A Day At The Pool In 1982 - R2BC

This week's reasons 2B cheerful comes to you from 1976 - 1987, a swimming pool just outside Jerusalem, I was in Seventh Heaven, and we missed the final week of July R2BC linky so this one is with the August linky on Mich's Mummy from the Heart. So traversing time and space, lets go...

On Wednesday we went to the pool at Messilat Tzion, a village just outside Jerusalem. We went with friends who are early risers and movers so we left at 8.30 in the morning. Arriving as the place opens allows you a prime spot near the pool, but not too near. Our children can swim so we want to be able to see them but we don't have to be actually at the poolside. Also, at that time of the morning there are only a few children in the pool and two lifeguards on duty.

We found a shady spot on the grass under a tree and made ourselves at home. Then the music started. Blaring. It could have been a disaster. But as luck would have it they were playing my own personal favourite playlist. A medley of pop from the 1970s and 1980s.

It was all I could do to stop myself getting up and dancing. I did sing out loud though. Every song held a memory for me from 40 years ago.

Summer 1976 - the longest and hottest drought in the UK in my lifetime, so far (I was 14). The grass was yellow, some rural areas had standpipes for water at the end of the streets, washing your car and watering your garden was banned. We sang, "skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight." It's just as good now as it was then.

Summer 1978 the movie Grease came out and my sister and I and the girls next door, sat with our heads almost inside the cassette player singing "You're the one that I want," over and over again until we knew the words by heart.

There was the winter camp 1979, where my friend Mandy and I were the cooks. Ohoh ayay, I love you more than I can say. We changed the next lyric to "and if our food is hard to swallow, oh oh, we'll give you twice as much tomorrow."

Summer 1980, camping in Lanarkshire, Scotland. My baby takes the morning train, he works from 9 till 5 and then, he takes another home again... What they lacked in sophisticated lyrics they made up for with sing-along potential.

Come on Eileen, was the wet weekend in July that I spent with Sharon in Liverpool. It was 1982 and we'd just returned from our gap year on a Kibbutz in Israel.

They just kept on coming. I gazed out across the pool and the palm trees, towards the Jerusalem hills. The scenery and the music carried me back to the summer of 1987 spent in California. La Isla Bonita, and Yeh, I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me.

The kids (what kids? Oh yes, we had three kids with us) frolicked in the pool. They had ice-creams and later hot dogs and chips for lunch. We left at 2.30 pm just before the heat of the day and the afternoon crowds arrived.

It was the best pool day ever. Except for maybe the pool days back in the real 1970s and 80s.

I Am Someone

Love love love it!

Israel's entry to Eurovision 2019 was released yesterday. I woke up this morning to find my facebook feed full of opinions about it. It seems that either you love it or you hate it. The song, Home sung by Kobi Marimi, has sparked facebook responses like, "I was so bored I couldn't make it to the end." And, "we obvioulsy don't want to win and have to host again next year." 

I love it.

I admit that the first time I listened I was underwhelmed. Kobi Marimi has a beautiful voice but the video was a bit too film noir for me. And what on earth does it mean? 

I listened again. And again. And again. It grew on me so much that I'm a little obsessed with it now. I think I might be a little bit in love with Kobi Marimi. Or maybe it's just that amazing voice and the hint of a smile. It's certainly not his suit which, imo, needs to be one size larger. But the rest is... well it makes my heart sing.

So what does it mean? I think it's like the Josh Grobin song, You Raise Me Up, in that it can be taken as a romantic ballad or a prayer. There is a hint of someone with no self esteem who is possibly bullied until be starts believing in himself, with the help of a woman or God (you choose). It makes him someone. And now that he's found himself, he's coming home. Did he go out into the world to find himself, and therefore is now literally going home? Or is going home a euphemism for going home to his love, place in the world, his childhood self esteem, or even home to God? 

Or perhaps we could look at it as symbolic of the Jewish People - done with accepting antisemitism, we're coming home.

Do we have a chance of winning? I don't think so. Last year's Toy sung by Netta Barzilai (also a love it or hate it entry) was perfect for the moment. It clicked with the "Me Too" movement and spoke to women everywhere. Toy couldn't be ignored but I think that politics will prevail again this year and Israel is not in a good place on the world stage atm. 

The lyrics are below. You decide for yourself. Do listen more than once as it grow on you. Here's the link to the video. 

Home
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ooh
Caught up in this moment 'til my heartbeat stops
I've been running barefoot to the mountain tops
Nothing comes as easy as it goes
I can hug the water when it snows

I feel the sun upon my skin and I am someone, I am someone
You pulled my heart, I took it in, it made me someone, I am someone
And now I'm done, I'm coming home

I used to listen to the way they talk
Counting down the minutes from the ticking clock

I feel the sun upon my skin and I am someone, I am someone
You pulled my heart, I took it in, it made me someone, I am someone
And now I'm done, I'm coming 

Home was so far, collecting scars, I refuse
Another touch won't be another bruise

I feel the sun upon my skin and I am someone, I am someone
You pulled my heart, I took it in, it made me someone, I am someone
I am standing tall not giving in
'Cause I am someone, I am someone

And now I'm done, I'm coming
Now I'm done, I'm coming
Now I'm done, I'm coming home

I Was Wrong About The Clarinet - R2BC

Jerusalem Orchestra

Reason 2B cheerful are plentiful this week.

1
We Break Up
It's the end of the school year. One more week to go and I'm actually in school for only two more days. And one day in college will have almost half my year course students passed and signed off. DD has to return all her school textbooks tomorrow and she has her end of year party in the afternoon. I will be working on a summer course and meeting with another 18 students from the Year course but without four days a week in school it's all much more relaxed. I have plans - of course. :)

School Orchestra

2
Clarinet Soloist
DD had her end of year concerts this week. The Jerusalem Cub Orchestra was fantastic and the kids were so excited to be playing in a real theatre and with other older orchestras and bands. The next day they had the school orchestra end of year concert. In this one DD had a solo. The girl who wouldn't be part of any school assembly because she was too shy, had the first solo.

The children who are in both orchestras performed a surprise rendition of 'Toy" from the Eurovision Song Contest. I never knew it actually had a tune until I heard this orchestrated version. It was a lot of fun as all the children started clapping and singing along.

One of the fathers said to me afterwards, "weren't you the parent who complained at the beginning of the year about them having to take up a new instrument when they can't play the recorder yet?" I still think a recorder ensemble is lovely and worthwhile, but I admit that I was wrong about the clarinet. We will be continuing next year.

School solo

3
Family Visits
My nephew stayed with us last week, on his way to be a leader for a group of school children from his old school who are touring Israel for two weeks. It was sharav weather last Shabbat (over 36∘C) so we just stayed in, enjoyed each other's company, and played contract whist. We do love our card games. And this week I'm looking forward to seeing my cousin who's here for a wedding.

I've joined the linky over at Becky's Lakes Single Mum
along with the other cheerful bloggers.

DD In Concert - R2BC

DD is second from left on the clarinet

This week's Reasons 2B cheerful should include that we broke up for the Pesach (Passover) holidays yesterday, that the sun is shining, that we have guests coming for dinner tomorrow night, that I've finished all my freelance work, grading is up to date, and I've completed 23 days of The Minimalist Game. However, all that is eclipsed by the THE CONCERT!

Oh my, I'm so proud I can't tell you. And DD is pretty pleased with herself to. So here's the story. After four months of learning clarinet, DD was in her first concert yesterday. There was a lot of build up.

They had to have to have white shirts with buttons down the front. Apparently the buttons were very important. We couldn't find one so in desperation we bought a boy's shirt in Fox. I thought she looked like a waiter in it but I didn't say anything. When we got home she tried on her new ensemble (we had to buy black jeans and shoes too), looked in the mirror and declared, "Hello! And welcome to Masterchef!" So it wasn't just me. But it was only for one evening so we just got on with having an argument about practising (or not practising) for the concert.

The next day I got a tearful phone call from school. "Mummy I hate my shirt. Can we take it back and get one that's more girly?" Luckily I'd just shown my students the fantastic film, "Shine like a Star" Watch it here on You Tube if you've not seen it (click on settings to turn on English subtitles. There is an English dubbed version but I couldn't find it.) You'll do anything for your child to make her happy after watching it. And actually, I also hated the shirt.

So off we went again to the mall. Luckily Fox took the shirt back. Then we went into almost every clothes shop and found nothing. Eventually we found one plain, white shirt for £30. I refused to buy it. DD was in tears. "Sam won't let me be in the concert if I don't have a white shirt with buttons," she wailed. I phoned the clarinet teacher to find out how important the buttons were. He didn't pick up.

Finally, we found one suitable shirt in the whole mall. £15 if you're wondering. We came home exhausted but not too exhausted to argue about the lack of practising for the concert. I was getting seriously worried about it.

Before the concert

The next morning DD went off to school with her concert clothes in a bag. She was so excited. I got a frantic call from another mother. "I'm at the mall in Fox. Did you buy the boy's shirt? My daughter was in tears last night because her white shirt doesn't have buttons." I saved her life by directing her to the one reasonably priced white shirt for girls in the whole mall.

At 5.30pm me and another mother shared a taxi down into Hell. (Literally, the Jerusalem Music Centre is in the Gehinom Valley - otherwise known as the Biblical Valley of Death.) There we met our excited offspring. They were bouncing off the walls.

Reader, the concert was delightful. There were four clarinets, five flutes, a couple of trumpets, three saxophones, one trombone and a percussion section. Half the orchestra had only been learning for four months and the others were old timers of one year's standing.  They played short, simple pieces like, 'When the Saints Come Marching in,' and 'John's Brown Body,' although they are Israeli so no one else knew the words like I did. And there were some Israeli folk songs and nursery rhymes that everyone knew.

Each child or pair had a solo or a duet. One of the drummers, who looked about six, took a turn conducting. It was just lovely. At the end the musical director gave a speech about how every musician in every professional orchestra, even the army band that plays at every national ceremony,  started off playing nursery rhymes in a children's concert like this.

Afterwards DD said to me, "do you think I could be in the army band?"
"You'd have to start practising every day," I replied. And then I went back to sending video clips and photos from my phone to everyone I could think of who would tolerate it.

More R2BCs on the linky at Michelle's Mummy from the Heart. 

Everything Is Happy In The Sunshine - R2BC

It seems that all the heaviness of the winter just evaporates with the return of the spring sunshine. And this past week has been particularly warm. People were even spotted out an about in sandals!

Here are my Reasons 2B Cheerful this week. I'm a day late because I just had to write about Inspiring Women yesterday for International Women's Day. Go and read it if you haven't already - you are probably one of the women I wrote about. And don't forget the R2BC linky over at Michelle's Mummy from the Heart. 

1
Hosting
I started of my social March with going to the Purim party last Thursday evening and then hosting friends for the festive Purim meal on Friday. I put out games on the coffee table to amuse the kids and it gave them something to do when they finished eating and got bored of the table. There really were guests but these particular friends don't like their photos on the internet so I had to take special blog photos without the people.

-1 
Not hosting
For this week I invited friends from London over for a mid-week supper and another small family for Friday night dinner today. The London friends suddenly had to return to London for family reasons and the friends for today were already busy for Friday night. So week two wasn't so social.

A half-hearted 2
The Jerusalem Marathon
Today is the Jerusalem Marathon. We usually go and cheer on the runners and see loads of people we know both running and cheering. There is music and street entertainment at the end of our street. Today we didn't get our act together to go out this morning. And it's cold out which is great for the runners but not so inviting for us. We did catch the end of it when DD went to her youth club and I went shopping.

3
More Teaching
As soon as the sun comes out they start talking about teaching for next year. I have agreed to my one day in college and two online courses as usual. For school I promised myself that I'd go back to three days a week. This year I'm doing 3.5 days and I felt that it was too much. So obviously I heard myself agreeing to do four days next year. And my stupid brain was in collusion with my mouth, thinking all sorts of time-management thoughts and vowing to be more efficient. Yes you can do it all but it's more comfortable and enjoyable not to. Oh well, another year towards paying off the mortgage won't hurt.

4
Orchestra
DD has started practicing her clarinet at home if I nag her enough. She's in two orchestras and I got an invitation to the first concert later this month. This means, see how wonderful this is and if your child wishes to continue, from now on there will be a monthly fee. Of course we'll continue but there's no such thing as a free Legato.

R2BC - Play, Cook, Read

Here are my reasons 2B cheerful for this week. It was a good week. I'm on the R2BC linky over at Michelle's Mummy from the Heart if you'd like to read other entries from all over the world.

1
Two Orchestras [noch].
Remember how I went to Hell and back (literally) to get DD's clarinet. Well imagine my surprise when she came home with a letter inviting her to join two orchestras. One is the school orchestra and one is a Jerusalem orchestra for children from different schools. The latter is back in Hell but they have a bus to and from school.

I told a friend that DD is in two orchestras. I heard a hint of pride in my voice, or it could have verged on smugness. My friend was suitably impressed and asked what instrument she plays. I replied, "I don't know. Nothing. The clarinet goes back and forth to school every week but I've never heard her play anything." 

In light of the lack of practice and enthusiasm, I assumed that all the kids were invited and that most of  them would do it. I'd already made my protest (and got over it) so I just kept quiet and sent back the permission slip. One parent asked if it was possible to only be in the school orchestra. Maybe her son already  has an activity on Wednesdays and the JO is from 4 - 6 pm so it's quite a commitment. And it's not free but I'm happy to pay if there's a chance we could possibly be a musical family after all. I've always fancied that.

On Wednesday morning on my way to the bus I passed a few of DD's classmates. None of them had their instruments with them. I asked if they were going to the orchestra and none of them were. When I went to meet the bus at 6.10 outside school, I was surprised to see that it was a mini-bus holding about 15 kids. There are 60 kids in our 4th grade. Hmmm. Turns out us musical types are an elite few. ;~p

2
No Shopping, More Cooking
Very little shopping this week after last week's supermarket haul but lots of cooking as the vegetables do need prepping before they pass the point of no consume. This weekend I made another big vegetable soup - this time to eat over the week as there's no more room in the freezer. Roasted cauliflower. Baked potatoes, and more latkes (because there was still room in the latke box in the freezer from last week).

3
The Famous Five
I thought I'd written about DD's amazing birthday present from my cousin, of a boxed set of The Famous Five. No matter, it will eventually get a whole blog post to itself. I read the first book to her but I insisted she start reading the next book herself. She's not a big reader because she thinks it will be  hard slog. Remember that she doesn't read any English at school so all her educational and most of her incidental reading is in Hebrew. Anyway, I made her read one chapter last Sunday. Not only did she surprise herself by finding it easy, she also enjoyed it. So I implemented a chapter a day rule, to be read before screens.

I distinctly heard myself also saying that the rule included 10 minutes of clarinet practice before screens but apparently I must have said it in my head because that didn't happen.......yet.

I See Music In Our Future - R2BC

It's that time of the week again and though I've been sick for some of it, there are still reasons 2B cheerful. However, because of the sicky, it's a bit of a recap and an update on things already reported. I've joined the linky over at Michelle's Mummy from the Heart, where us cheerful bloggers share the cheer. 



1
Clarinet
DD had her third clarinet lesson, but the first lesson with the full instrument. Ronit had given her ligature (you see we learned the proper name for it) to her teacher and it worked. She came home all excited and exclaiming, "I can play my clarinet! I can play my clarinet!" What she meant was that she could get a sound out of it. Which is 100% improvement on last week when she couldn't get a sound out of it. So her homework is to practice. I've banished practice sessions to her bedroom with the door shut until she can play a tune. That sounds harsher than it is because I'm actually only thinking of the neighbours. DD's bedroom is the only room in the house that only shares a party wall (including ceilings and floors) with one other neighbour instead of three.

After her lesson, and while she was still excited about it, I put on my CD of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. The adagio (the middle bit) is possibly my favourite piece of music of all time. DD complained all the way through that it was boring and she wanted to watch Mama Mia.

A clarinet playing friend called after reading my blog post and offered to give DD help with her technique. He also mentioned that his son had taken clarinet to great levels, eventually necessitating them paying 13,000nis (almost 3,000GBP) for a good clarinet. Mama Mia suddenly sounded like a good idea.

2
Sick Days
I was sick on Sunday and Monday and didn't go to school. I went to college on Tuesday (which is entirely different from teaching in primary school - far less energy involved) so I thought I'd better go back to school on Wednesday. However, I had to leave before the last lesson. I came straight home and went to bed. DD had to fend for herself all evening. She foraged about in the fridge and in the larder for food. Evidence the next morning suggested that she ate crisps, biscuits, and ice-cream for supper. I vaguely remember her coming in to ask me a few times and I just said, "I don't mind, you can have what you like, just no cooking."

Good bye old friend. I'm eating the fibre from now on.

The cheerful connection here is that DD was so good and amused herself  until bedtime. She brought me glasses of cool water when I needed them and the phone when it rang. Eventually I saw all the lights going out and a little voice said, "I'm going to bed now. Shall I turn the light out right away or can I do some sudokus in bed?"

She took the magnets only. She didn't want the books. 

3
Sold
I put some items up for sale on our local facebook selling group. I sold the juicer. Research has convinced me that eating the whole fruit or vegetable is better. More fibre and less fructose. I loved the juices. My friend and I used to call them the nectar of the gods. But you have to follow your head in these things.

I also sold a big bag of magnetic letters, numbers and shapes. It all goes to keep some cash in my purse and will pay for my next bus ticket. Every little helps. And that's two fewer clutter items in our home.

4
Recorder
DD and I both enjoyed playing the recorder last weekend. I'm looking forward to a future of recorder duets.

Dusting Off The Descant

With all the shenanigans over DD's clarinet and me requesting a recorder group instead, I got all nostalgic about my recorder. A few years ago, before DD was born, I bought myself a new descant recorder and got out my old recorder books from school (circa 1973). I started to play again but, as with a lot of things, I didn't get very far. DD now has that recorder for school.

While I was trying to persuade DD that the recorder is just as good as the clarinet (and failed), we watched You Tube videos of recorder ensembles and they are beautiful. So when we went to buy the reeds for the clarinet, I bought myself a new recorder. It cost less than the reeds for the clarinet despite being a Yamaha.

At the weekend I got out my old books - the black one (book 1) and the blue one (book 2), and started to play. I began at the beginning, going over the notes - B, A, G, upper C, upper D, F#, E and lower D. It went surprisingly fast. My fingers seemed to remember of their own accord. I got to page 30 in less than an hour, and playing fluently, reading the music an' all.

Something was missing though. There were tunes I remembered that just weren't there. So went back to the box and found the recorder book from my primary school, the red one. And there it was, nestled somewhere between Go and Tell Aunt Nancy and London's Burning - Tallis. I loved playing that when I was 10. It felt like a proper piece of music rather than a folk song, which of course it is.

Then DD came in and said she wanted a go. So she took the black book and worked her way through the notes B, A and G. (Don't ask me what they have been doing in school for a year.) She got all excited about it. Later in the day she went back to practise it again.

I proclaimed Saturday morning to be music practice morning. I am determined to get to the end of the blue book this time. Did you notice what good condition it's in compared to the black book? There's a reason for that.

Minimalism shminimalism, there is also a reason why despite being an Olympic level declutterer, there are some things I've held on to for 45 years and not sorry.

I Went To Hell And Back (The Clarinet Saga) - R2BC

Can you spot the missing piece? It's the clip that holds the reed. Who knew? 

After paying not a small amount of money for DD's extra art lessons, which I didn't begrudge at all, we got a letter from the school saying that each child had to choose one of the following instruments: clarinet, saxophone, flute, trombone and trumpet. DD chose the trumpet. I vetoed that so she chose clarinet.

Then we got a letter that we had to go and rent the instrument from the Jerusalem Music Centre at a cost of 300nis, we had to leave a deposit of 1,000nis (a cheque that hopefully won't be cashed), and we had to buy the reeds for the clarinet.

I was annoyed. I wrote an email to the Headmistress and the class teacher in which I wrote:

Dear .........

I want to ask you about the musical instrument lessons and make a suggestion.

DD has been playing the recorder at school for a year now and though she enjoys playing she didn't get very far with it. Therefore, I'm not so happy about paying 300nis to hire a clarinet and leave a 1000nis cheque as deposit when music is obviously not her passion (unlike art, which she loves and has some talent for). 

However, I do think that music is important and that it's a wonderful opportunity to get lessons at school at this age. As they already have recorders, could the school offer the option of a recorder group as one of the groups for the musical instrument lessons? The recorder isn't just an instrument for kids. It's a proper instrument and recorder ensembles can be beautiful.

I would love for DD to be competent in playing a musical instrument and to be able to read music, but I don't see the point of starting a new one when the instrument we have is lovely and would fulfill all the music requirements without the added cost and pressure.

I know there is at least one other member of the class who would also be interested in this option.

The answer was no. They said very nicely that they'd discussed it with the music co-ordinator and it's too late to change things now. Perhaps for next year. (Hands up anyone who believes the clarinet teacher could also teach recorder.) I was so tempted to reply, "That's great thanks, so we'll wait for the recorder group next year." But DD is not quite 9 and she doesn't want to be different from everyone else so I agreed to get the clarinet.

I reminded myself that the music programme is one of the reasons I chose this school. I had to admit that 300nis (about 65 GBP) is a very good price for what will be about 30 lessons, hopefully. And DD was happy. My mother, via skype, also reminded me that when we were kids they bought recorders for each of us, two violins, a melodica, a guitar, and a flute, and none of us plays anything today. I admitted that I still had a keyboard that I bought 25 years ago in order to learn the piano, and I don't use it at all now. (DD chipped in here, "yes you do use it. You put all the clean laundry on it when you can't be bothered to fold it up and put it away." Thanks for that Darling.)

That night I couldn't fall asleep for worrying about the 1,000 shekels that they'd take if we lost or damaged the clarinet.

The JMC is in Hell's Valley. I'm not kidding. It's in the Valley of Gehenna (also called Hinnom), if you know your Bible:

"In the Hebrew Bible, Gehenna was initially where some of the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Thereafter it was deemed to be cursed (Jer. 7:31, 19:2-6).

In Rabbinic literature and Christian and Islamic scripture, Gehenna is a destination of the wicked..... the King James Version of the Bible usually translates with the Anglo-Saxon word Hell." Wikipedia

No buses go there. Of course not, it's cursed! So we took a taxi down, down, down towards the depths of the rocky cliff below the Old City of Jerusalem. We hired our clarinet and because God's mercy is not abandoned at the gates of Hell, we met the mother of one of DD's classmates there. She not only gave us a ride back unto the land of the living, but she also took us straight to the music shop where we shared a packet of reeds. (DD has only lost one of her reeds so far. :~) )

Lo and behold, the first clarinet lesson cameth! DD came home and told me there is a piece missing from her instrument and you can't play it without this piece. I closed my eyes and saw my 1,000nis being taken as we are accused of losing the missing piece. At the very least it would be two more taxi rides to sort it out.

I called the music teacher. He told me to call Ronit. I asked for her number. I got nothing. I sent a slightly hysterical text message to the class teacher saying I need to speak to Ronit. Who is she? Where is she? Can I please have something to go on here - a surname, a number, an email? Anything? I got a number.

Meanwhile another mother gave me the number of Yaffa who also goes to the JMC and might be able to get the missing part for me. I spoke to Ronit and she told me to speak to Chikol who is in charge of the instruments at the JMC, and she might be able to bring me the missing piece if he has one spare. I spoke to Chikol and he said he would give the missing piece to Yaffa. I texted Yaffa. She replied that she is the flute teacher not the clarinet teacher. By this time I wasn't sure who'd I'd spoken to. I contacted Ronit again and she said she would get the missing piece from Chikol today.

So hopefully that is the end of the clarinet saga. This is my Reasons 2B Cheerful post this week because we do not have to go back to Hell and sort it out. Otoh, we've not got it yet and we've not tried it to make sure it's the correct piece that was missing. Ho hum, for now I'm cheerful so I've joined the R2BC linky on Michelle's Mummy from the Heart.

Social Media: The Extraordinary And The Ordinary - R2BC

Can't get more ordinary than my old fridge

1
Magic Radio
Whilst in London, cooking with my sister for Pesach, we listened to the most amazing radio. Song after song was a fabulous track from my life. Every one a winner. I thought it might be a golden oldies programme on Radio 2. I do listen to Radio 2 on a Sunday if I'm working at home. However, I was told that it's Magic Radio. A whole radio station dedicated to the music I would have chosen myself. Better in fact, as I've forgotten about much of the music I would love to listen to. Anyway, I found it online and I've been listening to it ever since.

2
Knorpp and South
Many months ago I started watching this You Tube channel about a wonderful family with nine kids, who sold everything, bought an RV, and have been travelling around America for the past year.

As a mother who can lose her cool and get overwhelmed with one kid who is in full time school, in a home that doesn't move, and surrounded by friends in the community.... I am in awe of how this family functions.

This week they sold the RV and are upping the ante by moving their travels to Europe. I'm psyched. We've all been invited to 'go' with them. When I say all of us I mean me and their other 94,724 subscribers (plus lurkers who watch but don't subscribe). I think our plan is to rent places to live for a month at a time whilst exploring the surrounding area, rather than RVing or camping.

I've already done some more decluttering here so I won't feel like a burden to them. Seriously though, one thing I've noticed about travelling families is that they don't go from everything to one carry-on bag overnight. Often there are a series of downsizing steps which makes the process less painful than you would think. Watching this family over the past year has made me wonder if we could do something similar... maybe.... one day.

3
Facebook Hilarity
For Independence Day there were a number of posts on facebook involving lists of 69 things. (It's 69 years since independence, obviously.) 69 wonderful things about Israel, 69 things you didn't know, 69 inventions and innovations, etc....

There were two lists of 69 extraordinary women of Israel. This prompted my extraordinary friend, Sarah, to post this:

"I've seen two separate lists so far of 69 fabulous women in Israel. 
Next year, for Israel's 70th birthday, I'm compiling a list of 70 totally nondescript, average women who've done fuck all with their lives like me.  If you'd like to be included in my list, drop me a note detailing your subpar average achievements."

What followed was a hilarious thread lasting several hours, where we fell over ourselves trying to prove how worthy we are of being a total waste of space. Some examples:

Me: I'm now liking my own comments, how sad is that?

Gillian: Where is your lovely daughter?
Me: Oh she's watching You Tube and eating crisps for supper.

Lisa: Oh please can I be on this list? (Notice she is begging.) I'll make you a cake. (And resorting to bribery, thereby guaranteeing a place on the list.)
Me: Lisa, some of us can't bake.

But the highlight of the evening was when Tzipporah wrote: I can peel an orange in one go. Several of us read this as: I can pee in an orange in one go. All over Israel a number of sad women were thinking along the lines of:  Is that a camping game? Do you scoop out the flesh first? Why would you want to?

I still keep bursting into laughter when I think about it. Thanks Sarah, for the best evening's entertainment in a long time.

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"In this world, somehow an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life."

At the end of  Sarah's thread someone embedded a TEDx talk by Brene Brown. I've linked to it so you can watch it. Turns out, it's the ordinary that is important and being extraordinary won't shield you from all the things you are scared might happen if you aren't striving for perfection.

I'm linking up with Michelle on Mummy from The Heart for the Reasons 2B Cheerful Linky this week.

Treble Clef

DD has music twice a week in School. When I was 5 music meant singing, possibly with a box of small percussion instruments to be handed out to the lucky few - tambourines, triangles, wooden blocks.

I still remember some of those songs from my Reception class in 1967. Or I should say some of some of those songs. We sang 'Jimmy Crack Corn And I Don't Care' (it seems racism hadn't been invented yet let alone the concept of politically correct). We sang 'All Thing Bright And Beautiful' (but not the verse about the rich man in his castle - so maybe there was some political correctness). And we sang 'What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?' (Would that even be allowed today?).

I have no idea what DD is doing in Music. She doesn't tell me much about what goes on in school at all. When I ask her what she had for lunch she answers, "Um, I don't think I should tell you." She means, "you're not going to like this but I didn't eat any of it." I'm slowly learning to decode.

Yesterday after music DD brought home this.

Now I know that blogging about your children is a form of bragging as well as keeping a record for posterity. We try to keep it interesting though and include the more difficult moments so it's not just showing off our wonderful little darlings. However, I just think this is the cutest thing I've seen come home from school yet (including all the Mother's Day cards, Rosh Hashana Blessings, etc...).

No apologies, I love this attempt at a treble clef. I don't even know what it's called in Hebrew (and neither does DD) but it makes me smile every time I look at it.