Spring Clean In A Day?

Fresh produce from Kibbutz Alumim

Like Tim Urbans' famous TED Talk about procrastination, I had plans to clean my apartment for Pesach, one room a day, over the course of a week. Similarly my Instant Gratification Monkey took the helm and I was steered away from cleaning and towards other important things like Facebook, WhatsApp, You Tube, Netflix, and Sky News. Until I realized that there was only one full day until Pesach starts on Wednesday evening and the Panic Monster woke up.

This was the plan: Fly Lady Shmylady,  I was going to do the whole thing in a day. Get up early, give each room one hour on a timer, as I've done before, and then go round at the end finishing off.

This is where it started to unravel: My fruit and vegetable order from the kibbutz was supposed to arrive yesterday. (Btw, it wasn't produce for export. Exports went as usual. It was the school lunches contracts that left them with a mountain of spare produce.) They didn't give a time so at 7 pm I texted my friend whose son was organizing the deliveries and asked if I should be worried. The answer came back that it should be soon. Fine with me. At 10.30 I called her. They were running late. Meanwhile I'm also texting with other friends in different neighbourhoods and monitoring who had received and who hadn't. In the end there were only two of us left. At 1.45 am I got a phone number. "Oh we've finished for tonight, it'll be early tomorrow morning."

This is the first time they've done anything like this. My friend's son is about 25 and his right hand man was another friend's son aged 19. There was a huge learning curve. I went to bed.

Obviously I wasn't up at 5 am to begin cleaning. But after coffee, making DD a plate of fruit so that she'd not bother me for food for a few hours, and checking social media, I was ready to start at 10.30. And I increased the time for each room to 1.5 hours to be realistic. This is Spring/Pesach cleaning after all.

I started in my bedroom. I moved furniture and was confronted with the fact that we've not stayed in Israel for Pesach for years. But I took my laptop with me and put on Neil Diamond. "I am I said, to no one there, and no one even replied, not even the chair." Well that was true at least - I tried it.

At 11.30 the vegetables arrived. Woohoo! So I had to take the time to put them away. It would have been silly to fill the fridge before wiping it down so I half cleaned the fridge as well. And then I had to post all over Facebook and WhatsApp that I'd got my order and thank everyone involved.

Back in the bedroom Neil had left the building and Abba was up next. The timer went off but I was owed time so I nudged it on to 12.30. But at 12.30 I'd not changed the bed clothes. You can't clean a whole room and not change your sheets. So I stripped the bed, put everything straight in to the washing machine (apart from the one pillow case that got left on the bed), and remade the bed. FINISHED!

Except that I had to bring yesterday's three loads of laundry in from the balcony to make room for the sheets. It was still slightly damp in places. I'd have liked to leave it outside for a few more hours but time and Tide wait for no man so in it came. I flung it all over my bed to finish drying.

And then I had to sit down for a bit. Also the battery on my laptop was about to run out. Obviously I have plug points in my bedroom but I took it as a sign. DD asked for some lunch. I told her take a tub of cottage cheese and scoop it up with crisps. "Yes chocolate for dessert is fine."

So now it's almost 2.30 in the afternoon and I've done only one room. But I'm not done yet, or even done in. Onwards and upwards.

Sukkot 2018: First Day

All the guests depicted in a mural in the Sukkah.

We spent the first days of this seven-day festival in my favourite place in Israel - Kibbutz Alumim. This is my happy place full of wonderful memories of festivals, parties and shabbatot (Sabbaths) going back 30 years.

Two of my friends live next door to each other and share a Sukkah. I took a picture of the outide but we'd not yet laid the tables for the festive meal by sundown on Sunday, so by the time it was looking magical inside, all the technical equipment had been put away for the duration.

It's traditional to have a decoration depicting seven special guests (The Ushpizim) who we [symbolically] invite to the sukkah: Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. One of the decorations in our Sukkah was a mural depicting all the guests, 24 of whom were with us for the first day and the others (not us) will be there on Shabbat.

I am sitting back to back with my hostess - me writing my blog and she reading but also wearing her running shoes. DD is the gymnast with the red ball at bottom right. She loved it. She kept telling me how much she loved her picture.

It was very hot out so the Sukkah was fanned through each of the doors. 

There was also a hanging decoration that DD made in Kindergarten five years ago and we took it with us then. They put it up every year. It's a bit like Christmas decorations that get unpacked yearly. Some are added each year and some are old favourites.

The neighbours' guests included lots of friends, old and new. It was one big catch-up session. We also had a comic rendition of the laws and customs of the festival written in the style of Dr Suess.

On Monday we ate lunch in the enormous communal sukkah that takes up the whole patio in front of the communal dining room. We were about 300 people eating in it. And we ended the day with a light supper back in our own Sukkah.

If you think it's mostly eating and shmoozing you'd be right but there were also a few card and board games going on. Obviously there was a synagogue service in the morning but we didn't go to that - I'm off synagogue services atm but no one minds, each to his/her own.

We had a lovely time, as always. Big thanks to the Landsmans and the Marcuses. xxxx

The Last Weekend Of The Long Summer Break

DD at the wedding

Last weekend we went to one of my favourite places in the world - the kibbutz where my friends live. On Thursday night one of my friends made a wedding for her daughter. Like in July, a number of old friends from around the country came and we had another mini-reunion.

Away on the back of a tractor

It's an old kibbutz tradition that the bride and groom are driven away on the back of a tractor after the chupah (the wedding canopy where they make their vows) and before the party. It's not done much anymore and I actually don't remember seeing it before. It was sweet.

We stayed after the wedding and Friday saw us in the pool with another friend's daughter and granddaughter.












And then Shabbat. Relaxing as always. Too much food. Lots of games of backgammon. I finished a book. DD fell in love with the dog (when you're grown up and have your own home you can have a dog if you still want one....), and we came home ready to face the final week of the summer holiday.

Just idyllic

Was That Me 33 Years Ago?

I've never been much of a photographer. My friend S has made about 40 of those photo books of her son's life and he's only four and a half. I've still to compile our first photo book and DD is six and a half. So you'll not be surprised to hear that my album from my gap year 33 years ago is an exercise book with a few photos, postcards of the kibbutz we lived on (Sde Eliahu if anyone who doesn't know is interested) and lots of writing. A bit like my blog really.

There was a Swiss guy with us, Alex Avidan, now Dr Avidan in Jerusalem, who was and still is an avid photographer. A few years ago we held a reunion of sorts and Alex compiled a powerpoint presentation of all his 344 photographs from our year together. It was set to all the songs we used to sing and had us exclaiming, "who are those kids?!"

Yesterday he posted a link to his photos on facebook after another friend posted a selfie wearing our beloved sweatshirt that we designed ourselves. Actually Alex reminded us that he designed the sweatshirt aswell. LOL, had I realised back then that he was such a high achiever I would have tried harder to attract his attention.

So here are a few photos of me among Alex's gallery. It was 1981-1982. We were living as farmers on a kibbutz on the Jordanian border. We travelled the country in the back of an old Leyland lorry. We sang and danced a lot. We thought this was life. Who knew?

Me aged 19, notice the farmer's tan

We loved to sing and perform

This was my favourite seat on the Leyland

A country girl at heart?

All photos by Dr Alexander Avidan.

Tuesday Tidbits #31 - The Kibbutz Edition

We went to our favourite kibbutz for a long weekend as my good friends SJ and Nadge were celebrating the Bat Mitzva of her youngest daughter.

1
We were put up in an empty kibbutz house. It had a bathroom and a kitchen, a living room and a few bedrooms but the only furniture was the two beds we slept in. Apart from the two beds it was completely empty.
DD: It's a good job this isn't our real house.
Me: Why?
DD: I can't help thinking there's something missing.

2
We were introduced to an old friend of Nadge who had come from the UK with his wife. He and his lovely wife were sitting in the garden when we arrived. 
Me: Hi, I'm Rachel Selby
Friend of Nage: Hello, I'm Fred Bloggs*
Me (recognising the name Bloggs from a female facebook friend in the same town): I know that name. Who's Lisa Bloggs?
Friend of Nage: She's my ex-wife.

*Names have been changed.

3
Eating in the communal dining room.
DD: It's so lucky for them. They don't even need a shop. They just come and choose what they want to eat.

4
On the way back to our hosts' house from lunch in the communal dining-room on Saturday, I was boldly leading the way with a bunch of guests who didn't know the kibbutz as well I do. Chatting away, I headed for the blue front door and we all trooped into the living room.
Us: Chatter chatter chatter.... silence.
Me (to the girl sitting on her sofa reading): Ooh, sorry. Sorry, wrong house.
Us (all troop out again and go to the right house two doors down.)

5
At the party DD was placed on the children's table. Of course she wanted to stay with me. 
Me: If you don't sit with your friends and have fun with them, there's no point in you coming. I won't bring you here next time when there's a party. (She reluctantly sat with the children and had a great time.)

We arrived home around midnight and DD, who'd been asleep in the car, was barely awake as I helped her put on her pjs.
DD: Mummy, will you take me there again when there's a party?
Me: Yes, you were a very good girl.
DD: Good, because I kinda miss that place.

Left. DD having fun on the children's table.

Highlights of the Days

That was the week that was. The week we had our summer holiday, went to a wedding, and got caught in a Colour Red (Red Alert) with rockets firing in from Gaza (not for the first and second times or the third time I've experienced this). Sorry, I took the camera with but never got round to getting it out.

Tuesday 4th June - we traveled down to Kibbutz Alumim in the south of Israel. My highlight of the day was when my friend (who's daughter was getting married on Thursday)'s mother called to say that my friend was sending a car from the kibbutz to collect them and they had room for me and DD. That saved two hours of bus rides shlepping all our luggage and 3kg of frozen salmon. That night was the beginning of the festival of Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost) brought in with a festive meal.

Wednesday 5th - The festival day itself which involved more festive meals and my highlight of the day, a whisky tasting session after lunch. Three of the men had just returned from a distillery tour in Scotland so we got the full effect with instructions, history and interesting facts. After lunch DD and I spent an afternoon in the air-conditioned library and games building. It was 38 degrees outside so there was no chance of anything outdoors. DD made a couple of friends and was off with them leaving me to read my book in peace.

Thursday 6th - A day out and about on the kibbutz. We went to the playgrounds, visited the cows and watched the milking, ate lunch in the communal dining room, watched them setting up the chupa (wedding canopy) and arranging the flowers outside for the wedding later, and went to the petting zoo. The weather had broken so it was a mere 32 degrees outside. My highlight of the day was when we returned to our friends' house after being out in the heat all day and smelling of the cowsheds. I put DD in the bath and she stayed there and played for over an hour! Meanwhile I showered in the other bathroom, threw our clothes in the wash and..... wait for this..... read my book uninterrupted for almost two chapters!

Thursday evening - Big wedding on the kibbutz. The daughter of another good friend who lives there (the one who sent the car for her parents in Jerusalem) so many old friends converged for the occasion from all over the country. DD was sat at a different table with some of the children she knows so other than setting her up with food from the buffet, I hardly saw her all evening. The DJ played all our old favourites from the last century and we finally rolled home at half past midnight. A really great wedding.

Friday 7th - We went to the beach in Ashkelon. I nearly didn't go as I hate the beach, I never know what to do there. However, DD loved it and if she's happy I'm happy. The sea was rough and no one was allowed in past their knees but knee height is perfect for 5yos. DD (and all the other children) sat just shy of the water and were catapulted up the beach as the waves came in. A row of lifeguards stood as a buffer in case any little ones got carried too far out (and also to stop the older kids from going in despite the warnings) but actually they were all beached each time and had to come running back to sit on the sand and wait for the next wave. Honestly, it was better than any ride at a theme park. Definitely our highlight of the day. We sealed the perfection with an ice-lolly of course.

Friday night - We brought in Shabbat with yet another festive meal with the friends we were staying with. This is where the highlights idea comes from. This family have six children, a daughter-in-law, couple of daughters' boyfriends, and an adopted kibbutz volunteer. Their table is not unlike The Waltons of Walton's Mountain. On Friday night everyone has to say the highlight of their week. DD wanted to say the wedding and the beach but someone had already said the wedding so she couldn't have that one. Clever girl, she said: "OK, in that case I say everything that's happened since we came here."

Saturday 8th - Shabbat lunch in the communal dining room was suddenly interrupted by "COLOUR RED! COLOUR RED!" loudly announced from the speakers on the wall. Everyone jumped up and proceeded quickly to the inner parts of the building away from the windows. Well not everyone. There are those fatalists who choose to ignore it and stay where they are (not usually those with children). You only get 15 seconds and by the time I'd realised what was going on it was all over. I was about to return to my seat when my friend said, "don't sit down Rach, apparently there're more coming." DD had run to the safer room with the other children so I went and joined them. After the 'all clear' we returned to our seats and got on with our meal. Just another day in the life of Southern Israel. In the afternoon, after more whisky tasting, DD and I went for another session in the games building. They have an adult on duty there every shabbat and festival afternoon so that the parents can rest. Next year I expect (hope) she'll be old enough to go by herself but this year I went along with my book and read while she played with the children.

Saturday Night - We got a lift to Netivot and took the bus back to Jerusalem. It's always easier going home on the bus as you've dumped the gifts and you don't care if your clothes crease in the suitcase. I also left my finished book for them to read. Highlight of the day? Too tired to think about it as we crawled into bed at midnight after a lovely holiday.

#ArtIHeart 8 - An Impulse Buy

Art I Heart

Share the art you love from your walls, a birthday card, what your child drew at school, that you saw in The National Gallery in London...

1. Choose one piece of art that has a short personal story behind it. It could be something on your wall, something you've seen in a gallery and love, homedrawn, on a postcard, on a birthday card, something by Degas or something by your DS.

2. Take a photograph, scan or download a picture of your picture and post it along with the short story about why you are drawn to it, have it on your wall, bought it, or hate it. Don't forget to link back to the linky so your readers can see the other entries.

3. Link up (it's open till next Thursday, 4pm GMT), leave a comment, et voila!

Here's mine:

It's a print by Israeli artist Itzu Rimmer, who I only found out today studied in London at St Martins and Harrow Art College - not too far from where I grew up. Not a very good photo, as usual. You can clearly see the reflection of the camera in the glass (held up by my hand). Oh well. I could've taken the pictures down and done a better job but I didn't. You see it's one of three:

I was walking home from work one day and saw three other Itzu Rimmer prints mounted in a triple frame outside a gallery. My interest was piqued and I went in to find more. In the end I prefered to choose my own three prints that were framed seperately. I bought them there and then. Here are closer views of the other two (both with my relfection getting in the way):

However my favourite is the one on the right. Partly because I love the colours but also because of the view if depicts. My first visit to Israel was for my gap year - a year long stay on a kibbutz in the Beit She'an valley (south of Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee). Looking west toward the River Jordan and the Jordanian Hills, this was very similar to what we could see. It reminds me of being a 19yo and getting up at 4.30am to pick avocados or pomegranates, depending on the season.

Towards the end of our year the First Lebanese War (called Operation Peace in the Galil) broke out and all the young men, and many of the older men too, were called up to their army units. The kibbutz women took over the men's jobs and the gap-yearers were elevated to jobs with more responsibility to take over from the women. I was given a baby house to run and loved looking after five 2yos from 7am till 4pm every day. I'd worked with these toddlers before so I knew the ropes. I'd been the helper. Now there were no helpers, it was just me. 30 years later when I'm on my own with a 3yo, I can't believe I had the patience.

What I Didn't Mention: Red Alert!

Across the fields is Gaza

There's something about our wonderful, fun, relaxing, action-packed (well, for a 2yo) holiday on the kibbutz that I didn't mention. The kibbutz where my friends live is very close to the border with Gaza. They each have a reinforced room in their homes and when the Red Alert sounds, they all go and stand in it with the door shut, until the danger is over. I wrote about it here back in April. However, since then the kibbutz has suffered a direct hit which damaged one of the houses. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but only because the owner had gone to the safety of the shelter.

On the way down last week, I asked my hosts, who had picked us up in Jerusalem on their way home, what the policy was now regarding Red Alerts. "We go into the shelter now," was the reply. "What about in the middle of the night?"
"If we hear it we get up. If you're lucky you don't wake up and you miss the whole thing."

All was quiet for the first couple of days. Then, last Thursday, two buses and a family car were fired at by terrorists on the road near Eilat. Eight people died and many more were injured. Families returning from their holidays, soldiers going home for the weekend, men, women and children. We knew that the calm was over.

That evening my friend had to go and prepare rooms for a group of  30 tourists who were coming for the weekend. DD and I went with her and we found that the rooms needed a 'going -over' to make them fit for guests. They weren't dirty but this is the desert and sandy dust is our constant challenge. We each grabbed a wet cloth and, while DD played, we got to work. Almost finished and my friend called me over. "Take DD home, I just got a text warning that we're expecting qassams. I'll catch you up."

I took DD by the hand and started to walk with her back to the house. It was a good five minute walk for an adult walking briskly. DD tried her best to keep up. I just wanted to get her home before the Red Alert. "I know, I'll give you a piggy-back!" I stood her on a bench and hoisted her onto my back. This was her first piggy-back ever. I jogged (sort of) along whilst composing a blog post in my mind: My First Piggy-Back. After a short distance she wasn't comfortable and neither was I. "Walk DD!" She cried. "We'll soon be home," I replied as I tried to go faster. But I couldn't make it all the way and I ended up dragging her along by the hand, her little legs working furiously to keep up with me.

We made it home without incident. Apparently it had been a general warning for the coming hours rather than an immediate warning. That night there was a Red Alert at about 1.30am. I lay in bed and considered scooping a sleeping DD up and running to the shelter. You only have about 20 seconds to get there and by the time I'd finished weighing up the pros and cons of waking her up, it was all over. There was another one, so I'm told, at 5.30am but we slept through it.

The next day the pool was closed in the morning - too traumatic to think of hurrying 50 people out of the water and into the pool shelter within 20 seconds. The group of 30 tourists cancelled. We could have come home but I didn't even consider it. I asked if we could still walk to the dining room for lunch or if we should stay indoors. "You can go but if you're outside during a Red Alert, make yourselves as small as possible and stay away from trees and buildings." No problem.

On Saturday afternoon we were having tea in my friends' house when the Red Alert sounded. "Red Alert," said a few people calmly - as if we couldn't all hear it. We all got up, I picked up DD and carried her, and we walked purposefully to the shelter. The man of the house shut the door and kept a firm hand on the handle. This was absurdly comforting, as if he were taking charge and had some control over the situation - which of course he didn't. It was standing room only and so we stood and discussed how long we should wait. After about a minute and a half we all went back to our tea.

Our Kibbutz Holiday



Every morning off to the pool



It wasn't picking oranges or milking the cows, it was just going to stay with our good friends on their Kibbutz. We were originally only going for three days but then were invited to stay for the weekend (with only a little bit of hinting and I accidently mentioned that I had brought Shabbat (Sabbath) clothes with us just in case).

So it was five days of friends (and their wonderful children who played with and entertained DD non-stop), playground, pool, and lots of safe space to run around with no cars or strangers to worry about. We went to see the tropical fish in their little pond a lot. We saw the cows from a distance but experience has taught me that we'll make a closer visit when DD no longer wants to be picked up occasionally (think cowshed floor - DD's shoes - my clothes - got it?).

I couldn't have given DD a holiday this year if it weren't for my wonderful friends on the kibbutz. Big, big thank you! And now for some highlights:

   

You have to wait for the lifeguard



Lunch in the dining-room (exhausted)

Plenty of down time



Off for a walk with Nadge Junior








On my own in the little pool



I love swimming with Mummy



Being in the right place at the wrong time

Last weekend we spent Shabbat (Saturday) with friends on Kibbutz Alumim. This is a kibbutz in the Northern Negev, 5km from the border with Gaza. Since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, they have had numerous red alerts as missiles have been launched at the towns, kibbutzim and villages of that region. The siren goes off, a loud voice announces "RED ALERT! RED ALERT!" and you are supposed to run to the nearest shelter. Some people do (mostly those with young children) and others don't bother. Whatever your reaction, it is terrifying. There have been injuries and even fatalities on other settlements but, thankfully, so far the main living area of Kibbutz Alumim has been spared a direct hit.

Before I became pregnant with DD, I was one of the more laid back customers when the missiles came. As my hosts didn't panic, neither did I and we waited where we happened to be. Then, one time I was alone in my room when the red alert sounded, and I was pregnant. And I was not in one of the new houses with reinforced rooms (a.k.a. bomb shelters). Did I say I was pregnant? It obviously made all the difference. I froze as I considered my options. Stand in the door-frame? No, that was for earthquakes. Run to my friends' house? No, too far. In the end, after almost a minute of thinking about it, I dived under the bed.

Now what? How long should I stay there? Until I heard the explosion? No, you don't always hear anything. Was there an "all clear!"? I couldn't remember. I didn't have my watch on so I counted to 300 - five minutes was surely enough time, and then came out. Even then, I wasn't sure that it was all over.

When I returned to my friends' house, they laughed at me. Apparently you only have 15 seconds to reach cover before the missile hits. By the time I was under the bed it was all over.

Last Shabbat there was no red alert but, when DD and I went for a long walk around the kibbutz after breakfast, there was a lot of helicopter activity. We own helicopters, they don't, so I wasn't alarmed. However, I knew that something must have happened for us to be so active on a Shabbat morning. DD didn't like it. "Noise!" she said, "no like it!" Then we heard the blasts as the helicopters fired and struck - I didn't know what. "Don't worry darling," I said, "it's just bombs."

Later we found out that there had been a number (reports varied between 30 and 50) of rockets fired over the border. The rockets are short distance missiles and so fast that there is no time for any warning. Subsequently two terrorists were killed close to the border, about 3km from where we were. In the light of the attack last week when a family was stabbed to death in their beds, it felt close.

Then yesterday there was a bomb in Jerusalem that injured 30 people, some of them on the #74 bus. This is a bus that I sometimes take as its route goes through my neighbourhood.

So my Thank you Thursday this week is to God, the Universe, my Guardian Angels, Fairy Godmother, whatever it was... that kept me and DD in the right places at the wrong times. I don't know what I did (or didn't do) to deserve it but please know that I am continually thankful for your protection. And thank you for protecting my friends too.