Midnight in Zefat

it is 12:15 a.m. in the holy city of zefat on tuesday night. i just got home from the women's purim play. i got there at 2:30 p.m. and worked until 11:30 p.m., setting up the refreshments tables. i ended up baking about 190 assorted muffins, 7 streussel coffee cakes, 4 eggless chocolate cakes, and 2 pans of coconut bars. i put everything in the freezer on sunday night.

on monday morning, we travelled to haifa for my son's hernia operation. zvi and wife, gal and gal's mom, miriam and myself caught the 8:00 a.m. bus. we went to a private hospital because we couldn't deal with another zefat hospital trauma. most israelis wouldn't pay the difference but in this case, i was more than happy to dig into my pocket.

the procedure was only about 40 minutes and thank the Lord, there were no complications. we were all really hungry by about 8:00 p.m. and we could not find a kosher restaurant or supermarket in the area. go figure! we settled on some pitas from a "kosher" bakery and managed to find some humus that was also kosher. i bought a container of 5% cottage cheese so i was a happy camper. we were very anxious for zvi to be discharged that night and were given up to midnight for him to pass several tasks.

first, he had to sit up with his legs on the floor, a few times. each time he sat up, he complained of dizziness. they gave him more infusion, which took a lot of time to finish. he then had to eat and drink something. he managed to have some tea and a sandwich but he then was nauseous. he also had to stand up and walk to the bathroom and pee. he managed the walk but he couldn't pee. then the fun started. they gave him more infusion with dramamine to combat the nausea and moments later he rather, violently, threw up. the nurse gave me the dinkiest little bowl, large enough to wash one's dentures but i quickly ran and snatched the waste paper bucket and put it on his bed.

they suggested that zvi stay the night instead of traveling about 2 hours, back to zefat. gal naturally, wanted to stay with him. i wanted to get home because i had the old age home in the morning and the show in the afternoon. by now, the baby had been with gal's married sister for about 14 hours and both miriam and i thought that gal should return. i was the logical candidate to stay with zvi. he was most relieved to be staying, and he even got to watch a soccer game on television, to boot. i was cuddled up in a very comfortable, orthopedic, recovery chair so i actually managed to fall asleep.

i got up about 7:00 a.m. and started to get the check out procedure in motion. zvi was able to eat breakfast and i had a couple of cinnamon cookies and coffee and a hand full of almonds. i can't even count the number of coffees i drank the day before.

we left haifa at 9:30 a.m. and were back in zefat before 11:00 a.m. i sprung for a cab. as soon as i got home, i tracked down the number of someone who works at the old age center to explain my absence. i have to go in tomorrow. i then made another 2 dozen muffins. i could hardly see straight. i had called gal from the hospital to ask her to defrost all the baked goods. zvi ordered a pizza and i ate the cheese off of a slice. i had some more almonds and a plain yogurt. gal asked me to babysit until 2:00 p.m. but her other sister took the baby for a walk. so i got all the bags in order for the play. i had to remember to bring, a pair of scissors, and a can opener, as well as all the paper goods, napkins, and empty bottles for the drinks. i even ran downstairs to the local store to buy more milk but they only had one bag of the mehaderin milk. luckily, i had two bags in the fridge.

i threw on lots of eye makeup and face powder and lipstick to get into 'part'. i wore a very fancy morracan dress and draped a huge scarf over my head. after all, i wasn't just the refreshments lady, i was also the hostess. i greeted every lady with a really strange 'welcome'. i didn't sound anything like a persian. i think i sounded more like an indian. i set up all the cakes and drinks and then covered it all so the women and kids wouldn't eat it before the show. i then cleared all the tables and set it up again for the evening show.

i am truly tired now and my back is beginning to ache. i think i single-handedly moved a few hundred wooden chairs tonght. that's show biz! i have omitted all of the psycho drama of sunday, simply, because i am too tired to continue to blog. perhaps once i'm rested, i will write about my ordeal.