things I would tell no one else. He took it in and said he had full understanding and agreed with my insights. Then we parted and I spent time just doing my usual walking thing. I wandered up Ben Yehuda Street window shopping and on the hunt for a few xmas pressies. Later I took in a ravishingly beautiful golden and pink sunset and thought that there is indeed a God. Impossible for this to exist out of nothing.

Everyday here is an adventure for me. I never know who I will meet but I am just in open state. It’s a great way to be.
I fed the cats several times. They are very feral and there is one with leopard like markings that I don’t recall being there before. A magnificent beast. I enjoy them.

I have spoken with many strangers - sometimes just a few kind words exchanged, sometimes more. Today I went into a small shop and met Yafa - a lovely lady with a great knowledge of gemstones. I bought several strands from her and we bantered away about the properties of the stones - where they are mined etc. As I left she took my hands and pressed a magnificent black pearl necklace into my palm. ‘To wear - not to sell - for you special’ she said.

Somehow creativity thrives in places like this. It has to - it becomes a survival. It becomes very potent you really get it in cities like this much more than in London or America where it always has a slick boutique edge to it. Here it is the raw stuff and personally I love it’s rough edges. I bought a dress that can be a skirt or poncho also in a little designer shop - the woman there had me try on practically everything while she decided what suited my colour - it was fun! We had several laughs and I enjoyed her warm vivacity.

Last night pete and I found a fab restaurant and I had bone marrow and chicken livers and thought the taste gods had all descended on me. LOL. I was STUFFED! Starters and main course is not something I regularly do.

Tomorrow I hope Pete will have time off - we will explore Neve Tzedek - a small arty neighbourhood and I want to buy some fruit at hocamal market. I was introduced shortly after I got here by a friend to a massive bizarre looking fruit but inside quite the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. It is like a giant lychee in a way - I’d love to know it’s name too. I’ll try and find out.

I have spent a fair amount of time in Yafo - I do love this part of the city. It is a place where Jew and Arab are at peace with each other and one really feels the good vibe. I loved the market there but had an hysterically funny moment when my friend whom I was with, was told by a vendor that the amber in his shop was guaranteed 100% real. He appended a positively ridiculous price tag to a certain necklace that he dangled lavisciously in front of us as if expecting us to buy it forthwith! He had shady eyes and a shifty smile I did not like him instantly…a real crook. He feebly held up a flame to this overly elaborate (and cheap ) piece to prove his point and flicked the flame oh so briefly over the ‘amber’. My friend deals in amber and is no fool so he took the lighter and the piece of 100% guaranteed amber and held a brutal flame on it hard while the owner nearly went ape with fear of the damage sure to be caused. ‘Real amber’ said my friend as the embarrassed owner grappled to retrieved his melted treasure - ‘I think not!’
We left the crook to stew in his own juice -lol.
Still makes me smile!

This place smells of sea air, of hummus, of patchouli oil, doughnuts, of cat pee. It tastes of hummus and honey, salt and halva ice cream. Sometimes I have surprise gritty sand in my ear. It is like a blooming flower out of decay. Flaking paint everywhere and then suddenly a truly astonishing mural or display of art. It is still happening. I found an old cemetery today by accident and went reverently through the huge stone walls to look at all the Hebrew symbology. It was crumbled and dust to dust stuff but in the garden where the grass grew wild was a magnificent pink bougainvillea bush - just shining there it’s life into the dead world. So I sat near it on a granite grave and thought my own stuff through and decided yet again to move to the day. I went and had a double hot choc at a street cafe and the world looked a very very good place to be.