drunk blogging or get nakud and cuddle with gil

It’s independence day and I am somewhat between tipsy and drunk.

Another drinking game

This time its worst case scenario (trivia game) with addition of drinks

I drank 2.5 glasses of jack (john) Daniels and a glass of peach schnapps (the vault opener) with OJ

 

My arms are still in control (since I am typing)- but my speech is weirder than usual.

Kevin wants to cuddle with me for some reason. I am afraid to drink more- since he is out of control.

We had a nice independence style meal of brawts and hamburgers.

James just farted.

Elizabeth drank too much but so far nothing embarrassing.

Kevin can’t hold his liquor

Kevin wants butt love for some reason- he has issues , I tell you!!!

Ibu can’t remember the cards we just read??? And he thinks he is sober

I wish I had a video camera

I am so going to sleep soon- and dir balak- don’t wake me up.

We are playing the couch potatoes vs. the world (Italy, new Zealand and west Asia). Kevin laughs like a drunk now, and ibu chockes.

Did you know that you have to hit an alligator in the snout and hit the shark in the eye and no the other way around? Kevin thinks it’s the other way around and this earned him with precious drinking seconds.

I just swung my arms and they are out of control- so I am getting drunk (2^nd time in 32years!!!)

Do I like sweetnems? James believes so-  btw  diet coke and jack Daniels tastes horrible

 

 

Who should I send this- my usual blog crowd, or the whole company
I better stop- my arms are getting drunk and the battery is running low

Cheers or salute or lechaieem or goodnight

 

 

 

make up session

An important part of a matza ball soup is the matza balls

That’s easy enough- use the powder –it’s quite good , read the instruction.

The issue is veggie oil. Say you have canola oil. Is Canola a vegetable? What is canola anyway? I have no idea , but that is what I used.

So after the matza balls were done. And the soup was done, extra fat was removed. I dropped them off on the patio of Inna’s (Alla’s sister) and drove east for Toronto the next day (I already wrote about that).  So after a short day with snake food and friends we drove back for the Seder, where to my surprise – my soup was well devoured , the problem with that is that I barely had 1 dish for myself. A proper kneidalach soup starts on the 2^nd big bowl, I guess I need to make another batch.

Seder here was different – people try to avoid reading in both places and get as quick as possible to the meal. The difference was in the singing. The Seder at inna’s is friends and family with lots of kids. And every year they act a little play related to Passover, with songs and music. They played the violin and piano and the quality was good, which makes one wonder what is the use for directors academy?   Btw, is there such a place as directors academy?

We toasted with the cup the my grandma gave me and I read a blessing from the other side of the passage that says go eat- I don’t remember ever reaching the 2^nd part (for the reading passages).

The evening ended with an insurance related fiasco, which I can’t disclose any details (taking the fifth and applying for the witness protection program)- actually I can , but maybe in another time.

The next evening we flew to st Louis , in a very documented 30 minutes.

It’s always fun seeing the nieces and chop chick who walks, but not yet speaks. I don’t remember if I wrote on that. I think I did.

 

Today is make up session….

 

Oh- I had a birthday with a great lunch in our favorite pancake house with my meat lovers omelet and French toast – with ice cream cake for desert , which more than half is still safely at my fridge  -  with the slide show Alla made me as an chore. I love the gift, since there is though for every detail.  You didn’t get the music attached for some reason, but there was though in that as well. Oh  –  I enjoyed the details themselvesJ.

After a needed snutch- I barely finished 5k – which is great since a month ago I finished it for the 1^st time. And on Sunday I passed the 10k mark again, in the 1^st real hot day this year (slightly burned). Thought I was struggling- I still can’t believe I made the 10.

 

So, how do you know that spring is in the air (or more correctly, how can you tell that winter ended?) the secret is in the cones. If you see orange cones on the road  –  than winter is over and road fixing (public budget wasting) season has begun. The winter’s snow falls as soon at the last cone is removed. Seeing the cones, the trees responding and beginning to bloom- amazing everywhere. I look everywhere ,but the road ahead of me.

 

Makeup session over for now

Still in debt for snake food photos, debit of the month club and the scavenger hunt….

Cheers and have a great independence day

FW: candles and trees

goodbye- the curse continues

We drove to the city of the elderly known as Youngstown.
I guess that was true once, but not anymore. The average crowed age was higher than the bands - and they have been singing from before I was born. We assumed many of them needed a supply of fresh air.
The show was great - they have lots of songs that you know, but don't know that these are the guys who sing it.
At some point they went into the crowds and walked the halls, and of course I couldn't resist the opportunity and got a shot with both of them (see attached).
My next chair neighbor asked of my origin, since I guess I have an accent while singing - she was Hungarian by the way, said we were a lovely couple - I agreed:).

But the curse struck once more as they missed my favorite song of theirs :((((((
I guess it's my fault for not managing to get a hold of the bands email - but I do have the actual thingy you use to play the guitar - from the concert - all an all a great night.

I can't access you tube from my current location (local policy - they think that listening to music while working is a waste of the employers time and money---- outrageous)
But I think this is the link to the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQbArTL_SAY

goodbye

elmo and the kids- st louis photos batch 2

These are action shots taken from the floor while being overrun buy 2 legged shrieking kids :)

Introducing a new FDA approved drug

As you may know, my lovely pharmacist is still a student (but not for long)- so she had to write a study on a new drug.

If you don’t know the scientific mumbo jumbo – this is exactly the items that each new drug has, all the properties of a proper research item- though the drug in question is of a different type.

 

Enjoy- I know I did

 

 

say, you wanted to make a chicken soup

First, the best chicken soup is made from turkey- so why call it a chicken soup?

Maybe it’s easier then asking why is turkey named a turkey- since it doesn’t come from turkey?? See, let’s just say chicken soup.

 

So go to the market and buy 2 big pieces of wing and thigh of turkey,  also buy 10 wings-  not those with hot sauce in a restaurant  , but those with the ugly skin on them.

I know it’s a turkey soup, but it does have chicken in it.

 

Buy carrots- there are the standard ones (that bugs eats), there are huge ones – carrots on steroids, little baby ones, pilled In a bag, chopped, sliced – I took a standard size bag of carrots (need 6).

Get a batch of parsley, and look for the other green thing that looks like a parsley, but has smaller branches- after some browsing- it turned out to be dill – the market guys did not know who was the prime minister in 1984.

Look for the veggie with the white root- celery I believe it’s called (also in Hebrew, but when mom can’t remember then name, you have a problem).

Get 1 onion- go figure, how can that be a problem- do you know how many types of onions are in the west side market-   well neither did I!  a lot of them- small large, purple, sweet and Onion Bisli- I think I got a big Oregular one.

Now you have the ingredients- all you need is a big Sir- since you are making soup for 30+ people.

Make sure you take a charged phone with you when you go to your girl friends moms house to pick up the sir – otherwise you would have to go back.

You have the Sir-  good – remember you need eggs, vegi oil, and kneidalach powder for the soup- you have them   good-  not a vegi oil?, - just oil- ok no worries.

 

Pill the carrots  - use the new cutter that you bought a year prior,  the thing doesn’t work? Why? But it’s new!!!  Oh there is little vax cover- ok take it off, now we’re cooking (literally) and placed them in the sir.

Pill the outer layer from the big onion and add it- no need to cut it all out and cry. You can cry while it’s whole.

Chop the parsley , the dill and the celery (you don’t have to do it actually, but I did and so should you).

Put it all in the sir.

Take turkey and chicken that you forgot to though out , and use the micro wave to work for you

Clean the chicken a bit – not a pleasant work- but your mom did it for years, so you can do it too

Put it all in the sir- add water till the end, let it boil.

Forever later….it boiled

Remove the goo from the top, mix- add pepper  and chicken powder (if we have chicken powder-  why do we need the chicken, and the turkey – is there a turkey powder?)

Mix every now and then, make sure the carrots and the chicken soften and wait.

You can blog, do homework, watch the Simpsons or do any number of things while you wait- I recommend laundry – it’s the precise amount of time- to wash and put clothes in the dryer- for maximum efficiency.

Now to make the matzo balls and take the soup out of the flames….to be continued ….its nappy time

 

 

 

snakefood

No time to update- so speed blogging style

With my excellent spell checking abilities , this will be awesome

 

So in the morning, we went to buffalo, where Alla was supposed to get finger printed – that went well and with no ink stains what so ever.

So an hour after that, we were on our way to Niagara falls.

The obstacle on the way, was a suspicious Canadian border crossing person – for an unknown reason – my car, which has supplies for a small Katharina refuge center , was troubling them.

So we were asked, who are we meeting, last names, when, which, why, who, whom and for what etc…  I was getting worried, they might not let us cross. In the end they just search the trunk – which shocked Alla, but for me, it still seemed normal. So we crossed, parked and made our way on a sunny and chilly day to the falls.

Maybe because I have seen them before in movies, or I am travel desensitized – but I expected bigger. I guess you should see them first from the bottom – that will be more impressive.

But the point of the trip was not to see the falls (we didn’t make it to the bottom). But to see Alla’s friend Anya , visiting from Israel- with no US visa for her kid. So we had to cross.

So , we stopped by a fudge shop, sampled and promised to return (I did mean it) - than we met them at the rainforest café. in the past, I entered this place- but briefly, and now I had my chance to explore. Animals everywhere (it’s a place for kids (and for me))  - and the animals were hidden, so you had to look and spot them (not real animals , but cool looking).

Alla has been planning this meet for a while (they have not met in 9 years), and wandered how would they meet (cheek kiss, hug, hand shake??)  – we were in the store, when she saw her, and started running (THROUGH) the door, and jumped into each other arms for a long hug. I was shaking hands… Anya came with her husband, their two kids and another couple from Toronto (their friends).

Out of 4.5 hours in Niagara falls, we stayed almost 3 hours in the restaurant- since there was lots of catching up to do. Alla liked a big cute green frog in the gift store, and I got it. Anya’s kid had seen it and snatched it from my hands. I totally get him, that was one cool frog. So I went back to the store and got another one. I explained to the Forrest clerk, that the big snake ate my frog (see photos- that was a big snake)- hence- the frog is now called snake food.

Later we went to take another look at the falls and I had just a T-Shirt , so I wore Snake food as a scarf- , it’s a very useful snake food.  

We had to leave early to make it in time for the Seder..next entry- we have arrived

4 concerts and a record

Nothing like breaking your own records

After the soccer match last week(which we lost) and a very fun and busy day yesterday, I got up to my weekly run with my fallow fundraisers- sore and stiff-  sure I will do poorly today - but got passed the 1^st mile and kept going  - road was mostly flat- but very minor up hills were tough – 80 minutes later I completed an old promise to my self- 10k on road. Yes I know still slow - but I feel great.

Still have to make it to 20… today I could have kept going so I am optimistic  – we will see what happens next week.

 

 

On Friday I went under cover

I got free tickets to the Cleveland house of blues for a concerts of cover bands

The 1^st hour was a warm up session with a cover of Coldplay – I sang along the whole hour-  that was a pleasant surprise, cause I had no idea I knew so many of their songs. Then came the real thing- U2.

Actually the U2 incident which is a U2 tribute band- which sang u2 songs for 3 hours (bono can’t sing so much). I only knew half the songs, but I enjoyed the rest none the less.

The only problem- is my usual  curse of favorite missed song.

They sang for 3 hours- any song the band has- except my song!!!- I wrote about it before, that my favorite song is often not heard in live shows- it’s incredibly depressing and happened again.

Sting didn’t sing Russians, the scorpions didn’t sing under the same sun, the cure missed Friday I’m in love, Elton john didn’t sing one- I think I have a few more, but can’t recall those at the moment.

And I still can’t find a U2 cover band that sings, but I still haven’t found what I am looking for. How could they miss this song?

 

When I departed from Erez crossing on the way home after being discharged- I purposely chose that song to as my 1^st civilian song-  I felt it was fitting- and it was for 10 years. When I came to Cleveland I made a decision to dump 2 things. The 1^st was my travel worn black leather pouch  which was already not in fashion when I got it. And that song. ( I am way to sentimental) – I still love the song, it just doesn’t apply any more. I already have 2 songs instead of that one for this decade-  I may mentioned them before – but they require work so they still do not apply- hoping to get there.

 

Next Saturday we are going to an air supply concert- and they have about 10 songs I love- so this will be great- and I am already taking precautions- I am looking for a contact to the band(email or phone)- to make sure my favorite air supply song will not be missed (‘goodbye’)- while looking on line, I stumbled on a live recording made in Israel last year (no one told me) and where would they go, but to Ra’anana!!! And sing my song- YouTube has lots of live versions of the song in lots of shows- so that is a good sign.

 

The shows ended and I got home around 1am , woke up at 6:30 (I arranged for an international wakeup call) to start my busy Saturday.

It started with paint ball – ran, ducked, jumped , dove for a couple of hours – I was hit 4 times-twice the paint ball did not break so it didn’t count.

Another time- we played team vs. team elimination, so you have to hit everyone in the other team. Half my team got wacked pretty fast on this game-and I was fighting too guys, moving from one side of the cover to another trying to hold them off – I did that for long minutes (I didn’t look at the time- since I have no watch, and I wouldn’t anyhow- the adrenalin rush with paintball is incredible). At this time my whole team was killed with paint and I was the last (this was game 3, we lost 2 fast the previous games so nothing to tell on those). The rest of the other team began to join, and I was diving for more cover, in a semi muddy ground. I had good cover, but I couldn’t hit them as well. One guy ran into the open to charge, and I had him…almost- than ran out of bullets…..ahhhhhhhh…I quickly shouted that I was out, he didn’t think twice and fired few at me from an angle where there was no cover- so he hit me after I surrendered.

The next game was more exciting – this time I wasn’t the last to survive- but did manage to last a while – and held them off for long- at some point I went to face off one of them in the open- but he got me first straight in the eye (hit the mask…) and the paint covered the mask. So 4 games, 2 hits , 0 kills- and loads of fun. Now I have only 1 blue mark on my thigh- which is strange, since no one hit me in the thigh- so not sure where that came from- maybe from diving for cover. Some of us left early- the rest remained- and we continued to orienteering. This is an event I organized as a fund raiser. 24 folks came with me, some went on their own- but 14 followed me to the woods. I don’t know why, but the orienteering here is a lot easier than Israel. This was supposed to be a difficult course, but it was easy- most of the people who came never done orienteering before- so I kind of let everyone lead from one point to the next, teaching them, and letting them teach the next one. Most of them did fine, so that was good.  Nature provided drumming sounds, as wood peckers kept pounding on trees. You hear the sounds so clear, but it echoes through the forest, and it is difficult to spot the source. But I got lucky and have a great wood pecker photo.

 

After the orienteering, we went to lunch as about 10 people  went along for the scavenger hunt…which I will tell you all about it the next time…. Waking up in 6 hrs…and yes , I still have to share on Passover, Niagara and snake food…. Hoping to close the blogging gap tomorrow

 

Have a great week

 

 

 

 

snake food perhaps and 'Alla easter' it's passover

I just returned from a lecture in the museum of natural history. It was by a great mathematician , which I can’t recall his name for some reason- who wrote a book about something…

The lecture wasn’t about anything specific , kind of a philosophical and historical look at math and how it applies to us. I had no idea I was going to that- all I knew what the name of the meet up ‘adventure of mind and space’ (since it’s a part of the adventures meet up I go to) - that was all the info I needed to  attend. So, an hour lecture which was interesting and funny, then the author signed books so obviously I went elsewhere – and they had the observatory open. Did you know that Cleveland used to be the capital of the world in telescope making (lenses making)  now it has other form of stars ( Lebron shining James…). So I got a sneak pick through a telescope that used to be the 2^nd largest in the world at the time (1899) and still has original parts!!!! -  shocking, I know. I got to see Saturn up close , but I must say,  if they had taken and icon of my screen, and placed a sticker on the glass,  I would not have been able to tell the difference. But it was still cool (since it’s a big telescope, and the observatory was open to the night chill). The observatory actually rotated while we were there.

 

  24 hours before – I had my 2^nd soccer match of the season, again 2:0 to them – don’t you just hate them. My fault with the 2^nd goal, though other than that massive f up – I played very well (on defense).

The gamed was canceled close to the end, since a guy on our team, got his foot stuck in the mud (rained the day before), while his body tried to proceed with motion. The result was not pretty, I have never seen a popped out knee before, and don’t want to again. There was no medic on the field so we called an ambulance. And you will be glad to know , that Cleveland, being the #2 health care center in America, has such a great responsive medical teams. So we called them, and 10 minutes later an ambulance from a hospital 5 minutes away. It took them over 5 minutes to get from the parking lot to the pitch with the gurney (it took me less time an hour before, including the time to go back to the car to get my shirt which I forgot the 1^st time around) then they walked slowly I might add to the Ryan, who was clearly suffering and told him, they can’t do anything but carry him to the hospital. So we carried him up the gurney, and now after popping the knee back in, he is fine-  but we need a sub for next week….someone who can actually score is preferable.

 

The previous I was working till midnight instead of blogging, so nothing much to tell.

Monday was the same in general save for the fact that I was on a plane and nothing happened.!!!- some stuff happened on the way to st.Louis from the previous entry-  but I guess nothing happened since I didn’t have ,my lap top with me, and no way to document the history of the tiny world around me equals to nothing happened.

St. Louis was another matter. We arrived on Friday night, and the girls were already a sleep- so after a small bite of yummy leftovers and fresh squeezed hummus in great great Passover rolls. We spoke for a while. Then after making a bit of noise. Little Amit wakes up, looks at me, than goes and hugs alla, whom she has never seen before- we were both shocked. Roni woke up equally sleepy, and both returned to bed quickly. The craziness began the next morning- as Amity starts a session of shouts, laughter and loads of fun- to my surprise, the majority of bonding this week was with Roni, who is the quieter of the two, and I have yet to bond with baby chopstick. So we went to the zoo, after a breakfast of a vegetable omelets with no vegetables, and yummy rolls with squeezed hummus – in which chocolate milk was spilled on the last unspoiled chair of the dining table (and was not spilled by me… I later only spilt chocolate milk on the table itself). Very  cute birds, sea lions, various monkeys, deer, bears (including Malayan sun bear), penguins, prairie dog (looks like a Guiney pig rat mole sort of thing), tiger, ant eater and an invisible rhino was the harvest of the day- I will send some photos of the animals and the walking on2 legs mammals as well, or if not walking, than sitting on their uncle’s shoulders.

 

On Sunday we went to chucky cheese and I broke my all time worst records of shooting hoops- that was a display even Shaq from the free throw can beat, but I had fun and so have the kids- more fun since it was on Easter and the place was empty. Later after a snutch we did a reminder of a puzzle we got them of a princess – 150 pieces is advanced for their age- but they both rocked.

Later we played a game- also for older kids – a game of some riddles – that you may have played on the internet at some point – one of those riddle games, that you have to move pieces to get somewhere and they get harder and harder- and little Roni is a genius and just zoomed through it. Went through 20 stages and said “I like this game, it is fun and KAL” . that game had 40 stages- she got till 20, in which point – Mom, wanted to try her luck with level 35 and up (this game is for ages 6-8) and failed miserably- though given tips from 5 year old Roni. I can comment, since I didn’t have a chance to try those levels myself, till than I am safe.   We played sorry as well, a cute game, which ended prematurely by an unregretful amity that simply ran through the board . which I wasn’t sorry to see, sine I wasn’t winning (though have not lost yet). ½ of the never ending story with questions like ‘why is he (Atrio) so dirty, ‘who cleaned him’, ‘why is the dragon looking like a dog’, ‘why is he going there’ and more whys, where and who etc…. and of course more yummy Passover rolls- and some other stuff like fish, lamb, good cheese- but these were nothing compared to these rolls.

 

Oh – something did happen on Monday- we went to bennihana- and I was surprised to find a restaurant, just by my local supermarket- which I had no idea existed. It’s a Chinese/Japanese place, where you sit on the counter, by the grill and the chef cooks everything in front of you on a burning hot plate and does various tricks.

I got the chicken fried rice without the onion and other useless vegi’s – then the chef added the onions to the rice- and then I got the left over’s (with the onion) the cheff stared at me with surprise- chicken fried riced is still ok with onion, just better without it. So we had fun tricks, shrimp(very good ones; and I am not a big shrimp fan), drinks (banana strawberry smoothie for me- with a twist of more banana). And good ice-cream desert (1 scoop of chocolate ice-cream) .

On something did happen on Tuesday as well- (before I stayed to work late)- we went to my bosses house for very good steaks and big potatoes on the grill- you know me, with food- I like my starch and I like the simple food- big quality steak and potatoes- perfect (if only they had hummus). Making this meal the most kosher meal I had this entire Passover (including the kosher keeping revital house and Passover night!!!)

 

But it is already past midnight and I do have to work sometimes- so good night and I still owe the stories and photos from Niagara, Passover , the soup and snake food….

 

p.s passed 31% today - so keep up with the good donation work…

 

on passport control, snake food and bunny hopp

Some much to tell, so little flight time.

We are on our way to my brother Yaron for the weekend, and again , getting here was an easy experience.

Racer comes In and starts to get ready at around 6:45 for a flight at 8:35- 5 minutes for makeup and another 5 for packing- about half an hour later, I go in to the car to finalize my things- from my mobile 4 wheel cabinet. I am packed and ready with the exception of my passport and driver license, both were not in my wallet or my bag.  I strip search the apartment and the car twice, it’s 7:35 and still no passport - I had them the day before when we came in from Canada, soothe ID could not have gone far, I rush up again and quickly dispatch racer to the office for a final sweep and have her calling her sister for a basement search. Since there the night before I changed for the Seder.

The apartment is a futile attempt, and the other efforts are useless even more. We figure I may get by with my social security card, which has no photo – I know it would be of no use, Alla is more hope full but I think she knew as well, but we drive to the airport anyway, and I make my 3^rd search of the glove compartment (the 1^st place I looked) and there sitting under Bondi , lies the passport with my license in between it’s over stamped pages. It is still 10 to 8 and we rush to the airport, on a rainy afternoon, pass a 5 car accident!! on the high way and parked about 27 minutes before the flight time – which is after the luggage cut off time. Luck today, since we have no luggage to check, the continental folks say, we are too late – but they give us the tickets ,and send us running. The airport is empty on a good Friday evening, and there is no one in security, we zoom quickly by, and make our way to terminal D. as you recall from the last time we had a fly rush- terminal D is on the other side of the airport- the other 3 are close , and D is far far away. As we leave security , someone shouted at us and I paused and looked back to see if we had dropped some thing (like a glove). A guy points to the cart that drives the elderly and signals at us to hop on. The driver asks , we say D10 , he says we want make it, but he drives at super cart speed of 10 wheels a minute or whatever- while clearing the way . to get to terminal D, you must go down the escalator, pass a tunnel and go up the other side-  the cart cannot go down the escalator, so the driver is stopping and tells us where to go, and calls the other cart guy in the tunnel, we rush down the stairs and another cart is ready for us, we hop on and he slams the paddle to the plastic and drives like a very slow wind, we hop off and rush up the escalator , while doing the “escuse me, thanku , escuse me thank u” to other folks, and rush in terminal D to gate 10, and what do you know- the flight is delayed by 10 minutes. We take a breath- and walk slowly to the plane and rest in our seats.

 

I have so much more to say- the above paragraph occurred last Friday…. And I didn’t have time to finish…. To many activities

This entry will be completed hopefully soon

Have a very busy weekend

Saturday -> paint ball followed by orienteering (25 people so far will follow me to the woods) followed by my scavenger hunt (around 20 people are trusting me to have a great time)- than another fundraiser (I am just a guest), and 10k run on Sunday morning +  preparing other fundraising events and preparing my Israel visit around the last 10 days of May with a special guest  (for over a week)

 

I still have to share the Niagara falls tales , soup making, nieces wrestling, the soccer game- more lost sachar and more and more- but need some sleep too

So good night

confessions of an experianced spell checker

The below blog entry is by a guest blogger - one of the blogilisters... a.k.a the spellchecker
It is my second guest blogger over all.

Enjoy.

It happens, that time does tricks to me ... it just disappears.
This happened to me, among other times, last October (12th to be
exact) when I put your blog aside to read "later". As with most of
your blogs, you told your readers of your great sporting prowess in
many different fields. You also told us of how you succumbed to
drugs and alcohol. Then there were those magnificent pics ... many
of the changing of colours as autumn was beginning to set in.
Almost unbelievable. How fortunate you were to have landed in that
beautiful part of The States ... not that there aren't many
beautiful parts as you would be the first (or second) to know.

No, no correcting of mistakes here ... just want to tell you a
story of mine which your 'drug' story caused me to recall.

It was 13 years ago and the place was Cape Town. I had just
returned from a 6 or 7 week trip to Israel where my daughter,
Liora, had got married. At the time I was living in this house
(called a bungalow) next to the sea in Clifton together with my
son, Ilan. When I left for Israel, it was a joyous occasion for
him. At last he'd got rid of his mother (he was 23) and so it was
party time.

Ilan also came to the wedding and went to Turkey but returned to
Cape Town after I did. We'd been having some troubles at that time
in connection with our property (much too long a story to go into
now) and I came home to a broken gate or two, a dirty kitchen (Ilan
had left a friend staying there when he departed), piles of papers
to attend to, some of which were rather unpleasant and then the
final straw was a very distasteful phone call. Clifton is a seaside
resort ... no shops to quickly pop out and buy something. I'd
brought back with me a container of humous and a cucumber, tomato,
pepper etc so I was set up for lunch. But it felt as if the world
was sitting on my head and crushing me so I went in search of
something more delectable to eat. I found a tin, inside of which
was about a third of a thin non-iced chocolate cake. (OK, you've
guessed the rest ... but I'll write it anyway.) Now, I never eat
chocolate cake. I never eat flour. I never eat sugar and I never
eat chocolate. OK, these days I cheat here and there but in those
days NEVER!

But I was desperate so I took my 'find' to the kitchen, removed the
mould (!), and ate the rest.

Then followed various phone calls and I was finding myself unable
to remember what I'd said half a sentence before. That got me so
worried that I was planning to go to a doctor the next morning. I
definitely had a brain tumour! Next morning came and I was fine so
cancelled that thought and nearly forgot about the whole thing.

In those days, Ilan and I shared a computer ... didn't have the
security measures then to lock anything. By mere chance and totally
by mistake, I clicked on a letter that Ilan had written. Was about
to move off, when my eyes fell on a sentence that went something
like this: "I baked a chocolate cake and put some dagga in it ...
[for the party]." OK, then the whole thing fell into place.

I wrote to my children in Israel, telling them of my return and my
eating the cake. But not telling them that I'd read Ilan's letter
and so knew the reason for that behaviour of mine the previous day.

The letters I received back were those of total amazement and
shock. "You ate chocolate cake!" sort of thing. I received the same
sort of letters from my nephews and niece in London. I received the
same comments from his friends as they came off the beach, "I heard
you ate chocolate cake!" And lots of mirth surrounding this of course.

We'd moved from Clifton, to a flat in another part of the city.
Ilan went overseas for three years and Liora and Ilan (her husband)
came to visit. During the visit, I told Liora that I knew that
there'd been dagga in the cake. Well, that set her off ...
"What ... you knew?" etc. I told her that I'd guessed ... had never
ever told them that I'd read Ilan's e-mail (you know 'trust' etc).

Ilan (son) reckoned that through all of his travels, of anyone he'd
ever known or met, there were only two who'd not touched drugs ...
and I wasn't one of them!

there shouldn't be more than 0 ways to skin a cat

Just finished the kite runner. I have in on my shelf in Hebrew, another in English, but I ended up reading it with the audio book. This book was narrator by the writer (usually they have professional narrators), not sure if the author adds value or not. My main problem with the book is the endless amount of flashbacks, he keeps repeating previous events that occurred that a few minutes before (of reading time) and some parts were re re re repeated. As I was saying not long ago, I just finished the kite runner and the book is good a very sad and interesting story, in which I detected parts of what would come ahead. I have good instincts on the stories development, but not always correct. The kite runner which I have just finished , it doesn’t matter if true or not. These are the things that happen in the world even today. Though it is April 1^st now, but that is no joke.

The day went by with no jokes other than 1 email which was to obvious to be anymore then a joke- a good joke is slightly overdoing- when you over over do… the joke will fail.

On that topic, since I just finished the kite runner- I am making kneidalach soup for Passover- I made them before, in a powder soup, but never made the actual chicken soup. They say it’s easy- we’ll see and write about it in details in due time. I need to make another dish , but have not decided what  to make yet.

So the kite book which was read by me, I can’t give it high ratings- probably because the guy is a jerk. The story is interesting, but it can’t get high marks for being tragic. I say 7.8 on the Taliban scale. The book lost point on the jerkiness of the author. Lucky it was from the library- so free… but sh.t , I do have the book in Hebrew and English…

I have seen 2 fantasy movies lately- the “seeker” , in England- no relation to harry potter- please seek another movie to see. And the spider wick chronicles which was cute- fun to go with kids.

And now I have a problem. Since I just finished the kite runner- I have a choice between 2 audio books- of authors I have previously read and enjoyed tremendously

The author of Shogun- probably my 1^st ever 10 for a book and the author of shopaholic…  the shogun guy-  I have read all of his books that I knew of (this one is new) and enjoyed them all. I enjoy them because I can easily imagine the happenings and some of them took place in medieval Japan and later areas- he has a series of 4 books – loosely related  - each book is about 50-100 years after the previous, well worth the read- the last book I read from Garber was  whirl wind- which describes the some foreigners fleeing from Iran when the shah regime ended in 1979. But it is not a sad book like another book I just read about Afghanistan. The 2^nd book- shopaholic was great – because the character is great, and it’s the one book I can’t predict what the character will do- being too crazy- and though I am somewhat crazy myself, I guess not enough- in the last book by the author- it was easy to predict the end- but the way the character got there- OMG- never would have guessed it- but as the old saying goes “there is more than……….cat”. no there isn’t – I heard it again today in a conference call- with people whom I should be making this type of comments around- but this is so horrible- who makes these sentences- they should be skinned!!!.so the decision fell on the shogun writer in the car, and the shopaholic at home. I guess in a week or two I will do another book report.

I am like 20 pages away from finishing an actual book- the kind you take to bed, with pages you can fold (better leave a marker, no need to ruin the book)- Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance which starts in an interesting way from chatackua lake – a lake I drove by several times but never actually went in- all the driving and motorcycle parts are nice and interesting, but then he gets to metaphysics crap- and jumps from 1 theory to another.

The book is a philosophy classic- but all the praises are philosophers themselves- and I will use wards from the text to describe it. Quality is not something to be taught, it is something we know- we all recognize what quality and what not, and since philosophers praise it, because they have been thought to think in a certain way, but Pedros (the main character) himself would say the book is not of quality – the bike parts are, the philosophy not. Maybe I didn’t click with the book since the 2 days I rode a scooter in the past ended in accidents( minor…but still not for me), or that I didn’t understand the philosophy but that is now over with a 6 on the quality charts. I guess it’s easier to praise a book you don’t understand, but I walk the page less read.

Don’t worry, this book is (or was) a world best seller, much like the kite runner- so they are doing just fine.

 

A while back I sent photos of rock carving, and one of the carvings was my grandmothers name – nettie – spelled like they used to in Austria- my grand mom was excited about it , so I dug around and found out that t- the rock carving are from 1944- and Nettie(1863-1945)  was the wife of Nobel Stewart, a sculpture and the owner of the lands to the east of the park, he was HER, 3^rd husband (…want to read more- click on Nettie or on this Nettie.

 

I had a date with a hot piece of meat the other day, just before I finished listning to abook about a kite- I went to the supermarket to make dinner and I dropped a piece of meat to the frying pan andit sprayed- now I have marking, you would think was from abuse on my arm- this too shall pass. The burgers were good by the way….

Racer is sensitive to lactose , she needs the lactated stuff. I tried it, doesn’t taste like milk at all, not bad just different, but I like choclate milk- and I wanted to try something we can drink together- so I decided to sacrify my taste buds and drink a choclate drink made from rice…behhhh I was thinking…. Rice doesn’t belong in a drink..it should be covered in houmus and placed in a pita. Or butter, ur soy sauce… or fried… or …. But drink…behhh. In thailand they gave me tea from rice- which wasn’t good , not enough suger. But I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice- and with great caution I brought a watery dirty pale brown liquid to my lips and sipped slowly…

Seconds later I took a gulp, don’t get me wrong- it is not as good as choclate milk, but it is drinkable… I also bought an almond rice drink, but have not tried that yet.

 

A few months ago , I invented the cheeseless cheesesteak sandwich – and the other day, while eating the burgers that burned me, I invented another dish by accident.

I cooked the burgers, and cooked sunny side up eggs- which came out perfect, oozing just right without dripping- in whole wheat burger buns and the standard sacues.

The 1st bun had everything, I finished my 2nd- and looked at the number of burgers on the plate (2 were left, I only made 2, but cut them in half, so 4 halves for us both). I ate 1 before, Alla was enjoying hers, there were 2 left, and I just finished the 2nd bun- there was something wrong with the math. I looked at the plate, then my plate, and backto the burgers plate and realized I had just invented the burgerless sunny side up hamburger sandwich (on a whole with bun) – it was good- but it may have been better with rice….

 

The running is going well

I participated in a 5k race on Saturday- and for the 1st time in recorded history- I finished 5k non stop on road and in a race. The road is harder then on the machine, but the race part is a lot more difficult- mentaly – I am more tierd even before the race. I have no reason to be, since I suck at running, I obviously never going to win a long distance race- so why am I nervous- I have no idea, I just am. So finishing the race was an important goal for me.

I started the race kinjd of infront- like 10 meters behind the leaders when they launched the race- that distance quickly changed- first the fast runner passed me by, then the less shaped runners and the joke went on as people of all ages, both young and old- jogged by me. Moms with strollers… , dads running with their kids- everyone- I heard later that it took some of them a minute to run before! They reached the start line- but a short few minutes it took for all ofthem to pass. When I hit the 2 mile marker I started seeing people running the other way- I knew it was a loop so it was strange- it turned out that they had finished, ate, got refreshed and ran back home, in time for me to finish 2/3rds of the race.

For a while there was a little girl kept passing me, and running back to her family, back and forth with no effort. But the main thing is a goal has been reached- I should look at my own 2 feet.

When I finished the non stop race (not last… but way in the back) the bananas were already gone (they hand out fruits after these events), but I had a very sweat pair and an apple, also a fruit called a hot dog.after that I went to the 1st orienteering event of the season- it was in a campus in akron- 2 other people came with me this time- I showed them how to and let them navigate- while I,did the leg work and ran to catch the checkpoints (I usualy navigate, and send others to run…) so it was 6 ks more that very day.

On Sunday- I had my weekly run with my co fund raisers- we were supposed to run 50 minutes- I found an ex army guy who runs very slow (my pace) and we ran 4.3 miles on road- which is now my new long distance record andlongest time- 6.9k is now my record to beat- and though the yearly ra’annana race already took place- I am keeping up with my promise this year. The run ended with a sad note as someone broke into a runner’s car and stole the wallet (the basterd ran away).

Yesterday I led 20 people to the metro parks for another mid week hike- regular pace- nice parks, and I saw 3 racoons real close , on a tree- I saw them brifely before, passing fast, but this time it was close- I had no camera, but have a memory.

Also on the run on Sunday- I saw lots of turkey vultures- I went twice to hike specificly for them, but managed to get a better look on a random run. This is some of the reasons I enjoy living here- the woods are a part of the city- so much wild life, so close.

The fund raising goes slow- with 23% raised- it gets harder, but I still have time- so if you wanjt to help – all you have to do is tell all your friends….

 

Cheers and don’t forget…I just finished the kite runner. It was a bokk that had many flashback, and tels the story of an afgan…..

Happy april’s fools day and I wish the result of todays game had been a joke- sad sad sad…